Jobs in Jacksonville's bedroom communities dwarfed by the workforce Read more a

[Tacachale]

This is an interesting bit of foreshadowing of something we'll be seeing a lot in the future of post-bubble Florida.

Fleming Island resident Robert Jones lives in Clay County, where thousands of residents hit the road each day for grinding commutes across the county line.

But Jones doesn't grit his teeth when he answers a question about how long his own commute takes. It's 10 minutes by car. If he hops on his bike, he's there in 20.

"I can go home and have lunch with my fiancee," he said. "It's great. It's just a totally different lifestyle."

Before the recession hit, Clay County saw signs of progress. Jobs were being added, so more residents could have commutes like Jones, vice president of business development for InEnTec Chemical, an alternative energy firm.

But the downturn slammed the brakes on construction of new office buildings. Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties still have large gaps between the numbers of residents who are part of the work force and the jobs available there.

Residents of those bedroom communities must largely turn to Jacksonville companies for employment. But although Duval County used to have more jobs than its own resident workforce, that's not the case anymore, so it's tougher for suburbanites to cross the county line for work.

The suburban counties say they are intent on turning the tide.

The Nassau County Economic Development Board has crafted a five-year plan that calls for adding 2,500 jobs. The board also will launch a $2 million fund-raising drive over that period to double its ability to recruit businesses.

The St. Johns County Commission hired a director of economic development in August, putting a full-time staff member on the task of business recruitment for the first time. Clay County set a goal in 2005 of 10,000 jobs paying above-average wages in 20 years; through 2011, about 1,500 were created.

The gap between residents and jobs is likely to widen for a few years because the suburban counties still have a large inventory of houses and home lots for continued residential growth, said Brian Teeple, executive director of the Northeast Florida Regional Council.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville has most of the existing office space, so jobs will gravitate first to the city until the vacancy rate drops enough to justify construction of new office buildings, he said. The surrounding counties, he added, cannot count on real estate driving economic development the way it did in the housing boom.

"I hear people say when things get back to normal," he said. "That wasn't normal."

Nassau County is banking on Jacksonville-based Rayonier and its real estate subsidiary, TerraPointe, to come through on plans to develop land for top-grade office space, industrial office parks, and light industrial.

"The key is the fact that Rayonier is such a large economic player in the county," said Steve Rieck, executive director of the Nassau County Economic Development Board. "They're the biggest landowner. They're the biggest taxpayer. They have made a corporate commitment to effectively transform forestland into major economic development sites."

If Nassau County hits its goal of 2,500 jobs in five years, it would spawn about 1,270 additional jobs from employee and business spending in the county.

St. Johns County has not yet set any numerical job goals.

But Clay County's 20-year plan is heavily reliant on expanding employment in companies that do business on a wider scale than the county. Through 2011, the county had gained 1,567 of those jobs with average annual pay of $57,954, almost double the overall average wage of $30,568 for all county jobs.

The recession held back the number of job gains, but employers choosing Clay have found they can meet their hiring needs from county residents, said Danita Andrews, vice president of economic development at the Clay County Chamber of Commerce.

"If you asked me what our number one asset is, I'd say it's our highly qualified workforce," she said.

St. Johns County offers developers who build speculative office buildings property tax abatements, an incentive based on the "build it and they will come" concept. New economic development director Melissa Glasgow said some developers are showing interest in the incentive but no deals have been struck.

"People want to live in St. Johns County," she said, "and they don't want to commute too far, so they're looking for opportunities to build close to where they live."

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-03/story/jobs-jacksonvilles-bedroom-communities-dwarfed-workforce