Impact
WARD: Wards 3 and 5
COMMITTEE: Community Development
$ IMPACT: N/A
Title
Approval of an Amendment to the City of Smyrna's Code of Ordinances Chapter 79 entitled Planning and Development Article IV, Section 79-34 to provide a structure for Enterprise Zones.
Body
ISSUE: Staff is proposing an amendment to the Smyrna City Code of Ordinances to provide a structure for Enterprise Zones, a state incentives program designed to encourage job growth and new investment in underperforming areas.
BACKGROUND: Cobb County approached the City of Smyrna with a proposal to jointly establish an Enterprise Zone for the purpose of encouraging job growth and investment in a targeted area that includes both incorporated and unincorporated parcels. The Smyrna portion of the proposed Smyrna-Osborne Enterprise Zone includes 2,409 parcels totaling 1.99 square miles in Wards 3 and 5. It focuses on areas along Windy Hill Road and South Cobb Drive.
The Enterprise Zone is a state incentives program that is locally approved and locally managed. The Enterprise Zone area must meet at least three of five criteria:
1. Pervasive Poverty
2. High Unemployment Rate
3. Underdevelopment
4. General Distress
5. General Blight
The proposed Smyrna-Osborne Enterprise Zone claims all these criteria except General Blight as the justification for its creation. A Justification Report has been prepared in collaboration with Cobb County that specifies the exact boundaries of the proposed zone and details the justifications referenced above.
Qualifying business or service enterprises within the proposed zone must create at least 5 new full-time jobs to be eligible for incentives that can include property tax savings and waiver or abatement of the occupational tax and other fees. State, county, and city ad valorem taxes may be exempted or reduced through this program. School taxes are not affected.
Incentives may also be extended to developers of new residential construction, residential rehabilitation, and other revitalization of an existing structure. The incentive is reserved for improvements that exceed the value of the land by a ratio of five to one (5:1) regardless if the project is carried out by a qualified business or service enterprise.
No incentive is guaranteed to Enterprise Zone applicants. In addition to the new jobs or new investment, applicants must show that their project provides additional economic stimulus in the Enterprise Zone. The quality and quantity of this economic stimulus will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the City of Smyrna. Applications for tax savings will also be reviewed by Cobb County.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the county portion of the Smyrna-Osborne Enterprise Zone on June 24, 2014.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Mayor and Council hold a public hearing to review and approve the Enterprise Zone amendment at the City Council meeting on July 21, 2014. Approval of this ordinance will permit the city to adopt a joint resolution establishing the proposed Smyrna-Osborne Enterprise Zone.