Officials push Spacecom, international missions and housing strategy as local aerospace activity grows

Keith Norden, an economic development official, told the advisory board the county and city will promote participation in Spacecom at the Orange County Convention Center and host returning international delegations, and that Daytona Beach will have a presence at state and national site‑selector events. "Spacecom is an international national show that will be going on the January, and we invite all of our local practitioners because it is going to occur at the Orange County Convention Center," Norden said. He added that an annual meeting on March 13 at Daytona State College will include a keynote from Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly. Norden reported that the county sponsored an international mission with Governor Ron DeSantis in November and that the trip emphasized aviation and aerospace ties; he said the delegation met senior officials and that the governor announced opening an economic‑development office in Italy. Norden also introduced Frank Jones, the county’s new manager of business development and research, who started the week of the meeting. "We're excited to have him," Norden said. City staff discussed workforce and housing questions tied to recent corporate announcements. A staff speaker summarized recent employer announcements: Boeing’s planned local operation with about 400 jobs and Aura Aero’s announcement of roughly 1,000 jobs — the speaker said about 600 of Aura Aero’s positions will be in engineering and manufacturing and placed the starting salary ranges in the $70,000 to $100,000 bracket. The same speaker flagged the need for workforce housing and asked how the city and developers can retain newly hired engineers and other skilled workers rather than losing them to larger neighboring markets. "We begin to have a conversation about how do we look at the development that's coming in and making sure that those developers that are coming in are providing the housing that within a very short period of time, within 5 years, we're gonna have close to a thousand new jobs in the marketplace," the staff member said. Board members and presenters stressed that housing supply must include options affordable for service and hospitality workers as well as higher‑paid engineers. A board member noted many remote workers and higher rents create a market that can exclude hourly workers and stressed the need for varied housing stock. Norden and city staff asked board members to promote the March 13 annual meeting and other outreach events and said they will continue conversations with developers about housing types and retention strategies. No formal policy action was taken at the meeting.