MOSSY HEAD — John Magee, who owns several manufacturing companies in Walton County, said he drove to Mossy Head a couple years ago to check out its industrial park as a possible building site.
Not only could he not find it, but none of the residents he asked in the small unincorporated community could direct him there.
“It kind of makes you wonder when the people in the area it’s going to impact don’t even know about it,” Magee said.
To this day, the only marker identifying the 312-acre wooded property that has been known as the future site of the Mossy Head Industrial Park since 2001 is a metal sign advertising a 2007 public hearing before the Walton County Planning Commission.
But, as has occurred in fits and spurts over the years, county officials again are espousing big plans for the parcel off Interstate 10 between DeFuniak Springs and Crestview.
This time around the pieces might be in place to get something off the ground.
A new start, again
In May, Walton County hired Steve Jaeger as director of the Economic Development Alliance, created in 2008 following the demise of a public-private enterprise known as the Economic Development Council.
One of Jaeger’s first acts was to convince the EDA to partner with Gulf Power to seek “certification” for the Mossy Head Industrial Park.
Certification, which has become common in neighboring states, is basically an accreditation process that, when obtained, provides properties such the industrial parka way to show off their strong points to potential tenants.
The first step to achieve certification requires Jaeger to fill out a lengthy application listing everything from the industrial park’s existing strengths to its greatest weaknesses.
“That’s why this certification process is beautiful. It will create a discipline for us, let us know what we’ve done and what we need to do,” he said.
Once obtained, the group that certifies the industrial park will help market it to compatible businesses.
To obtain the go-ahead to seek certification, Jaeger went before a six person board composed of Walton County Commission Chairman Ken Pridgen, the mayors of three county municipalities, interim County Administrator Gerry Demers and Lori Kelley, a local accountant.
The board voted unanimously to spend $2,750 to seek the certification. Gulf Power will match that amount.
Three county commissioners attended the EDA meeting, as did Larry Jones, who was a commissioner for 12 years and now is the county’s special projects coordinator.
Commissioner Bill Imfeld said he believes bringing economic development to Mossy Head is crucial for the county’s growth and that finally county administrators and county economic developers are on the same page.
“This is the first time in my 12 years as (county) finance director or com-missioner that I’ve seen a unified board make as a priority the economic development issue,” Imfeld said.
A checkered history
Perhaps it has been a lack of unity at the county’s highest levels that has prevented the Mossy Head site, for all its apparent attractiveness, from ever landing a tenant.
Jones, who has pushed development at the industrial park since he was elected to the County Commission, said, “I don’t know of anything in particular” that convinced numerous suitors over the years to take their business elsewhere.
However, the industrial park’s history does provide a snapshot of economic development in Walton County — something which was critically discussed in a thorough assessment provided to the county the Institute of Senior Professionals at Northwest Florida State College.
The land in Mossy Head was obtained for $775,800 in 2002 in a convoluted deal involving the U.S. Forestry Service and the St. Joe Company.
By 2003, feasibility studies had been conducted, a master plan had been drawn up and, according to county leaders at the time, potential tenants were considering locating there.
Tom Powell, then head of the Walton County Economic Development Council, told a reporter in 2003 that one of the nation’s largest retailers was considering putting a warehouse distribution center there.
In February 2005, Jones, as a county commissioner, told the Daily News that two companies had expressed interest in building facilities at the park — a development he said could bring 450 jobs.
Businessman Roger McCombs announced in April 2005 that he was negotiating with Walton County’s EDC to put an RV supercenter, an automotive center and a concrete plant in Mossy Head and create 150 new jobs.
Powell resigned from the EDC the following August.
“I think it’s what’s best for economic development in Walton County,” EDC board member Mike Richards said at the time.
Robert Smith was brought in as EDC director in February 2006. Jones, still a commissioner, said at that time that Powell had not done enough to encourage economic growth.
“There was a lack of coordination,” he said.
With Smith directing the EDC, things began to happen around Mossy Head, but not at the industrial park.
Developers Bob Bonezzi and David Campbell announced plans in to build a “large commercial development” called Blackstone in March 2006. Construction of the mixed-use residential and commercial development, along with a golf course was underway the next February.
A portion of the industrial park was leased to the county’s school district in April 2006 for construction of Mossy Head Elementary School, and that August a $200,000 state grant was provided to build a park in the area.
Then early in 2007, a company called Gulf Coast Energy of Livingston, Ala., announced it was negotiating to lease 50 acres at the Mossy Head Industrial Park to construct a multi-million dollar biodiesel and ethanol production plant. A year later the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services granted Gulf Coast Energy $7 million to help it locate in Walton County.
But by August of 2008 Gulf Coast Energy CEO Mark Warner was hinting that maybe Mossy Head wasn’t where his firm wanted to be. The grant money ultimately went back to the state, according to Erin Gillespie, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture.
Warner’s disclosure that he might not locate at Mossy Head came the same month the county’s EDC was usurped by the Economic Development Alliance.
The EDC had been under fire since September 2007, when county commissioners threatened to cut its annual budget by $108,000.
Jones said at that time the board needed to “evaluate and possibly reorganize the EDC.”
In June 2009, County Commissioner Sara Comander, then chairwoman of the EDA, announced that Bill Arnett had been named its director. Arnett resigned within a year.
‘Do something or plant pine trees’
The Mossy Head Industrial Park faded from the public eye after Arnett left, but again has become a pressing issue.
Comander last month called for a public hearing to discuss “the Mossy Head industrial project.”
“We’ve been looking at this Mossy Head project for what, eight years now?” Comander asked. “It’s time to do something or plant pine trees.”
The hearing will be held at the next County Commission meeting June 24.
One thing county commissioners must consider is the recent addition of water and sewer connections. Both have been in “about a month and a half,” according to Walton County interim Public Works Director Wilmer Stafford.
Current sewerage capacity is 43,000 gallons, but the existing wastewater plant will transition at some point to a 250,000-gallon facility already designed and permitted.
Construction on the new plant could coincide with Mossy Head Industrial Park’s finding its first tenant or tenants, although Gov. Rick Scott recently vetoed a $3 million state appropriation for the facility.
Jaeger hopes the Mossy Head site will attract manufacturing or distribution interests. It lies off State Road 285 just north of I-10 and south of U.S. Highway 90.
A CSX railhead at one end of the property could be another important factor for would-be tenants, Jaeger said.
“I don’t think people appreciate the contribution of the railroad you have in there. It’s huge,” he said.
Jaeger told EDA board members at Thursday’s meeting that AIRBUS, the aircraft manufacturing giant that is opening a plant in Mobile, Ala., “wants to scatter suppliers along I-10 to the east and west.”
“It is an ideal situation,” Magee, who got lost looking for the industrial park, said while discussing its bleak history. “There’s tremendous opportunity to grow business up there.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.