Even though the folks at HCD are swamped working on the final designations for the new 2007 zones, they have managed to approve an expansion for the Imperial Valley EZ:

By THE IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS STAFF

The Imperial Valley Enterprise Zone on Tuesday received approval for a 55-acre expansion to include the Spreckels Sugar Co. plant at 395 W. Keystone Road.

The approval came from the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

The Enterprise Zone Act allows for a 20 percent acreage expansion of enterprise zones less than 13 square miles, as is the case with the IVEZ.

The IVEZ Joint Powers Authority received a request from Spreckels Sugar Co. to have the IVEZ expanded to include its property. In this request, Spreckels demonstrated how it would benefit from being in the zone (saving annually about $286,650 in state taxes through the hiring tax credit, and the sales and use tax credit), which would contribute to optimizing its position in the local economy for the future.

The Spreckels property fulfills the state requirements for enterprise zone expansion (that is, the land is zoned commercial/industrial and has basic infrastructure available).