Neighbors link up to oppose resort plan at Briny Breezes

By Eliot Kleinberg

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

GULF STREAM — When developers bought Briny Breezes for a half billion dollars, to replace the mobile homes with a resort, mayors of two adjoining towns were lonely voices of concern.

Not any more.

Ocean Ridge Mayor Ken Kaleel - "I don't want to be living next to Disneyland" - and Gulf Stream Mayor William Koch - "I get three, four calls a day" - say a growing movement of people, governments, and entities, most of them on the barrier islands, is challenging Ocean Land's vision of 900 condominiums, 300 time-share units and a 350-room luxury hotel rising on 43-acres along State Road A1A.

An as-yet unidentified group of hundreds of individuals, homeowners' groups and growth watchdogs has formed and raised money to challenge the plan.

Robert Ganger, who's also president of the Gulf Stream Civic Association, said he's not ready to name all the players. But he said they include people from the north end of Manalapan to Delray Beach, a 10-mile strip of barrier island Ganger said now holds only a single 10-story building. Briny Breezes stands almost exactly at the center of that stretch.

"It's essentially more of old Florida ," Ganger said. "It's the area where the citizens have the greatest concern."

The growth management advocacy group 1000 Friends of Florida is also studying the plan, local planner Joanne Davis said.

"It's absurdly out of character for the surrounding communities," she said.

Among other things, 1000 Friends wonders about such a development in light of the concerns of hurricane experts and emergency managers about the exploding growth along coastlines.

Ocean Land just wants to let the system work.

"We would expect a project this large would have a lot of interested parties and a lot of folks would express concerns," Vice President H. Logan Pierson said. "But the process is just beginning."

Ocean Land presents its plan Thursday to Briny' Breeze's Board of Aldermen. Last week, so many people jammed the town's tiny town hall - and overflowed it - that the board moved Thursday's gathering to the town's 300-seat auditorium. The board meets once more April 26, for a vote to send the plan to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for comment. The state would then send it back to the town for final approval.

Kaleel and Koch say their commissions are ready to spend money and residents - both towns have their share of wealthy inhabitants - have offered to help. Ocean Ridge has hired a law and lobbying firm.

"We've got marching orders from our residents every step of the way," Kaleel said.

The mayors noted that Ocean Land proposes 5 million square feet of development, with towers of 12 to 20 stories. Presuming four luxury units per floor, the developer would have to build at least 10 20-story towers just to accommodate the 900 condo units, and still more for the 300 time share units and 350 hotel rooms.

Ocean Land 's Pierson didn't dispute that math. But he said Ocean Land hasn't yet decided what it will build.

Whatever it is, Pierson insisted, "This is going to be a beautiful project. This will fit into whatever the law of the land allows."

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty, whose district includes Briny Breezes, said she wonders how Ocean Land can fit all it proposes "on that postage-stamp piece of property."

She added, "Am I opposed to 1,500 units? Probably."

McCarty said she wants more details.

"Long after the developer and Briny are gone, the community is going to have to live with what's left," she said.

Mobile homes may get shield

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

STUART — Martin County commissioners want to stop developers from turning mobile-home parks into condominiums, even if that means imposing a short-term moratorium.

"I think we all want to do it. We just want to make sure it's legal," Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi said Tuesday, as commissioners unanimously voted to consider a proposal in the future that would block the redevelopment of mobile-home parks.

In the past year in Martin County , developers have bought several mobile-home parks and evicted residents in order to redevelop the parks, which often provide housing for lower-income and elderly residents.

"There is nothing worse than preying on the elderly and those that can't defend themselves," said Bob Grudi, one of about three dozen residents being evicted from the Bloomfield Meadows mobile-home park in Hobe Sound.

Commissioner Lee Weberman, who proposed the moratorium, said it would probably last for 18 to 24 months while the commission created other solutions to the county's shortage of affordable and low-income housing.

"I think it's one of the real steps we can take to show tangible action," Weberman said.

Commissioners also asked staffers to create a proposal for a permanent "no net loss" policy, meaning that developers who convert a mobile-home park would have to replace the same number of mobile homes somewhere else.

Commissioners also unanimously voted to propose an emergency comprehensive plan amendment that would allow people who own their own mobile home and lot to replace it with a permanent home. The state rejected a similar amendment last year, saying it would reduce affordable housing. State approval of the new proposal would be needed.

Residents asked commissioners on Tuesday to allow the option, saying it would make it easier for them to get insurance.

Commissioners said allowing permanent homes on lots would not affect affordable housing.

"They don't understand what we are trying to accomplish," Commissioner Doug Smith said of the state officials who rejected the plan last year. "This has nothing to do with the other issue."

Commissioners said that the option of a permanent home must be limited to individual residents who own their own lot and live in it.

"I don't want to see people buying mobile-home parks and converting them," said Commissioner Sarah Heard. ~'jason_schultz@pbpost.com

DeBary will sue to keep marina project afloat

Tanya Caldwell
Sentinel Staff Writer

April 18, 2007

DeBary is wading into uncharted legal waters to help a developer build a controversial marina project on the St. Johns River .

The city's target is the Volusia Growth Management Commission, a low-profile agency that typically helps cities plan for development and is poised to challenge DeBary's project during a public hearing next week.

DeBary has vowed to file an unprecedented lawsuit, possibly as early as today, to stop the hearing and clear the way for Country Estates at River Bend, a development on 330 acres that critics throughout Central Florida have said will hurt manatees.

The growth agency, which has the unique power to reject such land-use changes under Volusia's home-rule charter, is ready for DeBary's challenge and pledged to have its hearing April 25.

"We are willing to work with the city," VGMC attorney Paul Chipok said Tuesday, "but we are also willing to defend ourselves and support the system."

The legal showdown between the two taxpayer-funded agencies is forcing the VGMC to defend its authority.

"This is an opportunity for the Growth Management Commission to step up to the plate, to defend itself and to exercise its jurisdiction," said Clay Henderson, a land-use attorney, longtime environmentalist and former Volusia County councilman.

DeBary authorized the lawsuit Monday. It is unusual because it marks the first time since the VGMC was formed 20 years ago that a city has filed a lawsuit to stop the agency from having a public hearing on a land-use change.

The VGMC is unique in Florida because it is composed of city and county appointees who are empowered to review changes to local growth plans -- the foundation for development. In most cases, the growth agency and the cities have worked cooperatively.

The relationship between DeBary and the VGMC soured quickly, though, and a new report from VGMC's planning consultants calls for the denial of the city's land-use change.

Consultants said in the 15-page report that the growth agency, with 21 voting members, should reject DeBary's proposal at the April 25 public hearing because the land-use change would be bad for manatees, the environment, schools and transportation.

City Manager Maryann Courson called the report the "most far-fetched recommendation I've ever viewed."

She said that the approval process has been turned into such a political debate with DeBary that VGMC members are going into next week's hearing poised to make decisions "based on emotions."

City officials are fighting to keep the project because it will bring a large property-tax windfall and because developer Joseph Krzys will pave an adjacent dirt road and extend water and sewer lines to his neighbors.

City officials said it is simply too late for VGMC to challenge -- or even review -- DeBary's plans.

"I think it's politics," City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said Tuesday. "They are stretching as far as they can, trying to find a technicality or a loophole because some people came to the county and complained."

The dispute centers on whether the VGMC ran out of time to have the hearing. DeBary said the clock ran out as far back as February.

VGMC said the clock is still running and it will continue to run until DeBary answers questions about the project's impact on public schools.

DeBary said it has already answered that question -- the development will fill two elementary-school classrooms with an unspecified number of students, it says -- and that information went directly to the School Board.

But Chipok said that information should have been sent to VGMC to make it count and force the growth agency to make a decision on the city's request.

"It's become evident that we're not going to get a response," Chipok said, "so we're going to proceed with the hearing."

Chipok said the VGMC will treat DeBary's request just like any other development proposal, "comprehensively," despite the looming legal challenge.

"We're everybody's best friend when they want a development," Chipok said, "and we're everybody's worst enemy when they file an application."

Tanya Caldwell can be reached at tcaldwell@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7910.

shorter version ran in Final Edition

Consultant: Coal plant an expensive mistake
By Jim Ash
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU CHIEF

An environmental consultant testified Tuesday that Florida Power & Light will make an expensive mistake if it builds a $5.7 billion coal-fired power plant in Glades County .

The power company could face between $120 million and $400 million in annual penalties for emitting carbon dioxide under a raft of proposals floating through Congress that are aimed at combating global warming, said David Schlissel, a senior consultant for Synapse Energy and Economics.

''It's prudent to expect that a policy to regulate climate change will be put into effect in a way that should concern utilities that are building coal power plants,'' Schlissel said.

Testifying before the Public Service Commission for the Sierra Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, Schlissel said his studies show that the plant, which the company wants to build 5 miles northwest of Moore Haven by 2013, wouldn't be economically feasible.

Although a host of environmental activists testified Monday about their concerns, Schlissel's study could be the most damaging for the power company.

The regulatory commission is charged by state law to rule whether there is a need for a new plant and whether it will be the most cost-effective for its customers. The commission also must consider whether energy conservation can eliminate the need and whether the choice of fuel will help wean the state off of its dependence on foreign oil.

Company officials argued that there is a possibility the company could avoid penalties, in part, because it will use a new, cleaner technology that pulverizes the coal and heats it at super high temperatures.

FPL also argued that coal meets the diversity test and will shield customers from price fluctuations in the oil market and supply interruptions from hurricanes. The company said it can keep a 60-day supply of coal on site, unlike oil or natural gas burning plants.

With the company's demand growing by more than 100,000 customers a year, and Floridians building larger and more power hungry homes, company officials say the plant is crucial.

''It is critical that action be taken now,'' testified Rene Silva, director of resource assessment and planning. ''It is also the only practicable means of maintaining diversity in the system.''

The commission is expected to make its recommendation in June.

County, City Officials Hear Options on Water Woes

By Tom Palmer
The Ledger
BARTOW - The challenge for county and city water managers in 2025 will be fairly straightforward.

All they have to do is find their share of the $1 billion it will take to fill the projected 106 million gallon-per-day deficit.

That was the challenge laid out Tuesday night by consultant Dale Jenkins of Black & Veatch, who presented possible options to a crowd of city and county officials at a work session in the County Commission chambers.

Tuesday's meeting was the latest in a series of meetings between county and city officials that began in February 2006 to find ways of working together to finance efforts to provide water for future growth.

County Manager Mike Herr called the list of projects Jenkins presented in the $49,000 study "a pretty good blueprint.''

He said he has been meeting with city managers and expects to hold further meetings during the next couple of months to work out the details of implementing the plan.

The projects Jenkins laid out ranged from tapping water from the Kissimmee River to installing a system of pipelines to connect to wells or reservoirs in various parts of the county.

Most of the projects involve so-called alternative sources that reflect the changing face of water permitting.

Water management officials announced in October that local utilities can forget about getting more water in the traditional way - drilling a hole in the ground and pumping - after 2013 because no more such permits will be granted because they would be environmentally unsustainable.

Dave Moore, executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, praised the effort.

"It's really important to have a united approach," he said, explaining water management districts and a state fund could together fund up to 60 percent of the costs of approved projects.

Nevertheless, several officials and one resident raised questions about the report.

Commissioner Bob English said he thought there ought to be more emphasis on conservation before spending millions of dollars on new construction.

"I think conservation should be elevated,'' he said, saying he'd like to see countywide rules that limit landscaping to turf that requires less water and maybe even limit the sizes of lawns.

"It's the easiest and cheapest way," he said.

County Commissioner Jean Reed noted that the figures go only to 2025 and wondered what the projections are for water demand and supply in 2050.

She was told any projections beyond 2025 were outside the scope of the study.

Tom Jackson, a local geologist, wondered why the discussion didn't include protection of aquifer recharge, which he said is the only way to make the system sustainable.

Lake Alfred Commissioner Nancy Daley asked what the cumulative environmental impact would be of removing all of this water simultaneously.

Jenkins said that's an issue that will have to be reviewed whenever local officials apply for a permit.

Lake Wales City Manager Tony Otte asked if there were other models for countywide agreements like the one being proposed.

Herr said there are, and that he plans to provide details to fellow managers.

Those details are expected to cover many of the technical, financial and administrative details of any joint venture that occurs. These include everyone's financial responsibility for capital projects, who would be responsible for operating the system and how the water would be allocated among the partners.

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. Read more views on the environment at http://environment.theledger.com and more views on county government at http://county.theledger.com.

Lake to leave water alliance

Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

STUART — Martin County's most crucial roads will become gridlocked with traffic during the next six years, and fixing the problem will cost about $530 million more than the county has to spend.

County commissioners voted Tuesday to get developers and other governments to pay for road improvements and to allow more congestion in some areas.

"We're putting the carrot out there for them," said County Engineering Director Don Donaldson. "We need contractual obligations from developers."

The county doesn't have the money to widen those roads even with impact fees already paid by developers, he said. When those roads fail traffic standards, the county no longer will be able to approve developments that use those streets.

Officials hope the specter of halting development approvals will spur developers to agree to pay for part or all of the costs of widening the roads in addition to their regular impact fees, Donaldson said.

Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi said the county might be able to get the state to pay for $60 million to $80 million of the $120 million needed to build one of the major roads for traffic relief, the Indian Street Bridge . That would be enough to build the four-lane bridge with two-lane approaches and the county could find the money to widen the approaches later, he said.

State money for the bridge was killed last year when former Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed a state bill.

Commissioners also told county officials to work with Port St. Lucie to plan and pay for the widening of Westmoreland Boulevard . Donaldson said he had not spoken to city officials about the road and if they did not want to pay, the county might consider lowering standards to allow more congestion on that road.

Commissioners did vote 3-2 to propose lowering the traffic standards of U.S. 1 to allow more traffic on the highway from Cove Road south to Seabranch Boulevard . Commissioners Sarah Heard and Susan Valliere dissented.

Commissioners also voted 4-1 to propose lowering the traffic standards in the county's seven community redevelopment areas.

Donaldson said allowing more congestion in the redevelopment areas would require developers to pay for building public transportation for those areas.

"It's not simply a blanket saying we don't care about traffic in that area," he said. "It is to get people out of their cars and looking at different modes of transportation."

Heard was the only commissioner who voted against lowering those standards, but Valliere said she had serious doubts about it as well.

"Our strategic goal is to solve traffic congestion, and now it sounds like we are condoning it," Valliere said.

Commissioners will take the final vote on lowering those traffic standards this year or early next year, Donaldson said. He also suggested taking $4.6 million planned for beautifying the Salerno Road "gateway" project in order to do some of the Kanner Highway widening.

But commissioners voted down that suggestion, saying it would lead to the Salerno Road project being put off indefinitely.

"I'm stunned we are even considering this," Heard said. "We make promises to do this project every year, and every year we strip out all the funds."

—————————————————————————

Martin County roads facing congestion

Here is the full list of Martin County roads that could exceed acceptable traffic congestion standards by 2013. New developments could be blocked unless relief is provided, or standards are changed.

Entire county:

• U.S. 1, from St. Lucie County line to Palm City Road in Stuart, from Indian Street to Salerno Road and from Cove Road to Seabranch Boulevard .

North county:

• Westmoreland Boulevard, from St. Lucie County line to U.S. 1.

• Goldenrod Road, from Jensen Beach Boulevard to U.S. 1.

• Jensen Beach Boulevard , from U.S. 1 to Green River Parkway .

Mid-county:

• Kanner Highway, from Pratt-Whitney Road to Locks Road and from Interstate 95 to Salerno Road .

• Willoughby Boulevard, from Salerno Road to Pomeroy Street .

• Dixie Highway, from Salerno Road to St. Lucie Boulevard .

West county:

• Martin Highway, from Florida 's Turnpike to 48th Avenue and from High Meadows

Avenue to Mapp Road .

• Murphy Road, from Martin Highway to St. Lucie County line.

• High Meadows Avenue , from Interstate 95 to Murphy Road .

• State Road 710, from Citrus Boulevard to Kanner Highway .

These are road projects needed to solve traffic problems in the next 10 years and how much financing they still need.

• Build Indian Street Bridge : Estimated cost, $210 million; $127 million unfunded.

• Widen State Road 710 from two to four lanes from Palm Beach County line to Okeechobee County line: Estimated cost, $398 million; $295 million unfunded.

• Widen Kanner Highway from two to four lanes: $28.8 million, all unfunded.

• Widen Jensen Beach Boulevard from four to six lanes: Estimated cost, $6.7 million; all unfunded.

• Widen Goldenrod Road from two to four lanes: $6.1 million; all unfunded.

• Widen Martin Highway from two to four lanes between Interstate 95 and Florida 's Turnpike: estimated cost, $27.8 million; all unfunded.

• Widen Willoughby Boulevard from two to four lanes between Pomeroy Street and Cove Road : Estimated cost, $7.9 million; all unfunded.

• Build Windemere Drive connection between Green River Parkway and U.S. 1: Estimated cost $6.6 million; all unfunded.

• Widen Cove Road from two to four lanes from Dixie Highway to Kanner Highway : Estimated cost, $29.6 million; $28.3 million unfunded.

Housing Hurting Area's Economy, Chamber Finds

By MICHAEL SASSO The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 18, 2007

TAMPA - The chaotic housing market already has put home ownership out of reach for many. Now the housing slump appears to be dragging down the job market and overall economy, one study shows.

On Tuesday, a local economic development agency, the Tampa Bay Partnership, put out its Regional Economic Scorecard for the Bay area. The scorecard looks at key economic indicators to rank the Bay area against five peer metropolitan areas: Jacksonville ; Atlanta ; Charlotte , N.C. ; Raleigh-Durham , N.C. ; and Dallas .

Among the partnership's findings is that the Bay area's creation of new jobs may be slowing. In the 12 months from late spring 2005 to late spring 2006, the Bay area economy generated 51,400 new jobs. That's a job growth rate of 2.86 percent, said Larry Henson, a business intelligence officer for the partnership.

That figure raises a red flag because the local economy had been generating jobs at a 3.8 percent rate, Henson said.

A slowdown in construction seems to be partly at fault. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area lost 3,400 construction jobs from December 2005 through December, according to state statistics. It was the first time Henson has seen a downturn in construction employment after a long period of "stellar growth."

At WorkNet Pinellas, a Pinellas County employment board, the number of laid-off construction workers seeking employment help has been rising for at least six months, said Ed Peachey, the agency's executive director.

In December, 117 people from the construction field sought assistance, which is up from 85 in June and 73 in March 2006.

"I have a feeling that what we're seeing in layoffs is probably your manual labor folks," Peachey said. "But the good jobs, the apprenticeship jobs, are still there."

Despite the sobering job market news, the overall picture from the Tampa Bay Partnership's scorecard is a mixed bag. Among its findings:

Housing affordability: The Bay area ranks last among the six peer metropolitan areas in this important category. The area is hurt because of its high housing prices and rent and relatively low wages.

For example, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment is $967, the study says. That is second-highest among the six peer cities, after only Atlanta , which had an average monthly rent of $1,001. Meanwhile, the Bay area's average wage ($36,406) is far behind Atlanta 's ($45,984).

Education: This category was a high point for the Bay area, as it scored second best among the six cities, after only Raleigh-Durham. For example, the Bay area's mean SAT score was 1003, which was second only to Raleigh-Durham's mean score of 1035.

Unemployment: Although job growth may be slowing, the Bay area still shines in terms of this key indicator. The area's unemployment rate is 3 percent, which is the best among the six peer cities.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

Builder left homes undone; CEO now faces arrest

By HEATHER ALLEN and GINNY LAROE

STAFF WRITERS

heather.allen@heraldtribune.com
ginny.laroe@heraldtribune.com
NORTH PORT -- Alisha Buckingham just wanted a two-story home. At the time, only two home builders in the city offered models with that specification.

Contracting with Avalon Homes, she and dozens of other families learned, was a costly decision.

Avalon collapsed last fall, leaving 50 homes unfinished and dozens of home buyers like Buckingham saddled with mortgages for homes they may never be able to finish building.

"I have no more money. It's all gone," said Buckingham, a 32-year-old waitress.

And now, prosecutors say they have obtained an arrest warrant for Joseph Pufta, the 62-year-old chief executive of Avalon.

Authorities say Avalon took hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks for work that was never completed. And they say subcontractors were never paid for work done on dozens of homes, causing them to levy liens.

Assistant State Attorney Kate Wallace said Pufta will be charged with 20 felony counts of misappropriation of construction funds and one count of grand theft.

More charges could be filed if more families come forward, she said.

Since the downturn in Southwest Florida 's building industry last year, other home builders such as Jade Homes and Construction Compliance Inc. have gone bust.

But Pufta could be the first homebuilder in the area to face criminal charges.

Another key difference between the CCI and Avalon is who fell victim. Many who lost money in the CCI collapse were investors from the Northeast, whereas many of Avalon's customers are families looking to build modest homes of their own.

"Their money is gone and they've got no place to live," Wallace said. "It has become a family tragedy."

North Port issued the first permit to Avalon Homes in November of 2004. And over the next couple of years, the company completed 42 homes.

But when the cost of construction began to skyrocket and the value of homes in Southwest Florida fell, Pufta got in over his head, authorities say.

Darrin and Kristy Morehouse went to police after Avalon abandoned their house.

The newlyweds wanted a bigger home. Instead they got $24,000 in liens after Avalon failed to pay subcontractors, sticking Morehouse with the bills.

After nearly 11 months, their lot had not been cleared. By January, Avalon had only erected the frame. Yet the company took a final draw of $34,000 from their construction loan and abandoned the job site.

"I had no septic, no driveway, no drywall," said Darrin Morehouse. "We had a skeleton."

Morehouse, like many of the homeowners, took over the project and hopes to move into his home soon.

Police have not been able to contact Pufta, and the phone numbers for his home and former office in Sarasota have been disconnected.

And it's unclear where the money went.

Chip Morse, Pufta's Tampa-based attorney in civil matters, said he is in the process of filing bankruptcy papers on behalf of Avalon.

Last week, one player in the case was reprimanded for his role.

James Leake, a Venice contractor who virtually rented his state license to Avalon, went before a North Port citizen advisory board.

The board permanently revoked Leake's permitting privileges after hearing from three of the families whose homes were abandoned by Avalon.

Leake told the board he was humiliated but wasn't to blame because he didn't know what Avalon was doing.

For homeowners like Buckingham, who is now seven months pregnant, that move came too late.

Buckingham and her husband signed a contract with Avalon in March 2005 to build their two-story dream home.

It took nine months for Avalon to clear the lot, and progress on the home remained slow for more than a year.

Work stopped in June of last year, yet the company still drew $42,000 from their account on Aug. 11, Buckingham said.

While waiting two years for her Avalon home to be completed, Buckingham has had to pay $1,000 a month in interest alone on her construction loan.

When the liens started pouring in, Buckingham had to get a another mortgage for a second home, just so she would have a place to live.

"You expect a year of interest, I had the money to deal with that," she said. "You don't expect two years of that."

Police say they don't think that Pufta and Avalon necessarily set out to defraud people. But like many builders, the company began to struggle in the stalling housing market.

"It was a greed factor," North Port Detective Randy Ruth said.

It's the kind of overreaching that Sheila Schaller, a massage therapist from Michigan, saw firsthand after a subcontractor put a lien on her home for windows he claimed she never paid for.

But her Avalon home had no windows.

Later, Schaller was told that Avalon had ripped the windows from her home and placed them in another to appease a frustrated home buyer, and apparently failed to pay the window installer.

Tom Lifsey, a North Port plans examiner, said he regrets the city couldn't do more to prevent this from happening.

He said home buyers had been begging him to let them take over the projects. One man even went to his office threatening suicide.

But he couldn't do anything until last September, when Leake, the contractor who "qualified" Avalon, sent the city a letter essentially authorizing the families to fire Avalon.

Homeowners have since taken over 43 of the abandoned home sites, and some have finally been able to move in.

Authorities say they are shocked by how many people were duped and how much money appears to have been involved.

"The total amount of money is probably phenomenal," said Ruth, the North Port detective. "Where did the monies go?"
Deltona supersizes its vote, backing 3,000 housing units

Denise-Marie Balona
Sentinel Staff Writer

April 18, 2007

DELTONA -- City leaders voted early Tuesday morning to allow 3,000 apartments or condominiums in an industrial and commercial area, just an hour after those same leaders rejected a developer's request for 96 apartments just a quarter of a mile away.

The preliminary vote sets the stage for an enormous increase in the city's multifamily housing inventory, if the change survives a second public hearing on May 7.

But the vote left city Commissioner David Santiago befuddled.

"It was mind-boggling to me to see some of my peers be hypocrites," said Santiago , who couldn't vote on the 96-unit apartment proposal because he is the real-estate agent representing the sellers of the property.

