For a few tantalizing months it seemed like the state of Pennsylvania might have the funding to spare an expansion of the Keystone Opportunity Zones program.
"Over the summer, as the dust began to settle on another Pennsylvania budget negotiation, officials in Philadelphia’s Commerce Department realized that the state had opened the door for an expansion of Keystone Opportunity Zones, a program that’s meant to encourage investment in vacant and blighted areas by waiving certain state and local taxes," reports Jared Brey.
In an attempt to take advantage of the opportunity, the city of Philadelphia's Commerce Department "identified 85 properties covering 322 acres of land, lobbied City Council members to approve the selections, secured agreements from participating property owners that payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) would keep the School District from losing any funding, and submitted the application."
Philadelphia wasn't alone: The state also received applications from Elk County, Chester County, and Clearfield County.
None of the applications will be accepted, however, and they were never really going to be, according to Brey's analysis, which also surveys some of the sites on Philadelphia's list to determine whether the lost KOZ opportunity will make or break development proposals.
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