§ 2794. Incentives for program designees

(a) Upon designation by the Vermont Downtown Development Board under section 2793 of this title, a downtown development district and projects in a downtown development district shall be eligible for the following:

(1) Priority consideration by any agency of the State administering any State or federal assistance program providing funding or other aid to a municipal downtown area with consideration given to such factors as the costs and benefits provided and the immediacy of those benefits, provided the project is eligible for the assistance program.

(2) The following State tax credits:

(A) A State historic rehabilitation tax credit of 10 percent under 32 V.S.A. § 5930cc(a) that meets the requirements for the federal rehabilitation tax credit.

(B) A State façade improvement tax credit of 25 percent under 32 V.S.A. § 5930cc(b).

(C) A State code improvement tax credit of 50 percent under 32 V.S.A. § 5930cc(c).

(3) A planning grant, in an amount not to exceed $8,000.00 per site, for an initial site assessment of a suspected contaminated site, if the site otherwise qualifies under the community development block grant program in 10 V.S.A. chapter 29.

(4) Financing of transportation projects under the State Infrastructure Bank, created under 10 V.S.A. chapter 12.

(5) Assistance from the Secretary of Natural Resources for current owners and prospective purchasers who otherwise qualify under the Brownfield Property Cleanup Program set forth in 10 V.S.A. chapter 159, subchapter 3, or in the case of current owners, who are innocent owners. For the purposes of this subsection, an "innocent owner" is an owner who did not do any of the following:

(A) Hold an ownership interest in the property or in any related fixtures or appurtenances, excluding a secured lender's holding indicia of ownership in the property primarily to assure the repayment of a financial obligation at the time of any disposal of hazardous materials on the property.

(B) Directly or indirectly cause or contribute to any releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials at the property.

(C) Operate, or control the operation, at the property of a facility for the storage, treatment, or disposal of hazardous materials at the time of the disposal of hazardous materials at the property.

(D) Dispose of, or arrange for the disposal of hazardous materials at the property.

(E) Generate the hazardous materials that were disposed of at the property.

(6) Technical assistance by the Department of Housing and Community Development with regard to planning and coordination issues, including adaptive reuse of buildings within the district, development of a marketing plan for the downtown district that includes a heritage tourism component, development of a program to encourage merchants and building owners to rehabilitate, restore, and improve building facades, and, in coordination with the Agency of Transportation, planning for multi-modal transportation needs of the community.

(7) Hospitality training to be arranged by the Department of Tourism and Marketing.

(8) Promotion of the downtown development district by the Department of Tourism and Marketing as part of the Department's Integrated Marketing and Promotion Program.

(9) Consistent with the Department's available resources and subject to the Department's priority for ensuring public safety, technical support from the Department of Public Safety for the rehabilitation of older and historic buildings.

(10) A rebate of the cost of a qualified sprinkler system in an amount not to exceed $2,000.00 for building owners or lessees. Rebates shall be paid by the Department of Public Safety. To be qualified, a sprinkler system must be a complete automatic fire sprinkler system installed in accord with Department of Public Safety rules in an older or historic building that is certified for a State tax credit under 32 V.S.A. § 5930cc(a) or (b) and is located in a downtown development district. A total of no more than $40,000.00 of rebates shall be granted in any calendar year by the Department. If in any year applications for rebates exceed this amount, the Department shall grant rebates for qualified systems according to the date the building was certified for a State tax credit under 32 V.S.A. § 5930cc(a) or (b) with the earlier date receiving priority.

(11) Participation in the Downtown Transportation and Related Capital Improvement Fund Program established by section 2796 of this title.

(12) Priority for locating proposed State functions by the Commissioner of Buildings and General Services or other State officials, in consultation with the legislative body of a municipality and based on the suitability of the State function to a downtown location.

(13) A reallocation of receipts related to the tax imposed on sales of construction materials as provided in 32 V.S.A. § 9819.

(14) The authority to create a special taxing district pursuant to chapter 87 of this title for the purpose of financing both capital and operating costs of a project within the boundaries of a downtown development district.

(b) Prior to designation of a downtown as a downtown development district by the Vermont Downtown Development Board under section 2793 of this title, the Board may deem eligible any otherwise qualified owners or lessees of buildings within a downtown for the tax credits under 32 V.S.A. chapter 151, subchapter 11J if the Board finds that the legislative body of the municipality in which the property is located is intending to seek designation of the downtown as a downtown development district and has taken substantial actions and made substantial commitments in furtherance of that intent. (Added 1997, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2001, No. 114 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. May 28, 2002; 2005, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 15.)