A standing-room-only crowd packed the commission's expansive chambers to protest the smaller of the two projects, saying apartments were not appropriate for the area along Howland Boulevard near Deltona High School .

But most left after the commission's vote just before midnight, missing its subsequent approval of a change in the industrial park's master plan that would allow 30 times more multifamily units than the project commissioners earlier rejected.

Santiago , the only city commissioner to vote against the bigger project, noted that his colleagues turned down the smaller apartment complex because of traffic, school crowding and other issues.

Other commissioners and city officials argued Tuesday that the two projects are very different.

The first called for a small apartment complex and commercial center fronting a major road. The second, larger project is needed to jump-start the activity center, a swath of land along Interstate 4 that the city wants to develop as a new commercial core.

City Manager Steve Thompson said if the city builds as many as 3,000 multifamily units there -- apartments, condos, town homes or a combination -- it would provide a steady stream of shoppers and business.

He said that while the new homes would dump more traffic onto Howland, one of the city's main thoroughfares, the activity center would be configured so some traffic could be directed toward other roadways.

Also, some residents will work, live and shop at the activity center, so they won't need to use Howland as much.

The multifamily housing will replace about 3 million square feet of space previously earmarked for warehouses and light industry, Thompson said.

"It's going to help make the larger retail development everyone wants at the activity center possible," he said.

Although school-district officials had concerns about both developments, the bigger one clearly would have a bigger impact on already-crowded public schools.

Saralee Morrissey, the Volusia school district's director of site acquisition, said she wants the city or a developer to provide land for a school at the activity center or nearby.

"If they're going to have as much residential as was indicated in that report, yes, I want a school," she said.

Some residents who crammed into the commission chambers Monday night to oppose the smaller project were alarmed to learn Tuesday that elected leaders were willing to allow possibly 3,000 apartments on other land nearby.

Resident Ray Hosterman didn't wait for the outcome of the activity-center vote, taken at 12:45 a.m.

"I should have stayed," he said.

Karen Hollensbe, who helped lead opposition against the 96-unit proposal, said she was worried.

"Holy cow," she said. "That's a tremendous amount of traffic."

City officials said the apartments, condos and town homes would come in phases, the first 500 opening within several years.

Mayor Dennis Mulder said the city had to decide on a maximum number of homes to allow at the activity center, but he predicted fewer than half ultimately will get built.

The work is not expected to be complete for another 20-plus years, city officials said, which allows time to work out the details of the plan.

"When it comes right down to it," said Commissioner Janet Deyette, "we will see it again and then we will decide what we want or don't want."

Denise-Marie Balona can be reached at dbalona@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7916.

Officials differ on rezoning requests

By SARA KIESLER
Staff Writer

DELTONA -- Just after the City Commission denied one multi-family residential project, it approved another one nearby.

About midnight at Monday's meeting, Deltona commissioners stopped the proposed construction of a 96-unit apartment complex by denying a request to rezone the 10-acre site on Howland Boulevard and Red Fox Drive .

Minutes later, commissioners approved multi-family land uses that include up to 3,000 apartment units in the Activity Center .

Both first-reading votes have something in common. The areas were zoned for businesses--something everyone agrees the city desperately needs.

The difference is the first proposal drew opposition from more than 100 residents who live near the land developers hoped to turn into low-income apartments. The second is on a 900-acre tract of property the city hopes will become a walkable retail, residential and industrial hub.

To Commissioner David Santiago, who is the real estate agent representing the landowner in that case, denying the first request while approving the second smacked of hypocrisy by the commission.

"People don't know what to think of our government when we act in ways that are inconsistent," Santiago said. "I'm not saying they should have approved the other rezoning, but I'm telling you, people I talk to right now are rallying support to come back (and fight)."

But City Manager Steve Thompson said the two developments have "tremendous differences."

"What they approved was a maximum of 3,000 apartment multifamily units in the Activity Center and that 900-acre site is intended for development," he said. "It's different from a small commercial site located within a residential neighborhood."

Santiago , representing former Mayor John Masiarcyzk as well as the residents along the road, abstained from the 6-0 vote approving the denial of rezoning the property from commercial to multifamily use.

But he voted against amending the Activity Center 's Development of Regional Impact to reduce industrial space to allow up to 3,000 dwellings along with already designated office, retail and hotel land. Commissioners approved the amendment, 6-1.

Commissioner Zenaida Denizac, who voted for the Activity Center amendment, said she agrees with Santiago that it does look hypocritical.

"It doesn't matter where multifamily comes into Deltona, people don't want it," she said. "This comm needs to make the call citywide and invite the public to somehow make up our mind what property we want and how we want it.

"I think David is right wanting to revisit this issue; I am having second thoughts."

But Mayor Dennis Mulder agreed with Thompson and said the two areas are too different to compare. He said the Howland Boulevard property is surrounded by businesses like car washes and self-storage units -- all separate, and all compatible with the current commercial zoning.

"Compare the Activity Center; it will all look the same, where you can walk from one store next, park in one place walk all around, with multifamily condos or lofts above shops," Mulder said. "On the national level, that's the trend everyone's going to."

sara.kiesler@news-jrnl.com

Rule opens doors to development

By JODIE TILLMAN
Published April 18, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY -Three years ago, Jutta Shaikh approached city officials with a problem: She wanted to redevelop her Ramada Inn into waterfront condominiums, but could not get the property approved for residential use.

That's because the U.S. 19 motel is located in the "coastal high-hazard area." State law requires cities to limit the number of people living in such areas, meaning commercial properties such as the Ramada Inn can't simply be rezoned for condos or homes.

So officials devised an unusual program that allows the city to relinquish its rights to develop residential units on publicly owned land and sell those rights to private property owners. The City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday evening that outlines how the program would work.

But now it's unclear whether the Ramada Inn project - which prompted the ordinance, nearly three years of work by city officials and $31,000 in consultant fees to potentially shift units from a $1.5-million piece of city property - will get built.

Even though the Ramada Inn property has enviable water access along the Pithlachascotee River, motel lawyer Roland Waller said his clients now face the prospect of a less-profitable condo market.

He said the owners also feel the ordinance demands too much of developers - including that they line up financing - before they are guaranteed the building rights.

"I think the concept is great, but the devil is in the details," he said Tuesday, adding his clients "have kind of lost their appetite at this point."

City planner Lisa Fierce said the intent is to protect the city, which has a limited number of development rights - about 300 units - to sell. Waller said the Ramada owners were originally interested in 110 units.

Before the city gives up these rights, Fierce said, officials want to make sure the developers who buy them have the financing to see the project through.

Under the ordinance passed Tuesday, the city will sever the development rights to properties it owns within the coastal high-hazard area. The sales price for each potential unit would be based on the amount the city paid for the land.

The largest city-owned property within the coastal high-hazard area is an undeveloped 10-acre tract near Gulf Harbors. The city bought it in 2005 for $1.5-million, partly with an eye toward selling the development rights.

Based on the tract's density, the price tag for buying the right to develop one unit from that property would cost about $5,000, plus the consumer price index, said City Manager Scott Miller.

In addition to staff time spent on the project, the city also hired Tallahassee's CPG Consulting. Since September 2005, the city has paid CPG Consulting nearly $31,000 for its work on this program, said finance director Rick Snyder.

City Council member Ginny Miller said she expects other property owners along U.S. 19, especially the older motels, will consider the program as the market improves.

If the Ramada Inn project moves along, she said, it would help even more.

The city has long talked about cleaning up the U.S. 19 strip, particularly the transient motels that so often require police attention.

This program, she said, could give those motel owners an incentive to redevelop.

"If the Ramada is redeveloped, it's going to spur a lot of things," said Miller. "It really could change a lot of things along U.S. 19."

Jodie Tillman covers the city of New Port Richey. She can be reached at (727) 869-6247 or "jtillman@sptimes.com.

No more permits for Rainbow Park
County wants plan in place to prevent flooding

BY SUSAN LATHAM CARR
STAR-BANNER

OCALA - No building permits for the Rainbow Park subdivision will be issued for six months unless property owners can prove construction on their property will not contribute to flooding problems.

At its public hearing Tuesday, the Marion County Commission voted 4-0 to approve the temporary moratorium and called for a $408,000 engineering drainage plan to be developed for the subdivision. Rainbow Park is a 4,500-lot development north of State Road 40 and east of Dunnellon. Commissioner Andy Kesselring was absent.

Two issues - paving roads and the need for drainage - are facing the community, and the two issues have begun to overlap.

A few of the residents want their roads paved and asked that a petition be sent to property owners asking if they would be willing to pay an assessment to offset the cost of the paving under the county's Municipal Service Taxing Unit department.

In the meantime, county engineers have determined there are no drainage retention ponds to hold storm water. Rainbow Park was platted more than 40 years ago, when there were no drainage or road regulations.

For years, the lack of drainage was not a problem because few lots were developed. But more and more homes are being built and engineers say flooding problems will increase.

When the drainage question arose, MSTU Director Myra Tedder said the drainage problem could be addressed as part of the road paving project. So, rather than send out an MSTU for only a few of the roads, she sent out a petition to more than 4,000 property owners asking if they would like their roads paved. She said drainage could be added to the road project and both be charged to the property owners.

Tuesday, Tedder asked the commission if she could work on swapping some county-owned lots on high ground for privately-owned lots on low ground. The low-lying lots could be used for retention ponds, saving property owners the cost of buying lots for the ponds.

County Engineer Mounir Bouyounes said a drainage plan could be completed in six months, but was concerned about who would pay for it.

Rainbow Park property owners also were concerned about who would pay the bill.

The commission voted in Tuesday afternoon's zoning session to pay for the drainage plan out of the MSTU budget. That bill eventually could be charged back to the property owners, but that was not decided Tuesday.

"Not one resident who lives out there has complained about flooding," Jim Brady, a property owner, said during the morning session. "I speak for myself. We have no interest in subsidizing the builders who want to go out there and develop the subdivision."

Brady said three new homes are flooding and the county will have to buy those homes as a retention area. He was concerned the cost would be borne by either the property owners or all county taxpayers.

Oliver Plunkett of Spartacus Builders said the county has not been maintaining the lime rock roads.

"We would very much liked the roads paved," Plunkett said.

Wesley Knight had a different concern.
"I see these builders displacing gopher [tortoises]," he said.

But Commissioner Charlie Stone is concerned about the drainage. Rainbow Park is in his district.

"It's time to stop and hold everything so we can evaluate the drainage issue out there and know what we are getting into," Stone said.

Commissioner Jim Payton agreed.
"All we are trying to do is keep people from having problems in the future," he said.

Commission Chairman Stan McClain said the drainage also is linked to springs protection.

"We are trying to protect our drinking water," McClain said.

He said if the roads are paved, there will be more water that needs to be diverted.

"We need a little bit of time as the county to figure out how can we solve a long-term problem," he said.

Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or 867-4156.

Council sends condo project back to developer

By TONY MARRERO
lmarrero@hernandotoday.com

BROOKSVILLE — A proposal to build a three-story condominium complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is still in limbo after the city council told the developer to meet with nearby residents to try to allay their concerns.

The council met Monday night to rule on the matter after the developer, Garden Homes LLC, appealed the planning and zoning’s decision to deny the project. The zoning board ruled the 36 units on the 5-acre parcel is too dense for the area.

Derrill McAteer, the Brooksville attorney representing Garden Homes, said that ruling was illegal. The parcel is already zoned for multi-family residential development, McAteer said, and that the density of eight units per acre is actually less than what that zoning designation allows.

The zoning also allows for buildings up to 48 feet — or four stories — tall.

McAteer said his client has already met with residents twice and offered concessions.

“Having meetings just for meetings’ sake is not useful,” he said. “You’re not going to satisfy everybody.”

He told the council that if the project was ultimately denied, the developer would surely sue and the city would lose.

“I can assure you someone would litigate it and I wouldn’t want to be in the city’s position,” he said.

Mayor David Pugh and council member Lara Bradburn said they, too, were concerned about the density and also the height of the buildings even though the zoning allows both.

“I don’t think it’s compatible at all,” Bradburn said.

Council members said the developer, city staff and residents could further tweak the plan and that staff could come back with more specific guidelines for the project to appease neighbors.

The parcel is located on the south side of MLK Boulevard and west of Hale Avenue.

Residents said the three-story building doesn’t fit into the area of mostly one-story, single-family homes. They also worried about traffic on MLK Boulevard, particularly about the rise of a hill that creates a blind spot they said would be dangerous to turn in and out of the complex.

