Baker County

Article from The Annual Commercial Real Estate Outlook Guide
by Ginger Barber, Baker County Development Commission

In analyzing the growth and type of development that is proposed for Baker County in the upcoming years, one must glimpse back at its past and its current development impacts. In the past, two events, one in 1987 and the other in 1990, have influenced the development of the county. Two other more current impacts occurred in the spring of 2002.

Seventeen years ago community leaders representing the public and private sector developed the Economic Development Strategy for Baker County. The Baker County Chamber of Commerce initiated the process by forming a "Partnership" with the Baker County Development Commission.

The Partnership invited local government representatives and local business representatives to go through a visioning process by discussing the county's strengths and weaknesses and creating a vision of what the representatives would like in fifteen years. Through these discussions, the leadership decided it wanted the county to development ready-to-go industrial sites.

The development of the sites intended to create jobs for the county's young people who were leaving town and to increase the county's ad valorem tax base by encouraging capital investment through industrial growth. The Chamber of Commerce and The Development Commission were charged with developing the sites. The public and private representatives agreed to support the development.

Enterprise West, an 81-acre industrial park in Sanderson, was established in 1996 when Sanderson Pipe Corp. built 149,000-square-foot PVC manufacturing facility. The company currently employs 100 workers.

In 1990, the state of Florida, in an initiative at regulating development through growth management, required Baker County to develop a Comprehensive Policy Plan, a Land Use Element, an Existing Land Use Map and a Future Land Use Map showing densities of development within the county. About 40 percent of the county's, land is in the Osceola National Forest, which restricts development.

On the Existing Land Use Map, two and a half acres were required for one unit of residential development in agricultural areas, which was about 85 percent of the developable land in the county. On the Future Land Use Map, the county increased the acreage needed for a residence on a paved and tripled it for a residence on a dirt road. These increases in acreage needed for residential development triggered a substantial decline in development throughout the county. Someone moving to Baker County would need two to three times more money to invest in a residential lot.

In April of 2002 Wal-Mart opened their 880,000-square-foot Food Distribution Center at Enterprise East, a 250-acre industrial park two miles east of Macclenny. The facility was a $40 million project employing 600. Enterprise West and Enterprise East are being developed by the Baker County Development Commission; their efforts to were follow the county's economic development strategy.

Another event took place in April of 2002 that has had a tremendous impact on Baker County's development. International Paper sold 47,000 acres, more than 25 percent of the county's land mass, to a dozen developers. Previous to the sale, several large timber companies owned most of the county's land. The companies preferred to grow trees instead of marketing the property for development. Therefore, once International Paper sold their property in Baker County, along with their other holdings in Florida, there has been an enormous residential expansion.

The industrial and residential growth has also spurred commercial activity. Eckerd Drugs [CVS Pharmacy] is already under construction, Walgreen Drug Stores is being considered, and Wal-mart has been searching for a Supercenter site. VyStar Credit Union has expanded into Macclenny and CNB National Bank has opened its second facility in the county in Glen St Mary. Various professional entities such as doctors and accountants are also expanding to provide services to the county's new residents.

Baker County is booming. There is no other way to explain the rapid growth the county is experiencing. Local government officials are having a difficult time keeping up with the land use changes and providing government services. The private sector is thriving on the $152.7 million flowing into the county during the first five years of Wal-Mart's distribution center operation. The Northeast Florida Regional Council estimated that amount as the impact of the project. Industrial, residential and commercial impacts are changing the county from a small bedroom community to a thriving business center.