Some of you may have seen recent discussions on Chamber of Commerce videos or local newspaper coverage about an issue on the March ballot known as Freeport Exemption and wondered, “What in the world is this even about?”   The wording of the ballot item itself can be a little confusing so I’d like to provide some clarity on the issue.  

Freeport Exemption Level I, Class 4 refers to inventory temporarily stored at distribution or fulfillment centers.  In most cases, this inventory belonged to some out-of-town business yesterday, and today someone locally ordered it online and now it is passing through this fulfillment center before it is delivered to the customer’s door.  The Freeport Exemption means that the fulfillment center won’t pay local ad-valorem taxes on that inventory that is just passing through their warehouse.  

If you’ve driven north on I-95 in the last year or so you have no doubt noticed the explosion of these distribution centers clustered around Savannah in Liberty, Chatham, Bryan and Effingham Counties.  Also, if you’ve driven around the Pecan Park or Cecil Field areas of Jacksonville you have seen the same thing, massive warehouses buildings with hundreds of workers on multiple shifts, receiving and shipping items around the clock.  These are being driven by increased activity at the Ports of Savannah and Jacksonville and a change in expectations among commercial and residential consumers, who have come to expect that they can get almost any product delivered to their door overnight.  

We have always said that Camden’s location between the Ports of Savannah, Brunswick and Jacksonville, along with access to commercial air-shipping at Brunswick and JIA position us very well for these types of businesses in the logistics and distribution sector.  Years ago, I was told by a commercial real-estate analysist in Jacksonville that Camden would see interest from those businesses only when space in Jax and Savannah was full or priced out of reach.  Well…guess what, we are starting to see that interest for those very reasons.  The I-95 Gateway Logistics Center being planned at Exit 7 calls for over 3 Million square feet of distribution and fulfillment centers.  The developer is working with the JDA, actively recruiting the companies who will fill that space now, but Camden is at a disadvantage in the battle to attract those companies because the counties around Savannah and Jacksonville already offer Freeport Exemption Level I, Class 4.  

Decisions on where to locate businesses almost always come down to the bottom line.  Our  Chamber members understand this for their own small businesses.  They locate (or try to locate) where they can get their product to their intended customer quickest, with the least amount of “red-tape”, have the workers they need and a safe, productive environment to do business and low overhead.  It is no different for these fulfillment centers, except that they are processing products that someone else sold.  If they find that environment here in Camden I think we will be successful in recruiting these job creators as part of our overall economic development strategy.