MALONE — Economic-development officials want Franklin County to seek special status to lower green-card criteria that could encourage foreign businesses to invest here.
Mark Barie of CrossBorder Development Corp.; Michael Conway, executive director of the Adirondack Economic Development Corp.; and Gregory Hill, interim director of the Adirondack North Country Association, said it would cost $102,000 to $105,000 to formulate the best plan and application for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
It has a little-used policy called EB-5 that had required foreign investors to spend $1 million and create 10 jobs over two years in order to obtain the proper permits to work in the United States.
But, Barie said, the criteria were recently reduced to an investment of $500,000 and the creation of four jobs in two years.
He said the now-defunct North Country Alliance had such a designation as a regional center but never used it. The program also got bad press because it was abused in some areas where no jobs were created by some users.
But the entities who presented their case Thursday to the County Legislature said Franklin County can have as much success as Vermont has seen at Jay Peak, where foreign money is transforming and expanding the winter resort.
According to an article on CNN Money.com, when 35 investors raised $17.5 million for Jay Peak, the federal program helped leverage another $100 million, which was used to create 350 jobs at the 54-year-old resort.
Jay Peak is now moving from a winter-skiing-only destination to a year-round resort.
Barie, Conway and Hill said the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort in Tupper Lake could be a perfect centerpiece for Franklin County's application, although they weren't officially endorsing the merits of the multi-million-dollar project.
Barie said his consulting company could be hired to put the application together and see that it gets approved. Then, an experienced attorney specializing in this kind of work would seek out the foreign investors, steering them toward Franklin County.
He said narrowing the focus to a recreation/tourism project and mentioning other regional projects, like the proposed Holiday Inn Express in Malone and Titus Mountain Ski Center, which is for sale, would help the application along.
Conway said his agency could review each potential investor to ensure he or she is following the state and federal guidelines for compliance.
They would work with the Adirondack North Country Association, which is backing a consolidated Adirondack planning initiative.
Any investment the county might make could come back in the form of administrative fees charged to the potential investors, Barie said, so the program could eventually be self-sufficient.
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
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