An area from Fort Meade to Eagle Lake is seeking to become a model for the county and will move ahead in trying to create a Green Zone that will help attract businesses, create jobs and save those businesses from paying taxes.

A group of 20 people met in the Polk County Administrative Complex Monday to see if creating a Green Zone along U.S. 17 is workable. A Green Zone would designate an area that produces products in “green” ways and because of a vote by the Tampa City Council to include Polk County in a foreign trade zone, businesses that locate here could apply to save money on excise and duty taxes in the products they ship.

Barton CRA Director Patrick Brett says the idea would be advantageous to helping the economy and help bring together a handful of communities to accomplish this.

In order to do that, though, agreements have to be reached with the county, Fort Meade, Bartow, Eloise and Eagle Lake. And the state Legislature has to pass a bill to allow the area to work together.

“We can have at their disposal the tools available from the state,” Brett told the gathering opening the meeting.

He said there are many tools available to take advantage of the situation and none of them would involve spending local taxpayer money, but improvements to the area have to be made.

One of the biggest improvements that has to be made is upgrading communication. There is already a fiber infrastructure that exists between Fort Meade and the Bartow Airport, but that has to be made available to the private sector, Brett said.

“I can’t stress the importance of broadband,” he said. “If you have DSL, you’re not going to make it. That’s the way the world is going.”

Another area the group should look into is having one person oversee this versus having several. Jason Willey, the economic development coordinator for the city of Lakeland, oversees the Enterprise Zone in that city and says it takes up about 20 percent of his time. The area is 7.9 square miles and though an Enterprise Zone along U.S. 17 is unknown until the U.S. Census Bureau releases income figures, he figures it will take a lot more time for someone to oversee a Green Zone in this area.

However, the advantages are here now, most people agreed. Some of them include the natural resources that are there that include the Peace River, Lake Hancock, Peace Creek, and other waterways. There is the extension of the Polk County trail system to Fort Meade and Eagle Lake along U.S. 17 as well as the tentative expansion plan of the Polk Parkway. And, the fact that the Bartow Airport is there can provide transportation and shipping. Brett said though expansion of public transportation was defeated in the last election, looking toward expanding it should be considered.

The EcoGen project in Fort Meade was used as an example. Fort Meade is already anticipating this major green project to be started next year. Officials of U.S. EcoGen have announced plans to construct a $250 million biomass
alternative fuels electric generating plant on U.S. 17 near Jenkins Ford.

The process involves converting eucalyptus trees to electricity. Because some of the trees needed for the process will be grown on site, company officials say the trees will absorb more carbon dioxide than the generating plant will emit, making it a carbon-negative project.

By using its standing as a foreign trade zone — which Polk County is not officially in and it could take another a year before it is this business could save money on what it buys and what it sells in excise and duty taxes in what it manufactures.

And there’s also the fact that there are existing businesses and some that have been looking to relocate are checking out Polk County.

“A foreign trade zone and an enterprise zone should go hand and glove,” said commercial Realtor Bob Kelly. “There are many companies up north that have been involved in both for years. They’re going to want the same benefit they have now and with the widening of the Panama Canal and if they’re looking at something in Florida they want something because they have a lot of business west of the Mississippi.”

Kelly further said he has 12 companies in western New York to call that could be interested in moving to Florida.

“New York is in trouble,” he said. “They’re having money problems up there and they’re looking to move.”

Kelly emphasized there is not a lot of time to get something done in order for the Legislature to pass a bill allowing the cohesiveness to happen. State Rep. Ben Albritton said in order to get something done in the next session, which will start early this year, he has to get together the local delegation to fill them in on what has to get done and a bill has to be drafted no later than Feb. 1 in order to give some “breathing room.”

Brett said he’d do a majority of the legwork to get this thing moving, but in the meantime the cities in this area have to pass resolutions supporting this. He said he’d keep in touch with the folks who were present mostly through email. And, though people aren’t jumping about thinking there is a full economic solution to this, they appear to want to move ahead with it.

“I’ve got people ready to go, but I need to know what has to get done,” said Eagle Lake City Manager Pete Gardner.

And, what could be created should also be something the county can take further advantage of.

“This is like making a model,” Brett said. “Once that is established, we can do this anywhere.”

Brian Ackley contributed to this story.