Pasco County has a great reputation as an affordable place to live, but not necessarily a lucrative place to work. With housing that’s more affordable than that of Pinellas or Hillsborough counties (and that actually includes some acreage, if so desired), a geographic location that’s convenient to beaches, cultural amenities and transportation hubs, rural Pasco County’s reputation as a “bedroom” community for neighboring counties has stuck.

Chip Howison, vice president Pall Aeropower in Pasco, one of the largest employers in the county, says Pasco means business.

Now the county wants to shake that image and slow the flow of 64,000 Pasco residents who commute out of the area every day to work in Pinellas, Hillsborough and beyond. Rich with talented, hard-working residents, Mary Jane Stanley, executive director for the Pasco Economic Development Council (PEDC) calls the county “a major supplier of the workforce for neighboring counties and the employees of non-Pasco businesses.”

The county, which has an employment base of 147,000 and 350,000 residents, according to the Center for Economic Development Research at the University of South Florida, has no problem attracting medical facilities, sports venues and residential and mixed-use developments.

What it really needs, however, is an influx of high-paying jobs that will keep its talent pool closer to home. Pasco’s largest manufacturer, Pall Aeropower, is doing its part to reach that goal. According to Chip Howison, vice president of the manufacturer of filter products for the aerospace industry, the company often invites local students and teachers to its facility for a firsthand glimpse of its filtration/separation business. The ultimate goal, says Howison, is to attract students who may have a future with the company after college – as an engineer.“We view this as a win-win situation for both the student and our firm,” says Howison, who also serves as PEDC vice president. “The student would end up staying in Pasco and not become one of the 64,000 individuals who leave the county each day for their job. And we’d benefit by not having to use resources and relocation expenses to bring in engineers from another state.

Residential developers like Pasco County and are adding thousands of homes. A sampling includes Longleafat 1,050 units, Seven Oaks at 4,000 units, Wilderness Lake Preserve at 800 units and Connerton at 8,677 units.

With 520 employees, Pall Aeropower has been in Pasco since 1981. Since joining the company and moving into the county seven years ago, Howison says he’s watched county commissioners get more involved in Pasco’s quest to attract manufacturers to the area, and he credits the PEDC for helping to make that happen.

“I see a good working relationship between the PEDC and the board of county commissioners, both of which strive for a single vision: bring more high-paying jobs into the county and keep taxes down,” says Howison.

Stanley adds that the PEDC’s task of recruiting new companies will be monumental. “You can’t recruit enough companies to take up 64,000 people,” she says. “We were developed as a bedroom community, but now we’re concentrating on trying to bring not just any jobs – but primary industries and value-added jobs to the area. We want jobs that pay more than the service jobs – jobs such as in computers, manufacturing and medical - and that will take time.”

Reeling Them In
For companies, Pasco should be an attractive choice. The county has available land – much of which is zoned residential, though county administrators are working to change that – a growing population of 350,000 (up from 281,000 in 1990), a business-friendly county government and a slew of new roads and highways that put the rest of the Tampa Bay area within just a few minutes in any direction. “Our new interchanges have opened up entire new market areas,” says Stanley, who points to areas like State Roads 54 and 56, Interstate 75 and Bruce B. Downs as “hot” areas for development. Two years ago, the opening of the Suncoast Parkway shortened the commute to downtown Tampa to just 30 minutes. “We’re closer than you think,” says Stanley. “All of our new roads and transportation infrastructure have opened Pasco up and made it more accessible than it ever was before.”

John Gallagher, Pasco’s county administrator, says his past recruiting efforts were often curtailed by the county’s limited roadways – namely, the very congested U.S. 19. “I’d tell big companies to ‘come on up’ so I could show them how to save tons of money by being here,” recalls Gallagher. “But those efforts were thwarted by the fact that we didn’t have a very good transportation network between Pasco and Pinellas or Hillsborough. With the opening of the Suncoast it is a lot easier to create business in the county.”

Rethinking Growth
Daunted by tough permitting rules and a county commission that hasn’t always been in favor of commercial and industrial development, new and expanding companies don’t always put Pasco at the top of their site selection lists.

But that’s changing quickly, according to Stanley, who says the county’s land zoning rules must be changed to accommodate more commercial and industrial development. She says county government, the PEDC and individual businesses are working together during this process, which will ultimately result in changes to the county’s comprehensive plan.

“The county is going through their plans to determine if they’ve set aside enough land for commercial employment centers and industrial developments,” says Stanley. “The PEDC has also set up a group to look at key places where those developments can happen.”

Gallagher says that at one point, the county’s land use map did include a healthy dose of commercial, industrial and office space, but that was later curtailed by the Department of Community Affairs, which demanded that the county “shrink those areas down considerably.” That made things tough for Gallagher, who says engineering and manufacturing firms come to him from the Pinellas and Hillsborough markets, looking for room to expand and find few options.

