W. Va. Code R. § 145-11-2

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 145-11-2 - Definitions

For purposes of this rule:

2.1. "Applicant" means a person who is applying or has applied to the Director of the Development Office for establishment of a brownfield economic district.

2.2. "Application" means an application for establishment of a brownfield economic development district that is filed with the Director of the Development Office pursuant to W. Va. Code § 5B-2-6a and this rule, which provides all of the information and documentation required by this rule.

2.3. "Application fee" or "fee" means the fee provided for in section four of this rule.

2.4. "Brownfield" means a brownfield as defined in W. Va. Code § 22-22-2.

2.5. "Brownfield economic development district" means a district established by the Director of the Development Office pursuant to W. Va. Code § 5B-2-6a and in accordance with this rule. Beginning July 1, 2011, an application for a brownfield economic development district may not be approved unless the district conforms to a county's or municipality's planning and zoning laws established pursuant to the provisions of W. Va. Code §§8A-7; 8A-8; 8A-9.

2.5.a. A brownfield economic district may not contain single-family housing.

2.5.b. Brownfield economic development districts shall provide all the infrastructure within the district without cost to the state, county, public service district or local municipal government.

2.6. "Compensation" means wages, salaries, commissions and any other form of remuneration paid to employees for personal services.

2.7. "Control," means, with respect to a corporation, ownership, directly or indirectly, of stock possessing fifty percent (50%) or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of the stock of the corporation entitled to vote. "Control," with respect to a trust, means ownership, directly or indirectly, of fifty percent (50%) or more of the beneficial interest in the principal or income of the trust. The ownership of stock in a corporation of a capital or profits interest in a partnership or association or of a beneficial interest in a trust is determined in accordance with the rules for constructive ownership of stock provided in section 267 (c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, other than paragraph (3) of that section.

2.8. "Department of Commerce" means the Department of Commerce created in the executive branch of state government in W. Va. Code § 5F-1-2(a).

2.9. "Department of Environmental Protection" means the Department of Environmental Protection created in the executive branch of state government in W. Va. Code § 5F-1-2(a).

2.10. "Designee" means any officer or employee of the Director of the Development Office, the Secretary of Commerce or the Secretary of Environmental Protection, duly authorized, directly, or indirectly by one or more redelegations of authority, to perform the functions mentioned or described in this rule.

2.11. "Development Office" means the West Virginia Development Office created in W. Va. Code § 5B-2-1 et seq., which is an agency that is incorporated in and administered as part of the Department of Commerce, as provided in W. Va. Code § 5B-1-2.

2.12. "Direct jobs" means jobs located in the brownfield economic development district during the construction phase and employment in the district after the project plan is completed.

2.13. "Director" means the "Director of the West Virginia Development Office."

2.14. "Economic development plan" means written and graphic material for provision of a development that at a minimum includes the following information:

2.14.a. Name, address and phone number of property owner(s).

2.14.b. Name, address and phone number of property developer (if not the owner).

2.14.c. Name of development project, date, direction, scale.

2.14.d. Date economic development plan was prepared.

2.14.e. Name, address and phone numbers of project architect(s), engineer(s) and landscape architect(s).

2.14.f. Intended land-use or nature of development.

2.14.g. Vicinity map showing general location, surrounding property and major physical features.

2.14.h. General layout of property showing shape, approximate dimensions, and total acreage.

2.14.i. A conceptual site development plan showing alignment of building(s), what developer anticipates will be the use of the building(s) and any phases of the project, if the project will be done in phases.

2.14.j. A description of the infrastructure that will be provided by the developer.

2.15. "Full-time employee" means a permanent hourly or salary employee who is headquartered at a business location in the brownfield economic development district and who works more than eighteen hundred hours during the entire twelve-month period ending on the last day of the calendar year, whether these hours are hours worked in the district, or include hours of employer paid vacation leave or other employer paid leave. Full-time employee does not include an employee who is a part-time, seasonal or temporary employee.

2.16. "Full-time employment" means employment for at least one hundred forty hours per month at a wage not less than the prevailing state or federal minimum wage, depending on which minimum wage provision is applicable to the business.

2.17. "Indirect jobs" means jobs created in the county in which the brownfield economic district is located that did not exist in the county before completion of the project plan for the district and which are not located or based in the district.

