THE PORT EVERGLADES DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDS APPROVAL.
These actions supports the Broward County Board of County Commissioners' (Board) Value of "Ensuring economic opportunities for all people and businesses in Broward" and Goal to "Increase the economic strength and impact of revenue-generating County enterprises balancing economic, environmental, and community needs."
The Board is the Grantee and Operator of Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) No. 25 as authorized by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (FTZ Board). As Grantee and Operator, the Board can submit an application to the FTZ Board to reorganize and alter the established boundaries of FTZ No. 25. The dynamic growth of Broward County’s foreign-trade zone program has prompted the Board to request numerous boundary modifications over the last several years. Historically, the warehouse, manufacturing, and distribution facilities utilized in the foreign-trade zone program have been located at or near Port Everglades. However, as the number of potential general-purpose FTZ participants has grown, and as their demand for bigger facilities in outlying locations within Broward County has also grown, so has the need for a larger and more diversified FTZ footprint. This strategy has been very successful in growing the participation of businesses utilizing FTZ No. 25, which is currently composed of 17 designated FTZ sites encompassing over 388 acres.
Since 1976, FTZ No. 25 has been organized and expanded under the FTZ Board regulations Traditional Site Framework (TSF). Under TSF, FTZ sites remain designated without expiration regardless of activity/inactivity. However, as FTZs have grown throughout the U.S., the process of adding/tracking all the new site designations has become too cumbersome for the staff at the FTZ Board to process. As a result, the FTZ Board published and made available to Grantees the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) regulations that allowed for a new, more efficient and timely process to add/track new site designations. The ASF eliminates the need for temporary minor boundary modifications, "swapping" of acreage, and other cumbersome TSF procedures, and adds expiration limits to designated sites that remain inactive for more than 3-5 years. So far, the TSF has been suitable for FTZ No. 25 operations. However, the advantages of ASF - the framework most encouraged by the FTZ Board - have proved successful across the nation as it provides for a more expeditious process for adding new FTZ sites and users.
Recently, some of the current TSF site changes to FTZ No. 25 were approved by the FTZ Board as “temporary”, and since the affected sites are in active FTZ use and/or still have FTZ potential, they need to be more permanently designated as a part of FTZ No. 25. In addition, the sites temporarily surrendered to accomplish the temporary minor boundary modifications need to be restored to FTZ designation since they still have FTZ potential. The temporary designations will soon expire, so the Port Everglades Department has prepared an Application for Reorganization under the Alternative Site Framework to make these designation changes and allow for faster FTZ Board site designation processing in the future (see Exhibit 2).
The approval of this Application for Reorganization under the Alternative Site Framework will bolster Broward County’s plans to remain abreast of the demand and maintain an adequate supply of available FTZ-designated space for potential new growth. In turn, the growth of new and existing companies would create jobs and investment in Broward County, increase economic activity, and cause more goods to flow through the area utilizing all modes of transportation, especially Port Everglades and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Staff also requests authorization for the Port Everglades Chief Executive/Port Director to submit applications to the FTZ Board for designation of additional desirable Broward County sites for foreign-trade zone use by businesses seeking FTZ No. 25 benefits during the Board's summer recess. County policy requires Board approval to submit any applications for new or modified FTZ sites to the FTZ Board. Port staff is currently working with a number of prospective FTZ users, with the potential that the required information will be ready to submit the applications to the FTZ Board during the Board's summer recess. Authorizing the Port Director to submit the applications before the Board returns from summer recess will expedite the FTZ Board approval process. Port staff will advise the Board of any applications submitted under this authority.
|