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Polk Leaders Visit Alliance: See Hub Firsthand

Posted by Bob Gernert on May 28, 2008 at 2:25 pm

A group of 21 Polk citizens left Sunday, May 18 and spent Monday, May 19 touring the Alliance, Texas intermodal rail facility and surrounding business park.

The group spent Monday morning touring the intermodal rail facility observing the equipment in operation, containers being transferred to rail, noise levels, site organization and traffic.

In the afternoon the contingent met with Tony Creme (left) with the Hillwood Corporation as he outlined how the business park has evolved since 1990, the companies who have located there, development standards and deed restrictions covering building color, landscaping and lighting.

Pictured below, the Polk group conducts a Question and Answer session with Hillwood executive, Tony Creme. He spent more than two and one half hours discussing all aspects of the Alliance/Gateway development from inception in 1990 to present.

Following the Hillwood presentation the group travelled via bus to a new housing development located one-half mile from the intermodal rail facility. Sendera Ranch features a variety of brick homes ranging in price from $110,000 to more than $300,000. (Pictured below)

Monday night after dinner the bus returned to the entrance of the intermodal rail facility to observe lighting and sound levels. The bus was positioned approximately 500 yards from the freight transferring operations and the engine turned off. With windows open facing the facility there were the normal sounds of a spring evening in the country and no audible industrial sounds other than a tractor/trailer exiting the center adjacent to the bus.

The Alliance integrated logistics center (ILC) is far larger than the facility planned for Winter Haven. It also serves a six state area and the Haven site is planned to serve peninsular Florida. Currently all on-site access roads to the Alliance site are two lane. The intermodal rail terminal was designed allowing for a four-lane access road but has operated with just two lanes for the past 16 years. The Polk delegation traveled throughout the ILC all day on Monday never experiencing any type of traffic congestion.

Visitors to Alliance find an immaculately maintained, well landscaped orderly operation that would be the envy of any locale. Hillwood conducts an annual independent survey assessing the tax revenues their project has generated. The current estimated total taxes paid within the communities and counties the project encompasses and within the state of Texas comes to more than $535 million dollars (cumulative total over the past sixteen years).

Those traveling with the group included:

State Representative Frank Attkisson
County Commissioner Bob English
County Commissioner Sam Johnson
County Commissioner Jean Reed
County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson
County Manager Mike Herr
Assistant County Manager Jim Freeman
County Transportation Director Tom Deardorff
Winter Haven City Commissioner Jeff Potter
Winter Haven Community Development Director David Dickey
Assistant to Winter Haven City Manager, Deric Feacher
Director of Utility Services, Pete Chichetto
Winter Haven Chamber President, Sam Killebrew
Winter Haven Chamber Vice President, Howard King
Winter Haven Chamber members Pete Cassidy, Allison Hunt and Wayne Watters
Winter Haven Chamber Executive Director, Bob Gernert
CSX Transportation, Ron Morrow
Lakeland Economic Development Council, Steve Scruggs
East Polk Committee of 100, Jack Barnhart

See other entries filed in: CSX - Winter Haven, City of Winter Haven, Commercial Developments, Economic Development, Transportation