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 million to $14 million depending on the development option.

Council’s choices and staff’s recommended path: Staff proposed two broad paths: (1) invest in entitlements and site readiness so the city can control the offering and pursue a targeted RFP, or (2) acquire entitlements and immediately market the parcel without expensive horizontal site work and see whether developers respond to a city‑entitled parcel. Both approaches would allow the city to write RFP terms that include schedule, clawbacks or minimum buildout requirements.

Incentives discussion: McKinney reviewed the city’s existing recapture-enhanced-value (REV) grant, in which an agreed percentage of city‑paid property taxes can be returned to an investor under an agreement that ties the recapture to community reinvestment. He presented potential new incentives (discussion items, not recommendations) that included: (a) impact‑fee contributions of up to 50–75% for qualifying projects under tiered rules tied to capital investment, jobs and wages; (b) property‑tax rebates (the existing REV structure); (c) site‑development assistance; (d) fast‑track permitting; and (e) targeted green‑building credits. Council members emphasized that incentives should be offered only after a project shortlists Palm Coast among other locations and not used as a headline tactic. Staff and council discussed baseline qualification floors (for example, a minimum job creation threshold and wage floor) and clawback provisions if a recipient fails to meet performance milestones.

Budget and process directions: Several council members asked staff to include an enhanced economic development baseline in next year’s budget and suggested raising the department’s budget from the current level (about 1% of the city operating budget) toward a 2–3% range used by some mid‑sized cities. Council gave staff direction to: - Pursue entitlement‑reduction options and attempt to negotiate the cost or phased take‑down schedule for Track 17 entitlements, and report back on budget impacts and financing options (including the possibility of financing entitlement costs against the property if appropriate). - Prepare an RFP approach and a nine‑month marketing window if council orders entitlements, with RFP language that can require timelines for horizontal and vertical development and clawbacks for non‑performance. - Return in the budget process with a recommended incentive budget and proposed program terms (tier thresholds, caps, clawbacks). Councilors asked staff to show realistic case studies and benchmarks from comparable Florida communities.

Council and public input: Council members repeatedly framed the question as “sites and buildings first” and noted the city’s existing assets — highway access, proximity to Jacksonville and Orlando markets, and existing utilities — but said those assets are insufficient without pad‑ready offerings. Councilman Gambaro said Track 17’s utility and road access made it better suited for industrial use than a sports complex. Councilman Miller urged caution that incentives be targeted to projects that produce net new tax base and jobs rather than subsidize relocations.

Next steps and timing: Staff will return with options for entitlements negotiation and financing, a recommended RFP structure, and incentive budget scenarios for council consideration as part of the upcoming budget cycle. Council requested examples from other Florida jurisdictions (site-ready builds and incentive programs) as part of the next packet to benchmark expected outcomes.

Ending note: No council vote was taken on incentives or on capital commitment; the meeting produced direction to negotiate entitlements, prepare an RFP and report budget options back to council for a future decision.