Economic Development Incentive Policy
The City of Sandy Springs Economic Development Incentive Policy has been adopted by the City Council to provide incentives for the retention and/or expansion of existing businesses located within the City of Sandy Springs and to encourage the establishment of new targeted businesses within the City
City of Sandy Springs Opportunity Zone
In February 2010, the City of Sandy Springs began the process of evaluating the option to participate in the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Opportunity Zone Job Tax Credit Program (OZ). The OZ program authorizes the DCA Commissioner to designate “less developed areas” for the purposes of economic development. In areas that meet this designation, the state allows enhanced job tax credits when a business:
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Relocates or expands in a designated Opportunity Zone;
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Creates a minimum of two new jobs; and,
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Meets the other requirements of the program.
If the above requirements are met, the business may claim up to a $3,500 maximum job tax credit for creating two or more new jobs, which is a 100 percent business income tax credit against tax liability and withholding for a five year period as long as the jobs are maintained.
Three key criteria are required to be present in a designated redevelopment area in order to proceed with applying for OZ status:
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The Opportunity Zone must be wholly contained within or adjacent to an area of one or more contiguous U.S. Census block groups with a poverty rate of 15 percent or greater as determined from data in the most recent United States decennial census;
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The Opportunity Zone must also be wholly contained within either the boundaries of a state enterprise zone or within the boundaries of a redevelopment area; and,
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The area requested for designation must also, in the opinion of the commissioner of community affairs, display pervasive poverty, underdevelopment, general distress and blight.
In Sandy Springs, only one Census Block Group (BG 131210102072) meets the first requirement. This portion of the City is bounded by Interstate 285, Roswell Road, Long Island Drive and Lake Forrest Drive in the southern most end of the Roswell Road corridor near the Sandy Springs and city of Atlanta border. Map 1 shows the 15% block group shaded in pink. Based upon state criteria and a parcel by parcel review of the area, the portion of Sandy Springs outlined in blue on Map 1 was designated as the “South Roswell Road/I-285 Redevelopment Corridor Redevelopment Corridor”. The City’s redevelopment area covers 495 acres and contains 964 parcels. Of these parcels, only 135 were transmitted to DCA for approval as the City’s Opportunity Zone. After a review by the State, the area identified in blue was formally approved as the City’s Opportunity Zone on July 28, 2010.