TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Redevelopment Program To Offer Developers Tax Incentives

ADVERTISEMENT

By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: April 19, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – Pasco County commissioners think there could browner pastures over the horizon by exploring a redevelopment program.

A "Brownfields" redevelopment program got the preliminary go-ahead this week from commissioners once a public hearing is scheduled in the near future.

The Legislature created the Brownfields Redevelopment Act in 1997. The original intent of the legislation was reducing public health and environmental hazards by cleaning up and rebuilding on commercial and industrial sites that have been abandoned or underused.

The local Brownfields initiative won't start off nearly as extensive as similar programs in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, but developers will be able to qualify for corporate tax benefits, commissioners were told.

The county would benefit once redeveloped parcels start generating more property tax revenue.

A cottage industry has sprung up around Brownfields programs, according to John Walsh, vice president of the Land O' Lakes-based Pasco Economic Development Council. He is peppered with periodic inquiries from firms scouting for additional Brownfield sites in the area to redevelop, Walsh said.

"It certainly would open a larger market," Walsh said this week. The county could leverage federal dollars while creating more jobs through enterprise zones.

"It's a win-win situation, environmentally as well as economically," John Sego, Brownfield programs coordinator for the Southwest District of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said.

For more information, go online to the DEP Web site. Or call Sego at the DEP district office at 813-632-7600 or send him an e-mail.

Walsh can be reached at e-mail or toll-free 1-888-607-2726.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT