Monitor Editor
CAMP BLANDING— Gov. Ron DeSantis announced $3.4 million in state grants for military installations and surrounding communities, with most of the funding destined for northeast Florida.
DeSantis made the announcement during a Jan. 15 press conference at Camp Blanding.
“We’re doing almost a million dollars for Clay County to provide a buffer area around Camp Blanding, to maintain facilities at Camp Blanding and to help develop a strategic sites inventory for future development,” he said, “(and) nearly a half a million dollars to the City of Jacksonville to jointly acquire restrictive use easements of property in the military influence zone at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.”
The governor added that the grants also include almost $100,000 to the City of Jacksonville to bolster shipbuilding and maintenance at Naval Station Mayport, with the goal of persuading the Navy to base a nuclear aircraft carrier in the Jacksonville region.
DeSantis said few parts of the country can rival the military-friendliness of northeast Florida.
“We think this is a really critical part of the DNA of this part of the state,” he said.
DeSantis added that in addition to jobs the Navy and National Guard bring to the region, northeast Florida also benefits by military retirees who choose to settle in the area.
The governor cited the legislature’s $20 million appropriation earlier this year to expand school choice options for military families and the state’s new incentive program to lure out-of-state law enforcement officers into Florida with $5,000 bonuses, as examples of how the state is positioning itself as military and veteran friendly.
Rep. Bobby Payne detailed the $1.6 million in funding that northeast Florida organizations will receive with the grants.
He said the Clay County Development Authority will receive $300,000 to provide maintenance facilities at Camp Blanding.
“Additionally, communities are awarded about $800,000 in funding from the Defense Reinvestment Grant Program to include the Clay County Economic Development Corporation’s $65,000,” he said, “to develop a strategic site inventory program which would catalog shovel-ready sites as part of development along the First Coast (Expressway) project in Clay County.”
He said Camp Blanding trains 350,000 Florida National Guard troops, active duty military and law enforcement units.
