Florida city carves out 1-square-mile biotech hub

Florida's Palm Beach Gardens has taken a big step toward creating a big new biotech hub that it hopes can one day compete with the likes of Boston or San Diego.

In a unanimous vote, the city council agreed to carve out a square mile of undeveloped property that will be used to house the Scripps Research Institute, with 681 acres set aside for new biotech companies which the city hopes to lure to the area.

While city representatives had no trouble gaining a consensus on the project, there were plenty of opponents on hand for the vote, protesting everything from the environmental impact to the moral implications of animal research. City council members, though, were more impressed by the potential economic payback that could be garnered from a new biotech hub in the region.

- here's the report from the Palm Beach Post