(a) The department shall promulgate, with the assistance of the zone administrator, all necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this chapter. It shall also be required to determine which areas of the city may qualify as depressed areas. It shall have the power to determine the size and location of depressed areas in the city. It shall have the power to exclude, from the depressed area those parts of a depressed area that would disqualify the depressed area from qualifying as an enterprise zone.
(b) Each area determined by the department as being a depressed area must meet the other qualifications needed to be eligible for enterprise zone certification under the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act and/or any federal enterprise zone act, before being recommended as a proposed enterprise zone to the city council.
(c) The department shall present its recommendations for proposed enterprise zones to the city council for approval. These recommendations shall include an analysis of the current status and a map of the area recommended, demonstrating that the area is qualified as an enterprise zone; the possible benefits or effects of an enterprise zone classification of the area; the likelihood of state or federal approval of the area as an enterprise zone; any organizations (especially designated zone organizations) or other groups supporting the recommendation; the estimated costs, including reduced tax revenues, to the city by designating the area as an enterprise zone; and any other information available to the department, which would be required by the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act or any federal enterprise zone act, if any, if this recommendation was made as an application for certification as an enterprise zone under such acts.
(d) The department may present recommendations of proposed enterprise zones to the city council at any time during a calendar year.
(e) The city council upon receipt of the department recommendations shall refer such recommendations to the finance committee of the city council. The finance committee shall hold a public hearing on the recommendations within the recommended proposed enterprise zone, within 30 days of its receipt of the department's recommendation from the city council. This hearing shall address, among others, the issues of whether to create the zone, what local plans, tax incentives and other programs should be established in connection with the zone, and what the boundaries of the zone should be. Notice of the hearing shall be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation within the recommended zone area, not more than 20 days nor less than five days before the hearing.
(f) The finance committee shall approve, disapprove or modify the department's recommendations of proposed enterprise zones. If the finance committee decides to modify or disapprove a department's recommendation, it shall allow the department time to comment on the modification or disapproval before presenting it to the city council for approval. The finance committee shall within 60 days after the hearing required in subsection (e) above, present to the city council its recommendations, including any department comments, for either approval or disapproval of the department's recommended proposed enterprise zone, including therein any modifications made by the finance committee. The city council shall, thereafter, either approve the zone recommended by the department, with or without the modifications made thereto by the finance committee, or disapprove such zone recommended by the department. If adopted by the city council the recommended area shall be considered a “proposed enterprise zone”. This adopting ordinance designating a proposed enterprise zone shall be in the format and include the criteria required in the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act and/or any federal enterprise zone legislation.
(Prior code § 201-3)