Nick Nicholson of Nicholson Engineering and Associates said his client would be willing to construct a turn lane if necessary and had already agreed to build an 8-foot wall on the property’s west side.

The developer would not compromise on the density, McAteer said.

The condos are expected to run around $200,000.

In the same hearing, the council came to a stalemate over an appeal from one of their own, which meant the planning and zoning decision stands.

Vice mayor Frankie Burnett, who lives at 310 Duke St., appealed the zoning board decision to allow his next-door neighbor to reduce the minimum setback requirements so a duplex could be built on the narrow parcel at 602 Ellington Ave. The parcel is at the corner of Ellington and Duke Street.

Burnett lives next door at 310 Duke St. His neighbor, Clara Suske, has a contract to sell the property to a Miami couple that wants to build the duplex.

The variance reduced the front yard setback from 25 feet to 12 feet and the rear yard setback — the side bordering Burnett’s property — from 20 feet to 12 feet.

Burnett, who got up from his dais seat and moved to a seat in the audience when the hearing began, said he would be happy with a 15-foot setback, but only if a single-family home were built there instead of a duplex.

Bradburn made a motion to require the buyers to elongate the proposed building to allow for more setback. The motion died when Pugh and Bernardini dissented, creating a tie.

Pugh said the area isn’t appropriate for a multi-family dwelling. However, no one else made another motion.

In action during its regular meeting that followed the special appeals hearing, the council:

— Firmed up dates for the city manager selection process. There will be two chances for the public to meet the three candidates: April 30 from 5 to 6 p.m., and May 1 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Both events will be at City Hall.

— Approved spending $9,700 for a survey for North Avenue from U.S. 98 to Howell Avenue. The survey will allow officials to find out best way to install a sidewalk along that segment of road and to determine much it will cost.

— Accepted the city’s annual audit from Oliver & Joseph Auditors. The audit uncovered no major deficiencies or problems, according to representatives with the firm.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286.

Residents to pave despite cost
Despite cost, Ames Barineau will soon be made public and paved
By Nikki Beare
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

Upset residents along Ames Barineau Road north of Havana met with Gadsden County officials recently to discuss their petition for road improvements - and the soaring estimate for what they'll have to pay.

In the end, they voted to go ahead with the project.

In 2004, two-thirds of the residents petitioned to have their private dirt road made public and paved under the county's ordinance on special assessments for road improvements. Under that ordinance, once the necessary signatures of property owners are collected, the owners pay two-thirds of the paving cost and the county pays one-third.

Projected paving costs in 2004 were estimated to be $104,000. Doug Sunshine from the County Attorney's Office says complications and delays arose because the deeding process in changing the road from private to public took a long time. During that time, asphalt prices rose considerably - and the final paving estimate is now $170,000.

County Manager Marlon Brown had called the public meeting to explain the cost increase. County Commissioner Doug Croley, who represents the Ames Barineau Road area, was there to hear the explanations and make sure the property owners were still willing to pay their two-thirds share. The more than 20 residents who attended were puzzled and unhappy.

Resident Gary Roberts said he was concerned that the unexpected cost increase could make him lose his property - if he didn't pay his portion of the full assessment quickly enough. He wanted assurance that the county wouldn't put a lien on his home.

Brown assured the property owners that the county would be working with them, not against them.

Robert Presnell, county director of public works, said that the asphalt price had been higher earlier this year and that now, while the price is a bit lower, he must lock it in right away. He urged those attending to make their decision on the paving now because the process to proceed would take about 60 days. He noted that Peavy and Sons would do the actual paving under contract with the county.

Croley thanked the residents for attending the meeting and pointed out that, despite the increased asphalt costs, going ahead with the road-paving project would only add to their long-term property values and improve the quality of their rural lifestyle.

"Progress can only be made should you, the residents of Ames Barineau Road, be willing to go forward with the paving," he said.

The property owners present then voted. Go ahead with the project, they said.

First accident of season involving jumping fish

By ALICE WALLACE

Sun staff writer

A St. Petersburg woman suffered serious injuries late last month in what appears to be the first accident involving a jumping sturgeon along the Suwannee River this season, according to Karen Parker with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"This is the first one this year that we're aware of," Parker said.

Sharon Touchton, 50, of St. Petersburg , was camping with a group of friends near the town of Suwannee , about 10 miles southwest of Old Town , on March 31.

Touchton and the group of friends belonged to a club for personal watercraft (like a Jet Ski) enthusiasts. The group went for a ride March 31 and were headed north in the Suwannee River just upriver from the Wannee Boat Ramp when the group entered a large S-curve. Touchton was traveling 25 to 30 mph.

"They had spaced themselves out so they wouldn't collide with anyone else, and it's a big S-curve, so nobody in front of her could see her, and nobody behind her could see her," Parker said.

Touchton's husband was the first to come up behind her after the accident and found her floating face-down in the water. No one witnessed the accident, so it was initially unclear what had happened.

Parker said Touchton was airlifted to Shands at the University of Florida with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

A spokesman with Shands said Touchton was no longer a patient at the hospital Tuesday.

Parker said once Touchton was able to talk to investigators, she simply said something about a "big fish," though Parker did not have an estimate as to how big.

Parker said problems with sturgeon - which are large, prehistoric-looking fish with hard plates along their backs that can grow up to 8 feet long and up to 200 pounds - came to a head last year when 10 people were injured in accidents caused by the jumping fish.

"I've been with the fish and wildlife commission for about five years, and last year was absolutely the worst of the years," Parker said. "I do not want a repeat of last year."

Parker said low water levels and larger numbers of people along the Suwannee could have contributed to the increase in injury reports.

However, the only safety tip Parker could offer was for boaters and other people who take to the Suwannee for recreation to slow down.

"There's really no way to tell when they're going to come up," she said. "Our best suggestion is just to go slow, because the slower you go, the more reaction time you have if a fish jumps in front of you."

Parker said the Gulf sturgeon migrate into the Suwannee River in mid- to late-March to spawn, and remain in the river until the fall. And researchers still aren't sure why the large fish jump.

"All summer long, people have to watch out for these guys," she said.

Alice Wallace can be reached at 352-338-3109 or alice.wallace@gvillesun.com

Market slump comes home

Real estate troubles are acutely felt as home inventories rise, prices fall and expectations sink.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published April 16, 2007

Julius Green and Dennis Lester could not be more different.

Green, 39, is a real estate appraiser. He used to live in Seminole Heights in Tampa . He and his wife, Leah, have a 2-year-old son.

Lester, 54, owns what could be the last dairy farm in Pasco County . He's got 500 cows, a posse of Labradors and a big, rambling house just off U.S. 41 in northern Land O'Lakes.

But in the face of an imploding property market, both men have something in common: they are finding themselves with more space than they might need.

"On our street, we are the only house that's complete," Green said.

He just closed on his new home in Deerfield Lakes , a 230-home development on State Road 52 at the Suncoast Parkway . Just over a year ago, his 6-month-old neighborhood would have been crawling with builders.

It's empty today. Of the 30 houses built in the development, his section has just three.

Lester had a multimillion-dollar contract to sell his 296-acre dairy farm.

He got a nasty gift two days before Christmas, when Greenwood Property Development LLC decided the market wasn't worth the risk and killed the contract.

"I was this close to retiring," he said, holding up his thumb and forefinger.

* * *

Inventories are bulging.

Contracts are collapsing.

A new vocabulary is emerging in the real estate market. Welcome to terms like "short sale," which means a seller getting less from his home sale than what he owes in loans; and "home staging," which means the art of dressing up a home to look model-pretty just so a buyer might take a second look at it.

This time last year in Pasco , there were 5,011 homes waiting to move off the shelf. Today, there are 7,796, according to Home Discovery, a real estate company.

Sales are down and the glut of unsold homes is up, defying the optimists who said the market would turn around by spring 2007.

Two years ago, one in two homes sold in any given month. Today, the same period would see one in 20 sell.

"The inventory has to clear up before the market can go up," said Alex Mourtakos, president of Southern Image Homes, which has projects across the Tampa Bay area. "At this point, if we build one house a month, I'd be happy."

Mourtakos has more or less frozen three ongoing developments in Pasco County , which actually issued 250 single-family housing permits in March - up from 127 in January.

But don't let the spike fool you. It happens every year.

"It's people coming off the holidays," said Heidi Tuttle-Beisner, president of the West Pasco Board of Realtors.

Overall, the permit figures represent a new low for Pasco . Last year, the county issued 531 permits in January, 548 in February and 791 in March.

"2007 is going to be flat," said County Commissioner Ted Schrader, himself a landowner who sold to developers. "2008 is probably going to be flat, at least in the early part."

"It's going to be 12 to 18 months before we see things levelized and normalized," said Richard Heruska, chief operating officer of Home Discovery.

Prices dropping

Prices are still coming down.

Take Meadow Pointe in Wesley Chapel. At 28703 Crooked Stick Court , the selling price has gone from $389,900 in May last year to $335,000 in February.

Or 28418 Great Bend Place , also in Meadow Pointe, which was $419,900 in March last year. Now it's for sale for $335,000.

In Land O'Lakes' Concord Station, 18456 Merseyside Loop was for sale for $294,900 in September. Six months later, the price is down $20,000.

Russ Perlowski, a real estate agent, now advises potential clients to "home stage" if they are serious about selling. Home staging has become a new cottage industry surging into the void of the downturn, he said.

"If you are trying to do it by just sticking a 'For Sale By Owner' sign outside, forget about it," he said.

Perlowski also said he is seeing more short sales. So is Christie Zimmer, who runs F.R.O.G. Realty in Land O'Lakes.

"There's been a 10 to 15 percent increase in the last year," she said, though she says this is a rough estimate. "That number is going to go up substantially. I just did six in the last three months."

Still, short sales are a way out for desperate sellers who want to avoid having their homes seized.

Foreclosure suits rose 87 percent in Pasco last year, the biggest jump in the Tampa Bay area.

"Foreclosures have more than doubled," said Linda Pichler, vice president of business development for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Florida.

Looking ahead

Julius Green expects construction around his new home at Deerfield Lakes to go on for another two years or so before the development fills out.

"That's slow from a historical perspective," Heruska said.

In 2005, builders could not find enough lots to build on, Schrader said.

"Three years ago, we couldn't have afforded this house," Green said, of his 1,600-square-foot purchase.

A year ago, Lester, the dairy farmer, couldn't stop developers who knocked on his door with offer after offer. New development was bumping up so close to his farm that it was scaring his cows, he said.

Now, he's thinking of just going back to milking. The development experiment has disillusioned him.

"I couldn't sleep at night, worrying about whether it's going to go through," he said. "Now, I'm just stuck with lawyers' bills."

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813 909-4613 or Pasco"cyap@sptimes.com.HYPERLINK "mailto:cyap@sptimes.com.</p"Pasco"

Pasco single-family home statisticsPERMITS

Slowdown isn't slowing home builder

Jack Snyder
Sentinel Staff Writer

April 16, 2007

Winter Park-based Engineered Homes of Orlando Inc. is clearly bullish on the local housing market, despite the current sales slowdown.

The company is launching Johns Lake Pointe, a 197-acre community on the eastern shore of Johns Lake in Winter Garden. Company President Steve O'Dowd said the development will have 323 homes grouped in three villages. Prices will start in the $300,000s.

This is Engineered Homes' largest undertaking since 2003, when it did the 774-lot Brighton Lakes development in Kissimmee .

O'Dowd said Johns Lake Pointe will have $2 million in amenities, including a 4,600-square-foot clubhouse. The company has done two other developments in west Orange County : Forest Trails in Ocoee and The Enclave near Ocoee.

Last year, the company sold 276 homes for more than $100 million. This year, O'Dowd is forecasting 400 sales.

Apartments for seniors

The Celebration Co. has sold 14 acres on South Celebration Boulevard for an age-restricted development in the Osceola County community developed by Walt Disney Co. Willmark Communities of San Diego plans to build a rental development targeted at adults age 55 and up. The developer plans 416 apartments. Construction will start with 234 units, with the rest to be completed by 2010. Amenities are to include a pool and cabanas and a nearly 16,000-square-foot clubhouse with a theater, banquet hall and cafe. The project is Willmark's first East Coast development. The company owns and manages more than 2,500 apartments in California , Oklahoma and Nevada .

Turner lands contract

Turner Construction Co. won a $155 million contract to provide construction-management services for the latest expansion of Hilton's Grand Vacation Club resort in Orlando . The work includes construction of two 14-story towers with 321 units. The first tower is scheduled to be completed in January 2009, the second a year later. Turner, the largest general builder in the country, completed $8.6 billion in work last year.

