?Enterprise zone

Property tax abatement of 50 percent for 10 years is available for facilities used for manufacturing, mining, wholesale distribution or warehousing.

Smith said Springfield's zone has been outstanding when compared to the 62 other such zones in the state. It has ranked No. 2 in job creation and No. 3 in the number of companies certified, Smith said. The zone was designated in 1984, two years after the enabling legislation was passed.

The zone is now 30 square miles, a slight expansion from the 29 square miles it was prior to this redesignation.

The area was expanded with the redesignation in order to fill in some spaces where it gapped, such as along Kearney Street and West Bypass, and to include land in and around Springfield Underground and the tract of land near it that Springfield ReManufacturing purchased to use as a consolidated campus for its businesses.

"Having this designation certainly makes the land more desirable for development," Smith said.

Both Smith and Greg Williams, vice president of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, point to the Partnership Industrial Center as an indication of the success of the enterprise zone program.

Filled with manufacturing operations in nearly half the time expected, the center is not only a good example of industry attraction, but of retention and expansion of existing Springfield businesses, Williams said.

"The enterprise zone program has been effective in making the park attractive for development[[In-content Ad]]