PDE-25-0021

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1. 1Nov 12, 2024
   Board of County CommissionersR52Regular businessNo disposition in the minutes

   Open this item →▶ Play from 1:10:38
   ▶ 1:10:3835m

   OakleyChair

   1:10:38Okay, that's the end of our resolutions. Except for RS1, which we're gonna do a time certain at 1145. We will now start regular items. I believe

   1:11:01More over here.

   1:11:06Uh presentation only, I guess R52.

   David Engel

   1:11:12Hey morning, David Engel, Planning and Development, Economic Development Director. I'm here today to introduce Ernst ⁇ Young. Ernston Young was retained by the county about seven months ago. to do a independent evaluation of our economic development and growth programming. We've had extensive engagements with the Pasco EDC and their stakeholders. The Ernst ⁇ Young team has had extensive experience working in the state of Florida. And

   1:11:43it's our um our recommendation that uh this study, even though it's a non-action item, be included in determination of future funding and programming here for the county and our economic growth program. So I'm going to turn it over to uh Jury Lopez, who's the lead for Ernst Young. Thank you. Thank you.

   Jerry Lopez

   1:12:12Excellent. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Jerry Lopez. I'm a manager with Ernst ⁇ Young's Economic Development Advisory Services Practice and I'm really excited to be here with you today to present our final economic development strategy. It has been wonderful working with your staff, with David and Steve, as well as your many stakeholders in the county. We do work all over the county, and you are indeed in many ways on the leading edge of thinking

   1:12:43about economic development and how you apply those tools and approaches to what you do. So I'd like to start just by saying that you are really at a pivotal juncture in your economic evolution. You boast a very strong economic position that outproof performs national and regional benchmarks and I'll go over uh some of that with you today. Through effective use of your programs from economic incentives and other programs, you have made significant investments in attracting

   1:13:13industries and developing some high-value industrial sites. yielding a very uh positive return on your investment. Your pro business climate um has fostered collaborative relationships with educational institutions, setting the stage for sustained economic vitality. However, with your Rapid growth brings a lot of challenges that must be addressed. But as a forward-looking community, you have requested a strategy that takes a look at that. So this strategy outlines

   1:13:43a path to be able to provide that prosperous future for both your businesses and your residents. So my goal for you today is just to go over some of our key insights, where that came from, our strategies, some priorities, and some implementation considerations for you. Um as part of our key insights We conducted a variety of analyses and studies to be able to assess your current economic conditions. This included benchmarking Pasco County to 13 other

   1:14:13counties across the country that are either in a similar position to you or are aspirational in nature. So this means that it's a growing county as part of a large metropolitan area. We conducted a Target industry analysis to understand those key growth sectors, as well as evaluating your current programs and incentives to understand how those programs are performing. In addition, we did a robust stakeholder engagement process working with the PASCO Economic Development Council. And

   1:14:43we also looked at leading practices throughout the country, and we did a strategy workshop to be able to refine those assumptions and create your priorities. From here, these key insights, I want to go over that with you. Because these are gonna set the stage and that context to provide the answer to the question: the here's where we are now. Where do we go from here? So for decades, Pasco has been known as a bedroom community of the Tampa Bay

   1:15:13region. Today, more than 600,000 people call Pasco home, which is a 14% growth over the last 14 years. And we looked at those benchmarks. As I said, these are counties, so this includes metro areas like Phoenix, Charlotte, Atlanta, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. Pasco is the third fastest growing communities among the benchmarks. So as you can see from this table, um the Tampa Bay uh metropolitan area overall is only at two percent and you are suppressing that.

   StarkeyVice Chair

   1:15:43What?

