$200M plant may come to Sumter

The Daily Commercial - October 09, 2001
By BILL KOCH
Daily Commercial Correspondent


WILDWOOD
Luring industry to north Sumter County has always been a high priority for the city. So when a Brooksville wallboard manufacturing plant and an Apopka lime plant asked city officials to go on a tour of their sites, they jumped at the chance.

"It's the biggest thing we've had," City Manager Jim Stevens told city commissioners at Monday's regular meeting.

Company officials have purchased 80 acres within the city on the east side of U.S. Highway 301 south of Florida's Turnpike and are considering building a 705,000-square-foot wallboard and lime manufacturing plant there.

The value of the proposed plant, which wasn't named, is estimated at $200 million, city officials said. The company is expected to hire about 100 people. Construction dates and other plans haven't been set.

If the company builds in Wildwood, it would pay the city about $1 million a year in property taxes, Stevens said. The city collects about $390,000 a year in property taxes. "All the taxes paid on the property go to the city of Wildwood," Stevens said.

That remark delighted city commissioners who said finding money for city projects and improvements would be considerably easier with that size of a plant.

City officials said the company is discussing with them various options to lower the plant's initial tax burden in the first years of operation. The city commission enacted a tax ordianance two years ago that temporarily lowers the rate for new industries. The rate increases incrementally to the normal rate over five years.

The company sold its Brooksville site and is looking to build a facility somewhere in Central Florida similar to its Apopka plant.

Commissioners said they were worried about possible pollution from the plant and the plant's appearance.

"I want the environmental people to be in on this," said Commissioner Virgil Hutchinson.

Stevens said the plant is self contained and emits little population.

"I've heard the efficiency rate on this is unheard of," said Mayor Ed Wolf.

Several city officials and commissioners plan to tour both plants Thursday morning.

They also expressed enlisting the county and other local agencies to help with laying the groundwork for establishing the plant in Wildwood.

"I think (with) a project of this magnitude the state of Florida needs to get involved," Wolf said.