Businesses could soon ban petition drives for citizen initiatives

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE , Fla. (AP) -- Stores, shopping malls and other businesses could prohibit petition drives for citizen initiatives on their property, under a bill unanimously approved Monday by a Senate committee.

Opponents said the measure would deprive citizens of the opportunity to exercise their right to petition government in "quasi-public" places such as malls. It is also discriminatory, they said, because businesses could still allow petition drives they favor.

"Publix and Wal-Mart want to be able to pick and choose who gets to exercise their First Amendment rights on their property," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Florida Common Cause, a private government accountability watchdog group. "When did petitioning your government become an undesirable action?"

Business lobbyists said they supported the bill, part of an effort to make amending the Florida Constitution more difficult. The most significant step was an amendment voters approved last year requiring that future amendments, whether offered through petition drives, the Legislature or other means, must get 60 percent of the vote rather than a simple majority.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said merchants could be faced with the possibility of petition drives for measures that would put them out of business.

"You should have the right to say we don't want them on private property to do away with your business," Fasano said.

The measure (SB 1920), though, does not say a business must have a uniform policy on citizen initiatives.

The Senate Commerce Committee's action sets the bill up for a Senate floor vote. A similar bill (HB 559) is awaiting a floor in the House.

Fasano said the bill is based on a judge's 2005 ruling in favor of Publix Super Markets Inc., which had refused to allow a group advocating the decriminalization of marijuana to collect signatures at one of its stores in Tallahassee .

Wilcox called that decision, which was not appealed, questionable.

A senate staff analysis notes another judge ruled that a Panama City shopping mall had violated a political candidate's First Amendment right to petition by prohibiting him from gathering signatures to get on the ballot. The court in that case found the mall to be a "quasi-public" place.

The bill, though, applies only to petition-gathering for citizen initiatives, not by candidates.

The Florida League of Women Voters also opposes the bill, said the organization's vice president, Marilyn Willis. She told the panel that citizen initiatives are the only recourse the public has if the Legislature refuses to act on an issue.

"We believe that participation (in government) should be encouraged, not discouraged," Willis said.

Former Regional Planning Council Official Is Arrested
By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

BARTOW — Shereen O’Neill, the former finance director at the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, was arrested Monday in connection with the alleged theft of $306,735 from the council’s budget.

O’Neill, 35, Davenport , was charged with one count each of scheming to defraud, grand theft and money laundering. She was booked into the Polk County Jail under $35,000 bail.

According to documents filed by the State Attorney’s Office, the thefts, which were only uncovered last year during an annual audit, has been occurring since 2000.
O’Neill resigned from her $69.072-a-year position on Dec. 13 after she was confronted with the irregularities. She had been employed at the agency since 1997.

Hickory Hill: Setting the bar high or growth nightmare? For it

By SEBRING SIERRA
Published April 23, 2007

For several years, we have focused on how to create the best possible community in Hickory Hill. The Hickory Hill plan has evolved and improved. The process started with a vision. The vision was refined based on community and regulatory agency feedback. This interactive planning approach allows for the creation of something special.

We have worked diligently to produce a high-quality plan that creates a timeless community. Hickory Hill also will provide numerous benefits for Hernando County residents, such as job opportunities, economic development and an innovative educational funding approach. Supporting this comprehensive plan change allows the county to effectively master plan, with stringent environmental regulations, a special parcel of land that is in the direct path of inevitable development.

The Hickory Hill plan includes details of how the land will be respectfully developed. The plan includes initiatives to protect water, wildlife and the character of the community. The Hickory Hill community sets the bar high by including commitments well beyond any that Hernando County has ever received.

It is important to note that the property can be developed without a comprehensive plan amendment. Under the current rural land use, the property could be fragmented into hundreds of parcels with minimal environmental protection or infrastructure funding. This type of uncoordinated plan is neither responsible nor sustainable long-term planning on such unique and beautiful land.

By adopting Hickory Hill, Hernando County gains in at least three major areas: (A) environmental protection; (B) proactive transportation solutions; and (C) responsible planning for the future. One significant benefit to approving the Hickory Hill plan is the level of certainty and accountability it provides.

(A) Hickory Hill includes specific policies and initiatives to protect the environment. More than 1,110 acres of open space will be provided, of which only 330 acres is golf. Under the existing land use, minimal open space requirements exist that contain ongoing management and care.

Hickory Hill will provide for critical wildlife corridors. These high-value wildlife habitat areas are not guaranteed protection under the existing land use. Hickory Hill will preserve topography, which is not required.

(B) The groundwater protection program at Hickory Hill is unprecedented. We have committed to recycling rainfall, using reclaimed water, planting native vegetation and utilizing Best Management Practices so that the need for fertilizers and irrigation is reduced. These innovative water programs are above and beyond the existing requirements.

