Page 26 - Hanford Chamber of Commerce: Small Business Startup Toolkit

City Incentive Programs

Fast-Tracking

The City of Hanford has been extremely successful working with businesses and streamlining the develop-
ment process. In addition, they will expedite any development in the Enterprise Zone and Redevelopment
Area by holding special meetings as necessary to discuss the project to assure development progresses
smoothly.

Development Fee Payment Deferral Program
The City o ers a 3-year payment deferral for development impact fees. The interest rate is currently 3%. This
requires meeting speci c guidelines and requires City Council approval.

Downtown Business Incentives
• New and existing businesses can take advantage of the downtown business incentives:
• No additional parking requirements for businesses at existing buildings.
• Three parking options for new construction and additions to existing buildings. These include install
ing parking on-site as required by the zoning ordinance, paying the current in-lieu fee per
space, or a combination of the two.
• Public sidewalk enhancements and improvements provided by the city when required by the devel
opment review process.
• Tra c impact fee for new construction and additions reduced by 20%.
• No tra c impact fee required for reuse of existing buildings that do not increase tra c over the
previous use

Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ)
This designation allows businesses to obtain loans at below market rated from the California Integrated
Waste Management Board if they reduce their waste to the land ll or utilize a recycled material in the manu-
facturing process. The loans extend up to $2 million, or a maximum of 75% of the total project cost. The term
is 10-15 years and the interest rate is around 4.25%.

Training Programs
A variety of training programs is available to assist the business. Within the city, local and state programs can
assist with job referral, placement and training. The Kings County Workforce Development Board is the
single point of contact for job creation, referral, placement and training. It includes the Kings County Job
Training O ce, Employment Development Department, and the marketing arm of Kings County Economic
Development Corporation. These programs can be combined and overlapped to maximize training bene ts.

Kings County Job Training Office (JTO)
JTO provides assistance to employers with several programs: Vocational Counseling and Assessment, Voca-
tional Training, On-the-Job Training, Screening for Enterprise Zone and other tax credits, and Coordination of
Services for other Employment and Training Providers. For example, the On-the Job Training program, which
can be combined with the Enterprise Zone Hiring Credit provides a 50% reimbursement for each employee’s
hourly wage during the training period. For a 60-day training program for 10 employees at $7.50/hour, an