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Highlands Today

Catalyst Project Moving Along

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By Bill Rogers | Highlands Today

Published: February 3, 2008

SEBRING – The lengthy process of attracting an industry that will bring high-paying jobs to the region and perhaps attract other businesses is moving along.

In April of last year, Sebring Regional Airport and the airport's site emerged as the top location for a Rural Economic Development Catalyst Project in the region.

The project, which is a pilot program, will target industries with the goal of creating high value-added jobs, capital investment and an economic ripple throughout each region. The targeted industry areas include life sciences, pharmaceuticals, research and development, orthopedic manufacturers.

The South Central Rural Area of Critical Economic Concern includes Highlands, Hardee, Hendry, Glades, DeSoto and Okeechobee counties and the communities of Immokalee, South Bay, Belle Glade and Pahokee.

"The goal of this project is to get one site in the region construction ready, shovel ready, and then concurrent with that we will start doing marketing," said Mike Willingham, executive director of the Sebring airport.

However, that won't happen until a Memorandum of Agreement is signed between the counties and communities "because that is how the dollars are shared," said Lynn Topel, executive director of Florida's Heartland Rural Economic Development Initiative.

Representatives of the South Central RACEC spent about three hours discussing the development of a revenue distribution formula Thursday at the Heartland Workforce One-Stop Center in Sebring.

The distribution formula is to be based on local governments' population, financial contribution to pay for infrastructure, land and facilities plus regional, state, federal assistance, local maintenance and/or administrative costs.

Bob Rohrlack, senior vice president/business retention recruitment for Enterprise Florida, said the RACEC is "getting its ducks in a row."

"If it was a simple process it would have been done a long time ago," Rohrlack said.

Rohrlack said the counties and communities have had to consider the impact Amendment 1, which passed by a wide margin last week, could have on them. He added that the slowing down of the economy hasn't helped.

Willingham anticipates that it will be late this summer before "everything is signed, sealed and delivered."

The next catalyst meeting will probably be held in April.

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