(C) We understand that ensuring a functioning transportation network is critical to enhancing the quality of life for all residents and ensuring strong local economic development. The Hickory Hill transportation plan ensures that we contribute significantly more to improve roads than our required obligations. At the county's request, Sierra Properties has committed to provide up-front roadway funding, build critical roadways at no cost risk to the county or its taxpayers and provide additional funding even after these roadway enhancements are complete. This funding plan sets an extremely high standard and ensures existing residents do not pay the cost of new development.

It is important to note that we are directing traffic away from our neighbors. The existing land-use rules allow for numerous driveways directly onto local roads, including Baseball Pond Road . However, Hickory Hill residents will only access collector roads.

After we have paid for and built the required county roadway improvements, we are still responsible for the total cost of upkeep on more than 25 miles of internal roads. The existing land use would require the county to maintain internal roads at a cost to taxpayers.

Every member of Sierra Properties is dedicated to land stewardship. We invest where we live and work in order to create livable communities. We always strive to be productive and respectful neighbors.

Our company chairman's permanent residence is in Hernando County . He has owned property in the county for more than 30 years. In addition to our strong local ties, my family name is on the company. We stand firmly behind our product. We established our reputation over the past 40 years by exceeding expectations. With Hickory Hill, we will continue to strengthen our reputation for responsible development.

By approving the Hickory Hill plan, Hernando County has the opportunity to provide new public community parks, increased fire protection and significant school funding. We are proactively supporting the county's plan for affordable housing and creating hurricane shelters. We are agreeing to provide land use certainty with binding commitments.

Approval of Hickory Hill is a change that makes sense for the community. We are committed to responsible development that creates a quality community for generations to come. We are committed to Hernando County . We have put our reputation on the line. These are commitments we are happy to make to Hernando County and its residents because we believe in Hickory Hill.

Sebring Sierra is vice president of operations for Sierra Properties.

Guest columnists write their own views about subjects they choose, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

Residents Should Seize The Next Opportunity To Speak Up About Water

Pasco Tribune editorial Published: Apr 22, 2007

Every day, tens of millions of gallons of drinking water are pumped from aquifers beneath Pasco County , one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States and a focal point of the bitter water wars of the 1980s and '90s.

And most every day, residents concerned about Pasco 's changing landscape question where drinking water will come from for growth and why they're required to conserve when building is allowed to continue.

It's highly disappointing, then, that so few residents attended a workshop on long-term water supply planning last week in New Port Richey, despite thousands of invitations being sent.

Hosted by Tampa Bay Water, which provides drinking water to Pasco , Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa , and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, the workshop drew far more agency staff members than concerned residents.

Only three residents showed up. Staff outnumbered them 3-to-1.

But there's one more chance for Pasco residents to participate in this crucial process without having to cross the county line - Monday evening in Land O' Lakes.

The workshop is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Land O' Lakes Community Center , 5401 Land O' Lakes Blvd. (U.S. 41). It will include an "interactive presentation" that will begin at 6.

Pasco 's rapid growth and the daily pumping of groundwater aside, there are other compelling reasons to attend the workshop. The Tampa Bay region is in a drought, heightening the need for conservation of water.

In addition, water managers and regulators, aware that excessive groundwater pumping harms the environment, have decided that other ways to provide drinking water must be pursued. Don't you want to know where those supplies will come from?

Further, seawater desalination has promise, but Tampa Bay Water's facility in the Big Bend area of Hillsborough County has run into numerous delays and problems since it opened in March 2003.

It was only a few weeks ago that the plant went back on line after extensive repairs.

When fully operational, the facility is expected to produce 25 million gallons of potable water a day, providing another reliable alternative source. Pasco 's southwest coast also has been eyed as a site for a desal plant.

Tampa Bay Water and regional planners want input from you about how to meet drinking water needs. Monday's workshop in Land O' Lakes offers an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.

Sun 'N Lake In Compliance With Permits

By Joe Seelig of Highlands Today

Published: April 23, 2007

SEBRING — The Sun 'n Lake of Sebring Improvement District is in compliance with its state water use permit and has been since it learned there was a problem, Gator Howerton, civil engineer with Polston Engineering, said Friday.

In August, the district was informed that it was not in compliance with its permit and had been out of compliance with its Southwest Florida Water Management District water use permit since 1999.

"We took immediate action when we found out and have been in compliance ever since," Howerton said. "It was an honest mistake on both sides. SWFWMD had clerical errors and they didn't realize they weren't keeping up with everything."

People changed jobs and people who remained or who replaced those who left were at times not told what they needed to do, he said. Sun 'n Lake was supposed to supply the water management district with certain reports and had not done so since 2003. That problem, too, has been fixed, Howerton said.

