Glades County is open for business

EDC identifies target industries for recruiting

 The Glades County Economic Development Council, Inc. partnered with Florida Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative (FHREDI), The Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development and Enterprise Florida, to identify five preliminary "target" industries which would be suitable for the six-county Heartland Region,” in a regional “catalyst project, aimed at creating new industry clusters in the area.

According to EDC executive director Tracy Whirls, these five: warehousing and distribution; construction materials manufacture and distribution, niche manufacturing, renewable energies, and medical are those which the experts agree would be successful in this region and would serve as a "catalyst" for recruiting related businesses to the region.

  “They asked us to not only consider what sectors of the economy which are already looking at the inland counties, like construction manufacturing and distribution facilities, but at what industry could have the most potential to change the way the area is perceived,” Ms. Whirls said.

While the catalyst project will choose one industry to target, as the most likely to have the greatest economic impact on the region, the EDC director said Glades County is open to new businesses in any and all of the identified target industries.

 Having selected healthcare as the target industry for the region, the EDC directors turned their attention to identifying potential sites for the catalyst project to locate.

And while Glades County submitted only two sites for consideration during the catalyst project, the effort led to the identification of a number of potential light industrial, heavy industrial with rail and commercial sites for companies to select from.

“We have a variety of sites, ranging from the county’s 30-acre industrial park, a 194 ‘railport’ property zoned heavy industrial, to smaller 20 acre parcels with existing building stock for companies to choose from,” Ms. Whirls said. “We even have a 30-odd acre site just off the Caloosahatchee River which might be perfect for a research and development complex.”

While each of the six economic development councils in the Heartland Region will be asked to work together to select the ultimate catalyst project site, Ms. Whirls noted that the site selection criteria, which specified that submitted sites be at least 100 acres and up to 1,000, with rail access, gave Glades County an advantage.

“While some of the other counties have other advantages—more pre-existing medical facilities, satellite community college and university classes—we have more land with more rail,” Ms. Whirls said.

 As an added incentive to the counties to work together, sites submitted for consideration for the catalyst project  went through a “preclearance” review by the Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Transportation and other state agencies.

 “The benefit of the preclearance review is obvious,” Ms. Whirls said. “ Even if a particular site is not selected for the “catalyst” project, that site will be well ahead of the game when it comes to development for other commercial or industrial uses, having cleared many of the permitting hurdles associated with the process.”

Glades County now has two 1,000 acre parcels, with rail, which companies interested in siting in south Florida, can choose from. Both owned by EDC corporate partner Lykes, one site is just outside the county seat of Moore Haven, while a second is located just off US 27 in Palmdale.

As the process moves forward, each EDC will be expected to assist in scheduling site visits by a particular healthcare company, once consultants have identified the company or companies to target. Each of the six counties will be asked to sign a memorandum of understanding to participate in the process and ultimately, once a site is selected, the state will create a revenue sharing mechanism by which each of the counties in the region would share the tax revenue produced by the participating industry/company.

The "catalyst" project will create opportunities throughout the Heartland region, the EDC director said, while pursuing other target industries will mean other new opportunities for Glades County residents and their children.

“Studies have shown that employees will travel within a 75 mile radius for high wage/high skill jobs,” Ms. Whirls said, adding that Glades County’s location near the dead center of the state and within 75 miles of either coast has a large labor pool to draw from.

For more information on potential manufacturing sites in Glades County, phone (863) 946-0300.