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Zephyrhills Water Looking To Grow

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 11, 2007

DADE CITY - When an unidentified company approached County Commissioner Ted Schrader recently with plans for possible expansion in east Pasco, it sounded like great news.

Schrader envisioned a good corporate neighbor building or taking space at a prime industrial park in his district with what sounded like a distribution center, he said this week. But as he heard more details, the commissioner became concerned.

The company, which Schrader would not identify, has been looking at industrial sites on both sides of State Road 52, east of Interstate 75, as well as land north of Dade City. The rub: It would need between 2 million and 3 million gallons of water per day - 365 days per year - to operate.

'That troubles me,' Schrader told fellow commissioners at a meeting Tuesday in Dade City. He said he would be hard-pressed to support an operation that would consume so much of a precious resource, especially when the board prohibits residents from watering their lawns more than once a week.

The Economic Development Council typically does not reveal companies seeking to move or expand in Pasco County for competitive reasons, but one local operation, Zephyrhills Brand Natural Spring Water, fits the profile.

Jim McClellan, a spokesman for Nestle Waters North America, the parent company of the Zephyrhills bottling plant, would not confirm that his company is looking at property north of One Pasco Center and another site near I-75 and S.R. 52. Nestle does, however, plan to expand the Zephyrhills bottling plant and, 'separate and apart from that, is in the early stages of looking' for a place to build another manufacturing plant in Florida, McClellan said Wednesday.

'A decision has not been made yet about whether to build another plant,' he said. 'This is very tentative. We are looking at a number of sites throughout the state.'

McClellan said it is too early to say whether the plant, if built, would manufacture bottles and fill them with spring water as do the Zephyrhills and Deer Park brands or sell drinking water as does Nestle Pure Life brand, which comes from public water supplies.

He also said he was unsure how big the plant would be. Nestle's Madison plant in the Panhandle is 646,000 square feet, including its warehouse.

Commissioner Michael Cox, who sits on the EDC and also has been in discussions with the company, said he also is concerned about the project, but he said the unidentified company is in the early stages of planning an expansion. Cox did say he would be unlikely to support offering incentives to the company. He said the company is not on a par with Sysco Food Services Corp., which plans to expand in Zephyrhills, because it may not offer as highly paying jobs.

'I'm not even sure we're a finalist in their site selection process,' Cox said. 'Knowing their demographic, compared with Sysco, I'm very disinclined to give them any kind of incentives. We have to look at what they want.'

McClellan did not have the dimensions of the Zephyrhills plant but said it employs about 300 people. Nestle's plants pay more than the average prevailing wage for jobs including laborers, supervisors, managers and trainers, he said. Nestle also offers health benefits, 401(k) plans and profit-sharing.

Schrader said he was reluctant to bring up the subject at a public meeting, but he thought it was important for the EDC to know where the commission stands on the subject. Even though the company could bring in jobs and tax revenue, there would be trade-offs.

'I want to get a sense of whether the board will provide them water,' he told commissioners. 'They need an idea of what we might give them before they move forward. ... If you do allow this to happen and it goes on the public supply there, there could be implications much bigger than attracting industry.'

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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