More than $60 million in awards announced Thursday at Busy Bee
-
Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded more than $60 million in funding to rural North Florida counties, including a handful of awards to Suwannee County, during a press conference Thursday morning at the Busy Bee Travel Center in Live Oak. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)
LIVE OAK — Move past the Bee Bits and the fudge and Bee-nut Butter and all the other tasty treats, local officials found an even bigger prize Thursday at the Busy Bee Travel Station: state funding.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made a visit to the convenience store off Interstate 10 in Live Oak and awarded more than $9.2 million in state funding from the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund for infrastructure improvements and to expand workforce education to Suwannee County, Madison County and Big Bend Technical College.
“I already thought you could pretty much find anything you ever wanted at a Busy Bee, but I never dreamed a $5 million Job Growth Grant Fund award,” Big Bend Director Jodi Tillman said about the Perry college’s award toward the construction of a 10,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing teaching facility.
The Job Growth Grant funds were part of more than $60 million in state funding DeSantis announced Thursday to communities impacted by Hurricane Idalia last August. DeSantis said with the legislative session winding down and a new state budget about to land on his desk to review, state officials decided to look and see how they could still make an impact with the funding available in the current budget.
“We try to choose the most high-impact awards that we can,” said DeSantis, who also credited the Busy Bee for opening right back up after the storm and serving as a place to congregate to get help.
“We looked and want to use this Job Growth Grant money to be impactful. We felt that doing it in Idalia-impacted communities would go a long ways.”
That impacted included $2.218 million to Suwannee County toward construction of a wastewater plant at the county’s Catalyst Site west of Live Oak.
Travis Land, the chairman of the Suwannee County Commission, thanked DeSantis and a number of other state officials and state agencies for their assistance currently and in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“We’re forever grateful for that,” Land said of the response after Idalia. “Suwannee County is focused on converting key opportunities into real-world projects that will stabilize and further develop our resiliency in the economic infrastructure here.”
DeSantis said the state knew the commitment to recover from major hurricanes was more than that initial response but also includes long-term help in the months and years to come to help rebuild.
“You can take us at our word and we follow through,” he said on that commitment.
The newest funding for a sewer plant at the Catalyst Site is to support four new business opportunities and two expansion projects at the industrial park and its immediate area, according to the state release. Currently, the county’s site is home to the Binderholz Live Oak LLC and Matco. Binderholz is expanding with an additional log line being installed, while Matco is building its own rail spur after previously using the county’s spur.
Project Wave — Rhino Inc’s Wave Armor line of products including floating docks and PWC and boat ports — is also set to develop a 213,453-square-foot facility adjacent to the site.
Other projects coming into the Catalyst Site are Project Shark and Project Samoa, companies whose identities are still covered by confidentiality agreements.
According to DeSantis on Thursday, the new development at the park would create 300 high-demand jobs in Suwannee County.
“We’re happy to partner with Suwannee County to get it back on track,” DeSantis said about Project Samoa, which was paused momentarily after the storm hit.
Last summer the county received $9.6 million from the state’s Rural Infrastructure Fund toward the sewer plant at the site and also received a $2 million state appropriation in last year’s session. An additional $1.109 million was appropriated for the project in the current budget that the legislature passed Friday awaiting approval from DeSantis.
“The work you’re putting in here with the support of the governor is a game changer for the community,” FloridaCommerce Secretary Alex Kelly said during the press conference. “These type of targeted investments we’re seeing are raising the profile of North Florida. North Florida is getting attention of people from across the country.”
Madison County received nearly $2 million to widen and resurface a road leading into its industrial park through the Job Growth Grant Fund.
During the visit, DeSantis also announced $50 million in awarding toward 13 projects in 10 counties impacted by Hurricane Idalia through the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s Hurricane Recovery Grant Program. Among that funding was $2.15 million to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, $2.925 to Lafayette County and $1.71 million to Hamilton County. Others receiving funding were Crystal River as well as Dixie, Jefferson, Madison, Pinellas and Taylor counties.
That funding was appropriated by the legislature during a special session last fall after Idalia. DeSantis said Thursday the funding was for debris removal, beach renourishment, infrastructure repairs and waterway dredging.
An additional $6.8 million in funding was awarded Thursday through the Florida Department of Transportation’s Small County Outreach Program for resurfacing, paving and widening of roads. Suwannee County received $1.2 million of that funding. Also getting funding were Madison, Jefferson, Levy and Taylor counties.
According to a release from the governor’s office announcing the funding awards, the Suwannee County funding will go toward resurfacing and widening a “variety of lanes” in the area.