Charlotte County Economic Development Partnership - Creating a Strategic Path to Grow Business and Cultivate a Strong Community
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1432895
A diversified economy which provides all residents a safe and affordable community, access to world class education and equal abundance of opportunities for all members is a goal I think we can all rally around. Economic development is a collaborative effort of working to secure strategic partnerships that promote wise growth for our area. It is the effort that is required to provide new jobs, tax revenues for the area, and generate more sales tax dollars through visitors to our community and is the best way to thrive and have a stable economic environment locally. Many partners in Charlotte County work together to encourage a strong and robust and diversified economy. The Charlotte County Economic Development Partnership (EDP) seeks to bring the voice of the business community to foster this growth in the private sector for our county's continued success. As the current EDP President, I am a part of a team of community leaders who work to attract, retain, and grow business and industry in Charlotte County. We focus on expanding economic development in Charlotte County and the greater Southwest Florida region by hosting site selectors and corporate decision makers and working with local, regional, and state counterparts to advance measures that will encourage business growth. This is important to the vitality of our community as it provides more jobs, a more robust commercial tax base, new housing, and further opportunities. It is important to understand our elected officials, county staff, and community members play a major role in the economic development process. This is shown through rezoning requests, incentive design and application, variances to height restrictions, landscape packages, setbacks needed to make a developer's design and project fit, along with public input, the feel of the community, school systems and housing inventory. Several of the major assets designed for economic development activities are: the Punta Gorda airport, I-75 and US 17 as critical transportation infrastructure; Enterprise Charlotte Airport Park or ECAP zoned land around the airport for industrial and commercial growth; the new town of Babcock Ranch; Charlotte County's Murdock Village project and other properly zoned areas. These assets have enabled us to attract incredible entities such as Cheney Brothers, Babcock Ranch (housing and commercial growth), Sunseeker, and West Port. The community's role in this is to engage in the discussions and support positive economic development implications for our area. A robust and diversified economy allows us to fund a community's infrastructure and quality of life needs without relying heavily on property tax increases and sales tax increases to fund much needed community projects. Supporting concepts like the Airframe & Power Plant mechanics certification program at the Punta Gorda Airport, Charlotte Technical College's skilled training and certification programs, Florida Southwestern State College's continued growth in post-secondary degree programs, and other skilled worker training initiatives are just some examples of how we are making sure Charlotte County is on the map for large employers seeking a new location. The continued growth of Charlotte County should be viewed through a lens of strategic economic development initiatives to maintain a healthy and stable economy for our citizens and employers. With great leadership from our neighbors and elected officials alike, rooted in pride in all that Charlotte County has to offer, I am confident we will move forward united with the best interests of everyone in mind. Economic development is a collaborative effort MANY PARTNERS WORK TOGETHER TO ENCOURAGE A STRONG, ROBUST AND DIVERSIFIED ECONOMY BY DANNY NIX, EDP PRESIDENT CHARLOTTE COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT