§ 230. Economic development regions. 1. The department shall establish economic development regions of the state and shall establish within each region at least one regional office.

2. The boundaries of regions shall be based on factors including, but not limited to: (a) interdependence and commonality of economic and social interests; (b) previous cooperation in economic development related matters; (c) intraregional commuting and transportation patterns; (d) geographic proximity to and dependence on centers of employment and economic opportunity, population concentration and markets; (e) unifying topographic characteristics; (f) labor markets; and (g) geographic size.