Leasing . . .

Administaff Client Services LP leased 6,527 square feet of office space at Capital Plaza One on East Pine Street in downtown Orlando . Catherine Reeves of Highwoods Properties and Rich Pancioli , of CB Richard Ellis were the brokers. . . .

Lydian Private Bank, Palm Beach , took 5,000 square feet of office space at 300 Primera Blvd. in Lake Mary . Ida Rood of Crescent Resources and Scott Giles of The Bywater Co. negotiated the deal. . . .

Healthcare Management Enterprises of Sarasota rented 3,188 square feet of space at Herndon Commerce Center in Orlando . The deal was handled by Paul P. Partyka and Michael Heidrich, both of NAI Realvest.

Construction . . .

The Florida Roofing, Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors Association will hold its annual convention June 13-16 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in south Orlando . Last year's show was at the Orange County Convention Center . . . .

R.C. Stevens Construction Co., Orlando, is handling the renovation and expansion of the Garden Theater in downtown Winter Garden. The theater originally opened in 1935 and seats 300 people. The $2.4 million project is to be finished in September. . . .

R.D. Michaels Inc., a Maitland-based general contractor and construction manager, recently completed $5.8 million in work at The Renaissance Center at Curry Ford Community Park in east Orange County . The architect was MRI Architectural Group. . . .

The first phase of Apex Commerce Center at 350 East Crown Point Road in Winter Garden has been completed and opened. The 35,444-square-foot flex-space condo is being developed by Apex Commerce Center LLC. . . .

Small Bay Partners, Maitland, has started construction on a 73,650-square-foot expansion of Monroe CommerCenter in Sanford . The industrial space will be sold as condominiums. . . .

Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Altamonte Springs , completed $1.2 million in work on the Hawthorne Grove Apartments in Port Orange . The electrical contractor recently completed work on the Enterprise Cove Condominiums in Orange City .

Finance . . .

Orlando National Bank provided $16.46 million in financing for construction of four warehouse/office/flex space projects. The largest was a $6 million loan for a project by Seminole Warehouse Partners Two Ltd. at 4051 W. State Road 46 in Sanford . . . .

The Orlando office of Thomas D. Wood and Co. recently arranged $1.5 million in loans on two area commercial properties. A $500,000 loan was placed on Minneola Plaza , a 31,345-square-foot center on U.S. Highway 27 in Minneola. A $1 million loan was arranged on Canterbury Plaza , an 8,600-square-foot office complex in Oviedo .

Design

Powell Design Group Inc. did work on two facilities for the elderly, Deltona Gardens in Volusia County and College Park Towers II in Orlando .

Energy center

The Employ Florida Banner Center for Energy aims to grow the skilled energy work force. The center, based at Lake-Sumter Community College 's Sumter Campus, was recently launched with a $500,000 grant from Workforce Florida Inc. The center is a joint initiative with Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce .

Jack Snyder can be reached at 407-420-5094 or jsnyder@orlandosentinel.com.

On thin ice: Inuits, others witness global warming

The Associated Press

IQALUIT, Nunavut - Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There's not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts.

As scientists work to establish the impact of global warming, explorers and hunters slogging across northern Canada and the Arctic ice cap are describing the realities they see. "This is really ground zero for global warming,'' said Will Steger, a 62-year-old Minnesotan who has been traveling the region for 43 years and has witnessed the impact of warming on the 155,000 indigenous people of the Arctic.

"This is where a culture has lived for 5,000 years, relying on a very delicate, interconnected ecosystem and, one by one, small pegs of that ecosystem are being pulled out,'' Steger said by satellite phone from a small village outside Iqaluit, about 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Iqaluit is the provincial capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut .

Steger, who made the first journey to the North Pole by dogsled without resupply in 1986, is sledding with Inuit guides for three months across Baffin Island , with two teams of huskies and a cameraman.

He is charting his adventure and making a documentary about how Inuit hunters are being forced to adapt to a warming Arctic Ocean and melting polar ice cap. In June, he will testify before a Senate committee on climate change.

In early March, he and his American and Inuit colleagues were heading for the Clyde River , through the highest polar bear population in the world. It was still the height of winter in the Arctic , but the temperature, 11 degrees Fahrenheit, was more typical of spring.

He said hunters he meets on Baffin Island are describing to him creatures they have no words for in their language, Inuktitut - robins, finches and dolphins. He said they all tell him the same thing: Hunting on the thinning sea ice has become too dangerous.

"All of these villages have lost people on the ice,'' Steger said. "When you have a small village of 300 or 400 people, losing three or four of their senior hunters, it's a big loss.''

Millennia of learning to read the winds, clouds and stars and find the best hunting are being lost, he said. "A lot of the elders will no longer go out on the sea ice because their knowledge will not work anymore. What they've learned and passed on for 5,000 years is no longer functional,'' Steger said. Meeka Mike says the thinning of the ice became noticeable about 10 years ago, forcing Arctic animals to migrate farther north. Now Inuit hunters like herself are finding stranded walrus and seal pups dying on floating ice.

"The ice freezes much later and therefore it's thinner and breaks off during the full-moon tide,'' she says, pointing out to Frobisher Bay, an inlet of the Labrador Sea on the southeastern corner of Baffin Island.

Mike says hunters can see the bay rise and fall with the tide. Life, she says, is "very much out of sync.''

She blames Americans for emitting one-fourth of the world's greenhouse gases, which scientists say are very likely causing the warming. Farther north is Rosie Stancer, a 47-year-old mother. She set off alone on March 6 for a 60-day journey across 475 miles of the frozen Arctic Ocean to reach the North Pole.

If she makes it she will be the first woman to have trekked solo to both Poles. She is examining global warming effects for a polar research institute at Cambridge University . "I'll be monitoring the temperatures, wind direction and comparing the ice conditions to 10 years ago,'' she said.

Her biggest obstacle, she says, is time - the period in which the ice is safe enough for a plane to land and pick her up shrinks every year as the ice cap melts.

Global Warming Threatens U.S. Security, Retired Officers Warn

By SETH BORENSTEIN The Associated Press

Published: Apr 16, 2007

WASHINGTON - Global warming poses a "serious threat to America 's national security" with terrorism worsening, and the United States will likely be dragged into fights over water and other shortages, top retired military leaders warn in a new report.

Joining calls made by scientists and environmental activists, the retired U.S. military leaders, including the former Army chief of staff and President Bush's former chief Middle East peace negotiator, called on the U.S. government to make cuts in emissions of gases that cause global warming.

The report warned that in the next 30 to 40 years there will be wars over water, increased hunger, instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels, and global warming-induced refugees. "The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide and the growth of terrorism," the 35-page report predicted.

"Climate change exacerbates already unstable situations," former U.S. Army chief of staff Gordon Sullivan told Associated Press Radio. "Everybody needs to start paying attention to what's going on. I don't think this is a particularly hard sell in the Pentagon. ... We're paying attention to what those security implications are."

Gen. Anthony "Tony" Zinni, Bush's former Middle East envoy, said in the report: "It's not hard to make the connection between climate change and instability, or climate change and terrorism."

The report was issued by the Alexandria, Va.-based, national security think-tank The CNA Corp. and was written by six retired admirals and five retired generals. They warned of a future of rampant disease, water shortages and flooding that will make already dicey areas - such as the Middle East, Asia and Africa - even worse.

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver said the military officers were smart to highlight the issue of refugees who flee unstable areas because of global warming.

"There will be tens of millions of people migrating, where are we going to put them?" Weaver said.

Dry conditions concern top Fla. officials

BY BILL COTTERELL
FLORIDA TODAY CAPITAL BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson joined other top officials today in urging Floridians to conserve water, while state and federal agencies work on solutions to the state's worst drought since at least 2001.

With lack of rainfall and a hot summer in the forecast for South Florida , the state might be in store for the worst drought in modern history, said state meteorologist Ben Nelson. Craig Fugate, director of the Division of Emergency Management, said the state is in danger of wildfires statewide, and that already-low levels in lakes and canals makes it especially difficult for water-carrying helicopters to load up and fly longer distances to fight those fires.

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said the drought will be felt in many ways -- at the supermarket checkout line with higher prices for fruits and vegetables, in a sell-off of cattle that will drive down prices, in fewer jobs for farm workers and in a lasting environmental impact on the state's farms.

The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers is considering a draw-down of Lake Okeechobee to provide more freshwater and head off any salt water intrusion into water wells that feed urban areas of South Florida . Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole said the drought threatens the Everglades and wildlife habitat.

Statewide, the state receives an average of 54 inches of rainfall each year, with about 10 inches falling in the first three months. But this year, only 5.88 inches fell through March 31.

The forecast does not call for improvement in the months ahead.

"Through pro-active planning and taking steps now to conserve, we are both protecting and stretching the regional water supply for South Florida ," Crist said after a 45-minute briefing by state and federal officials involved in drought planning.

Coal plant worries Everglades backers

BY JIM ASH
FLORIDA TODAY CAPITAL BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE -- A coal-fired power plant on the edge of the Everglades would foul the famous River of Grass , increase global warming and be a boondoggle for customers, Southwest Florida critics told regulators today.

Supporters, many of them officials with tiny Glades County , say it would be an economic savior for an impoverished rural community.

Few minds changed as more than 20 witnesses gave sworn testimony to the Public Service Commission, which is considering whether there is a need for the $5.7 billion plant Florida Power & Light Co. wants to build about 5 miles northwest of Moore Haven in 2013.

“I intend to fight them until I’m dead,” said 57-year-old Clewiston rancher Terry Jackman.

Jackman recently refused requests to survey his 5,000-acre cattle ranch and sugar cane farm as a possible site for power transmission lines.

Butch Jones, chairman of the Glades County Commission, is just as strongly convinced that the plant is vital for his 11,000 mostly rural and poor constituents, most of whom support the project, he said.

“I do not tell you with a lot of pride that I come from one of the most poverty stricken counties in the state,” he said. “We need the plant for our economic survival.”

Environmentalists warned about the potential for increased global warming from a plant that is expected to spew 13 million pounds of carbon dioxide a year, considered by scientists as the chief culprit in climate change.

But commission Chairwoman Lisa Edgar warned that by law, commissioners are only allowed to consider whether there is a need for the plant, and whether the proposal will be the most cost-effective for its customers.

If FPL survives the need determination that the commission is expected to make in June, it will still have to submit a battery of permits to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Lawmakers also ordered commissioners last year to consider whether energy conservation can offset the need for new plants and whether their choice of fuel helps diversify Florida ’s reliance on more cleaner burning natural gas.

FPL is stressing the “diversity” argument in its application.

Holly Binns, an organizer and lobbyist for Environment Florida, warned that the project would not be economically feasible at a time when six bills are under consideration in congress that would impose strict sanctions on carbon-dioxide emissions.

“It’s extremely likely that we will have a carbon-regulated economy in the future,” she said. “This will be a significant cost that will be passed on to rate payers.”

Barney Bishop, a lobbyist for the powerful Associated Industries of Florida, heralded the search for wind and solar and other power alternatives, but said each has its drawbacks and Florida will need to expand power generation until that time.

Coal is the best way to ensure a reliable energy supply while world oil supplies dwindle, he said.

“There is nothing that is going to make the greenies entirely happy,” he said. “What we have to do is meet our energy needs now.”

River a gateway to tourism, growth

By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER

Floridan Staff Writer

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Disneyworld , we're not. It's not Mickey Mouse theme parks, but nature parks and untamed expanses that define the landscape in North Florida . That's the case all along the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which runs through Georgia and Alabama as well as Florida .

The University of Georgia has taken the lead in an effort to turn that wild resource into wild opportunities for the counties around it and in the larger watershed that extends to non-contiguous communities.

Those who attended the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce First Friday power breakfast got a peek at what's been done so far.

Carole Rutland, executive director of RiverWay South, talked about the many tourism-based businesses and attractions that have been developed in Georgia since the group was established.

For instance, Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center in Columbus allows visitors to reach out and touch nature, and get a sense of how important it is to protect and appreciate the natural environment along the river system.

Increasing the number of river cruises, canoe trips, kayaking and rafting excursions are some of the things RiverWay hopes to see developed in the river communities.

Funded by a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant, RiverWay South is overseeing a multi-state mission: To create a comprehensive plan to develop tourist-luring economic opportunities along the river system without harming the resource. In doing so, organizers hope to create a set of users who will want to protect the resource they experienced.

