A special zoning designation that would provide incentives to businesses and industries locating around Port Manatee is a step closer to becoming a reality.
The Manatee County Planning Commission will meet Thursday to discuss the creation of an "encouragement zone" around Port Manatee.
If approved, a process that would take until at least September with public hearings and followup meetings, the zone would allow for quicker turnarounds in the permit-approval process and waive costly impact fees for developers of projects that would utilize or enhance the port.
"It allows the county to provide for the property owner the same (permit-approval) timeframe Port Manatee enjoys," said County Commissioner Joe McClash, who spearheaded the encouragement zone initiative. "Property owners should have a 90-day approval process from site plan to zoning permit for plans to be approved."
The encouragement zone is being embraced by property owners around the port.
Art Roth, a principal in HRK Holdings, which bought the former Piney Point Phosphate Plant across U.S. 41 from the port in late 2006, said the encouragement zone would help entice businesses to locate at his nearly 700-acre property.
"We feel it's an excellent way for the port to grow through public-private partnerships," Roth said. "I think it's a very forward-looking and very creative way to accomplish some very good objectives for the county, businesses and the port."
Earlier this year, the HRK property became home to a storage facility for International Salt, a Pennsylvania company that provides salt for de-icing, water softening and agricultural and industrial applications. International Salt started bulk shipments to Port Manatee in April.
The HRK property will also be used to store dredge materials from upcoming berth expansion projects at the port.
Roth said his company is constantly in discussions with businesses seeking to locate to the area. Timeliness of permitting is always at the top of their list of concerns.
"Speeded-up permitting is important because time is money," Roth said. "If you have to wait a year to get permits before you can even start construction, that's a negative factor. Economic incentives are always good."
Clark Reeder, whose family owns several hundred acres around the port, is also optimistic about the encouragement zone.
"I think from what I've seen, it's a step in the right direction," Reeder said. "We haven't got a final product yet, but I think the concept of where they're headed looks good."
Another component of the encouragement zone idea is also in the works and would involve a change in the county's comprehensive plan to create an overlay district for about 3,000 acres east of the port that currently carry an urban zoning designation that includes residential.
Planning Director Carol Clarke said the overlay would allow for light industrial and office uses.
The overlay district would require approval from the state Department of Community Affairs, and it would likely be until December before it would be fully approved, Clarke said.
Thursday's planning commission meeting will be at 9 a.m. in the first-floor chambers of the Manatee County Government Administrative Center, 1112 Manatee Ave. W.
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