7 CFR § 5001.103 - Eligible CF projects and requirements.
For a CF projects to be eligible for a loan guarantee under this part, it must meet the criteria specified in § 5001.102 and this section and be for a borrower eligible to submit an application for the project in accordance with § 5001.126.
(a) Type of project. The project must be for the construction, enlargement, extension, or to otherwise improve an essential community facility. Essential community facilities include, but are not limited to:
(1) Health care facilities and services, including but not limited to hospitals;
(2) Fire, rescue, and public safety facilities and services;
(3) Community, public, social, educational, or cultural facilities or services;
(4) Transportation facilities such as streets, bridges, roads, ports, and airports;
(5) Utility projects such as hydroelectric generating facilities and related connecting systems and appurtenances; supplemental and supporting structures for other rural electrification or telephone systems including facilities such as headquarters, office buildings, storage facilities, and maintenance shops when not eligible for RUS financing; natural gas distribution systems; and recycling or transfer centers or stations.
(6) Telecommunications end-user equipment as it relates to public safety, medical, or educational telecommunications links when not eligible for RUS financing;
(7) Water infrastructure facilities such as levees, dams, reservoirs, inland waterways, canals, and irrigation systems;
(8) The purchase and installation of renewable energy systems for use by an essential community facility when:
(i) The renewable energy system will help defray the cost of facility operation over the life of the system;
(ii) The renewable energy system will improve the borrower's ability to provide the underlying essential community service, such as providing backup facilities or extending fuel supplies of backup facilities;
(iii) The borrower does not, and will not, have any contract to sell power generated by the renewable energy system; however, receiving credit for excess production is permitted;
(iv) The borrower does not anticipate, and has no plan for, generation of more energy than it will use in a consecutive 12-month period. The borrower may receive credits from a utility for energy production that happens to exceed facility usage during a particular month;
(v) The renewable energy system is commercially available with proven operating history specific to the proposed application; and
(vi) The borrower provides a technical report as part of the financial feasibility study in accordance with § 5001.307(e) (1) and (2), as applicable of subpart D.
(9) Land acquisition and necessary site preparation including access ways and utility extensions to and throughout an industrial park site; and
(10) Community parks, community activity centers, and similar types of facilities that are an integral part of the orderly development of a community (meaning a development that is addressing a need in the community). Recreational components including, but not limited to, playground equipment of an otherwise non-recreational eligible community facility such as childcare, educational, or health care facilities are also eligible.
(b) Public use. All facilities financed under the provisions of this section will be for public use.
(1) To demonstrate availability for public use, the borrower may not restrict use of or membership to its facility or service based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or marital or familial status.
(i) However, 7 CFR 15a.215(b) provides that the membership practices of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, and Camp Fire Girls are exempt from open membership practices on the basis of sex.
(ii) If membership or admission is customarily required to access and use the facility or service, any individual who applies for membership or admission must be given membership, admitted, or be placed on a waiting list to join as space becomes available on a first-come, first-served basis. This does not preclude an essential community facility from having a threshold admission requirement, such as a college or university requiring their applicants to have a certain grade point average before they are considered for admission. The standard must be applied consistently to all applicants and be common to the industry.
(c) Project location. The project must be located in a rural area as defined in § 5001.3 of this part, except that utility projects serving both rural and non-rural areas are eligible for a loan guarantee regardless of project location. For such utility projects, the Agency will guarantee the rural area portion of the project and only the portion of the project necessary to provide the essential services to rural areas. The part of the facility located in a non-rural area must be necessary to provide the essential services to rural areas. The availability of funds for CF projects is contingent on its rural area population and the reservation of funds outlined in § 5001.316(e).