   Jerry Lopez

   1:15:45And with that, the jobs are also coming and they're coming fast. Um uh you have

   1:15:52And so they're coming also at the higher rate as most of your benchmarks as well. So you've added over 22,000 jobs over the last five years. And looking at those jobs in those current industry targets, you have advanced manufacturing, aerospace, aviation, and defense, logistics, distribution. Businesses and professional services, life sciences and medical technology, and high technology. The PASCO EDC project announcements in these six industries over the last five

   1:16:23years included 8,000 announced jobs with over 915 million in capital investments in these target industries. Your growth and incentive programs, especially Penny for Pasco, has been a strong contributor to this growth. Since 2018, you have committed over 181 million to economic development, of which 62 million of that was from Pasco for Penny for Pasco. On the pie chart on the right, you can see that distribution across those programs, such

   1:16:53as site development, business development. workforce and the ecosystem development. So in total. As I mentioned, in looking at some early results of the evaluation that we did, business development agreements have generated a public benefit of $4 for every $1 of investment that you've done. Now this is a very small sample given that they're still in progression, but so far it's a very positive return on your investment. So while this is extremely good news, there's still

   1:17:23a lot more work to be done. As you know, um you rely heavily on your residential tax revenues and as you know the cost of providing those residential services um Are oftentimes higher than the revenues that do come in. Specifically, the residential tax base continues to grow at an outsized pace. So the pie chart on the right shows that your percentage of residential is 85% of your total tax base. When you look

   1:17:53at the combination of your commercial and your industrial property, that's only 10%. Ideally you should really be more like at a 7030 or a 7020 split. So in addition, you do need more high-paying industries and residents to be able to be employed in those jobs. Your wages for 2023 were about $60,000 and household incomes are the lowest of the benchmarks. Furthermore,

   1:18:24your talent pipeline really needs a boost to be able to meet those jobs of the future. Your STEM program completions are in the third quartile, and technology share of employment is in that last one. So meeting this talent demand um is going to mean increasing your educational attainment overall as well as your your labor force participation. So as you can see from these charts, Pasco is one of the lowest of the quartiles. So

   1:18:55if growth continues, you cannot lose sight of your expanding infrastructure needs and affordability needs. And while the county does have a lower cost of living than other counties in the Tampa MSA, medium home prices have increased threefold since 2012. Additionally, conversations with stakeholders underscore a strong opportunity and focus on redevelopment. And also one for looking at the

   1:19:25image and quality of place. So as Pasco continues to evolve, really need to look at that to be able to attract some of those future opportunities.

   1:19:36So, this is your strategic framework. So, after completing our research, analysis, and engagement, four strategic priorities have emerged as foundational to your roadmap for the future that addresses the collective aspiration. The community for the diversification of your economy and that balanced growth that enhances the quality of life and place for all residents. So this strategic framework illustrates the priorities and the strategies to guide your growth

   1:20:06and development over the next 15 years. And specific programs and initiatives may evolve over time due to shifting community dynamics and global trends. But overall your your framework should remain intact. So this is the roadmap or your story map for your feature. So the priorities are um economic diversification of the economy. So this is about increasing growth. in your higher wage jobs and traded industry sectors, building

   1:20:36a workforce that responds to the future employment needs of the county. catalyzing those redevelopment opportunities that stimulate economic activities and enhance that quality of life. and elevate um your image and quality of place. So the supporting strategies are here and I'll go over them. um in a minute. So So overall, what is new or different about this strategy than others that you have in place? Well, as your

   1:21:06key insight showed, you excel in numerous economic areas and you should maintain those successful activities. This strategy, however, introduces a shift towards initiatives for some enhanced growth. So intensifying the county's current focus on five key industry areas, especially life sciences, is going to be important. Securing land for future employment with site and corridor development and product readiness is

   1:21:37going to be very important to be able to meet the more recent market needs of smaller industrial buildings. Sustaining and growing small new and existing businesses is going to be incredibly important. As you know, that's really the backbone of the jobs here in the county. And with that, you need to create some stronger collaborations among your workforce and industry partners. You do Yeoma's job and lots of great activity, but more needs to be done to really prepare that workforce for the

   1:22:07future. You need to activate those redevelopment opportunities. And also work on that image and quality of place. So as I go through briefly these priorities and strategies, they are in sequential order, and we have highlighted with that yellow P where some of those could be potential Penny for Pasco activities. And we've also bolded those activities that could be priorities or that could be. done first in

   1:22:37the short term. So, first, on the continued diversification of the economy. This is about a concerted effort to attract and nurture those industries that offer those high-wage jobs and help foster that diverse economy. So, focusing on efforts on the identified target industries and enhance incentives for business attraction and expansion, foreign direct investment, and innovation. Will aid in maximizing that return on your investment. Additionally,

   1:23:08more industrial and commercial site development and its support infrastructure is needed to address that imbalance of the current county's commercial tax base. So by focusing on this, focusing on small and new and existing businesses, the county can achieve growth and quality employment and a broadened commercial base. And this could be done again through that target industry approach. specific site and industry development, so more concentrated efforts there, and those business support services.

