Redevelopment of Brownfield Sites in Economically Disadvantaged Areas
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It is the intent of the general assembly to encourage the redevelopment of brownfield sites in economically disadvantaged areas within this state. In addition to the authorization provided in § 7-53-312, a corporation located in a municipality in which an urban brownfield redevelopment project is located is also authorized to prepare and submit to the municipality for approval an economic impact plan with respect to an urban brownfield redevelopment project in the manner provided in this section. Except to the extent modified under this section, § 7-53-312 shall apply to an economic impact plan for an urban brownfield redevelopment project.
An economic impact plan submitted for approval under this section shall provide that the property taxes imposed on the property, including the personal property located within the area subject to the plan, the sales taxes imposed upon sales within the area subject to the plan, the sales taxes imposed upon construction and related development or redevelopment activity in the area subject to the plan, or any combination and amount of such property and sales taxes, will be distributable in the manner described in subsection (c) and § 7-53-312(c), as applicable, and used for the purposes permitted by subsection (e).
In addition to the allocation of property taxes provided in § 7-53-312, an economic impact plan may further provide that the non-school portion of the local sales tax increment shall be allocated to and, when received, shall be paid into a separate fund of the corporation established to hold such payments, along with any other amounts received by the corporation pursuant to this section or § 7-53-312, until applied for the purposes described in subsection (e) pursuant to the economic impact plan. In calculating the non-school portion of the local sales tax increment, the plan may also include any new local sales taxes received from construction or related redevelopment activity occurring within the area subject to the plan. Upon the approval by a municipality of an economic impact plan containing all or any portion of the permitted excess local sales taxes, the local sales taxes received by the municipality shall be divided and allocated as so provided.
Notwithstanding § 7-53-312 to the contrary, the corporation may prepare, and the municipality may approve, an economic impact plan that allocates an amount greater than the base tax amount and the base sales tax amount to the taxing agencies.
All sales and property taxes allocated for an economic impact plan approved pursuant to this section shall only be applied by the corporation to pay expenses of the corporation in furtherance of economic development in the municipality, to pay or reimburse qualified costs or to pay debt service on bonds or other obligations issued by the corporation to finance any of the foregoing. The corporation shall cease to receive allocations described in this section and § 7-53-312(c) upon the maturity of the original bond or obligation used to finance the project, whose maximum amount of debt maturity must be no longer than thirty (30) years.
As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
“Base sales tax amount” means the revenues received by the municipality from local sales taxes, excluding that portion of the local sales tax dedicated for school purposes, from the area subject to the plan for the fiscal year of the municipality immediately prior to the year in which the plan is adopted. “Local sales taxes” means taxes received by the municipality pursuant to the 1963 Local Option Revenue Act, compiled in title 67, chapter 6, part 7, excluding that portion of the local sales taxes dedicated for school purposes;
“Brownfield site” means a parcel or adjacent or related parcels of real property that is currently, or at any time since January 1, 2000, has been the subject of an investigation or remediation as a brownfield project under a voluntary agreement or consent order pursuant to § 68-212-224;
“Non-school portion of the local sales tax increment” means any excess of local sales taxes, after deducting the portion that is statutorily designated for school purposes, over the base sales tax amount that is received by each municipality that has approved the economic impact plan from the specified sales and development activity in the area that is subject to the plan;
“Qualified costs” include:
Costs for all roads, streets, sidewalks, access ways, ramps, bridges, landscaping, signage, utility facilities, grading, drainage, parks, plazas, greenways, public parking facilities, public recreational facilities, public educational facilities, public meeting facilities, and similar improvements that are necessary for or otherwise useful for the urban redevelopment project or for the redevelopment of the area subject to the economic impact plan;
All administrative, architectural, legal, engineering, and other expenses as may be necessary or incidental to the development and implementation of the economic impact plan or the financing of expenses under this section; and
Costs that are directly related to the investigation, remediation, or mitigation of a brownfield project located in an urban redevelopment project as required by a voluntary agreement or consent order pursuant to § 68-212-224;
“Qualified opportunity zone” means census tracts identified as qualified opportunity zones as certified under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-97);
“Redevelopment zone” means:
An area in this state designated as of January 1, 2009, as a renewal community by the federal department of housing and urban development;
An area in this state designated as of January 1, 2009, as a low-income community for purposes of the federal new markets tax credits program; or
A qualified opportunity zone in this state;
“Urban brownfield redevelopment project”:
Means the development or redevelopment, in one (1) or more phases as specified in the economic impact plan, of all or any portion of a parcel or parcels of contiguous, adjacent, or related properties. The parcel or parcels must be located in a redevelopment zone and must contain:
At least one (1) brownfield site; or
Contain a site of at least ten (10) acres that has remained vacant or substantially unoccupied for at least five (5) years and, at any time within twenty (20) years prior to June 1, 2011, included manufacturing, industrial, distribution, or retail facilities, in total, containing at least one million square feet (1,000,000 sq. ft.); and
Includes any project as defined in § 7-53-101 and any publicly or privately owned or operated retail, commercial, industrial, or mixed-use facility, including a visitor center, recreation, or entertainment facility and all related hotels, convention center facilities, administrative facilities, offices, restaurants, and other amenities constructed or acquired as part of the project.
An urban brownfield redevelopment project shall be a project for purposes of § 7-53-101 and for all other purposes under this chapter.