Managing editor
Not all businesses are created equal, especially when applying for city-issued incentives.
Marion Economic Development Director Doug Kjellin requested and received permission Monday from Marion City Council to follow specific guidelines when working with business development.
“It’s difficult to answer when people come in and ask, ‘Hey, I hear you give away free lots’,” Kjellin said.
When approached by different business owners, Kjellin said he wanted to be able to give appropriate incentives.
An incentive grading scale will be used as a guideline by city officials when evaluating incentives.
Points or a rating will be awarded to prospective clients. They will be rated for employment, capital expenditures, taxable sales, utility demand, and other modifiers including local banking or lending relationship, the majority of capital expenditures going to the Marion community, high technology or alternative energy industry, and whether it’s an established business wanting to expand.
The points will be added and the client will be given the appropriate incentives.
The top four incentive packages would include waiving city utility hookup fees.
Free lots will be given only to those businesses that have a high score. Otherwise, lots would be sold at reduced or full rates, depending on what the prospective client brings to the table.
“Are there any other cities doing this,” Councilman Steven Smith asked.
Hillsboro asks companies to post bonds for the incentive amount, Kjellin said. The city then checks in three to five years to make sure the business followed through with promises.
“We want people to request incentives,” Kjellin said, but he doesn’t want anyone to think he is “playing favorites.”
The program would be implemented for the industrial park and the business park.
Cart before the horse?
Marion Zoning Regulations need to be amended, Kjellin said, because a conditional use permit can only be issued to the landowner.
This puts the prospective business owner in a precarious position because he cannot apply for and receive a conditional use permit for property until he purchases it but he doesn’t want to purchase it until he knows he can operate a specific business.
“It also makes it assumed that the planning commission will automatically approve the permit,” Kjellin said. “That’s not the intent of CUPs.”
The proposed change would allow the intended owner to apply for a CUP.
The council decided the recommendation needed to be reviewed by the planning commission and then brought before the council for final approval.
There is only one member remaining on the planning commission after six members resigned. The board of zoning appeals remains intact.
The council will appoint additional members.