   1:23:39For strengthening your talent pipeline, so as the population and career opportunities grow, so will the need for initiatives to strengthen that talent. So this is meant to serve both businesses and residents, and that requires a strong collaboration from the public sector, private sector, education, and training partners, and your nonprofit providers. You can create a competitive advantage that will attract businesses seeking that skilled labor pool while also ensuring that your residents

   1:24:09can access that quality employment opportunity. So this can be done through ecosystem alignment, specialized training and initiatives, and some worker support services.

   1:24:22For redevelopment, there are areas of PASCO, as you know, that need revitalization. And there are large areas of underperforming and underutilized commercial spaces, particularly those that are over-retailed with very small parcel sizes and older housing stock. So, this with partnership with your cities and your CRAs, targeting those areas for redevelopment and encouraging more productive uses. Yeah. will stimulate um economic activities, enhance your property values, and improve your overall

   1:24:53resiliency in those areas. Given these challenges, focused attention is needed for a unique toolbox of programs to be able to address those unique needs. So this can be done as well through the alignment of efforts, improved processes and programs, and a new kind of focused county redevelopment function. In terms of elevating your image and

   1:25:19quality of place, Pasco has a lot to offer and it's known for its quality of life. And elevating the image will take intentional investments that protect and accelerate your vibrancy and that authentic brand that you're known for with current and future residents. And a commitment to working with regional partners is needed to be able to do that. So continued place-based investments, working on some brand building and regional collaboration

   1:25:50will. be important. So understand that this is a lot of information and there's much more in our report that explains a lot more of this. But I did want to suggest some additional implementation considerations for priorities of what, you know, how to be able to put the plan into action and get started on the path. And um so this answers the question kind of which activities could be done um in the short term. So

   1:26:21really looking at your incentives, creating a formalized policy, looking at expanding that toolkit in these very specific areas and increasing that access to capital for small businesses is going to be really important. On your talent side, There needs to be kind of more uh kind of more of a collaboration between the existing partners, perhaps bringing in additional partners, looking at a consortium. So we suggest a steering committee to help put that together and see what else needs to be done and empowering

   1:26:51your current um employers to look at fully leaning in and fully leaning into those tools of what's needed for upskilling programs. and strengthening those partnerships. For redevelopment, it's about dedicating some county personnel to conduct that outreach for that focus effort, looking at a suite of financial incentives and programs in those targeted zones, and looking at investment in some pilot projects. For Image in Place, it's continuing to look at a funding

   1:27:22mechanism to support those high-impact developments that help to create that quality of life. look and feel and for live, work and play in Pasco and looking at those brand elements and leveraging the relationships with Tampa Bay as a whole. We need to take more advantage of that. Just real briefly, I'm not going to go into these, but I'm sure that you're thinking, like, what could this look like and how has this happened in other parts of the county? So giving you an example for the Live Sciences

   1:27:52Sector Strategy, this is Roanoke, Virginia. And they developed a sector strategy that included coordination, making the region a hub of healthcare, research and technology, targeting small business resources like startups and accelerator programs, and included public investment for a shared lab facility. So in Catawba, North Carolina, they've been focusing on workforce with strategic planning, capital investment, and like an a building. So I wanted to bring this one up given kind of

   1:28:22your investment. But most importantly, they have a shared leadership for these workforce initiatives that's really important to keep it moving. On the redevelopment side, you don't need to look very far. There's lots of great examples all over Florida. One of the most interesting ones is in downtown Kissimmee, in their CRA, they have funded a tool for some catalytic development that helps to reduce or eliminate those financial gaps, especially for small developers, with a variety of funding and

   1:28:52flexibility of those. award amounts and they've had some good success um with some of this. From a branding perspective, there's some interesting examples of places that have blended their economic development messaging and their tourism messaging together. Cincinnati has done a really good job of this one where they have some compelling storytelling, some joint funding, and cohesive branding elements across multiple organizations where they all share some of those.

