Okaloosa County BOCC — March 4, 2014 — EDC Site Certification Memo to BCC — reading text

MEMO Date: February 25, 2014 To: Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners Cc: Ernie Padgett, Okaloosa County Administrator From: Nathan Sparks, Executive Director Subject: Gulf Power Park Certification Program Update The EDC is coming before the BCC in preparation for the potential launch of Phase III activities associated with the Gulf Power Industrial Park Certification Program. As previously shared, Okaloosa County has been invited by McCallum Sweeney Consulting to submit the Crestview Industrial Air Park for the final phase of the program. Phase III includes site engineering work and studies resulting in undetermined costs and must be completed by September 2014 in order to qualify for final certification. Refresher Gulf Power is launching Florida’s first site certification program. The intent of this initiative is to help publicly-owned sites become certified, reducing the time and expense for businesses to locate here. The site certification program is designed to provide prospective businesses with comprehensive data on a site, assist communities with marketing them, and certify that the locations are ready for industrial development – it expedites the development process thereby saving time and money. Gulf Power is paying for the program design, for retaining McCallum Sweeney as the Site Consultant firm and paying 50% of the consultant fees (for Phase II and Phase III) for processing publicly-owned sites; the public entity property owner submits the remaining 50%. The decision to participate is at the Board of County Commissioners’ discretion on whether or not to partner with Gulf Power on this opportunity. Some of Florida’s biggest competitors in economic development – Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi – already have successful site certification programs and properties. Why are we here? The County must now decide whether to move forward with Phase III of the program. While informal cost estimates for engineering services required under Phase III of the McCallum Sweeney program were solicited and received by the EDC, these estimates were purely informational and put forth as a means of providing the Commission with some baseline of potential cost implications associated with Phase III. Formal bid for the contract to complete the studies should still go out should the BCC decide to move forward. For Consideration o One of the fastest growing trends in economic development is the demand for project-ready industrial site locations. Companies looking to build new facilities want sites that are ready to go and relatively “risk free.” Competitive communities who are seeking to recruit projects need to be prepared to market their sites with a wealth of site-related information and data. o Companies are not willing to wait for a community to identify an appropriate site and determine its suitability for development. By doing it ahead of time, it puts the prepared community steps ahead of other communities. In reality, if the site was being submitted for a project, the community would have to go through this process before the company would commit. It could take months or even years. o Participation in the program does not guarantee success, it guarantees you will receive priority consideration and be more competitive. o In the real world, all projects are profit driven, deadline driven, competitive, comprehensive and risk adverse. The majority of projects/clients are driven by speed-to-market pressure. o After the certification process is completed, the sites would be added to a national registry of properties identified as ready for development. o Gulf Power anticipates launching a specific marketing campaign for the newly certified sites. o Northwest Florida is ahead of the curve as South and Central Florida are in the beginning stages of developing a similar program through Duke Energy. P.O. Box 4097, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549 - (850)362-6467 Page 1 of 2 History o April 10, 2013 - Gulf Power hosted a Site Certification kick-off meeting in Fort Walton Beach. Tracy Stage attended on behalf of the airports. Essential materials for review were provided to each participant and subsequently provided to the BCC for consideration. o May 3, 2013 – EDC submitted a non-binding Letter of Intent o May 21, 2013 – County voted to sign the non-binding Phase II Applicant Acknowledgment – Site Evaluation o May 21, 2013 – Evaluation materials released to EDC on the terms that a signed Phase II Acknowledgment must be sent as soon as it is received. Evaluation documents shared with airport staff. o May 28, 2013 – Electronic copy of signed Phase II Applicant Acknowledgment received and remitted to Gulf Power and consultant. o June 5, 2013 – Memo was sent to all Commissioners regarding the status of the 50 contiguous acres at the Bob Sikes Airport. o June 6, 2013 – EDC brainstormed with McCallum Sweeny, Gulf Power, Growth Management, and the airport office for ideas on other avenues to participate. o June 28, 2013 – EDC, in coordination with multiple county and community partners, submitted a detailed Phase II response with answers to the 168 questions on the Site and Community Questionnaire with 22 attachments. EDC worked with multiple important partners such as Department of Growth Management, Airport, Public Works, Water & Sewer, Information Systems, Public Safety, Gulf Power, Okaloosa Gas, Cox Communications, Workforce Development Board, Property Appraiser’s office, OSCD. o July 15, 2013 – Answers to follow up questions submitted to McCallum Sweeney. o July 31, 2013 – A site visit was conducted with the consultants and was treated as a potential company with a detailed presentation on Quality of Life, Educational Attainment, Enterprise Zone, Workforce Assessment, etc. This site visit brought 14 participants together at the Crestview Chamber of Commerce and ended with a windshield tour of the Okaloosa Industrial Air Park. o July – August 2013 – Hard copies of the final product of Phase II was distributed to all Commissioners, Department of Growth Management, County Administrator, and the Airport department. o September 9, 2013 – Okaloosa County was formally invited to participate in Phase III. o September 10, 2013 – Commissioners informed of invitation via e-mail communication. Commission informed that EDC would investigate potential costs further. o October 2013 to January 2014 – Due diligence on non-committal price ranges to complete studies as required in Phase III before presentation to BCC. Process A timeline of the phases and their statuses or due dates are outlined below. Please keep in mind that this does not include the costs of having the studies done, only the price due to McCallum Sweeney for participation in the program. Cost to Phases Required Documents Status or Due Date Cost to County Gulf Power Phase I: Letter of Intent Completed – 5/3/2013 --- --- Applicant Acknowledgement Completed - 5/21/13 --- --- Phase II: Site & Community Questionnaire Completed - June 28, 2013 $2,750 $2,750 Site Visit Completed - July 31, 2013 --- --- Phase III: Selection Status/Invitation Completed - September 9, 2013 --- --- Deadline - Phase III Application September 2014 $7,750 $7,750 th Notification of Certification Decision 4 Quarter 2014 --- --- Total Cost to Entities $10,500 $10,500 As always, thank you for your continued proactive and business-friendly approach in economic development. The EDC will continue our commitment to identify and engage in proactive actions bringing business development to Okaloosa County! P.O. Box 4097, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549 - (850)362-6467 Page 2 of 2