Section 520.210  Eligibility Criteria

A municipality or county may qualify an area for designation as an Enterprise Zone, subject to certification by the Department, in accordance with the criteria set forth in Section 4 of the Act and the following:

a)         Contiguous Area.  The area is contiguous, which means the area has a solid continuous boundary.  Boundaries shall be clearly defined and follow natural or man-made entities such as rivers, highways, and boundaries of units of government. The zone area may exclude wholly surrounded territory within its boundaries.

b)         Calculating Total Area.  For purposes of calculating total area, the minimum is one-half square mile and the maximum is 12 square miles, or 15 square miles if the zone is located within the jurisdiction of four or more counties or municipalities, excluding lakes or waterways.  Where the Enterprise Zone is a joint effort of three or more units of government, or two or more units of government, if located in a township divided by a municipality of 1,000,000 or more inhabitants, and where the certification has been in effect at least one year, the minimum is one-half square mile and the maximum is 13 square miles, excluding lakes and waterways. Boundaries that are connecting strips shall be not less than three, nor more than 10, feet wide.  Waterways shall not be used as connecting strips. Areas within connecting strips must be considered when determining if the proposed Enterprise Zone meets one of the eligibility tests set forth in subsection (f).

c)         Depressed Area.  The area must be depressed. (See subsection (f).)

d)         Coverage of Area.  The areas must:

1)         be entirely within a municipality; or

2)         be entirely within the unincorporated areas of a county, except where reasonable need is established for such zone to cover parts of more than one municipality or county; or

3)         comprise all or part of a municipality and an unincorporated area of a county.    

e)         Census Geography.  Although the Department does not require the applicant to use census geography boundaries as the boundaries for the Enterprise Zone, census geography must be used to demonstrate how the area meets one of the eligibility criterion.  The census geographies to be used shall be the smallest geographies for which data are available and which encompass the entire proposed Enterprise Zone.  When an Enterprise Zone boundary splits a census tract, county civil division, or minor civil division, then the data for block groups or enumeration districts entirely within the Enterprise Zone and those that include any part of the Enterprise Zone shall be included in the calculation.

f)          Required Tests.  The area must meet at least one of the following tests:

1)         Unemployment.  The unemployment criterion is met if the proposed Enterprise Zone has an annual average unemployment rate of at least 120% of the State's annual average unemployment rate for the most recent 12-month period for which data are available as reported by the Department of Employment Security. Anyone who is not presently employed and has exhausted all unemployment benefits shall be considered unemployed, whether or not they are actively seeking employment.

2)         Poverty.  The poverty criterion is met if the poverty rate for each census tract, minor civil division or county civil division that contains any part of the area proposed as an Enterprise Zone was at least 20% as of the 2000 Federal Census.  Poverty is computed using the number of persons in families or who reside together as unrelated individuals who had incomes below the poverty threshold in the 2000 Federal Census.

3)         Low-Income.  The low income criterion is met if at least 70% of the households in the proposed Enterprise Zone have incomes equal to or less than 80% of the median household income of the larger  geography in which the Enterprise Zone is located.  If a census geography has a median household income of 125% or more of the median household income of the larger geography, it shall not be used in calculating Enterprise Zone eligibility and shall not be included in the proposed Enterprise Zone.

4)         Population Loss.  The population loss criterion is met if the proposed Enterprise Zone suffered a population decrease of 20% or more between 1980 and 2000, as determined by Federal Census data for those years.

5)         Job Creation.  The Department may designate an area as an Enterprise Zone when such designation will result in the development of substantial employment opportunities by creating or retaining a minimum of 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs due to an investment of $100 million or more, and help alleviate the effects of poverty and unemployment within the zone or in the vicinity of the zone.  New units of government being added to an existing Enterprise Zone must qualify under the same qualification criteria as the existing Enterprise Zone.

6)         Closed Military Bases.  A military base closed by the United States Government Department of Defense that has been properly designated as and is currently operating as a Local Redevelopment Agency.

(Source:  Amended at 27 Ill. Reg. 3282, effective February 14, 2003)