U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) 4

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PSM:\: ~e -2008-261 CP 1:. ~.J ' ' " U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOP~(ENT y'* ~IIIIIII * IY:~ShIINGTON. DC ?0.110-7000 'E `~~ a y Jt VF.~ :\SSIST:\NT SECRET ~\Rl' F<)R C'061~i1.'Nlil' ALANNINCi AND DLb'EU)P~IEN'I I~~~ ~ The Honorable Miguel A. Pulido Mayor of the City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Box 1988 Santa Ana, California 92702 Dear Mayor Pulido: Thank you for your letter of June 24, 2008, in full support of Linda Summers' letter dated June 5, 2008, requesting a modification to the Santa Ana Empowerment Zone's Developable Site #3 to include an additional 682.8 acres, and to withdraw the City's original request to modify Developable Site #1 as well. No modifications were requested for the Developable Sites identified as Site # 1 and #2. Thus, the resulting size of all three sites, upon approval of the modification to Developable Site # 3, will be 1,742 acres. Reference the enclosed Exhibit A. Before addressing the details of the Department's review of your expansion request, I am pleased to notify you that your request to expand Developable Site #3 pursuant to 24 CFR § 598.425(b) has been approved. Our review of this request focused on the definition of a developable site as provided for in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 which states that a Round II Empowerment Zone may have up to three noncontiguous parcels, not to exceed 2,000 acres, and that may be developed for commercial or industrial purposes. The map found at Exhibit B of your modification request identifies the exact locations of all three developable sites and clearly shows them as noncontiguous "parcels" within the meaning of the statutory definition. The attached Exhibit C showing the "Santa Ana Empowerment Zone Proposed Boundary Modification" for Site #3 supports the City of Santa Ana's contention that this expansion has a zero population; accordingly, HUD deems the Zone to have met the population requirements of 24 CFR § 598.100 (a). In seeking to expand the Zone, the June 5th letter highlighted the benefits that would accrue as a result of the expansion as well as successful efforts to date in promoting the $11 billion tax incentive package to your business community. In this regard, the letter also summarizes the strides that the Santa Ana Empowerment Zone has made in using available federal tax incentives, such as the issuance of 1,662 wage credit affidavits representing $4.8 million in federal tax savings to your local businesses and the issuance of five Industrial Development Bonds totaling $27.1 million. In her June 5th letter, Ms. Summers also notes that given the most current economic data, there is still a real need for increased job opportunities for Zone residents in Santa Ana. This is supported by a comparison of Santa Ana's 6.9 percent unemployment rate based on February 2008 labor force data for Local Workfol•ce Investment Areas in California compared to the national rate of \~n~~.hud.gov espanol.hud.bo\•