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Businesses, developers will apply
for foreign trade zone
By Tim Sullivan
The Winchester Star - Saturday, September 20, 1997
A group of Frederick County
developers and business leaders, in cooperation with local officials,
has asked the federal government to make part of the county a
foreign trade zone, a designation they say will benefit existing
companies and attract new ones to the area.
If the Commerce Department approves the proposal, land around
Winchester Regional Airport and sites elsewhere in the county
would become havens from customs taxes. In all, 800 acres would
be affected.
"This is something that could help a wide variety of businesses
involved in importing and exporting," said Kevin G. Adams,
president of the Winchester-Frederick County Industrial Parks
Association and a principal in Adams-Legge Development, one of
the participants.
Goods imported into a foreign trade zone are exempt from duties
until they leave the zone into the country. This allows a company
in the zone to defer taxes during the storage or processing of
those goods. If the goods are exported and never leave the zone,
the business avoids taxes altogether.
The decision to submit a trade zone application was made by the
city-county Economic Development Commission, which broached the
idea earlier this year to owners of industrial parks around the
airport - Airport Business Center, AeroCentre Business Park, Prince
Frederick Office Park and Westview Business Centre.
The group sought broader participation after a consultant said
Commerce would look more favorably on an application that promised
immediate benefit for existing businesses. The idea drew interest
from Jouan Inc., a manufacturer of medical equipment in the southern
part of the county, and Fort Collier Industrial Park, home of
Bender Warehousing just north of the city, according to June M.
Wilmot, the commission's executive director.
Trade Zone Services, a consultant that operates a foreign trade
zone at Washington Dulles International Airport, said it expects
the application to be approved. A decision is expected in six
to nine months.
Ms. Wilmot said the businesses paid the $35,000 application fee.
"I think the private sector deserves Kudos for supporting
this and agreeing to move forward," she said.
Ms. Wilmot said she met a representative of a Japanese company
considering locating in the county and he was impressed that the
county had submitted the application. She declined to identify
the company.
"Being able to tell him not just that this was something
we wanted to do, but to show him that we already have an application
in, that made all the difference in the world," she said.
"That kind of thing really means a lot more to prospects
like this."
Industrial park owners said the trade zone could be a valuable
tool, even though businesses have been moving in around the airport.
"Things have been moving along here," said George W.
Glaize Jr., owner of the 146-acre Westview Business Centre, which
has sold about 46 acres to businesses. "But it never hurts
to make yourself marketable to new types of companies. This should
do that."
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