When a local business owner approached Economic Development Co. of Lancaster County to discuss a possible project in Conewago Industrial Park that would create jobs and use vacant space there under the new Recovery Zone Facility Bond Program, EDC officials thought it was a natural fit.
"That's the largest industrial park in Lancaster County and it's been around for decades," said David Nikoloff, president of EDC.
But there was a hitch.
The West Donegal Township industrial park is not in the recovery zone designated by the county last month.
In fact, there are several industrial properties across the county that are not in the recovery zone.
County officials hope to correct that by expanding the zone to include developed industrial properties in rural areas.
"This would be for existing, developed properties," said Jane Pugliese-Thomas, director of economic development for Lancaster County Planning Commission. "This would not allow for new development."
Under the bond program, the county hopes to disburse $14.1 million in federal stimulus money to projects that would create jobs and improve blighted areas in parts of the county where unemployment, poverty and home-foreclosure rates are highest.
To do so, the county last month designated the recovery zone, in accordance with federal rules, where the money could be used.
That zone covers all urban growth and village growth areas, as defined in the county planning commission's comprehensive plan.
To be eligible for the program, a business must be located within the recovery zone and it must be able to secure its total financing by the end of 2010.
The stimulus money actually will be paid to banks to allow them to lower interest rates on loans they would provide to business owners seeking financing for their projects.
To make industrial properties across the county that are not in urban growth or village growth areas eligible for the program, the commissioners are expected to vote at their meeting today to add "rural business centers" to the recovery zone.
Pugliese-Thomas said those areas, like Conewago Industrial Park, are loosely designated in the county's comprehensive plan, meaning specific boundaries are not delineated.
Nikoloff said county planners could work with potential recovery-zone-program applicants to determine if the properties they're looking at are in an appropriate area.
"We just want to cover all the possibilities," he said.