The Zephyrhills City Council recently awarded a sizable grant to The Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce to foster business growth and economic development in the area.
The council unanimously voted last month to renew a $50,000 grant to the chamber to continue to maintain the Zephyrhills Economic Development Coalition.
(File Photo)
The ZEDC is a unified effort between the city, the chamber, Main Street Zephyrhills Inc., and local businesses to support economic growth and business retention in Zephyrhills. It has more than 30 members.
Under the grant agreement, the chamber is obligated to do each of the following:
- Manage the ZEDC
- Develop marketing strategies that benefit the economic development of the Zephyrhills area
- Cultivate business partnerships through outreach and advocacy
- Collect relevant information that may be used for improved programs and services for local businesses
Melonie Monson, the chamber’s executive director, is responsible for managing the development coalition from the chamber office.
Monson said the coalition’s three main focuses for 2016 are job creation and business growth, city infrastructure such as roads, and the development of an educated and trained workforce.
Also, for the first time, the development coalition will handle marketing strategies and campaigns, in collaboration with the city.
Previously, the municipal marketing strategies for the development coalition were developed and implemented by the Pasco Economic Development Council. But, now the strategies will be completely turned over to the local development coalition, including the “Clearly Zephyrhills” marketing campaign.
Monson said the Pasco EDC would only get involved in future marketing strategies if they benefit the entire county.
(Courtesy of CenterState Bank)
“At this point, we have our feet on the ground, we know the direction to go, we know how to run this program, so we’re OK that they’re backing away a little with us, and they have turned the campaign over to us to manage through the chamber and through the ZEDC,” Monson said. “They were instrumental to us in helping to start the ZEDC, and gave us ideas on what directions to go.”
Monson said one of the long-term priorities for the Zephyrhills development coalition is to attract a major industry to the city’s airport industrial park property, also referred to as the “Sysco Property.”
The 440-acre site is adjacent to the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport and next to the CSX rail line.
The chamber director said the location is an ideal spot for a “big industry” to house its operations.
“The glory of this area is that it is the only site in Pasco County that’s large enough for an industry to come in,” Monson said. “This property is on the train line…that goes to Orlando, Miami and to the Tampa port. There’s not a lot of areas that have that ability, so this is ideal for some type of big industry.”
“Eventually, we would like this to be a mega site which is 2,000 acres or more, but we’re starting with this 440-acre site and trying to get it site-ready,” she added.
The development coalition also is exploring the feasibility of establishing a vocational-technical education center in the city.
Monson said a vocational aviation school has been under discussion for several months, even though Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a $1.5 million aeronautical program at the municipal airport in 2015.
“We just find that our airport is an ideal location to bring an academy to. We have the availability property-wise, and we just feel like it’s a market for our youth to be trained and not to have to go elsewhere to get this training,” Monson said, adding, “I think we need to be a little more prepared on how to bring that before the Governor this time around.”
The ZEDC was formed in April 2012. It is made up of two components: the ZEDC Stakeholder’s Advisory Council — a voluntary committee of business and community leaders in the Zephyrhills area striving to create a sustainable business and economic climate; and the ZEDC Steering Committee — a group of economic development practitioners, including key staff from partner organizations, such as the city, the chamber and the Pasco EDC.
ZEDC Advisory Council chair Skip Skairus said the development coalition benefits Zephyrhills because it helps facilitate ideas and programs that ultimately advance the city’s economic development.
“Prior to the formation of this organization, there were a lot of good ideas from a lot of folks in the city in regards to economic development. However, it would seem that for whatever reason, (ideas) would stall because there really wasn’t a formal organization to enact the different things in regards to marketing, research, site development and government advocacy,” Skairus said. “That’s where I really think the biggest benefit to this group is: to take the great ideas that have always been in place, but to make sure they all fall into action.”
$50,000 grant renewed for ZEDC
Funding allocations:
- $15,000 toward managing the coalition through the chamber office
- $15,000 toward marketing and promotional support
- $10,000 toward business outreach and advocacy
- $10,000 toward research and program delivery
Published June 8, 2016
