Section 20 ILCS 655/5.2 - Department Review of Enterprise Zone Applications(a) All applications which are to be considered and acted upon by the Department during a calendar year must be received by the Department no later than December 31 of the preceding calendar year. Any application received after December 31 of any calendar year shall be held by the Department for consideration and action during the following calendar year.
Each enterprise zone application shall include a specific definition of the applicant's local labor market area.
(a-5) The Department shall, no later than July 31, 2013, develop an application process for an enterprise zone application. The Department has emergency rulemaking authority for the purpose of application development only until 12 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.(b) Upon receipt of an application from a county or municipality the Department shall review the application to determine whether the designated area qualifies as an enterprise zone under Section 4 of this Act.(c) No later than June 30, the Department shall notify all applicant municipalities and counties of the Department's determination of the qualification of their respective designated enterprise zone areas, and shall send qualifying applications, including the applicant's scores for each of the items set forth in subsection (a) of Section 4.1 and the applicant's final score under that Section, to the Board for the Board's consideration, along with supporting documentation of the basis for the Department's decision.(d) If any such designated area is found to be qualified to be an enterprise zone by the Department under subsection (c) of this Section, the Department shall, no later than July 15, send a letter of notification to each member of the General Assembly whose legislative district or representative district contains all or part of the designated area and publish a notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation within the proposed zone area to notify the general public of the application and their opportunity to comment. Such notice shall include a description of the area and a brief summary of the application and shall indicate locations where the applicant has provided copies of the application for public inspection. The notice shall also indicate appropriate procedures for the filing of written comments from zone residents, business, civic and other organizations and property owners to the Department. The Department and the Board may consider written comments submitted pursuant to this Section or any other information regarding a pending enterprise zone application submitted after the deadline for enterprise zone application and received prior to the Board's decision on all pending applications.Amended by P.A. 102-0108,§ 5, eff. 1/1/2022.Amended by P.A. 098-0109,§ 5-5, eff. 7/25/2013.Amended by P.A. 097-0905,§ 5, eff. 8/7/2012.