PARKER, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Nearly three and a half years after extensive damage from Hurricane Michael, the City of Parker is still picking up the pieces and rebuilding.
Something one local said has been a long time coming.
“You see a lot of blue tarps deteriorating on roofs around here. You know we’re gonna get straightened out here before too long. It just, when you get wiped out by a category five it takes time, Dean Poston, one local said.
One way the city is making a change is by welcoming several new businesses to the area.
This includes a new facility in the old Smallwood Shopping Center.
According to the company’s website, Fulcrum Building Group, is a multi-brand operator of pro-focused lumber yards in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.
City staff members tell NewsChannel 7, the lumber yard’s owners have been approved to function as a temporary operating service.
This new facility is believed to bring around 60 jobs to the area, and pay up to $20 an hour including benefits.
This is something locals say could be beneficial to the community.
“It’s good that we’re getting more jobs for people to work and just giving us hope that we can grow since Hurricane Michael,” Crystal Melvin, another local said.
“ (I) think it’s wonderful. Anything paying 20 dollars an hour in Bay County, is a good job,” Poston said.
With the rebuild, locals said this allows their community to grow in a positive direction.
“Maybe some of the people who moved away because their job went away, the business went away. Their house went away, maybe some of them will come back,” Poston said.
“It’s just showing us we can rise above anything and like rebuild better than ever and get one step ahead one day,” Melvin said.
This project is still waiting for certain approvals.
It will offer customers lumber, hardware, doors, windows, and several other lumber-related products.
This lumber yard is just one of the many new projects coming to Parker, alongside new apartments near Tyndall Air Force Base and a storage facility.
NewsChannel 7 reached out to Mayor Andrew Kelly, regarding the new projects, but did not hear back.
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