   1:29:23So, the success of the strategy overall heavily relies on the execution as well as effective alignment, coordination, and collaboration of the counties, departments, and its partners. The Planning, Development, and Economic Growth Department plays a critical role in this effort as they administer the incentives, they track the programs, initiatives, and monitor those contracts. Pasco Economic Development Council will be integral to the ecosystem with those business development areas as

   1:29:53well as partnerships with Pasco Hernandra Workforce Board and AM Skills for Workforce Development. You also need to consider some additional partners to be able to tackle some of these efforts in order for implementation. We also provided just some administrative guidance for managing and building some of these important partnerships, and that's really to clearly define kind of those roles and expectations for those partners, be able to share this information, to

   1:30:24be able to build that public trust, and increase consistency in that reporting. And I think that will help to be very clear and transparent as you're using those. Your funding sources. And we've included some tactical steps for implementation with this process. And part of that is to switch to formalized agreements. That way you can be very clear on those rules, expectations, how you want that reporting to occur, how do you want those tracking measures so that you can better judge

   1:30:54your return on investment. And with this, um we do recommend looking at kind of your um uh when you're looking at your analysis for evaluating the programs, um taking the look and being a little tighter um on what those look like. So using your contracted job creation rather than uh more uh projections. So I think that will help in calculating that return on investment. So funding all of this is also a

   1:31:25um a key consideration. Um when we looked at the analysis, we looked at those four areas that you've been working on, which is site development, business development, ecosystem development, and workforce development. So we do recommend keeping those categories because that way you have a way to look to the past and see what you've done into the future and see how you're doing overall. It is important to keep some of that flexibility that you do have with some of those programs. That way you're able to respond to market

   1:31:55forces as they come in. And we do know that as um Penny for Pasco and some of the other funds are going to be important. We are um do recommend uh with some of the incentives with the job creation incentive program, which is a great program, um one that's very unique. to you um that um isn't around in a lot of other parts of the country, but increasing that to really encourage those high wage jobs is gonna be important. So for penny for Pasco funds,

   1:32:25um talked a little bit about your current distribution when we did that analysis and in thinking about um the future of how to be able to reflect this current strategy and how you apply that. The pie chart. um on the right um looks at those key um activities and you can see how we've suggested that reallocation. So site development is your key one with making sure you're making those investments to infrastructure and helping

   1:32:56those developments with the buildings. So site development is going to be really important. Mm-hmm. The second, however, is workforce. In order to really prepare your workforce to meet that demand of the future, more funding there is going to be needed. Next is going to be your ecosystem development. So this includes your existing business retention and expansion, your entrepreneurship, kind of your outreach to small businesses. Again, that's going to be very important. third.

   1:33:27And then the last one is your business development. So this is your job creation incentive program. So these are kind of for every job that's created those refunds sow directly to businesses. And so we do recommend that going up a little bit. So lastly, sorry this chart is a little um hard to read, but did want to highlight your key performance indicator. So how do we measure success? How do we know how do we know that we're being successful in what we're doing? So we have identified some

   1:33:57metrics throughout the report for each priority and strategy for you to track progress more granularly. You already do a good job of looking at your overarching internal KPIs, the ones on the left are um your current ones. So we do recommend keeping those. But we are suggesting that you look at also more external KPIs tied to those that are a little bit simpler and more digestible for a consumer format that you can put in a dashboard so that also the public can see

   1:34:27how things are going and then how you're comparing overall. We have added some additional KPIs here like labor force participation, associate's degree in business, new business starts as one thing to keep track of as you go along. So thank you very much. I appreciate kind of your attention and kind of looking at kind of the importance of Pasco County's economic growth over the next 15 years and happy to answer any questions.

   Weightman

   1:34:56Any questions? Mr.

