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I-4 corridor scheduled to go 'Green'
By YVETTE C. HAMMETT
[email protected]
Published: July 18, 2009
SEFFNER - In an effort to make Hillsborough County stand out among Florida counties trying to lure high-tech businesses, the Interstate 4 Economic Corridor is going by a new name: the I-4 Green Tech Corridor.
"This will be part of the state's high-tech corridor," said Heather Lamboy, of the Hillsborough Planning Commission, speaking Tuesday to a small audience in Seffner.
Designating it a green technology corridor helps the county stand out in its quest to draw industry that will put local talent to work in high-paying jobs, she said.
The corridor stretches from Tampa to the Polk County line, along both sides of I-4.
"It's something unique," Lamboy said. "It can help us keep our talent here. We need to tie our assets with this economic niche." Already, she said, the county is experiencing economic growth in areas such as bioscience and pharmaceutical research because of the proximity to the University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College, which is working in tandem with the University of Florida on agricultural research.
Parcels in Temple Terrace and Plant City are prime targets for green industry, she said. Those areas will be targeted first as places where developers could establish green technology businesses using building standards designed to lessen development's effects on the environment and lower the long-term costs of doing business.
Between the two targeted areas lies the Green Tech Corridor Extension Area, a rural swath along I-4 that runs through Seffner and Dover. That area will be the last area targeted for the high-tech corridor, executive planner Stephen Griffin said.
Seffner residents are working on a community plan to outline the future look of their area.
A set of proposed goals and objectives for the corridor will go before the Planning Commission on Sept. 1 and to the Hillsborough County Commission in December, Griffin said.
It will take at least a year before the state Department of Community Affairs will consider the plan, he said.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/18/bz-i-4-corridor-scheduled-to-go-green/news-money/
By YVETTE C. HAMMETT
[email protected]
Published: July 18, 2009
SEFFNER - In an effort to make Hillsborough County stand out among Florida counties trying to lure high-tech businesses, the Interstate 4 Economic Corridor is going by a new name: the I-4 Green Tech Corridor.
"This will be part of the state's high-tech corridor," said Heather Lamboy, of the Hillsborough Planning Commission, speaking Tuesday to a small audience in Seffner.
Designating it a green technology corridor helps the county stand out in its quest to draw industry that will put local talent to work in high-paying jobs, she said.
The corridor stretches from Tampa to the Polk County line, along both sides of I-4.
"It's something unique," Lamboy said. "It can help us keep our talent here. We need to tie our assets with this economic niche." Already, she said, the county is experiencing economic growth in areas such as bioscience and pharmaceutical research because of the proximity to the University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College, which is working in tandem with the University of Florida on agricultural research.
Parcels in Temple Terrace and Plant City are prime targets for green industry, she said. Those areas will be targeted first as places where developers could establish green technology businesses using building standards designed to lessen development's effects on the environment and lower the long-term costs of doing business.
Between the two targeted areas lies the Green Tech Corridor Extension Area, a rural swath along I-4 that runs through Seffner and Dover. That area will be the last area targeted for the high-tech corridor, executive planner Stephen Griffin said.
Seffner residents are working on a community plan to outline the future look of their area.
A set of proposed goals and objectives for the corridor will go before the Planning Commission on Sept. 1 and to the Hillsborough County Commission in December, Griffin said.
It will take at least a year before the state Department of Community Affairs will consider the plan, he said.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/18/bz-i-4-corridor-scheduled-to-go-green/news-money/
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