County Gives Green Light to Enterprise Zone
By: Jeff Roslow
On Tuesday the Polk County Commission became the sixth government agency to support a resolution for the corridor along U.S. 17 to form an enterprise zone, which includes Fort Meade.
Forming such a zone would help Polk County attract businesses, create jobs and possibly be something other areas in Polk County could copy if it becomes real and can be done.
The other agencies and municipalities that have already OK’d a resolution include the cities of Eloise, Eagle Lake, Bartow, Fort Meade and the Bartow Airport Authority which is in the middle of it and would be a transportation hub. Other organizations that have passed the resolution include the City of Lake Wales, which is not along U.S. 17, and the Bartow Community
Redevelopment Agency.
“I talked about it and the attorneys have looked at it to see if the I’s were dotted and Ts crossed,” County Commissioner Melony Bell said prior to
the vote.
At stake was moving forward with a plan to draft a resolution to “sell” to the state Legislature in the hope of exploring the possibility of forming this would be possible. At a meeting in November where representatives from the cities were present as was state Rep. Ben Albritton, he said in order for the Legislature to take a look at something in this session he would need a resolution in hand by Feb. 1.
“The county is the glue that holds everything together,” Patrick Brett, the Bartow CRA executive director said in reference to this coming before the board Tuesday.
Brett, who has been heading up this effort and has kept member cities informed said he is prepared to draft a resolution to submit to the state. He just needs OKs from everyone involved before he can do it.
His plan is to go to the Polk County Day in Tallahassee in early February and make his pitch. First he’ll have to get an OK from the CRA board when it meets Wednesday.
“When we have all the resolutions ready I’ll ask the board to go to Tallahassee and whoever wants to go can go,” he said.
He’s not sure how exactly to get a go-ahead from the state as two other counties are seeking the same thing and if it should go on a similar bill or a separate one, but that decision would be up to state lawmakers not him, he said.
An enterprise zone is an area that meets a certain economic criteria that would allow businesses to locate there and under the Foreign Trade Zone that Polk County could very well be approved for it would save those businesses tax money imports and exports. In this, the area that stretches from Fort Meade to Eloise would be in a green zone, meaning non-polluting businesses and those that develop merchandise in that area would be favored. Already there are a number of businesses in the area that meet that. Brett cited Greenovative and EcoGen, which will break ground for a plant in the coming months.
Everything so far has been moving smoothly, so smoothly in fact, Brett said, he’s a little unnerved about it. Bell is with him on how things have been going, but she’s thinking it could be due to the potential economic advantages.
“I tried to attend all the city meetings and everyone seems to be on board,” she said. “We have to do something to entice growth especially on the south end of the county. With CSX, Streamsong, EcoGen we have a lot of opportunities.”