By-Line: Julie Murphy, Flagler County Government

Flagler County Economic Development and Executive Airport staff recently welcomed (June 11) the economic development teams of Global Locations Strategies (GLS) and Florida Power & Light (FPL) to start the vetting process for the Florida First Sites program.

The Florida First Sites program utilizes GLS – an independent source that verifies whether a site is ready-to-go or is shovel/pad ready, which means a lot of different things. It answers questions for developers with commercial and light industrial projects like the following:

• Does the site have water and sewer?
• Does it have electricity and fiber?
• Does it have roads, drainage, and water retention?

In short, does it have all the horizontal infrastructure in place for site development?

“Selection for the Florida First Sites program allows this independent assessment of the commercial and light industrial property within the Flagler Executive Airport jurisdiction,” said Economic Development Manager Dolores Key. “In doing so, the Airport will have increased site visibility and improve its chances of landing an economic development project.”

This process highlights the Airport’s 130 acres of light industrial and commercial land that may be of interest to companies interested in relocating to the region.

“With thousands of square feet of commercial real estate, industrial space, coworking space, and industrial land available in Florida, going through the independent vetting process sponsored by Florida Power & Light was a natural next step for the award-winning Flagler Executive Airport,” Key said.

Collaborative community engagement is essential to successful site readiness.

“We had the pleasure of working alongside Flagler County and the Flagler Executive Airport team to evaluate strategic industrial property and advance economic development opportunities,” said Shelby Zaricor of Global Location Strategies. “Site readiness efforts are a critical piece in the recruitment of industrial projects as it lowers both risk and timeline for an end user.”

Flagler County will receive an example of how the site selection process works, as well as marketing materials that will include a video of the Flagler Executive Airport. In addition, FPL’s economic development team will host the Airport on its specialized website that features Florida First Sites while they are on trade missions, including international air shows held in France and England.

“This is another strategic alliance brought together for the betterment of our community,” Key said. “Working together makes us all stronger.”