County Commisioners Vote Against Halting Jackson Lab Project
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Published on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 23:40
Collier County Commissioners adopted a wait-and-see attitude Tuesday toward the proposed Jackson Lab project near Ave Maria.
"None of my questions have been answered with respect to this project," Commission Chairman Fred Coyle said, urging the commission and county residents to wait until all the information about the project is known.
Stating that there are "very serious obstacles" to the project, Mr. Coyle said, "Until the governor or the state legislature says they're not going to proceed with this, I'm going to keep trying to gather the information and perform the responsibility we have been given."
Mr. Coyle said he has yet to be convinced that the Jackson Lab project can succeed, but he was "not going to close my mind to additional information," and he appealed to other county residents to do the same.
Commissioner Tom Henning had made a motion that the commissioners direct county staff to stop all work dealing with the Jackson Lab project until the state office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development (OTTED) has reached agreement with the Lab on the structure of the state's funding.
Proceeding that way would be "a foolish concept," Mr. Coyle said, adding that it would mean the county staff could not evaluate information even if the governor and the legislature announced said they wanted to proceed.
Mr. Henning's motion was defeated, with Commissioners Coyle, Jim Coletta and Donna Fiala voting against it and new commissioner Georgia Hiller supporting Mr. Henning.
The discussion drew comments from nine members of the public -- none from Ave Maria -- most of whom spoke against the project.
