Development in Sunny Hills,
Florida
Due to the growth occurring to the south
in Bay County, economic development in Washington County
is receiving greater emphasis with the Board of County
Commissioners (BOCC) expected to adopt the Economic
Development Element for the County Comprehensive Plan
that will better define responsibilities and objectives.
Historically, economic development has
been promoted by the Washington County Chamber of
Commerce (www.washcomall.com)
through its Economic Development Council, and it’s
anticipated that important role will continue on a more
formal relationship with the BOCC. The Chamber has had
recent successes in attracting the Lewis A. Bear Company
(large regional Budweiser distributor) to the Ebro area
of Washington County for construction of their new
120,000 square foot distribution center with about 100
jobs, the Foley Concrete Company from Columbus, GA to
build a new large pipe plant in the Washington County
Industrial Park northeast of Chipley on 70 acres that
will create about 150 new jobs, plus a new industrial
park road and new rail spur. In November 2009, both the
Washington County Industrial Park and the Tommy R.
McDonald Industrial Park (City of Chipley) received
designations as Foreign Trade Zones as subzones of the
Port of Panama City, which offers significant cost
savings to certain types of manufacturers and
distributors.
Sunny Hills has commercial districts that
provide for goods and services expected in a city of
60,000 people such as general retail, car dealers,
office parks, shopping centers, and neighborhood
shopping districts, but it has no industrial districts.
This would not preclude development of an industrial
park near Sunny Hills for businesses that do not need
rail connections and can benefit from the international
airport, the Port of Panama City, and the road network.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) funded a
feasibility study to expand the major road across the north
of Sunny Hills (Elkcam Blvd.) to 4-lane from Hwy 77 to
U.S. 231 at the boundary junction of Washington County,
Bay County, and Jackson County about 4 miles east of
Sunny Hills eastern border. Presently, that project is
delayed from entering the more formal planning, design,
and engineering (PD&E) phase due to lack of funds, but
support for the conceptual plan has been received from
the Boards of County Commissioners in all three
counties.
In addition to the City of Chipley and
Washington County industrial parks situated near I-10
and Chipley, there are industrial parks in Vernon and
Ebro that are designated as Enterprise Zones qualifying
for certain state-level tax incentives for tenants.
Chipley is the 3rd Enterprise Zone in the
county. Historically, Florida economic development
incentive programs have been less aggressive than
programs in nearby Alabama and Georgia, which generally
has hampered development across the Florida Panhandle
(“Florida’s Great Northwest”), but Washington County can
offer certain property tax incentives in addition to the
state sales tax and job creation incentives. If you are
interested in locating a business in Washington County,
the place to start is with Ted Everett, Executive
Director of the Chamber of Commerce at (850) 638-4157,
who will provide the initial information in detail, and
put you in contact with the Economic Development Council
and key community leaders.
Washington County holds a crucial
location advantage within its growing region as jobs are
not restricted by governmental boundaries and people
living in the county have a commuting advantage into
nearby counties for work.
In addition to I-10 passing east to west
across the northern third of the county, Washington
County has two major north-south state highways with FL
79 and FL 77. Both highways interchange with I-10, as
well as continue north into Alabama, and are in the
process of being 4-laned. Hwy 77 is 4-laned from Panama
City to FL Hwy 20 and the Bay county-Washington County
line, while Hwy 79 is 4-laned from the west end of
Panama City Beach to Ebro, and work is underway to
complete the project to just north of Vernon. U.S.
Highway 231 also passes north-south just east of the
county and provides further access into Panama City.
Both Hwy 77 and US 231 meet at the Panama City Mall.
Population projections are based upon a
medium case projection prepared by the Bureau of
Economic & Business Research (BEBR), University of
Florida, which is the State of Florida official
demographic data base. Within the six-county region
where people could reasonably commute into other
counties for work.
County
4/1/06 2010
2015
Increase
Washington 23,073
26,129 27,640 4,567
Holmes 19,502
20,236 21,083 1,581
Jackson 50,246
54,054 56,204 5,958
Bay
165,515 177,372 190,616
25,101
Calhoun 14,113
14,770 15,560 1,447
Gulf 16,509
17,317 18,183
1,674
Total 40,328
Within the 50 mile commuting radius,
Washington County has the third highest population
growth in people after Bay and Jackson Counties, and
both started with a larger base population. Washington
County represents 11.3% of the projected regional
growth.
