Twenty thousand new industrial jobs.
That’s what could eventually come to Baker County if two mega-industrial park
projects — one east of Macclenny and another west of Sanderson — become a
reality.
County officials and a number of land developers have been pushing the state to
understand Baker County’s potential for industrial growth and approve a variance
to allow more traffic on I-10 to accommodate it.
Lake Butler developer Avery Roberts of Roberts Land & Timber Investment Corp.
just got some more ammunition for that effort in the form of an opinion from a
New York City economist on the demand for distribution centers and logistical
support industries west of Jacksonville.
Mr. Roberts hopes to build an industrial park on 1500 acres near the
intersection of I-10 and US 90 in the west county. The idea is for what County
Manager Joe Cone has called an “inland port,” or a place where containers from
the Jacksonville port can be stored before being trucked to other locations
across the southeastern United States and Florida.
The opinion on the need for such facilities came from Doug Rubin, a senior
economist with the maritime engineering and goods transportation consulting firm
Moffat & Nichol in New York.
“Since much of the natural ‘hinterland’ or serving area for the movement of
containers through JaxPort will be toward north and central Florida, the
positioning of distribution support industries along I-10 and US 90 west of
Jacksonville is geographically logical,” states Mr. Rubin.
To back up his opinion, Mr. Rubin cites two million more containers expected to
come out of Jacksonville as a result of the port’s growth into the Asian
shipping market.
He estimates those additional containers will require another 33 to 100 million
square feet of warehouse space and distribution centers that will, in turn, need
between 2800 and 8400 acres of land devoted to industrial development.
“Much of this development will and should occur west of Jacksonville towards
Baker County,” wrote Mr. Rubin.
Multiple projects, more jobs
In addition to Mr. Robert’s Olustee project, another 1225-acre industrial park
is being planned east of Macclenny by the Texas-based Jackson-Shaw Co. and the
owner of the property, La Buena Farms Inc. owned by the Knabb family.
That project stretches from the eastern county line west to Macclenny and from
US 90 and the railroad tracks south to I-10.
It’s envisioned to include 710 acres of industrial development with six million
square feet of floor space, 40 acres of commercial development and 475 acres of
conservation lands. Plans also foresee a new I-10 interchange as a vital element
to the project.
Furthermore, Mr. Rubin says almost three jobs, 2.85 to be exact, are created for
every 2200 square feet of space in a distribution center.
At that rate, the Jackson-Shaw site, with six million square feet of industrial
space, could translate into more than 7700 new jobs. Add that to the Olustee
industrial park with roughly 10 million square feet of industrial space, and
under the formula more than 20,000 new jobs could be on the way to Baker County.
The snag
A major hurdle to industrial development in Baker County has been the state’s
adopted level of service designations for I-10 here, which correlate to how much
traffic is allowed on the road before developers are forced to pay for its
improvement.
For instance, in Duval County, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)
adopted an urban level of service (LOS) designation “D” for I-10, meaning
heavier traffic on that stretch of interstate is allowed.
But from Baldwin to Baker County at CR 228, the state has adopted a rural LOS of
“B,” which means there are fewer homes in the area, and therefore, less traffic
is permitted on that part of I-10.
However, massive industrial parks here would add much more traffic to I-10,
presumably dropping the road’s available capacity below the available capacity
for a road designated a rural LOS B.
That triggers mitigation on the part of developers, most likely, the expense of
adding more lanes to I-10 to maintain the rural LOS designation of B.
To solve the LOS problem, and make Baker County more attractive to industrial
development, the county has requested that FDOT change the existing levels of
service in Baker County from B and C to D.
The request was made by submitting a variance application to the state, which
County Manager Joe Cone said was paid for by a number of developers interested
in building here, including Jackson-Shaw and Mr. Roberts.
Mr. Cone said there are a number of reasons that FDOT’s LOS designations for
I-10 in Baker County should be changed.
First, he said, it seems rather arbitrary that the LOS jumps up from a D in
Duval County to a B in the thin Nassau County strip through to CR 228, and then
back down to a C between CR 228 and CR 125 in Glen before going back up to a B
from Glen to the western county line.
“You can’t add or take cars off the interstate because there’s no exits,” he
said of the section between Baldwin and CR 228. “There’s no reason to increase
it at the county line.”
If the LOS change is granted, and I-10 in Baker County has an adopted LOS of D,
then when industrial growth adds more traffic to the interstate, traffic counts
will match the adopted LOS and developers won’t have to pay to widen the road.
“Typically, DOT’s response is driven more so by traffic counts and roof tops,”
said Mr. Cone. “What we’re saying is, ‘Forget that. It’s the economic
development we’re pursuing as a result of the port expansion...’ It’s going to
happen. It’s not a what if. The contracts have been signed.”
Lobbying Tallahassee
To that end, Mr. Cone, county Planning Director Ed Preston and Chamber of
Commerce Executive Director Darryl Register were in Tallahassee July 18 to lobby
FDOT Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos on the LOS matter.
“It was a really good meeting — real good,” said Mr. Cone. He said he was able
to explain that there’s a new dynamic at work in North Florida that’s unlike
development pressures in central and south Florida where it’s usually
neighboring municipalities competing for growth and new jobs.
“If we can’t provide these (industrial) sites in north Florida, they’re going to
go to Georgia, but they are still going to use the Florida transportation
system,” Mr. Cone said.
He also argued to Ms. Kopelousos that new jobs in Baker County would mean that
some of the roughly 5000 people that commute on I-10 to Jacksonville for work
everyday could stay here.
“I told her, ‘I trust you’ll share this with the governor so the jobs don’t go
to Georgia,’” said Mr. Cone. “I think (now) DOT has seen the light.”
FDOT response coming soon
The county submitted the variance application last January and the state is
required to respond within 90 days.
However, since the 90-day deadline last April, the state has asked for two
subsequent 30-day extensions, which the county granted.
But, Mr. Cone said he expects a response on the variance, either yes or no, by
the end of the month and that no more extensions will be given. If FDOT denies
the variance, the county can appeal the decision at an administrative hearing.
“It’s a stroke of a pen and it’s fixed,” he said of the variance.
One condition of approval that FDOT has already shared with county officials
will be a mechanism to ensure the additional traffic capacity, if granted, will
not be used for more residential developments like the Cedar Creek DRI
(development of regional impact). “They don’t want to give us additional traffic
on I-10 and have us give it to a DRI,” said Mr. Cone.
How that would work is still under negotiation, but he said the county would
likely be responsible for tracking projects and denying building permits for
residential projects at the proposed industrial sites.
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Revised: August 21, 2008
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