Since Escambia County acquired the 636 acres in 2018, Outlying Landing Field 8 (OLF-8) has been controversial. Navy Federal Credit Union bought a hundred acres, leaving the public to debate what to do with the remaining land. I wrote about the site’s history in February 2021: “The Great OLF-8 Debate.”
- Some Beulah residents want the land to be a public park and town center and offer other public amenities for a community that was largely rural until Navy Federal Credit Union built its sprawling campus near I-10. The News Journal has sided with them, even though their county commission approved a master plan that includes light manufacturing.
- Developers see it as a goldmine. If they buy the land, they can scrap the master plan, build hundreds of residences and retail, and make hundreds of millions of dollars.
- And some hold on to the original 1990s plan that the Pensacola Chamber and Board of County Commissioners had to create jobs and boost the local economy.
The Beulah NIMBYS have little economic data to back their position. Developers do but don’t want the commissioners and the public to discover how wealthy they will become if they control OLF-8.
The Billion-Dollar Difference
However, the business community now has data, thanks to the University of West Florida Haas Center. The FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance requested that the UWF Haas Center study the 46 acres set aside for light industrial development and analyze whether the county should use them for that purpose or let developers use them for residential and retail mixed-use.
The difference in the economic impact of the two options is stark – over $1 billion.
- Light Industrial: $1.3 billion over five years, with local tax revenue of $10.8 million. Plus, 1,550 direct, indirect and induced jobs with $445.5 million in total personal income.
- Residential, Mixed Use: $159 million and $2.3 million in tax revenue.
The Business Alliance, a group of local business owners chaired by UWF president Dr. Martha Saunders and Florida Power & Light vice president J.T. Young, recently received a presentation of the UWF Haas Center study and voted to support the Light Industrial option. The Pensacola Chamber will also announce its support.
WUWF reporter Terry Strickland, an Inweekly Rising Star, has an in-depth interview with UWF Haas Center director Nicole Gislason and the report.
Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash