For about two years Orange County has had an advocate working to bring businesses and industries here. Jessica Hill as the executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is putting the county’s many assets forward for future development.
Hill grew up in Liberty, Texas, graduated from Texas A&M, before getting her master’s degree at Lamar, and her economic development training certification from the University of Oklahoma. Hill took her position at the EDC in April of 2016.
Running the Orange County EDC Hill said is more like a marathon than a sprint, she told Gary Stelly on the KOGT Morning Show. Projects totaling some $3 billion with the potential for using thousands of acres and employing hundreds of people are currently in the pipeline as prospects for the county. Many of those prospects have been in the works for years. One such prospect came to her attention in the last few days. “We had a lead that’s looking for about 20 acres and employ about 20 people needing our waterway,” Hill informed.
The prospects that come to Hill’s attention vary in size and type. There are business opportunities for logistics, warehousing, and distribution type projects. Hill works to get small retail prospects to move to Orange County. The big fish is always a possibility with prospects in chemical manufacturing.
Orange County is blessed with two key resources, Interstate 10 and the Sabine River, that Hill recognizes are important to economic development. There are roughly eight thousand acres of real estate available on the interstate that could be used for warehousing and logistics. An equally great asset to the waterway is the Sabine River Authority which contributes resources of raw processed water to the local petrochemical industry.
The one drawback of the Sabine River is that it is not a deep-water port. Hill advised, “That doesn’t mean we can’t tap into the resources that the Ports of Beaumont and Port Arthur have by utilizing it as a barge waterway.”
The ultimate factor for encouraging economic growth in the county is community support. Hill stated everyone has an important role in developing the economy in the county. “At the end of the day we’re going to be our best supporters. We’re the ones who have to be out there championing Orange County and making sure the people that are visiting the communities know that we’re supportive of it so that they’ll be supportive of it,” Hill concluded.
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