At a Jan. 24 special meeting, the local City Revitalization and Improvement Zone committee met with local and state officials. In attendance were State Senator Lisa Boscola, State Rep. Julie Harhart, and State Rep. Daniel McNeil. Also in attendance were Tom Gombar, regional director for State Sen. Judy Schwank and Larry West, regional director for State Senator John Blake.

The communities of Catasauqua, Whitehall, and Coplay submitted an application to the state in November 2013 to form a tax zone that would reduce business taxes for certain hard to develop properties. In the local area, the feature projects are Catasauqua's Front Street, Whitehall's Lehigh Dairy, and Coplay's General Supply. The state rejected the agreement, but did allow the creation of CRIZ zones in Bethlehem and Lancaster.

The original CRIZ plan presented by the state had been included in a pilot program that boroughs and townships could use. The pilot program was not awarded. However, according to Howard Lieberman, Executive Director of the Whitehall Township Industrial & Commercial Development Authority, there is discussion at the state level to expand and modify the CRIZ program to include boroughs and townships.

The latest local meeting of the CRIZ committee was to present recommendations to the state representatives based on observations made by the intermunicipal group.

According to the committee, existing legislation requires municipalities to set up an authority before applying for CRIZ eligibility. With a cost of $10,000 to set up an authority, municipalities are reluctant to go to that expense in order to present proposals. The committee recommended the legislation be changed to allow smaller municipalities to set up the authority after the CRIZ was awarded instead of before.

The committee noted municipal entities are permitted to create an Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and the state should not require a separate authority for a CRIZ when the framework already exists.

The committee wants to see the state put more emphasis on projects that are difficult to develop like brown fields and other troubled properties and preserve green fields.

One of the reasons the local CRIZ package was rejected, according to the state, is the boroughs of Catasauqua and Coplay joined with Whitehall to work cooperatively on several projects. The present legislation frowns on intermunicipal cooperation.

Because the Commonwealth did not authorize any CRIZ awards for smaller municipalities, the committee asked the state representatives that the applications submitted be reviewed with a potential to rejuvenate the pilot project for boroughs and townships.

The state officials took the recommendations from the committee back with them.

Lieberman said he will keep in contact and report any progress back to the CRIZ committee.