Clay County economic boom!

Official: Heavy Clay traffic may be an economic boon
He proposes using it as an advantage
By BRAD SCHMIDT, The Times-Union As officials contemplate routes for a billion-dollar outer-beltway project connecting Interstate 10 to Interstate 95, Clay County's planning department is pitching a theory promoting regional traffic as a means toward improving the local economy.

Right now it's just an idea, and the Clay County Commission is not ready to adopt any particular line of thought. In fact, at least one commissioner already is scoffing at the notion.
But, boy, it sure would make for a great bumper sticker:
Clay's suggestion: More congestion!
In a memo to county commissioners this month, Planning Director Thad Crowe explained that increased congestion "may actually be a tool that helps create jobs in the county." He said congestion either forces residents to move closer to jobs or motivates employers to relocate toward the workforce.
Either scenario would benefit Clay, the only county in the region lacking a major limited-access highway. Although completion of the beltway is expected to take 20 to 30 years, the project could be the first real step toward ending Clay County's bedroom-community mentality.
The Florida Department of Transportation is reviewing four possible routes for the beltway, which will be needed to ease future congestion along the Shands Bridge in Green Cove Springs and Jacksonville's Buckman Bridge. In Clay County, the beltway would run one of two courses -- either a northern or southern route.
Both corridors begin where Branan Field-Chaffee Road meets Blanding Boulevard. The northern route runs parallel to Russell Road and crosses the St. Johns River near County Road 315. The other route jots past Lake Asbury and runs south of Green Cove Springs before looping northeast and crossing the river near the Shands Bridge.
Present-value costs for the project continue to increase and are now estimated between $1.26 billion and $1.68 billion. Depending on funding sources for the beltway, its path could be decided by the federal government, a state turnpike association or through collaborative decision-making between private businesses and Clay and St. Johns counties.
For Clay County, officials need to promote the route that best advances economic development, the planning director said. In his comparison of the beltway's two paths, Crowe called the northern option a "true commuter route" that hurts the county by providing easy access to Jacksonville jobs.
By contrast, the southern route "does not go from point A to point B in the quickest manner," and that could be a good thing for the county, he noted. Residents fed up with regional traffic could look for employment nearby -- and the beltway would be the road to take them there.
A different philosophy
In a study this year for the Clay County Chamber of Commerce, a consultant found that the county has "severe economic dependence" on Duval County, with 51 percent of its workforce traveling to Jacksonville for employment.
Clay's residents were willing to endure the state's third-longest commute -- averaging 33.5 minutes each way -- because jobs in Duval paid much more, according to the study by Florida-based POLICOM Corp.
Examining data from 2002, the consultant found the average salary in Duval was almost $40,000 -- $15,000 more than in Clay, where 65 percent of all jobs were in retail or services.
But with the lure of office and industrial jobs at business centers proposed near Branan Field, Lake Asbury, Peters Creek and Green Cove Springs, Clay County's planning director said officials should consider enhancing internal travel rather than the Jacksonville commute.
"We have to be careful about how we deal with capacity and congestion," Crowe said. "When you're in a high-growth environment, if you put too much emphasis on opening up new routes to more distant areas, then you're moving growth out to the periphery."
Connecting proposed business centers locally would appeal to county residents sick of fighting rush-hour congestion to and from Jacksonville.
"It pulls the cars off the road and gets people going in different directions," Crowe said. "Our roadways are then utilized more efficiently because our job centers are decentralized."
Weighing many factors
Not everyone is buying so readily into Crowe's theory.
County Commissioner George Bush, who sits on the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the region would be better served by a beltway that crosses the river between already existing bridges in Jacksonville and Green Cove Springs.
Bush said the northern route also would better accommodate northeastern Clay County, home to the vast majority of county residents. He warned that voters will not be pleased with a county government eager to promote congestion.
"Any elected official that supports that position isn't going to be elected for very long," said Bush, a 13-year commission veteran who cannot seek re-election because of term limits. "I think [Crowe's] theory is washed up."
Bush's concerns about regional impacts are shared by the Florida Department of Transportation, which is now conducting the third stage of the beltway study.
Project manager Imran Ghani said that before the department can make its recommendation in 2007, many components must be considered, some of which include: commuters' needs; the concerns of residents and politicians; congestion along Interstate 295; and the impacts to local roads, wetlands, conservation, trucking patterns, business development and residential housing.
According to state projections, the northern route would accommodate between 80,500 and 95,500 vehicles per day in 2025, while roughly 60,000 vehicles would use the southern route.
Ghani said he understands Clay's potential to economically benefit from the southern route but added that it's hard to ignore statistics.
"You can't just say the commuter interest is of no interest to us."
Hundred-year decision
Neither the Clay County Commission nor the St. Johns County Commission has voiced formal support for a particular route. Commissioners are expected to hold public hearings and meet in late January for the first of three sessions where they will begin discussing options.
St. Johns County Commissioner Cyndi Stevenson said business development and economic impacts are clearly key interests along both sides of the river. Stevenson said she favors the southern route because it would link commuters to commercial centers near International Golf Parkway.
"I think it's really important with St. Johns County that the bridge [route] touch with I-95 so that we're not just a doormat for Clay County traffic going north," she said.
Future growth also must be considered when planning for the beltway, said Clay County Commissioner Christy Fitzgerald, who prefers the southern route. Communities such as Orange Park and Fleming Island have filled out, she said, and the beltway needs to accommodate the 100,000 residents who are expected to enter the county by 2030.
Another Clay commissioner, Patrick McGovern, said officials know they are under the gun.
A route must be chosen before costs rise any higher, he said. But because of the long-lasting effects, the process can't be rushed.
"This is a billion-dollar decision, and it's really more than that because it will determine what Clay County looks like for the next hundreds of years."