CLEARFIELD – Potential businesses will have another 10 years of opportunity to locate in Lawrence Township with reduced state and local taxes.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Lawrence Township Supervisors voted to approve a resolution extending the Keystone Opportunity Zone for another 10 years.
The resolution will take effect in January. The KOZ program is designed to offer opportunities for land development with reduced state and local taxes in designated areas of a municipality.
Most KOZ’s are parcels designated for commercial or industrial development and are intended to help attract manufacturing, commercial or industrial businesses to locate in these specific areas.
According to information from the state Department of Revenue, the first KOZs were established in 1999 by the Pennsylvania State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Ridge. As of 2008, KOZs are still being supported by continuing acts of the state legislature and the former Gov. Ed Rendell.
The zones are located throughout Pennsylvania in 12 separate regions: Northwest, Southwest, North Central, Southern Alleghenies, Northern Tier, Central, South Central, Lackawanna/Luzerne, Schuylkill/Carbon, Lehigh Valley, Southeast, and Philadelphia. Many of the sites are located in pre-existing airports and industrial parks.
In Lawrence Township, the KOZ is located in the Firemen’s Industrial Park, just off the intersection of Interstate 80 and Route 879.