PLANT CITY — City business and government leaders drew a panoramic picture of Plant City Tuesday, from its available acreage, to its easy-access transportation routes, schools, work ethic and amenities.
Hosting its first-ever economic development forum, this community east of Tampa and west of Lakeland, known best as the winter strawberry capital of the nation, hung out its shingle. “Plant City. Right. Now.” It’s all an effort to grow jobs and become a more self-sufficient economy with a bright future for growth.
Sitting right off the busy I-4 Corridor, Plant City has laid the groundwork for future businesses like distribution centers, logistics centers, manufacturing plants and agribusiness. It has fast-tracked its permitting procedures, is laying utility lines to portions of County Line Road that don’t currently have water and sewer, has prepared a tract in its Midtown region for a mixed-use village and announced plans for future residential development totalling more than 3,000 homes.