If only 10% of the net total growth
(40,328-4,567 = 35,761 X 10% = 35,761) selected
Washington County as their preferred residence as a
better commuter base, it would add 1,472 dwellings to
the projected county dwelling shortage (35,761/2.43
people per dwelling) and needs for retail businesses,
service businesses, and fire and emergency services.
Depending upon the ability of Washington County to
expand its economic base with added jobs, it could also
benefit from both new commuter residents and a broader
employment base.
Considering the emerging economic drivers
surrounding Washington County, achievement of the BEBR
high case projection may be highly probable, which would
result in a population 31,000 as compared to 27,640 or a
jump of 12% above the medium case.
Sunny Hills is part of an existing growth
corridor stretching east from Hwy 77 through Sunny Hills
and into Jackson County and the platted Compass Lake
area with a total of about 30,000 lots. This growth
corridor raps around the northern boundary of the
Econfina Watershed that provides the primary drinking
water source for Bay County through the Deer Lake
Reservoir, so there is a large natural barrier to growth
south of this east-west growth corridor.
While there are significant barriers to
new subdivisions imposed by state regulations for
concurrency compliance with infrastructure for
transportation, schools, utilities and services, Sunny
Hills is positioned to attract new home buyers moving
into the region and needing housing without extended
delays from new development approvals.
Washington County has been declared by
the Governor’s Office as a Rural Area of Critical
Economic Concern (RACEC) that entitles it to
preferential treatment for procession all the necessary
permits and approvals for new development. This is
especially important for business investment as
decisions at the state and federal level can be final
months or even years ahead of a normal processing
cycle. Also, the RACEC status helps to qualify new
business development creating new jobs for special
grants that provide added incentives to locate in
Washington County.
In summary, there are a multitude of
factual reasons to locate you business in Washington
County and live in Sunny Hills.
Regional Impacts
In addition to the Northwest Florida
International Beaches Airport, there are several other
economic drivers that will impact the future of
Washington County.
West
Bay Sector Plan.
The State of Florida approved up to five “sector plans”
throughout the state and two of those plans are located
in or are contiguous to Washington County. The West Bay
Sector Plan includes about 72,500 acres in Bay County
that have been master planned for maximum use of
creative land use concepts and to maximize preservation
of natural areas. Created in 2001, the planning process
is long and detailed with Bay County adopting the final
land use and zoning ordinances in 2009 for the sector.
The airport is the anchor for the sector and occupies
about 4,000 acres that includes 1,400 acres for
commercial and industrial development closest to the
airport. There is approximately another 3,000 acres for
commercial/industrial development in the immediate
vicinity of the airport property. A total of 41,000
acres have been placed into permanent conservation
protection, which includes 33 miles of shoreline on West
Bay and 44 miles of local creeks and tributaries. About
30,000 acres will eventually become residential and
neighborhood commercial areas over the next several
decades.
Knight
Sector Plan.
Located in the southwest corner of Washington County,
the sector plan has 48,000 acres in Washington County
and 7,000 acres in northwest Bay County for a total of
55,000 acres. Designed with a planning horizon of 2050,
over 50% of the acres will remain in their natural state
as producing timberland or permanent conservation land.
The area will be developed in a series of residential
clusters with appropriate mixes of single-family,
multi-family, and commercial areas with a final
residential unit count of 30,000 dwellings.
Green
Circle Wood Pellet Plant.
This plant was developed by a Swedish company to provide
wood pellets for use in coal-fired power generation
plants in Europe. The location is about 12 miles
southeast from Chipley and south of Cottondale (US 231 &
I-10), and was chosen for the direct rail link to the
Port of Panama City, highway and rail networks, and the
cultivated timber supply available in Florida’s Great
Northwest and nearby Alabama and south Georgia. This
plant is on 225 acres and the annual production is
550,000 tons of pellets. At present, this plant marks
the northern limit of an emerging industrial corridor
along US 231 to the northwest from Panama City that
someday may be intersected by the Elkcam extension from
Hwy 77 to US 231 across northern Sunny Hills.
Campbellton Ethanol Plant.
Announced in October, 2008, the plant is planned to be
located on 300 acres near FL Hwy 2 and US 231, and would
create about 50 new jobs. Campbellton is 15 miles east
of Chipley.
Jackson County Distribution Park.
Located at I-10 and FL Hwy 276, the initial two
occupants are a million square foot warehouse operated
by Family Dollar stores and a 115,000 square foot center
for Arizona Chemical. There are approximately 500
jobs. The distribution park is located 20 miles east of
Chipley along I-10.
Sunny Hills is conveniently located
between all the major regional impact economic drivers
within an approximately 30 mile radius.
