Logan County Zoning and Planning Committee hears Regional Planning Commission plan to assist with the Enterprise Zone

 

[July 10, 2023] 

This past week the Logan County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) and the Logan County Board Zoning and Planning Committee met on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The common topic between the two meetings was how to proceed with aiding the Logan County Zoning Office with respect to the Enterprise Zone (EZ).

Both meetings came to the same conclusion. Former EZ administrator Will D’Andrea will be contracted to assist the county zoning officer in getting EZ applications up to date.

Regional Planning Commission meeting

The Wednesday meeting of the RPC yielded a discussion about the legalities of the situation. Keenan Leesman, who sits on the RPC as well as the corresponding county board committee, said that he had asked County Attorney Bradly Hauge to review the current EZ contract and offer an opinion as to the legality of the RPC contracting D’Andrea to assist. He reported that Hauge said the RPC did have the authority to contract D’Andrea at their own expense.

The RPC discussed budget constraints. There is $5,000 available that can be moved from one expense category to another to cover the cost of contractual services provided by D’Andrea. The commission discussed how the contract should be drafted. It was reported that D’Andrea had recommended that the contract be set up with an hourly pay rate, saying he felt that would be a more fair and equitable way to utilize the funds available.

The RPC concluded with three votes. The first was to amend the budget for the contractual services, the second to contract D’Andrea, and a third to turn the rate of pay question over to the RPC Executive Committee. All three motions passed unanimously.

Logan County Board Zoning and Planning Committee meeting

On Thursday night, the meeting was called to order by Zoning and Planning Committee vice-chair Dale Nelson. The topic was introduced and Leesman offered up the recommendation of the RPC to the committee.

During his explanation, he was able to clear up some of the confusion regarding the action being taken. D’Andrea will be contracted on a temporary basis to assist the current zoning officer with matters regarding the EZ. Leesman said that a review of the contract with the state shows that the official administrator must be a county employee. But in line E of the contract it states that the RPC may contract the services of a consultant of sorts, who will be responsible for assuring that the EZ program is running smoothly.

D'Andrea fields questions from committee members

D'Andrea was present for the meeting and the floor was opened to committee members who wished to ask questions of D’Andrea.

Leesman noted that after the June meeting of the Zoning and Planning Committee D’Andrea had sent all the board members an email that had gone a long way to explaining and clarifying some of the questions surrounding the EZ.

Leesman recapped some of the email points by asking D’Andrea to outline the application process briefly. D’Andrea said that for the developer or business owner to gain EZ status there is an application that must be filled out for the overall project. Then each contractor that is hired to work on the project must also fill out an application. He said the overall goal is to establish an estimated cost of the total project and an estimated cost of the individual components. Later he would explain that when the project was completed the state would seek an accurate accounting of the money spent on the total project and by each contractor, but the EZ administrator had no responsibility in gathering that information.

Leesman asked how long it takes to process an application on the local level and about the turnaround time for the state.

D’Andrea said he had created an application form that is on the county website that mirrors the form the administrator has to fill out on the state website. When the paper applications came to him he would review to be assured that all the boxes contained answers, then he entered it into the state website. The total time invested he said was on average between 15 to 30 minutes. He said often, the application would be approved by the state in less than a day. The EZ certificates would then be emailed to the applicants by the state.

Leesman asked if the EZ certification could be made retroactive if the project has already started. D’Andrea said no, because the certificate must be shown to suppliers at the point of purchase to get the tax exemption.

Former Zoning and Planning Chair-person James Glenn said he had several questions for D’Andrea. First he wanted to know about D’Andrea’s years of service and the number of applications he had processed. D’Andrea said he served as the administrator for 11 years and had processed over 100 applications.
 

Glenn asked about oversight and review of the applications. D’Andrea said that when the applicant filled out the boxes on the form he made, there was little else to do. He said the most common omission was the email address where the certificates could be sent by the state.

Glenn asked if D’Andrea had to investigate the accuracy of the application. D’Andrea said he did not. The proof of the scope of the money spent lies with the applicant, who will answer directly to the state when the project is completed. It is in the applicant’s best interest to be as accurate as possible.

D’Andrea was asked if he had to do anything to assure compliance with the EZ rules. He answered that he had to verify that the project was within the Enterprise Zone area and that it was within the allowable parameters of types of businesses that can utilize the EZ.

Leesman asked about the designated area of the EZ. D’Andrea explained that the EZ is established in areas that are deemed to be “depressed” as it pertains to income levels of residents. He said that the Logan County Zone is primarily centered in Lincoln with three-foot wide stripes stretching out to areas such as Atlanta, New Holland, and Mt. Pulaski to draw a district for a specific project. He mentioned that several grain elevators in the county had taken advantage of the EZ.

D'Andrea was asked if the areas could be expanded or decreased. D’Andrea said that expanding the reach of the EZ could be done as long as the expansion did not exceed the total 12 to 15 square miles of acreage in the zone designation. He said only once did he know that the zone was decreased. He added that changes to the size of the zone either direction must be “signed off” on by all the governing bodies in the county including incorporated areas outside of Lincoln, such as New Holland, Atlanta, etc.

Glenn asked about the use of the company named Opportunity Alliance in the EZ application process. D’Andrea said that the use of that firm was only for the overall expansion of the zone and not for the individual applications for tax credits.

He said that the application process for expanding the zone overall was a “bear” and that utilizing professional services to map out the area and write the application was necessary.

[In an email on Friday, D'Andrea explained that the firm is hired by entities that are seeking an expansion of the existing zone boundaries so that their project may be included.  This is done at the business or developers expense.]

Public Participation

Nelson invited public participation, reminding everyone to remain civil and respectful in their comments.

Jeremy Wells with Wells Firearms said that he had received his certification the day prior, on Wednesday July 5th. He said he received an email that his application was in process and six minutes later he received his certificate from the state. However, he said now his issue is that he had reported the expansion project at his business in Lincoln would be at a cost of approximately $1,000,000 but his certificate said the overall expenditure would be only $5,000. He asked if the application could be amended to the correct amount.

D'Andrea said he has never had that happen but could investigate it. Logan County Zoning Officer and EZ Administrator Beth Davis-Kavelman stood and said that she had asked four separate times for Wells to verify information. Nelson stopped her and said the question was a simple yes or no, could the certificate be amended. Davis-Kavelman said yes it can.

Local Attorney and business investor Doug Muck stood and said he felt it was very good that the RPC was providing some assistance to the county in the EZ. He said he felt the commission should be certain they have the power to do so. Nelson said the RPC has the authority to contract D’Andrea to assist in the smooth operation of the EZ.

Logan County Board Chair-person Emily Davenport commented that she was glad to see the RPC finally getting involved in the issue. She said that Davis-Kavelman had no help or training coming into the job over a year ago, and had the RPC taken some action then to assure the zoning office was properly trained, everything would have run more smoothly from the get-go.

As discussion began to wind down, there were no votes to be taken by the committee as the decision to hire D’Andrea rests entirely on the RPC.

The meeting therefore adjourned, with the expectation that D’Andrea will be contracted on a temporary basis to assist the zoning office. D’Andrea has stated that he does not want the contract on a permanent basis. It will be at the discretion of the RPC if another contracted individual fills the position later.

[Nila Smith]