(1)
Except as otherwise provided in an intergovernmental agreement entered into
pursuant to article 46.5 of title 24, C.R.S., the authority may not undertake or
finance a project until the board or the executive director pursuant to rules and
regulations adopted by the board first determines that:
(a) Providing the project will assist in promoting sound economic
development or in maintaining employment in the area in which the project is or is
to be located, or in an area reasonably accessible thereto, or in the reduction of
unemployment or underemployment in such area;
(b) The financing agreement relating thereto provides for payment to the
authority of such revenues that, together with any government subsidies relating to
the project and other moneys available or expected to be available, will be
sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on all notes and bonds issued to
finance the project, to build up and maintain any reserves deemed advisable by the
authority in connection therewith, and to pay the costs of maintaining the project in
good repair and keeping it properly insured, unless the financing agreement
obligates the sponsor to pay for the maintenance of and insurance on the project;
and
(c) The sponsor of the project is not a state agency, county, municipality, or
other public body except the authority and the land on which the project is to be
located has not been acquired by exercise of the power of eminent domain during
the two years preceding the submission of the project plan to the authority.
(2) Upon making the determinations specified in subsection (1) of this section
and in case of projects involving the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of a
building, upon approval by the board of a project plan, the authority, in addition to
the other powers granted by this part 7, shall have the following powers:
(a) To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to sell, make,
or participate in a loan to finance or lease for a term not exceeding ninety-nine
years, with or without an option to purchase, any project, without public bidding or
public sale, and upon such terms and conditions as the authority may deem
appropriate. The authority may enter into such a financing agreement prior to, at
the date of, or subsequent to the completion of the project. Where such a financing
agreement is entered into, the authority may pay the project costs of the project
and complete the construction and development of the project prior to any actual
conveyance, loan, or lease.
(b) To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to purchase
or participate in the purchase, from a lender, of loans to sponsors to finance project
costs, upon such terms and conditions as the authority may deem appropriate. The
authority may enter into such a financing agreement prior to, at the date of, or
subsequent to the completion of the project.
(c) To commit to enter and to enter into a financing agreement to make a
loan to a lender, upon the condition that the lender invest the proceeds of such loan
in loans to sponsors to finance project costs on such terms and conditions as the
authority may deem appropriate;
(d) To acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, alter, equip, and
repair or to provide for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation,
improvement, alteration, equipping, and repairing of any project; to maintain,
operate, and manage or to provide for the maintenance, operation, and
management of any project; to mortgage or otherwise encumber any project; and to
sell or lease any project;
(e) To prepare or cause to be prepared plans, specifications, designs, and
estimates of costs for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation,
improvement, alteration, equipment, maintenance, or repairing of any project and to
periodically modify such plans, specifications, designs, and estimates.
(3) All projects shall be subject to any applicable master plan, official map,
zoning regulations, building code, and other regulations governing land use or
planning of the county or municipality in which the project is or is to be located.
However, nothing in this subsection (3) shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise
affect the right of the authority, a sponsor, or any other person to apply for and
obtain, by any lawful means and to the extent otherwise permitted by law, an
amendment to, a change in, or a variance from any such master plan, official map,
zoning regulation, building code, or other regulation governing land use or planning
with respect to any project.
(4) Each county and municipality in which a project is located, in connection
with such project, shall provide police, fire, sanitation, health protection, and other
governmental services of the same character and to the same extent as those
provided for other residents of such county and municipality.
(5) The authority shall be empowered to enter into contractual agreements
with any county or municipality with respect to the furnishing of any additional
community, municipal, or public facilities or services necessary or desirable for any
project.
(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the state, any state
agency, any county, and any municipality in which a project is or is to be located,
and any board, authority, agency, department, commission, public corporation, or
instrumentality of such county or municipality, shall have the power to lend or grant
money or any other form of property, real, personal, or mixed, to the authority and
to enter into contracts to make such loans and grants, all upon such terms and
conditions as the authority and the state, state agency, county, or municipality, as
the case may be, may agree upon.
(7) Except as otherwise provided in an intergovernmental agreement entered
into pursuant to article 46.5 of title 24, C.R.S., the authority shall exercise its
powers in connection with the financing of projects primarily for the benefit of
small businesses, and the authority shall prepare as part of its annual report a
summary of the nature and extent of its assistance rendered to small business
projects.