   1:34:58Weightman. Thanks, Chairman Mariano. On page. I think it was the the first document that we had, page 34 in your report. You allude to the fact That to break up the ready sites into smaller parcels. I'm concerned with that recommendation because if we break that up, break those ready sites up, we already lead what the state in commercial zonings. If we break up these ready sites, my concern would be we'd have more fast foods, drive-throughs,

   1:35:29smaller commercial style businesses versus holding those ready sites for what they are for very deliberate. Big economic development and true job creating and you know generational job creation and and manufacturing here in Pasco County. So I wasn't very comfortable with that with that recommendation. Uh I think that if a smaller industrial site comes in, we take it on as a case by case basis and if we need to break up a ready site

   1:35:59for ten or fifteen acres for a industrial use, not necessarily a commercial use. uh that would be more appropriate. But that that recommendation kind of is concerned me. What led y'all to What was your thought process? behind that that bullet point. 'Cause we spent a tremendous amount of time in Pasco County working on those ready sites. And it's not the county really, the credit for those ready sites go to the landowner. You know, the landowner deliberately

   1:36:30said, Hey, I want my property to do these things. And that's rare, right? The residential builder can come in and pay him a lot of money right now and they can get paid today versus the long play. So uh I appreciate the landowners you know willing to to do that for us. So what was your what was your thought process behind that recommendation?

   Jerry Lopez

   1:36:51Sure, thank you commissioner for that question. And I want to clarify um so the ready sites are very important and the ones that are there you absolutely need to be able to retain those as much as possible. Um and we do not recommend them necessarily Going to commercial. It's mainly just for industrial. So I want to make that clear. And if that's not clear, we'll be happy to make that correction in the report that this is for kind of industrial manufacturing, those targeted industry sites. Where it came from about the small the need for smaller

   1:37:21sites was in conversation with developers and other businesses where they're looking for those smaller land. Also um that have that job creation um uh element to it, but they couldn't find it and they just weren't available. So it's not just so it's not about getting rid of the current ones, it's about expanding um kind of your availability of those sites and some of that product readiness.

   Weightman

   1:37:48When you say that they weren't available Do you know if those developers for the industrial sites came in and asked if a small a smaller portion of it was available. I g I guess I asked that because I don't necessarily want our messaging to be very rigid, like only big fish can come, right?

   Jerry Lopez

   1:38:10Right.

   Weightman

   1:38:11So if that's if that's was our message, I I don't want that to be misunderstood if there's a smaller industrial user, you know, and if they have a footprint to grow as their business grows, that we don't accidentally box them out.

   Jerry Lopez

   1:38:26Yeah. And there's a lot as we're seeing that market demand, we're seeing a lot more of those needs for those smaller sites. So um but it they are still kind of those manufacturing um and as part of your targeted industries.

   Weightman

   1:38:39Okay. Thank you, ma'am.

   Jerry Lopez

   1:38:41Wow,

   StarkeyVice Chair

   1:38:42there's so much in this report. I don't even know where to begin. I I I'm looking forward to sitting down Um, I don't know if you're gonna be gone, maybe with d with David and Mike and and really digesting this. Um, lots of interesting comments and I I love to see examples of where your suggestions are working somewhere else because we don't have to reinvent everything. We can just take best practices from other places. Um Um some of the things I thought were interesting is is like

   1:39:12on that last chart with the metrics, making sure that we're not turning everything into residential and leaving our, you know, industrial space. I mean that's really critical. Um but I but I wonder how how we can do that um use Are you m saying the county should buy this property and then I know this is how Pittsburgh re redefined itself. Yes. And um I've I'm a great follower of that um former mayor and and all his work at the ULI. Um So

   1:39:42that's that's a question for me and also as a county we don't have C R A's. So what is our equivalency of a C R A? Is that a TIFF area? I mean what is it? And I I love what you were saying about the the e the corridors or areas that have such small parcels um and that need to be redeveloped and, you know We need to g be getting our highest and best use on these and I I immediately been thinking of US nineteen. So any comments on those things I just said?

   Jerry Lopez

   1:40:13Yes, so in terms of land, you are correct. That was one of the examples that we looked at was Pittsburgh, and so many places around the country do use land banks and like industrial development authorities to be able to be able to secure those properties and then do public-private partnerships to be able to turn them turn them over. That way you are holding that. land for industrial purposes. We do know that this is Uh you know, it's a double-edged

   1:40:43sword because then you're taking those properties off the tax rolls. Just temporarily. Yeah. But um but this is looking at for your future opportunities for growth and your future opportunities for job creation. It's important. So there's lots of examples of industrial development authorities and land authorities. um where the the government, so cities, counties um do purchase that land. So that's one of the things we did put in there for you to be able to um to um to consider to see how um how

   1:41:13you're able to to secure the that those lands.