The project is not proceeding without conflicts, though, and on Friday that fact became clear as tempers flared between two who have a stake in the future of the system.

It occurred during a discussion phase for those who wanted to stay and talk with Rutland after her presentation.

Homer Hirt and Chad Taylor had a testy exchange as a member of the newly-formed Lake Seminole Association tried to ask a question about the intentions of the group.

Frasier Bingham was concerned about whether the group would be pursuing any attempt to do away with the Jim Woodruff Dam, which exists to create the the local section of the Lake Seminole reservoir.

There are many who think the dam is a detriment to the river, and there are those who advocate such an extreme measure.

When Bingham began his question with the phrase "They want to...," Taylor interrupted him, demanding to know who he meant by "they."

Bingham re-stated his remark, but Taylor again interrupted, saying Bingham was "putting words" in someone's mouth.

Hirt asked Taylor to let Bingham finish, and a fractious verbal confrontation ensued between Taylor and Hirt. Attention never really returned to the RiverWay representative for a response as to any intent regarding the dam.

Hirt and Taylor are both known in the community as having an intense interest in the river, but the two stakeholders are sometimes on opposite sides of the issues that arise concerning it. Taylor is a member and immediate past president of the Apalachicola Riverkeepers organization. Hirt once ran the port authority that controlled traffic on the river. Both say they love the river and want what's best for it, but sometimes disagree on what that might be.

Although Taylor never said directly whether he had any interest in seeing the dam destroyed, at some point, he did say he "can't image Lake Seminole going away." Bingham said he can, and worries that's what might happen.

Commercial traffic on the river has been increasingly limited due to a recent halt of dredging that created a navigation channel on the river, and Bingham said he worries that "deauthorizing commercial traffic is the next step toward taking down my dam."

At the end of the forum, Taylor and Bingham retreated to a corner of the room for a private talk on their views.

They are not the only ones who may not see eye to eye, and such conflict will likely be something stakeholders will have to deal with many times as the future of the river is mapped out.

ust When Florida Gets It Right, A Backward Step Comes On Water

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Apr 15, 2007

Florida passed an historic milestone about a week ago when South Florida water managers permanently put the Everglades off limits to new suburbs that will need fresh water. It was a moment long in coming, a moment worthy of celebration.

At the same time in Tallahassee , lawmakers began gutting a resource to help Florida grow smartly, a fund to help cities and counties develop alternative water sources and keep their economies growing. It was a discouraging moment, one that makes you wonder if our beautiful state will ever get its priorities straight.

With two steps forward and two steps back, it's easy to understand the frustration stakeholders feel about the Florida hokey pokey on smart growth.

The yin-yang also explains why this semi-tropical state, which receives nearly 52 inches of rain a year, finds itself with a water crisis.

Development Held Trump Card

For too long, politicians have treated the state's water supply as though it were an inexhaustible fount. The state's "take whatever you need" approach has caused salt water to seep into the underground aquifer, sinkholes to appear and wetlands to vanish. It also has starved coastal estuaries of the fresh water needed to sustain marine life.

In South Florida, the Everglades became the poster child for the damage wrought by over-pumping, over-engineering and the overuse of chemicals in agriculture.

So it was a hoorah moment when the South Florida Water Management District capped the amount of water that cities may pump from the Everglades at 500 million gallons a day.

Equally important, water managers told developers that any new suburbs will have to look to alternative supplies for water.

Fortunately, the Tampa Bay area began developing alternative water supplies after the water wars of the 1990s. A regional water utility called Tampa Bay Water was created to help reduce groundwater pumping. The utility has built a desalination plant that may soon come on line and a 15-billion gallon reservoir to manage demand during droughts.

Two years ago the Florida Legislature, at the insistence of then-Senate President Tom Lee of Valrico, also showed leadership on smart growth. Lawmakers passed meaningful reforms that require schools, roads and water supplies to have unused capacity before new housing developments can be approved.

But while standing up for the natural resources of old Florida, lawmakers also created a way for the homebuilding industry - so vital to our economy - to continue to thrive.

Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican, successfully sponsored legislation to create a trust fund of $60 million a year to help communities develop alternative water sources. The money comes from documentary stamp receipts on real-estate closings, an appropriate source given that water projects are made necessary by growth.

The grants can be used to build reservoirs, desalination plants, reclaimed water systems and other projects that reduce consumption or expand supply. Awards require matching funds from water management districts and local governments.

Worthy Fund Faces Ax

But now the new leadership of the Florida House wants to cut the fund in half. The measure sailed through the House floor last week.

Says Dockery: "When you read the news around the state - a wildfire here, drought here, water restrictions here - it makes the case more than ever for the need for more money for water supply development. To take away from the limited funds we already have available doesn't make a lot of sense.

"Alternative water supply development is probably the most important issue we face."

When it comes to growth, some Floridians would like to close the door behind them. They fail to recognize that homebuilding is a vital economic stimulant. If no new homes are built, there's no need for new furniture or appliance stores, for more clothing or dry cleaning shops, for new restaurants or coffee bars. Those who would halt growth fail to understand that their vision would destroy our economy and the livelihoods of real people.

Smart growth is the middle ground. That demands, as Dockery said, the development of alternative water supplies.

The senator is determined to fight the funding cut and has the support of Senate President Ken Pruitt.

Surely Gov. Charlie Crist, who takes seriously his stewardship of the environment and the economy, also will take offense at the House's short-sighted scheme.

Water use has reached a tipping point. The Everglades announcement was an important milestone, but Florida cannot afford to turn off the entire tap. The trust fund is needed to build alternative systems and keep Florida from draining its resources dry.

The House should leave it alone.

Water Conservation Effort To Start With Grass Roots

By NEIL JOHNSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 16, 2007

TAMPA - The region's water supplier wants to spend $1 million a year to persuade you to use less.

The push for a major water conservation program is not connected to the current drought that has spawned numerous advertisements urging people to cut back.

The idea is to get people to use less water on their lawns not only during droughts, but also when rain is plentiful.

"These short-term messages may have a brief impact. We're looking at potential programs that could have a long-term effect," said Michele Biddle Rapp, spokeswoman for Tampa Bay Water.

The staff of Tampa Bay Water will ask its board today to set aside $1 million a year for five years. If the board approves, the utility staff will return in June with detailed proposals.

The money will come from residents' water bills. If approved, the program could add about 1 cent to the cost of every 1,000 gallons of water a household uses.

Tampa Bay Water provides water to public utilities in Pinellas, Pasco , Hillsborough, Tampa , St. Petersburg and New Port Richey.

Although the exact conservation efforts have not been worked out, the program would focus on outdoor watering that can boost water use from 235 million gallons a day during the rainy season to more than 300 million gallons a day during dry months.

The utility also may work with builders associations to promote the use of landscaping that needs less water, said Dave Brocciano, demand management coordinator for Tampa Bay Water.

Another strategy might be to make landscaping ordinances in the Tampa Bay area uniform, he said.

Those two efforts have worked in other places, such as in the Las Vegas area.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority offers certifications to builders who build water-efficient homes, much like the Energy Star certification on appliances, said authority spokesman J.C. Davis.

The builders can use the certification as a marketing tool.

The agency also convinced the cities it serves to adopt uniform landscape ordinances.

In 2006, the Nevada residents getting water from the authority used 18 billion fewer gallons than they did in 2002, despite a population increase of 333,000 people, Davis said.

Reducing water use ultimately can save Tampa Bay Water money, Biddle Rapp said.

If conservation can cut 4 million gallons a day the utility can save $600,000 a year in chemical and electricity expenses, she said.

If the five-year program is approved, the first year would likely focus on groundwork to determine what conservation programs to pursue and not duplicate efforts of water departments and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

"We're not going to be doing what everybody else is doing," Brocciano said.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at njohnson@tamptrib.com or (352) 544-5214.

River project fight possible

By BOB KOSLOW
Staff Writer

DEBARY -- City officials may file a lawsuit against a Volusia County 's Growth Management Commission to stop an April 25 hearing on a controversial subdivision and marina project along the St. Johns River .

A special City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. today to discuss a possible lawsuit, said City Manager Maryann Courson.

"I want a read on the council before anything else happens," Courson said Friday.

The City Council last week changed the land-use designations on 90.5 acres of agriculture/rural residential land and 26.5 acres of environmentally sensitive land to 107 acres of residential low density and 10 acres of commercial/retail.

Naples-based developer Joseph Krzys wants to build Country Estates at River Bend with 250 upscale homes, a 50-slip marina, private yacht club with hundreds of dry boat storage slips and a retail center.

The remaining 213 acres Krzys is buying along Fort Florida Road , including a thin strip along the river and the southern half of the property, will include a conservation easement dedicated to the city.

The Growth Management Commission, which has authority under the county charter to determine whether proposed projects conform to cities' comprehensive land-use plans, objected to the council' vote. Attorney Paul Chipok said the vote was premature because the commission had not formally reviewed the project.

City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said the commission missed its timetables and the city was authorized to move on. He also said the city has an April 20 deadline to respond to a state review and objections.

The growth management commission's hearing on the project is scheduled at 7 p.m. on April 25 at the County Council Chamber in DeLand.

City Council members like the project because the developer has promised to pave 2.2 miles of Fort Florida Road , extend water and sewer lines to an area with problematic wells and increase the city's tax base with million-dollar homes.

Many city residents spoke in favor of the project at the April 4 council meeting.

Most opponents were from outside the city and represented regional environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Seminole Audubon Society, Save the Manatee Club and Friends of the Wekiva River . They said it will threaten the river's manatees and other wildlife, increase flood problems and adversely impact river water quality.

One resident who spoke against the projects, Frederick Hitt, said: "I look upstream and see a 500 boat disaster." .

"We have to do what's best for DeBary. I separate the housing from the marina," Councilman Danny Tillis said recently. "Many state agencies have control over the marina and boat slips."

DeBary officials made certain they have at least one project supporter on the Growth Management Commission, a 21-member board of county and city appointees. Last week, the City Council voted unanimously to replace resident Jay Erndl with Danny Allen, a former city councilman, boater and riverside resident. He spoke in favor of the project at the council's April 4 meeting.

"I don't think (Jay) will represent the city's interest," Courson said. "We're entitled to appoint people to boards who support our positions."

bob.koslow@news-jrnl.com

New Revenue Source Needed To Fund Roads

Pasco Tribune Editorial Published: Apr 15, 2007

Pasco County 's growing transportation deficiencies illustrate what happens when a county allows development to become its dominant industry without proper controls: The county has more than $1 billion in road improvement needs but is woefully short on money.

Higher gasoline taxes - one option on the table - would come at an awful time. The building industry is in the midst of a downturn, making another possibility - increasing impact fees - not as solid a revenue source as it has been. A 1-mill property tax increase for roads has been advocated by some in the building industry, but, fortunately, does not have much support. Meanwhile, the state Legislature is crusading to reduce local property taxes that feed the county's budget.

Coupled with the rising cost of road construction and state-mandated concurrency, the county has a real mess on its hands. As County Administrator John Gallagher said last week: It's a "perfect storm."

At the least, an increase in transportation impact fees on new development is needed, even with the building slowdown. Doubling the fees from about $4,000 per single-family home to between $8,500 and $9,500 is reasonable. Growth needs to pay for its impact. And when the costs of building roads increase, so, too, should impact fees.

It also would be wise to allow breaks for certain types of businesses so efforts to diversify the economy aren't thwarted. And there would be no harm in phasing in a new impact fee schedule to soften the effect of higher fees on those paying them.

In addition, it's clear that, given the great need to build and improve roads, officials need to consider finding an additional source of money. Although a property tax increase should not be considered, it's reasonable to explore using future property tax revenue.

This wouldn't be a new idea. Hillsborough County officials use property tax revenue to help fund road projects, along with local-option gas and sales taxes. Pinellas County prefers not to use property taxes for transportation needs, instead relying on impact fees and the Penny for Pinellas sales tax, which has been in place much longer than Pasco 's penny tax and Hillsborough's Community Investment Tax.

Although county officials correctly note that it would be risky, at this point, to pledge using property taxes because of uncertainty in Tallahassee , it should be explored. Such revenue would provide a reliable stream of funding that property owners contribute to, and combined with the Penny for Pasco , impact fees and gas tax generate much more money for transportation projects, which is sorely needed.

It may take the county re-prioritizing needs and services, but, clearly, creative thinking is in order to solve what has become the county's No. 1 issue.

