Subject:
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2021-2022 Florida Job Growth Grant Fund Application and resulting grant applications, grant agreements, and documents designated for the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approval of the grant applications and resulting grant agreements that the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) must submit to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity as required by the 2021-2022 Florida Job Growth Grant Fund.
• The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund is an economic development program designed to promote public infrastructure and workforce training across the state.
• Proposals are reviewed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Enterprise Florida, Inc. and chosen by the Governor to meet the demand for infrastructure needs in the community they are awarded to.
• PIE’s Airco property needs external infrastructure funding to entice developers of aeronautical and non-aeronautical land.
• Estimates of infrastructure funding have varied between $25M-$30M.
• PIE’s request to the State is $10M. The County and/or PIE would need to match the $10M.
• The types of infrastructure funded would be items such as fill dirt, telecommunications, lift station(s), power, sanitary sewer, and stormwater pond(s) on the Airco property.
Authorize the Clerk of the Circuit Court to attest the grant application and resulting grant agreement documents that may follow.
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Strategic Plan:
Foster Continual Economic Growth and Vitality
4.1 Proactively attract and retain businesses with targeted jobs to the county and the region.
Summary:
Summary
The County and PIE applied for funding under this same grant program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 but did not receive funding. The funding we applied for before was to begin design on the taxiways that serve the Airco site and provide connectivity to the airfield. Now that the design of the taxiways is being planned with Federal Aviation Administration funding, the next immediate need is the infrastructure that will attract developers to the Airco site. The Public Infrastructure Grant Proposal will help fund that necessary infrastructure.
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Background Information:
The Airco former golf course site lies in the floodplain and in summer 2021, the amount of acreage was reduced to accommodate a “no-fill” condition north of the Limit of Moderate Wave Action (LIMWA) line, a delineation included on the new FEMA maps effective August 24, 2021. This creates other challenges in the development of the site. PIE needs additional help to make the property attractive to prospective developers and tenants.
Fiscal Impact:
Funding from this grant and the cost estimate of $30.5M referenced in the grant application are not fully included in the FY22 Adopted Budget. Two projects are included in the FY22 - FY27 Capital Improvement Plan for Airco site development. These projects are the Airco Drainage Improvements (PID 004571A) and Airco Access Roads (PID 004569A) and total $10.7M.
The requested grant revenue of $10.0M and the remaining unbudgeted cost estimates of approximately $19.8M for Airco site development will need to be programmed into the Airport’s budget as part of the FY23 budget development process.
Funding from this program would require a 50% / 50% match from PIE.
Staff Member Responsible:
Thomas R. Jewsbury, Director, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport
Partners:
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
Pinellas County Economic Development
Attachments:
2021-2022 Florida Job Growth Grant Fund - Airco Infrastructure
2021-2021 PIE Airport’s Florida Job Growth Fund Additional Responses v2
Intent to Apply approval from OMB