3/23/1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r MAR 2 3199 BOOK 89 PkGF123-1 County. The only expenses involved would be food, transportation and lodging and he felt they should take advantage of that offer. Mr. Lavin commended the County Commission and staff for their efforts and cooperation in coordinating with the various agencies to promote business and industry in Indian River County. Chairman Bird was aware, and Commissioner Eggert confirmed, that there is cooperation between the Council of 100 and the Indian River County Economic Development Council (EDC). Chairman Bird pointed out that we want to attract business and industry to our county, but we must have an appealing situation to entice them to relocate here in terms of site availability and tax activity. He felt the Council of 100 members have an opportunity to get feedback from the various business and industry leaders to see what Indian River County can do and to have a good exchange of ideas. Commissioner Eggert agreed that we have been working to welcome business and industry into our community by extending the sewer and water lines to the interstate highway and by our efforts to change the method of payment of impact fees and land development regulations to cut costs and make things better for developers. Commissioner Eggert mentioned the tax abatement referendum, and thought that would be a big plus for our county. Commissioner Macht agreed that we have a unique opportunity to attract industry and job -producing companies to our area, but he did not believe the stated plan is the way to do it. He described it as a shotgun approach when a directed, rifle approach is needed. There have been allegations in the past that government is the obstacle in the way of industrialization and is opposed to attracting light businesses to our community, but he thought those allegations have been dropped. He thought that the County Commission and staff have streamlined the process for developers, for instance, by extending utilities to industrial nodes, and he felt that we should continue that process. He did not favor the proposal of going to trade shows and trade missions to attract responses. He thought that if we were successful and received many responses, we could not deal with it. He described the Council's proposal as an archaic marketing plan that went out of style 3 or 4 years ago. He suggested that if we are serious about locating industries in our county, we should go out to where the utilities are going and develop a partnership or joint venture industrial park, because companies must have somewhere to build. Commissioner Macht thought the proposed plan is a waste of time and taxpayers' funds, and was opposed to its approval. He is and has been in favor of sensible business expansion and industrialization because we need jobs. He anticipated that the proposed plan would dissipate 32