2.18. "Infrastructure" means broadband Internet, electric lines, natural gas or propane lines, water lines, water processing plant, fiber optic telephone lines, sewer lines, sewer disposal facilities, storm water lines, storm water disposal facilities, lighting, and roads located within the brownfield economic development district and any upgrades to existing facilities and roads located outside the district that are necessary to deliver reliable electric, natural gas or propane, telephone, and water to businesses and residents located within the district, and to transmit and treat sewage and storm water generated in the district and the cost of improving roads located outside the district, including, but not limited to, adding turn lanes or lanes, widening lanes, adding traffic signals as may be necessary to minimize congestion to the extent due to economic development and economic activity in the district, and improve public safety. "Infrastructure" does not include customer charges for connection to a utility or charges for the utility service used or consumed by the utility customer.

2.19. "New employee" means a person hired by the developer or other employer located in the brownfield economic district to fill a position or a job in the district which previously did not exist in the developer's or other district employer's business enterprise in this State prior to the date on which the economic development project is placed in service or use in this State. A person is considered to be a "new employee" only if the person's duties in connection with the operation of the business in a brownfield economic development district are on:

2.19.a. A regular, full-time and permanent basis, or

2.19.b. A regular, part-time and permanent basis provided the person is customarily performing the duties at least twenty hours per week for at least six months during the calendar year.

2.20. "New job" means a job which did not exist in the brownfield economic development district in the business of the developer or other employer located in the district prior to the economic development project being placed in service.

2.21. "Own or control the property in the brownfield economic development district" means that the property is owned by the applicant or by a related person as defined in this rule.

2.22. "Part-time employee" means an employee who works less than twenty hours per week.

2.23. "Permanent employee" means any employee who is not a temporary or seasonal employee and who customarily performs his or her duties at least twenty hours per week for at least six months during the calendar year.

2.24. "Person" includes any natural person, corporation, partnership, or entity treated as a partnership for federal and state income tax purposes. For purposes of applying for establishment of a brownfield economic development district, "person" also includes a county, municipality, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, a county or municipal economic development authority, and the Regional Brownfield Assistance Center established at Marshall University or West Virginia University pursuant to W. Va. Code § 18B-11-7.

2.25. "Related person" means:

2.25.a. A corporation, partnership, association or trust controlled by the applicant;

2.25.b. An individual, corporation, partnership, association or trust that is in control of the applicant;

2.25.c. A corporation, partnership, association or trust controlled by an individual, corporation, partnership, association or trust that is in control of the applicant; or

2.25.d. A member of the same controlled group as the applicant.

2.26. "Seasonal employee" means an employee who normally works on a full-time basis less than five months in a year.

2.27. "Secretary of Commerce" means the chief executive officer of the Department of Commerce, or his or her designee.

2.28. "Secretary of Environmental Protection" means the chief executive officer of the Department of Environmental Protection, or his or her designee.

2.29. "Single-family housing" means a single-family dwelling unit on a separate lot that shares no common wall with any other dwelling unit.

2.30. "Significant economic development activity" means:

2.30.a. Total private real and personal property investment in an economic development project that is in excess of fifty million dollars ($50 million), not including the cost of land, through infrastructure, new construction, reconstruction, installation of fixtures and equipment of the project; and

2.30.b. Creation of additional annual payroll within the district in excess of five million dollars ($5 million).

2.31. "Site" means the contiguous land owned or controlled by the developer when the application is filed under this rule, comprising fifty (50) acres or more of which at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the site acres are subject to a voluntary remediation agreement entered into with the Secretary of Environmental Protection, as provided in W. Va. Code § 22-22-1et seq., or were subject to such an agreement and for which the developer received a certificate of completion issued by the Department of Environmental Protection as provided in W. Va. Code § 22-22-13.

2.32. "Temporary employee" means any employee who is not a permanent employee, a part-time permanent employee, a seasonal employee or a part-time seasonal employee.

2.33. "Voluntary remediation" means a series of measures that are self-initiated by a person to identify and address potential sources of contamination of property and to establish that the property complies with applicable remediation standards that are performed pursuant to a voluntary remediation plan.

2.34. "Voluntary remediation plan" means the remediation work plan approved by the Secretary of Environmental Protection and authorized in the voluntary remediation agreement executed pursuant to W. Va. Code § 22-22-1et seq.

2.35. "West Virginia Code" or "W. Va. Code" means the Code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended.

W. Va. Code R. § 145-11-2