Saving money could become a bumpy road

By C.T. BOWEN Pasco Times Editor of Editorials
Published April 15, 2007

Pasco County commissioners are attempting to balance escalating highway construction costs with the politically unpopular ways to pay for them.

Except five days ago they indicated a willingness to consider a worse alternative than facing angry antitax voters or disappointed campaign contributors from the development community.

Instead of approving a financing plan to help pay for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of needed road projects, the commissioners could opt to reduce the level of service on county roads.

Put simply, it means escalating traffic congestion.

"If you're willing to accept that level (of service), we save a lot of money," County Administrator John Gallagher told the commission.

By definition a road is considered failing if traffic is unable to pass through a segment in a reasonable number of minutes during peak drive time. Think of the daily commute to and from school or work on U.S. 19, U.S. 41 north of Tower Road, State Roads 54/56 west of Interstate 75, Moon Lake Road, or State Road 52 between U.S. 41 and the Suncoast Parkway. Then think how it would be to face that frustrating traffic all over the county.

Nearly 20 years ago, a different county commission adopted that philosophy and downgraded the allowable levels of road service in the county's long-term land-use plan. It was a trick to promote more building while escaping the consequences of adding more traffic to local roads.

Today's greener county commission shouldn't consider a repeat even if cost savings is the ultimate motive.

Those discussions likely will come in July when county staffers reveal which roads will be delayed because of a funding shortage.

In the more immediate future, commissioners will decide exactly how much money the county will have to build its roads with transportation impact fees.

Different scenarios show the fee increasing to $8,098, $9,528 or $10,816 per single-family home to raise up to half-a-billion dollars for roads over the next five years.

The financing plans also include a nickel-per-gallon gasoline tax increase and a builder-endorsed option of using property tax dollars.

"Nobody likes the answer, nobody likes the costs, but it's sort of reality," said Gallagher.

True. Unless your idea of reality is the conniving that accompanies Survivor or the twists and turn of dancing with developers.

Laying this entirely on new home construction will have far-reaching, devastating affects on the county and will hurt employment. That's the builders' line.

County-retained economist Hank Fishkind has a different take. Increased fees lead to improved infrastructure which leads to increased growth.

Residential construction won't slow down if the county increases significantly the transportation impact fees on single-family homes. That is reality.

The notion of using property tax dollars through a higher millage or a $25-million cut elsewhere in the county budget is not going to happen. That too is reality.

Two days after the building industry continued to advocate for all property owners to pay for new roads, the state Senate released its ideas on how to cut local government spending.

It's not as severe as the House of Representatives proposal, but if you want to talk about reality, the reality is that Tallahassee lawmakers need a big headline on tax relief after the disappointing results of the so-called homeowners insurance reform. That translates to local governments' inability to spend more property tax dollars anytime soon.

The irony, of course, is the county's worst roads, upon which Pasco has no authority to reduce the level of service, fall under state jurisdiction.

It's kind of tough to remain grounded in reality when lawmakers attempt to manipulate local spending while simultaneously overseeing an inadequate state road network.

Transportation Board Coming To "Bay"

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Apr 16, 2007

Legislative give and take has produced a good bill to create a regional transportation board to plan and build roads and possibly transit throughout a seven-county area.

The amended bills, sponsored in the House by Rep. Bill Galvano of Bradenton and in the Senate by Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey, are much better than either original versions and are likely to pass.

The Senate bill, as first written, would have disbanded the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, but that unnecessary provision has been dropped.

The new versions also require regional projects to be consistent with local growth plans. The House bill originally said the regional board would "coordinate" with local plans, an imprecise word suggesting county or city plans might be ignored by regional projects pushing intense growth to rural areas that don't want it.

Other safeguards have been added to maintain a healthy balance between regional and local concerns. The board can issue revenue bonds and go form partnerships, but it has no taxing power.

The board will be dominated by elected officials from Citrus, Hernando, Pasco , Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota counties, along with the mayors from major cities. The governor will appoint four.

Unfortunately, Polk County could not be convinced to join. And equally disappointing is the name, Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. The bay is Tampa Bay , and Tampa is the crossroads of the region.

The name snub won't matter if the new board fulfills its mission to solve big transportation problems, not bypass them

Plan fuels transit dreams

A regional transit authority would have the muscle to push a light rail network, but not the money.

By Mike Brassfield, Rebecca Catalanello and Michael Van Sickler
Published April 16, 2007

Florida lawmakers are on the cusp of creating a new transportation authority that could build a network of toll roads, rail lines and express buses to get people around seven counties in the Tampa Bay area.

The regional agency would have unusual powers.

Aside from building roads and mass transit, it would operate as a superpowered real estate developer. It could override local zoning rules, take property by eminent domain and partner with companies to build housing and retail clusters around new rail stations.

The idea is to generate money to help build the billion-dollar dream of some of the agency's backers: a light rail network through Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

But no one knows where the rest of the money would come from, leading some to wonder if the regional authority is really just another toll road agency in disguise.

The lawmakers and business leaders who are pushing for the new agency say it's the Tampa Bay area's best bet to get rail, though they acknowledge no one knows exactly how that would be accomplished.

"My sole goal is to create an environment for possibilities," said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, sponsor of the House bill that would create the authority.

Roads and rail

The agency would probably go by the unwieldy name of TBARTA, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. It would include Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco , Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

County commissioners, big-city mayors and business executives would control its board. Beginning July 1, they would have two years to decide on a master plan.

Two state lawmakers - Galvano and Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey - have steered identical bills through the House and Senate to create the authority.

Both bills have passed through several committees and are awaiting floor votes and the governor's signature.

Fasano has earmarked $1-million in the Senate budget for the authority's startup costs. The House bill has no money set aside.

Galvano says the fix isn't in for any particular transportation plan, but he says the authority could tackle:

- Commuter ferries across Tampa Bay .

- A controversial beltway the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority proposed last year, then backed away from, saying the plan was outside its Hillsborough scope. As proposed, the $3.5-billion, 70-mile toll road would stretch across north Manatee, east Hillsborough, south Pasco and north Pinellas counties.

- Future Corridors, a series of possible toll roads across rural Florida that the state is considering. One road, a top state priority, could head northeast from Tampa to Jacksonville . Another might stretch from Brooksville down through east Hillsborough or west Polk County , toward Port Charlotte .

- Light rail. This component would be the most complicated. The problem, as always, will be money.

How to pay for it?

There are always debates about whether rail is worth the cost. Hillsborough shelved a $986-million rail line in 2003. Pinellas killed a $1.5-billion monorail last year.

Still, the area's leaders are staring down the barrel of a future where the region's population may double in 40 years and it will become much harder, if not impossible, to make roads any wider.

Rail requires taxes. Orlando is building a commuter rail network with tax money: 25 percent local, 25 percent state and 50 percent federal. Cities that want rail have to pony up local money to compete for federal matching funds.

But the Tampa Bay regional authority wouldn't have the power to levy taxes.

Governments and private companies could chip in to pay for projects, but the only way the authority could raise money itself would be to sell revenue bonds, to be paid off by tolls and fares.

The catch: Revenue bonds are used for projects that make investors money, like toll roads. They're not used for projects that lose money, such as taxpayer-subsidized rail or bus lines.

So skeptics doubt the authority would really be able to pay for a mass transit network.

"What you have here is a toll road authority, and nothing else," said former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik, who chaired the defunct Tampa Bay Commuter Rail Authority.

The authority's backers disagree. They insist TBARTA's focus will be on mass transit.

Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Partnership, a regional business group that's backing the new agency, is looking to state government to funnel more money into transit.

"The state's where the money is," he said.

Galvano says the authority's success will largely depend on partnering with businesses. A company interested in the development opportunities surrounding a rail line might invest in the project itself and share profits from concessions at hubs. "It would be more of a collaborative effort," he said.

But it would be unprecedented for private investment to pay for a rail line by itself. Local money for rail typically comes from sales taxes.

Pinellas and Hillsborough county commissioners have the ability to put a referendum on the ballot for a transit sales tax, but they never have.

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio wants a referendum in Hillsborough once a new plan for rail is in place, but county commissioners have shown little support for it.

In any case, TBARTA's backers say the new agency could be a magnet for federal cash. And Galvano and Iorio think the federal government would be more likely to sweep dollars toward the new authority once the area shows a commitment to regional planning.

'A lot of power'

The authority could build - or have private companies build - dense developments within a half-mile of rail stations.

Initially, those developments weren't going to have to comply with local zoning or land use regulations. Now they'll have to, thanks to a rewrite of the bill. The authority's transportation projects - roads and rail - still won't have to comply, though they would be encouraged to obey to the "maximum extent feasible."

"It is a lot of power," Galvano acknowledged, especially since the proposed rail lines would run through the middle of St. Petersburg , Clearwater and Tampa .

Some officials think that could cause major clashes later if local governments can't regulate the authority's projects. "Land use decisions are the purview of city councils and county commissions," Iorio said.

Yet there's been little opposition from cities or counties. After state lawmakers sparred over whether the authority should have this power, Galvano amended the bill, granting local communities more say-so in regional projects through public hearings and a mandatory dispute-resolution process.

But if the authority wants a project and one county doesn't, short of court action, the regional plan wins.

The changes to the bill have won over several opponents. A few weeks ago, Lutz activist Denise Layne was the bill's fiercest critic. Now her concerns have mostly been addressed.

But she says she'll keep watching.

"Is there a potential for abuse? ... Always," she said.

Mike Brassfield can be reached at 813 226-3435 or brassfield@sptimes.com Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at rcatalanello@sptimes.com or (813) 610-6372.

Who would control the authority?

A 15-member board:
- Seven elected officials, one from each county.
- Two mayors or mayoral designees from St. Petersburg and Tampa .
- A third mayor's seat, to flip between Bradenton and Sarasota every two years.
- An appointee from the West Central Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization, made up of local counties' transportation planning agencies.
- And four governor's appointees from the business sector.-The state Department of Transportation would name two nonvoting members.
- The staff could include an executive director, legal counsel, engineers and financial officers.

Road Projects Run Into Gridlock

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 16, 2007

TAMPA - Plans to relieve congestion on some of Hillsborough County 's busiest roads are stuck in a bureaucratic traffic jam.

The bottleneck has proven to be buying the land - voluntarily or forcibly - from property owners along popular thoroughfares such as Race Track Road and Gunn Highway .

County commissioners last year approved $460 million in new road projects, creating dozens of new transactions and sometimes lawsuits for county workers to handle.

In addition, the county has another half-billion dollars in projects being contemplated by a task force studying transportation needs.

Wednesday, commissioners are expected to approve hiring two new employees for the county's real estate office and two for the legal department.

The hires will cost about $186,000 this year, and $348,000 annually after that, Management and Budget Director Eric Johnson said.

Another $165,000 will be spent on a consultant to review the county's road-building process and find ways to streamline it.

The increased workload for the county's attorneys and real estate agents is related directly to growth, Real Estate Director Mike Kelly said.

Kelly's department handles all land purchases and has about 15 people dedicated to transportation projects.

In the best cases, property owners agree to sell to the county voluntarily. If not, the county begins the lengthy process of taking the land through eminent domain.

County attorneys now are involved in more than 170 eminent-domain cases, which can range from wrangling over the offered price to disputes with other governments pursuing county land.

The most involved cases occur when the county seeks to force a property owner to sell, said Dean DiRose, a county attorney who handles eminent-domain cases.

Some of the county's lawsuits to secure land for the widening of Race Track Road and Gunn Highway date back to 2005.

County commissioners must approve a resolution before a lawsuit can be filed. Then it can be months, even years, before a case is resolved.

DiRose, who has worked eminent-domain cases for the county since 2000, said plans to widen Race Track Road started a noticeable increase in the number of cases his office handles.

Some of those cases are complicated because business owners must be compensated for lost profits.

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com

County Plans to Hire Consultant to Examine CSX Project

By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

BARTOW–County officials plans to hire a consultant to look at the impacts of the development of the planned 1,250-acre CSX transportation depot in a now-rural area of Winter Haven .

"We want to evaluate the impacts along State Road 60 and beyond State Road 60 as well," County Manager Mike Herr said. "We don't know what it will do to the transportation network."

The study is being conducted at the urging of County Commissioner Jean Reed, who has been involved in growth issues in the area for years and who lives not far from the site.

Reed raised the issue during a commission work session in February, arguing the project's impact is larger than many people realize.

"It's going to come fast and catch us unaware," she said.

Reed said she thinks the centerpiece of the study should involve a special area plan for the area around the CSX project, though she wasn't sure what the boundary should be.

