Santa Rosa County Commissioner Jayer Williamson looks forward to a day when local citizens keep their shopping – and the economic impact and tax revenues it generates – within the county’s boundaries.

“My vision is to bring more retail – shopping and restaurants – to the U.S. 90 and U.S. 98 corridors so people say can stay right in Santa Rosa County and spend their money here,” Williamson said.

“I don’t want those tax dollars continuing to go to Escambia and Okaloosa counties and paying for their schools and roads. I want that money to stay in our county.”

To that end, Williamson and Santa Rosa Economic Development Director Shannon Ogletree attended the International Conference of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas earlier this month. It was the first time any officials from Santa Rosa County had ever attended the conference.

Focus on retail

Williamson was appointed to the commission last summer following the death of his father, longtime Commissioner Jim Williamson. He was later elected to the job without opposition. District 1 includes the Pace/Pea Ridge area.

“Last year when I became a commissioner, Shannon and I spent a day riding around and looking at existing sites and meeting with local business owners to talk about economic development,” Williamson said.

“One thing I told him that day is I know my district is not going to be the manufacturing or industrial arm of the county because we have that in East Milton and off Avalon. I also told him I feel Pace and Pea Ridge can be the retail and shopping arm of the county.”

Ogletree said attracting good retail outlets to the county is a key to sustained growth.

“I think it’s incumbent upon us to help bring choices to our area, so when the residents of Santa Rosa County are needing or wanting to purchase an item they are supporting the county they live in,” he said. “If we want to continue to grow we need to offer our current and future residents alternatives in shopping and eating establishments."

Pitching Santa Rosa

The two men said they treated the conference as a fact-finding mission to see what other communities are doing to attract good retail and how Santa Rosa can compete.

But they didn't pass up the opportunity to sing Santa Rosa's praises to any business people who would listen.

To promote Santa Rosa at the conference, the county produced a flier showing the demographics/characteristics of each area of the county, the county’s labor force/population within a 10-20 minute drive time, the top market segmentation and the average household spending by category.

“The reason for the various drive-times is that a Costco or an Ikea would probably pull people from a 45-60 minute drive and have a population trade area of 400,000 or more,” Ogletree said.  “A Panda Express requires 30,000 daytime population within the trade area."

The flyer also listed the national retailers are located along U.S. 90 and U.S. 98 corridors.

“Companies want to cluster together,” Ogletree said. “Showing them we have a strong mix of retailers, they see there is a client base here to support their business.”

Williamson and Ogletree will be following up with some specific contacts they made to see about bringing new businesses to Santa Rosa County.

Williamson also believes there are things the county can do to help future prospects.

“Lots of cities and counties have an outside group come in and do retail studies,” he said. “They find out what money is being spent out of your county which helps pinpoint what type business you need to bring in.”

Williamson hopes the rest of the commission will be interested in having such a study conducted for Santa Rosa County.

 “I'd rather have a plan in place on what we need to attract and how we are going to attract it instead of just waiting for them to come to us,” he said. “I don't want to wait for something to happen. Let's make it happen.”

Williamson covered his expenses related to the trip using money left from his campaign that has been transferred to what's called an "office account," as allowed by state law, and with personal funds. The county paid $1,290 for Ogletree’s hotel, airfare and daily expenses.