Palm Coast council weighs entitlements and incentives for Track 17 site as city aims to attract industrial employers

Palm Coast — City leaders and staff debated whether to spend city funds to entitle and partially prepare Track 17, a city‑owned site near the Matanzas Woods Parkway extension, and whether to expand the city’s incentive toolbox to attract industrial and manufacturing employers.

Consultant and staff presentations: Craig McKinney, economic development manager, and Jason DeLorenzo, chief of staff, reviewed recent outreach and marketing activity and recommended the council prioritize “sites and buildings” — pad‑ready land and buildings with utilities — as Palm Coast’s primary economic development gap. Jason and Craig said most corporate site selectors now seek speed to market and buildings or pads with power, water and sewer already in place.

Why Track 17 matters: Track 17 is roughly 103 acres owned by the city with about 65 acres of developable (upland) area, direct access to a four‑lane divided highway, and an FPL substation across the road with about 10 megawatts of capacity. Staff estimated the entitlement and transportation mitigation work needed to repurpose the parcel for industrial use at roughly $3.5–4.5 million; full pad‑ready site work to support large industrial buildings was estimated in staff materials in the range of $6…