In addition to traffic, Herr said the development of the center could spur residential and commercial development in surrounding areas such as Wahneta to house some the centers workers or employees of support businesses.

Her said he supports the CSX project, saying it has "tremendous potential to provide good jobs and to improve local conditions."

Reed doesn't disagree, but wants to be sure all of the impacts are considered.

She said she's concerned about the effect of increased train traffic on traffic flow on Eloise Loop Road and on State Road 60.

Residents Wait for Sinkhole Repair

By Diane Lacey Allen
The Ledger

LAKELAND - Scott Lake is still not back to its old self.

The 285-acre private lake is waiting for a permanent fix - and rain showers to fill it back up - after a gator-gulping sinkhole drained it in June.

The lake has risen about 16 inches since September, according to Dave Curry, spokesman for lake homeowners. But most of the water is still about 150 feet from its previous bank.

Curry says it will take nearly 5 feet of rain to fill the lake back up. So with no monsoons on the horizon, residents are planning to restore the shoreline and plug the more than 150-foot deep sinkhole.

The current proposal is to use some of the dirt from the bank repair for the sinkhole along with a claylike material that hardens when wet.

Any work will have to be approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

"We're just trying to get everything organized and get permits," Curry said.

Residents will need approval for work on the shore and lake bottom from the DEP. The plan is not yet in the DEP pipeline, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.

Residents will also need to deal with the Southwest Florida Water Management District if they want to drill a well to refill the approximately 1 billion gallons of water sucked down the thirsty sinkhole.

"Plugging the hole has to come first," said Curry.

And then there's the matter of paying for it all.

Curry estimates the repair will cost at least $1 million - a tab that most likely will be shared by those who own homes on the lake.

All in all, it's been a frustrating situation for those used to looking out at an idyllic backyard.

"It's just a slow process," Curry said. "You have to have patience and I wasn't exactly blessed with a lot of patience."

Dane Lacey Allen can be reached at diane.allen@theledger.com or 863-802-7514.

Signs of changing times in Stuart

By RACHEL SIMMONSEN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 16, 2007

STUART — Welcome to the Sailfish Capital of the World, where city officials boast of small-town charm, the closest thing to a skyscraper is a four-story building and you can find the only electronic billboards for miles around.

Well, not quite yet on that last note — but soon.

City commissioners last Monday agreed to let the Lamar Advertising Co. use city land to erect two so-called "digital displays," billboard-sized electronic signs that can flash a different advertisement every 8 seconds.

One sign will be just north of the Roosevelt Bridge , near Fork Road ; the other will be near the intersection of Kanner Highway and Monterey Road .

It's a great business deal, some city officials said.

The signs don't belong at a busy intersection or at a gateway to the city, others said.

And several locals said the signs don't belong anywhere in Martin County .

"It's abhorrent," said Molly Mehlich, who lives north of the bridge, just outside the city limits. "To me, this sounds like a Vegas-style Circus Circus."

The planned signs, the first of their kind on the Treasure Coast , are part of a settlement between the city and Lamar. Following the 2004 hurricanes, the company repaired 11 damaged billboards in the city without first getting the required permits, City Attorney Paul Nicoletti said.

The city's code enforcement magistrate fined the company $5,000. Also, about a year ago, city commissioners signed off on an agreement that would allow the company to put up two electronic billboards if it took down all 13 traditional billboards it has in the city — a total of 26 "faces" when considering both sides.

Last Monday the commission agreed to the locations of the electronic signs and added the conditions that the signs be no higher than 35 feet, not 45 feet, and that they have "blinders" to limit light emissions from the sides.

"They're kind of like a large television screen on a billboard, but there's no animation," said Jim Maskas, vice president and general manager of Lamar Lakeland, the division that will erect the signs in Stuart. "It's hard to see the difference between the two, until you see it change," he said of traditional billboards vs. the electronic variety.

The signs are getting a break from city rules on their location and size, Nicoletti said. In 1987, the city passed a rule limiting billboards to industrial areas and to about 100 square feet in size. The planned electronic boards are about 348 square feet, which is nearly the same size as billboards in the city that were put up before the 1987 rule change.

Nonetheless, the city got a good deal, said Jerry Livingston, an attorney for Lamar. It's getting rid of 13 outdated signs in exchange for two "very, very attractive, eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing" signs.

"Not only will we remove 26 faces and replace them with only four, we'll get revenue for that," said Vice Mayor Jeffrey Krauskopf, referring to the $69,000 a year the city will earn in rent. "That's a win-win for the city any way you cut it."

If commissioners didn't allow the signs on city land, Lamar could have erected them on private land, without blinders and at the full 45 feet allowed in the settlement agreement, Krauskopf said.

Commissioner James Christie agreed it was tough to turn down a chance to make a profit, particularly at a time when state lawmakers are considering property tax reform that would significantly slash the city's budget.

Nonetheless, some commissioners said they assumed when they agreed to the settlement that the signs would be in different locations, either at sites where billboards already exist or in more commercial areas, near car dealerships or the Treasure Coast Square mall.

"I kind of feel like we got bait-and-switched," said Commissioner Michael Mortell, who nonetheless joined Krauskopf and Christie in approving the locations. When the two sides agreed to the settlement, the general areas specified for the signs were broadly defined, he said.

"I just don't think it's aesthetically pleasing," Commissioner Carol Waxler said, referring to the sign planned for near the Roosevelt Bridge . She and Hutchinson voted against the measure.

"The bridge is as pretty a bridge as you're going to find," Waxler said. "That's our gateway into the city, and I don't want that to be the first impression — this big flashing digital sign. It just takes away some of the character of what we're trying to do."

That's not to say she would oppose the sign outright. "I think it would be more appropriate farther down the road," she said.

She and Hutchinson said the sign near Kanner Highway and Monterey Road could be dangerous, distracting drivers in an already perilous intersection.

"If you have a long time to look at it, it's not so bad," Waxler said. But in congested areas, "I think people will be looking at the sign instead of the traffic."

Maskas called safety concerns a "non-issue." The electronic signs have been in bigger markets, such as Pittsburgh , for about five years, with no problems. In Florida , Lamar has digital displays in Fort Myers , Lakeland , Winter Haven and Pensacola .

Krauskopf agreed that the signs won't be dangerous: "How much more of a distraction could this be than people talking on cellphones and with dogs sitting on their laps?"

Nicoletti said Lamar has orally agreed to limit the signs to 35 feet and to add blinders. He expects to formalize the agreement in writing within the next few days.

Mehlich is dreading the day the signs go up.

"Putting up these god-awful signs is a slap in the face," she said.

Her neighbor, Theresa Campbell, agreed.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "There's already enough stuff on U.S. 1 without adding this tackiness."

North Port 's Bobcat Trail unfolds

By ERIN BRYCE

erin.bryce@heraldtribune.com
NORTH PORT -- In the past six years, Clara Peters has seen her neighborhood transition from an empty swath of land to a thriving gated golfing community.

With room for less than a dozen more, Bobcat Trail's 547 homes are nearly all built.

But though Bobcat Trail was hailed as a piece of paradise by developers in 1997, residents here have been embroiled in one spat after another over the past few years.

At issue is the same one that plagues many new communities in fast-growing Florida .

With so many newcomers bringing their ideas of what exactly paradise should be, the fight over rules, restrictions -- and lifestyle -- can be rough.

Recently inside Bobcat Trail, a debate concerning whether to allow city police inside the gates to patrol the streets turned particularly nasty.

But debates in recent years also have focused on hurricane shutters and a proposed playground.

"I'm not going to tell you that everything is hunky-dory here all of the time," said Peters, who oversees the development's community activities. "We're taking over some of the different aspects for running Bobcat. There are some growing pains, but we're working."

The beeping of cement trucks in reverse, the grinding of bulldozers and the crisp zip from a screw gun have become ordinary sounds for neighbors in the city's first gated community along Toledo Blade Boulevard .

At the time it was announced, KEB Inc. marketed the community as prime real estate along what would eventually become a major thoroughfare in this vast city.

"When I moved here, there was so many vacant lots, I didn't know what it was going to look like," said Clint Parks, who bought a home here in 2001.

He was not alone. Bobcat Trail's first models also lured Al Korst in 1999.

Korst said he was looking for an area close to Venice but away from traffic and city life.

"This was a community that was just kind of starting off," Korst said. "It just looked to me like it was a community that was going to be a really nice area to live in."

And by nearly every standard, Bobcat Trail has become a "nice" development. About 437 single-family homes and 110 villas -- all with big bay windows, tiled roofs, manicured lawns and sidewalks -- are spread throughout 13 streets, most named after palm trees. Homes range from $250,000 to $800,000.

But now that the developer has left and residents are in control of Bobcat Trail's taxing district and homeowners' association, the community is still struggling to define what kind of place it wants to be.

In the most recent controversy, the residents spent most of March debating whether to open their private streets to regular police patrols.

Although the community's taxing board voted against the proposal under the watchful eye of about 100 people inside the community's clubhouse, the issue tore the community apart for more than a month.

Allowing police in to patrol the development would have stopped the use of golf carts. Many golfers, who use their carts to get to and from neighbors' homes, the clubhouse and the course, accused non-golfers of disrupting their lifestyle.

The community became divided, fueled by a flurry of e-mail correspondence and discussions at almost every gathering spot.

"I will be the first to admit we've had some real heated debates," said Korst, one of the community's elected district board members. "There's two sides to every issue."

'Always the same'

A year ago, the community was up in arms over whether residents could place hurricane shutters over their windows while they are away. Nearly half of the residents here are snowbirds and leave the state during hurricane season.

The homeowners' association approved the measure, which allows residents to install hurricane shutters no sooner than seven days before a storm, but restricts them from keeping shutters longer than seven days after a storm. If residents don't comply, they face fines.

Two years ago, the community argued over whether a playground should be in the plans for a future community center.

At the time, some argued that a golfing community was not designed for children. Others disagreed. The issue is unresolved.

Resident Nathalie Hession shakes her head at the debates that have riled her neighbors.

"It's that way in all communities," said Hession, who moved to Bobcat Trail seven years ago from South Carolina . "We came from another community such as this and it's always the same. Trust me. It's always the same."

'Feeling our way'

To be fair, life inside Bobcat Trail isn't always about the bickering. Most of the time, residents there are enjoying the Florida lifestyle.

On a recent Thursday morning, four women sat around a square table in the heart of the Bobcat Trail Villas clubhouse. The sound of their giggles echoed off the bare walls as they played bridge.

On a bulletin board nearby, a list of community activities included line dancing, karaoke and poker.

Peters said residents are incredibly supportive of one another.

"We're feeling our way right now," she said. "And I think we're going to have a wonderful community here once we get ourselves focused and settled. I think we're going to get there."

Today's Letters: County had touted preserve

By St. Petersburg Times Letters to the Editor
Published April 16, 2007

Re: New site for ballfields pitched story, April 5

I was hoping the county had found a good site for the ballfields. I was shocked by what I was reading. There are no good sites for ballfields in the Brooker Creek Preserve. Not now or ever. Find a nonpreserve site where ballfields fit.

I'm really concerned the county is heading in the wrong direction on this most important issue. When I talk with people about these preserve issues, there is this refrain: "Why is the county even considering these things in the Brooker Creek Preserve?"

The 8,500-acre Brooker Creek Preserve is all the public knows because the county has so proudly over the years promoted its wild lands and preserves. The public was overall unaware that land belonging to Pinellas County Utilities was a part of the preserve and simply understood the land was protected as a preserve. The public will never accept nonpreserve uses of the preserves and this will only make people trust our government less.

That our county government had the vision and wisdom to piece together this significant piece of property for the future says a lot. To undo this would be a great injustice and a betrayal of the people.

Reggie Hall, Ozona

Re: New site for ballfields pitched

More than a few wild things there

I just cannot fathom why the East Lake Youth Sports Association feels it is entitled to this property in the name of children's sports.

This is not about a few wild turkeys and raccoons, as one letter in the past suggested. I see those here in my back yard in Clearwater. Or in a nice park such as Philippe Park. This is about an entire ecosystem. If the county isn't going to use the proposed area as a water blending facility, then it still belongs to the Brooker Creek Preserve and they can use it for something else that is vital to the preserve.

We have set aside this preserve for reasons that some of these parents may not even be aware of, as evidenced by the letter from a mom a few months ago who suggested the proposed fields wouldn't disturb the wild turkeys and raccoons. Her ignorance of the situation was disturbing. And I wonder: How typical is her point of view?