Thousands of jobs could be coming to the Birmingham region after the Jefferson County Commission voted recently to rezone nearly 650 acres adjacent to the existing Jefferson Metropolitan Park in McCalla.

“Based on the successes of the last few years and the active prospects in the queue, it became obvious that the County needed to acquire more land in order to recruit more jobs,” said Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington.

This decision could substantially impact economic development in the region by providing a shovel-ready site for prospective companies, said Birmingham Business Alliance Vice President of Economic Development Jeff Traywick.

“The Birmingham region has been seeing the need for new site opportunities for some time now,” Traywick said. “Jefferson County’s acquisition and rezoning of the property in McCalla allows us to have an excellent site opportunity in the western area. This property could eventually provide job opportunities for thousands of our regional citizens.”

The property was getting site visits even before it was rezoned and has been submitted for a number of projects, Traywick said.

“More than 3,000 citizens report to work at the Jeff Met park every day, and the annual payroll is more than $100 million,” he said. “Based on projects in the queue, I would project another 5,000 citizens will be employed at the park in the future. This means, with the multiplier effect of disposable income spending, there will be a higher quality of life for untold thousands of Jefferson County citizens.”