2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 32-80. Enterprise corridor zones.

      Sec. 32-80. Enterprise corridor zones. (a) As used in this section:

      (1) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development.

      (2) "Public investment communities" shall have the same meaning as "public investment communities", as defined in section 7-545.

      (b) The legislative bodies of three or more contiguous municipalities, each of which is a public investment community and has a population of not more than sixty thousand, and at least fifty per cent of which municipalities are located along the same interstate highway, limited access state highway or intersecting interstate or limited access state highways, may, with the approval of the commissioner, designate industrial districts in such municipalities as an enterprise corridor zone.

      (c) Municipalities seeking the approval of the commissioner for such designation shall execute an intermunicipal agreement specifying how they would cooperatively share in the marketing, promotion and development of the industrial districts that would comprise the enterprise corridor zones, and shall file with the commissioner a preliminary application which includes such executed agreement. Not later than sixty days after receipt of such preliminary application, the commissioner shall indicate to the municipalities, in writing, any recommendations for improving the municipalities' application. Not later than sixty days after receipt of the commissioner's written response, the municipalities shall file a final application with the commissioner.

      (d) The commissioner shall approve the designation of at least two areas as enterprise corridor zones. The commissioner may remove the designation of any area he has approved as an enterprise corridor zone if such area no longer meets the criteria for such designation, provided no such designation shall be removed less than ten years from the date of approval of such zone.

      (e) Businesses located within an enterprise corridor zone shall be entitled to the same benefits, subject to the same conditions, under the general statutes for which businesses located in an enterprise zone qualify.

      (f) The commissioner may adopt regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 to carry out the purposes of this section.

      (P.A. 94-241, S. 1, 4; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6; 96-239, S. 1, 17; P.A. 00-194, S. 2, 3.)

      History: P.A. 94-241 effective July 1, 1994; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Economic Development with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; P.A. 96-239 substituted "thirty-five thousand" population maximum for "thirty thousand" in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1996; P.A. 00-194 amended Subsec. (b) to provide for enterprise corridor zones comprised of municipalities with populations up to sixty thousand, effective June 1, 2000.