   StarkeyVice Chair

   1:41:16You know we had some land board members um on State Road 54 on the south side by Black Lake Road that came available Yeah. that is being used to sell Uh landscape tile. But we could have bought it put it together and made it a prime piece of industrial or commercial property and it's frustrating 'cause we don't we we haven't done that so we it it got bought by the neighbor and they just expanded. I don't even

   1:41:46think it's legal their their tile distribution business, so that that that could be anywhere. It doesn't have to be on a major highway. Um and

   Jerry Lopez

   1:41:54Commissioner to answer your first question about um since counties don't have CRAs, what are some of your um what are your options? Um you can do um kind of a a tax increment kind of financing district without having a CRA where you have more control and you can kind of outline it. Of course that's a discussions with your attorneys about how that works, but as an example of another county that has done it is Manatee County. They have a specific kind of tax increment financing district where they specifically

   1:42:24are looking at for for redevelopment and have targeted kind of things that they wanted to do to be able to use those funds for that.

   StarkeyVice Chair

   1:42:35Uh so I think I think there's such good information in this. and that we we need to figure out how to move forward. Um I don't know maybe we're gonna workshop this and uh I don't know how I don't know how we wanna do it, I'll get with you guys. But I'm so glad that we did this. Thank you very much, David. Um great information and you know, as the co founder of AMP Skills, I'm glad you mentioned that. We we have some exciting news coming up at the next board meeting on

   1:43:05that. But um certainly workforce for me has always been a real passion. And um And I can see us elevating the quality of life when our residents have great jobs. And we're doing a great job bringing them here but But um our our challenge is big so well thank you so much.

   Mariano

   1:43:24Yeah. Thank you. Um I I appreciate the independent study. Um I look forward to like a workshop part with getting Bill Cronin, our PDC, everybody involved. And also Superintendent John Legg and the school board to try to talk about what partnerships he's talked very hardly about going with vocational STEM programs, etcetera. So I think the timing's probably perfect to use this study to to go further. I like what you said about industrial sites trying to work our own. And I don't know if we need to own our own, but if we need to put

   1:43:54infrastructure in place around it, so rather than into the site itself, that 160 acre site up in Hudson, close to a high school, close to a very area that we could really use in jobs as well up in that area. I think if we just work on the infrastructure around it, uh the potential there could be huge. Um And I and I I just think that working together with all our parties around us is is a great way to go. M skills could be a great even bigger operation right up there

   1:44:24as well on that same site. So um I think we definitely have some great opportunities to to work with. So thanks for the report. Thank you. That we'll think.

   OakleyChair

   1:44:33Yeah, I think the report's it's loaded with a lot of things we need to be looking at and I think workshop is ideal for for this report because we need to understand it, we need to know which way to go and and do the right thing for our community and our citizens here in Pasco. So We don't there's got to be a very balanced look at what happens in Pasco County from now on because we can't just have residential and we've had just residential without a lot of businesses

   1:45:03and we brought in since then we've brought in a lot of uh businesses along with some residential that actually has uh jobs for folks that live here in Pasco also. can work here in Pasco. So in the past we were not like that at all. But that is our future and that's why we need to keep working toward that. We've done I think a pretty good job at that, but we can do better. So but a workshop in the near future would be good for us to study this

   Jerry Lopez

   1:45:30Yeah, as part of the report on that, Commissioner, um you do have a lot of commuters that live in Pasco and commut out. And most of them are in business and professional services. So you do have an opportunity there, kind of as you build and attract some more of that of those kinds of jobs that then your residents won't have to drive. to Tampa uh or down to Pinellas County for that. You can keep them here.

   OakleyChair

   1:45:54Yeah, I agree. Thank you. Okay. Thanks for your report. Thank you very

   Jerry Lopez

   1:45:59much.

   OakleyChair

   1:45:59Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, move on to uh P53.