“I tell them that I have 100 acres here and 200 over there, and they laugh at me,” says Gallagher. “They need a lot more than that to come in and build an office or industrial park.” Along with reviewing its land-use plan and reintroducing more commercial and industrial space, Gallagher says Pasco also wants to set up urban service areas (unincorporated towns) in an attempt to keep the professional and the working folks in the county. “Right now,” he says, “those folks don’t have much of a choice but to commute.”

In yet another attempt to stoke business growth, the PEDC met with county administrators, developers, builders, architects and other individuals three times in 2002 to discuss the county’s permitting process, and how it can be improved. “Companies don’t come here because it can take six months to get a permit,” says Stanley. “We want to cut some of that red tape and alleviate some of the snags.”

As president of 70-employee AlumiGuard Inc., a manufacturer of powder coated aluminum fence and fence products, Bill Woodard is enthusiastic about the thought of a simpler permitting process. Alumi-Guard, which sells mostly to fence contractors in the eastern U.S., moved into its existing, 44,000-square-foot facility in April 2003, then bought and installed a state-of-the-art powder coat system and increased its manufacturing capabilities. “Expanding or building anything in the county is tough because permitting takes a while,” says Woodard, whose firm has been in Hudson since 1984

Of particular concern, says Woodard, is the new Pasco County Landscaping and Irrigation Ordinance. “I know they’re working to improve the process, but commissioners need to be aware that when they make policies, they affect development,” says Woodard, whose firm has doubled sales for the last four years and plans to add 30 new employees by the end of 2003. “I had my financing lined up and permits in place to meet their standards, then they changed the landscaping ordinance. It hurts.”

Despite the setbacks, Woodard says he’s seen positive changes in Pasco County since moving to the county in 1979. “Back then, it was all senior citizens here, so you worked hard in the winter and watched business die in the summer,” says Woodard, who expects 80 percent growth in 2003, thanks to a booming demand for aluminum fence. “That made it hard to make money and keep employees. Now, with the younger population here, we’re year-round with everything we do.”

Even with a younger population, year-round business activity and a pro-business government, Beat Kahli, developer of New River Township, sees Pasco facing “huge challenges” in the next few years. “For four decades its been a rural county, and now it’s suddenly become a major focus in the Tampa Bay area,” says Kahli, who develops residential and commercial projects throughout Florida. “To work through these obstacles, the county will need to strive for a healthy balance for all involved.”

Enticing Kahli to develop his 4,800 residential units, 700,000 square feet of commercial and possibly even 30 acres of industry land in Pasco is a county administration and commission that appear to work well together, despite the “growing pains” that both have faced in the last few years. “It looks like now they’re willing to form partnerships with major developers,” says Kahli. “Because of that, the future looks very positive.”

More Schools and Hospitals
With a growing population comes the need for bigger, better medical facilities and educational institutions. In Pasco, both sectors are rising up to meet the need. Saint Leo University, for example, is in the midst of an $18 million residential expansion to accommodate a growing student body.

Arthur Kirk, Saint Leo’s president, says the physical expansion goes hand-in-hand with the county’s overall growth. In Pasco for over 100 years, the college’s backyard was once largely rural, but today is “much less remote” than it once was. “We’re not surrounded by orange groves anymore,” says Kirk. “There are some very impressive and attractive developments going on around
us.”

On the medical side, Community Hospital plans to move and build a new $150 million 376-bed facility on a site at Little Road and SR 54. East Pasco Medical Center has spent $14 million on improvements since January 2003, and is contemplating a new facility at SR 56 and I-75 and recently received approval to become Pasco’s second hospital to offer cardiac surgery and angioplasty, to be completed in 2005.

Morton Plant Mease’s North Bay Hospital is also on a growth curve, according to William M. Jennings, administrator and chief operating officer, and recently opened the Morton Plant Immediate Care Center for patients experiencing minor injuries and illness.

The $1 million, 3,500 square-foot center has three board-certified physicians on staff. On-site radiology and selected laboratory services facilitate diagnosis. The Morton Plant Immediate Care Center also offers care for work-related injuries and provides physicals and drug screenings.

Driving the need for a new facility, says Jennings, was the Hudson area residents’ need for weekend and after-hours care.

“It’s not necessarily something for the emergency department, but also not someplace where an ambulance takes you,” says Jennings. “It’s for an illness, injury or sickness that hits when you can’t get in to see your doctor.”

Morton Plant Mease, which has had a presence in Pasco since the early ‘90s, serves about 23,000 patients annually. The hospital is just getting the ball rolling on plans to relocate its North Bay Hospital to Trinity, where it’s had a campus
for 10 years.

“We continue to make improvements to existing services – and just expanded our emergency department – but this site is maxed out,” says Jennings.

Jennings attributes the hospital’s growth to Pasco’s growing population, and the realization that one doesn’t need to travel to a neighboring county to get high-quality healthcare.

“There was a perception at one time that to get the highest quality health care you had to leave the area,” says Jennings. “Area residents won’t accept that anymore and are demanding the highest quality health care possible, and we’re here to fill that need.”