First site in Jackson County certified and ready for business
Gulf Power

Marianna Airport Commerce Park has become the first certified site in Jackson County through Gulf Power’s Florida First Sites program. 

Florida First Sites was created in 2013 to help communities prepare locations to attract new industries and new jobs to the region. Fourteen sites were initially submitted from public and private landowners.
 
Of those 14 sites, five have been certified and five are still working toward their certification. 
 
The Jackson County industrial site is 237 acres owned by the City of Marianna. It is adjacent to the Marianna Municipal Airport with two 5,000-foot runways and features 214 developable, contiguous acres.
 
“Attaining certification at the Marianna Airport Commerce Park demonstrates our focus to grow high quality jobs in our city,” said Marianna Mayor Rico Williams. “This is a big accomplishment for our entire community and Jackson County.”
 
Gulf Power hired McCallum Sweeney, a nationally recognized site consultant firm, to offer an objective third-party analysis of the submitted sites. The consulting firm evaluates the properties, identifies improvements that must be made and then certifies the sites once they have met all the program requirements.
 
The City of Marianna and the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners partnered with Gulf Power to pay half of the McCallum Sweeney certification fees.
 
“The Florida First Sites program ensures that properties are available and developable,” said Stan Connally, Gulf Power president and CEO. “McCallum Sweeney Consulting’s approach is rigorous, but gives companies involved in the site-selection process realistic expectations when developing certified industrial sites.”
 
Landowners had one year to complete the identified improvements: everything from obtaining permits, improving topography and producing engineering reports to making sure adequate utilities are available to the site. 
 
“This certification process was accomplished through a grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity,” said Marianna City Manager Jim Dean. “That grant and the efforts of our Jackson County Development Council team were the key to successful completion of this year-plus effort.” 
 
Five remaining sites are working toward certification, including two in Jackson County and one each in Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties. Most of them are expected to be certified by the end of February.
 
For more information on all of the sites, visit FloridaFirstSites.com.