(1) Except as otherwise provided in an intergovernmental agreement entered into pursuant to article 46.5 of title 24, C.R.S., the authority may not undertake or finance a project until the board or the executive director pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the board first determines that:
Providing the project will assist in promoting sound economic development or inmaintaining employment in the area in which the project is or is to be located, or in an area reasonably accessible thereto, or in the reduction of unemployment or underemployment in such area;
The financing agreement relating thereto provides for payment to the authority ofsuch revenues that, together with any government subsidies relating to the project and other moneys available or expected to be available, will be sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on all notes and bonds issued to finance the project, to build up and maintain any reserves deemed advisable by the authority in connection therewith, and to pay the costs of maintaining the project in good repair and keeping it properly insured, unless the financing agreement obligates the sponsor to pay for the maintenance of and insurance on the project; and
The sponsor of the project is not a state agency, county, municipality, or other publicbody except the authority and the land on which the project is to be located has not been acquired by exercise of the power of eminent domain during the two years preceding the submission of the project plan to the authority.
Upon making the determinations specified in subsection (1) of this section and incase of projects involving the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of a building, upon approval by the board of a project plan, the authority, in addition to the other powers granted by this part 7, shall have the following powers:
To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to sell, make, participate in a loan to finance or lease for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years, with or without an option to purchase, any project, without public bidding or public sale, and upon such terms and conditions as the authority may deem appropriate. The authority may enter into such a financing agreement prior to, at the date of, or subsequent to the completion of the project. Where such a financing agreement is entered into, the authority may pay the project costs of the project and complete the construction and development of the project prior to any actual conveyance, loan, or lease.
To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to purchase or participatein the purchase, from a lender, of loans to sponsors to finance project costs, upon such terms and conditions as the authority may deem appropriate. The authority may enter into such a financing agreement prior to, at the date of, or subsequent to the completion of the project.
To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to make a loan to alender, upon the condition that the lender invest the proceeds of such loan in loans to sponsors to finance project costs on such terms and conditions as the authority may deem appropriate;
To acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, alter, equip, and repair or toprovide for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, alteration, equipping, and repairing of any project; to maintain, operate, and manage or to provide for the maintenance, operation, and management of any project; to mortgage or otherwise encumber any project; and to sell or lease any project;
To prepare or cause to be prepared plans, specifications, designs, and estimates ofcosts for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, alteration, equipment, maintenance, or repairing of any project and to periodically modify such plans, specifications, designs, and estimates.
All projects shall be subject to any applicable master plan, official map, zoning regulations, building code, and other regulations governing land use or planning of the county or municipality in which the project is or is to be located. However, nothing in this subsection (3) shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise affect the right of the authority, a sponsor, or any other person to apply for and obtain, by any lawful means and to the extent otherwise permitted by law, an amendment to, a change in, or a variance from any such master plan, official map, zoning regulation, building code, or other regulation governing land use or planning with respect to any project.
Each county and municipality in which a project is located, in connection with suchproject, shall provide police, fire, sanitation, health protection, and other governmental services of the same character and to the same extent as those provided for other residents of such county and municipality.
The authority shall be empowered to enter into contractual agreements with any county or municipality with respect to the furnishing of any additional community, municipal, or public facilities or services necessary or desirable for any project.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the state, any state agency, anycounty, and any municipality in which a project is or is to be located, and any board, authority, agency, department, commission, public corporation, or instrumentality of such county or municipality, shall have the power to lend or grant money or any other form of property, real, personal, or mixed, to the authority and to enter into contracts to make such loans and grants, all upon such terms and conditions as the authority and the state, state agency, county, municipality, as the case may be, may agree upon.
Except as otherwise provided in an intergovernmental agreement entered into pursuant to article 46.5 of title 24, C.R.S., the authority shall exercise its powers in connection with the financing of projects primarily for the benefit of small businesses, and the authority shall prepare as part of its annual report a summary of the nature and extent of its assistance rendered to small business projects.
Source: L. 82: Entire section added, p. 466, § 8, effective April 23. L. 87: IP(1), (1)(c), and IP(2) amended, p. 1193, § 10, effective May 20. L. 91, 1st Ex. Sess.: IP(1) and (7) amended, p. 13, § 2, effective July 5.
Cross references: For county planning and building codes, see article 28 of title 30; for municipal zoning restrictions, see part 3 of article 23 of title 31.