ATTLEBORO - While it's not known if officials can find a way to save the city's debt-ridden industrial business park, the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority is moving ahead with efforts to establish a 21-day permitting process to help encourage businesses to move into the 189-acre facility now under construction off County Street.

ARA Chairman Benton Keene III has formally asked city councilors to repeal one law, update another and exempt the ARA from a third, the combination of which would eliminate the need for lengthy public hearing and appeal processes.

The aim is speed up the process for businesses on tight budgets and timelines that are eager to move in.

Quick approvals are crucial to selling lots, Keene said.

Keene submitted the requests as a special committee appointed by the mayor scrutinizes finances for the cash-strapped park project which is about $4 million in debt and could go bust. The ARA has requested that a law requiring a special permit for earth removal above an elevation of 180 feet be repealed because it can only be applied to two city-owned sites and was originally written to protect Oak Hill from razing by a private developer. The city now has a water tower on the hill and owns the site.

City-owned land near Manchester Reservoir and within the industrial business park on Ides Hill is the only other area where the law could be applied, Keene said.

Meanwhile, Keene said much of the industrial business park would be exempted from public hearing requirements for Water Resource Protection Districts if up-to-date topographical maps are used. Maps used in the 1980s to put much of the western part of the park under the rules, but weren't highly detailed and incorrectly put the area into the district, he said.

Modern maps will take it out of the district and forgo a requirement for the ARA to get a special permit from the planning board before work is done.

Keene also requested that the city project be exempted from hearings required by new stormwater management rules as long as the park's design is determined to meet or exceed those rules. The work has been designed to the latest specifications, he said.

The requests were referred to the council's zoning and land use committee for discussion.