(1) The legislature finds that it is in the public interest to promote economic growth and to encourage private investment, job creation, and job upgrading for residents in local governmental units that are economically distressed.

  (2) The legislature further finds that the present and future health, safety, right to gainful employment, business opportunities, and general welfare of the people of this state require, as a public purpose, that enterprise zones be created to encourage businesses to locate and expand in areas characterized by high unemployment, low income, high property tax rates, and blighted, obsolete, and underutilized residential, commercial, and industrial property.