July 2018

156 157 Wild Kingdom,which was on TV and had a place in Albany Georgia,”Thomas recounts,“and they were going to build one here.At that time- this was more than ten years ago- it was prematurely announced and big speculators came in here to put options on all the property within 15 miles of the intersec- tion.And so, the Development Commission had an opportunity to sell the 500 acres which was near it, and they have been existing with the use of those funds, and the interest,which is the money we are using to build the new industrial park.” “The engineering has started on the park already,” Thomas reports,“and we have had some of the envi- ronmentals and part of the ecologicals completed. We have one company that is committed to come as soon as we can get it to where they can get roads in there and start construction,with a planned 75 em- ployees.We think that by the end of the year, they’ll be starting that.We have two other companies that are interested in coming, already, because they are going to be using the product that the first compa- nymakes.Now,we also have some other industrial parks in the county; one on the west side of the county that is a smaller park, and we have two pros- pects that we are working on, on that site, as well.” As Thomas puts it,“Things are fixing to break loose here.”The Commission is just starting to mar- ket the park, having recently received a grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Enterprise Florida. The strategy will include internet marketing, email mailings to targeted lists of companies that tend to fall into the categories of sustainability, and then, followed up with hard mail- ers.Next, it will turn to site consultants and those HOLMES COUNTY, FLORIDA who are interested in this type of development. “Because we are a small county that does not have any funds, the incentives we can offer are limited,”Thomas opines.“But there are a lot of incentives the state offers, and along with that is the Ad-ValoremTax Exemption which is available to new, expanding, and existing businesses.We give them 100 per cent exemption up to ten years, based on the number of employees.That is the way it is set up right now; we are trying to get it changed to a straight 100 per cent across the board.” Thomas says he does not have the figures on economic impact yet, but plans are well on their way with the desire to have the park completed and ready for occupancy by the end of the year. Current commitments are already in the neighborhood of $300 million worth of investments. “I believe it will be a major change,”Thomas says. “Currently, because we are so close to the beach in Panama City,much of our population comes from