WINTER HAVEN | City Commissioners in Winter Haven cleared the way Monday night for a business park center to be developed on 932 acres near the CSX Evansville Western Railway freight terminal.
In a 4-0 vote, commissioners approved the land-use change from institutional to industrial with business park center for the property that is owned by the city north of Old Bartow-Lake Wales Road. CSX has an option to buy the property. Commissioner Nat Birdsong was absent from the meeting.
The land-use change now goes to the Department of Community Affairs for review and will come back to the commission later for a final vote.
Jamie Beckett said the project will bring needed jobs.
"This project will enhance economic development for decades to come,'' he said.
There isn't a developer with plans yet to build a business park. City officials are getting the property ready just in case, said David Dickey, community development director.
Typical tenants of a business park center include warehouse facilities or light assembly plants.
Other tenants may include research and development firms, distribution centers and retail.
Officials for Evansville Western, a subsidiary of Jacksonville-based CSX Transportation, have not announced a date when construction will begin on the freight terminal, pending completion of negotiations with the Florida Department of Transportation to purchase 61 miles of track in connection with the SunRail commuter rail project in the Orlando area.
The deal includes $23 million to relocate CSX's freight facilities from the Taft rail yard near Orlando to the Winter Haven site.
Development of the Winter Haven site will not occur until after DOT officials release that money, CSX officials have said.
Since the mid 1970s, the city used approximately 1,700 acres as a part of the Wastewater Treatment Plant 3 operations. In 2007, the city converted the wastewater treatment plant into an advanced wastewater treatment facility, which reduced the amount of acreage needed for the operations.
CSX entered into an agreement with Winter Haven for the purchase of 1,250 acres for the construction of the terminal. In 2007, Evansville Western closed on 318 of the 1,250 acres for the development of the facility.
In October 2008 the Evansville Western Railway Inc. Development of Regional Impact was approved for that project.
An analysis of the site projected within the first five years there would be 30,000 square feet of office space, 50,000 square fee of light industrial and 500,000 square fee of warehouse uses would be constructed on the property. The rest of the property would be developed within 20 years.
[ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-401-6968. ]