The 2005 and 2006 reports were submitted on April 1," he said.

Sun 'n Lake was pumping 40.1 percent more water on a daily average than its permit allowed, according to Robyn Hanke, the water management district's media relations manager.

Sun 'n Lake 's permit allowed 1.0062 million gallons of water per day on a daily average but it used 1.0936 million gallons per day average in 1999. Its thirst for water steadily increased ever since to 1.4096 million gallons at last measure, Hanke said.

Hanke said Friday that Sun 'n Lake was turned down in April for a $63,750 grant to help fund 75 percent of a feasibility study for a reuse water master plan. And that was based upon the improvement district not being in compliance.

"It's the (water) district's policy that we don't fund projects for utilities that are out of compliance," Hanke said, to put it simply. "They need to reduce how much water they're pumping. They've got to prove that they need that water. (The district) needs to be in compliance now."

But Howerton believed Hanke's information is not entirely up to date.

"What they (SWFWMD) are looking at are year-old figures," Howerton said. "Until we get to August we won't have a full year (average)."

Sun 'n Lake has plans to expand the improvement district's two sewage treatment plants and to reuse about 500,000 gallons per day of treated water to spread on the improvement district's two golf courses.

Howerton said the residents of Sun 'n Lake have been doing their part in conserving water and are not part of the problem. The problem is the water being used on the golf courses, about 519,700 gallons permitted with 596,300 permitted in a drought year.

"There are no problems with the residents," he said. "They're using about 89 gallons per day per capita and the state allows 150. The state recommends 120 gallons per day."

There is a lot happening since what Hanke was saying, Howerton said.

"A new application has been submitted with the Bartow office for a modification to the permits," he said. "And, more applications have been submitted for the district expanding its plants."

Several calls to Sun 'n Lake management for comment were not returned Friday. District Manager Al Grieshaber Jr. reportedly was not in his office Friday.

Greenways network lacks South County link

By Meghan Meyer

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 23, 2007

Imagine being able to bike or hike from Martin County to Broward County on a connected system of trails running along waterways and through parks.

Palm Beach County officials have envisioned just such a greenways network for years. Officials have created a plan for publicly owned lands in the northern part of the county and in Martin County , called the Northeast Everglades Natural Area. The missing link: urban south county, where gated communities have replaced nurseries and farms in recent years. In the next few months, planners will put together a report for the county commission exploring possible areas to build greenways and how to make it happen.

"We're trying to make our communities more walkable," said County Commissioner Jeff Koons, a longtime advocate of the network. "If we begin to build these, people will use them."

Many cities have plans for greenways. The county will try to connect them and set up a plan so that, when officials plan improvements to roads and waterways, they will consider including greenways. Having such a plan in place would give the county the opportunity to apply for grant money to design and build greenways. That's what happened in Boynton Beach .

"It takes time," said John Wildner, the former Boynton Beach parks director who now works on special projects for the county parks and recreation department. "You can't think you're going to have greenways all over the county overnight."

County planners will run the ideas they have gathered past the cities and will take a strategy to the county commission in three to four months, said Bret Baronak, senior planner and bicycle/pedestrian/greenways coordinator for the Palm Beach County Metropolitan Planning Organization. Last weekend, feedback from about 50 residents who attended a public workshop at Green Cay Nature Center gave them encouragement.

"One of the big focuses was people were looking at it from a regional perspective," Baronak said. "They were wondering, 'How can we get from this part of the county to Broward?' "

Officials decided to avert opposition from gated communities, which dominate southwestern Palm Beach County . In the past, residents there said they didn't want bike paths running along canals behind their homes when they had moved somewhere for security and exclusivity. The Lake Worth Drainage District, which controls those canals, also opposes greenways there because it does not own all the easements.

Greenways planners will focus first on publicly owned land in the Agricultural Reserve and near the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. A good example is Flavor Pict Road , which runs past the nature center and the Wakodahatchee Wetlands and is owned by the county water utility, Koons said. It might one day stretch past Florida 's Turnpike through thousands of acres the county bought to preserve for agriculture. It would be the perfect place for a greenway-style bike path, Koons said, without involving gated communities or drainage canals.

Koons and Baronak said they're confident they can continue to work with the drainage district on the canal issue. And residents said they liked the overall idea of a greenway system that didn't involve gated communities.

The Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations is following the overall greenway plans, President Barbara Katz said.

"It's wonderful to see green in Florida ," she said. "There's a lot of pavement going on. We are interested, but it's really too early to say what will happen."

Tollway Proposed For Ridge Road

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 23, 2007

Pasco County officials are weighing a new option in their effort to extend Ridge Road from Decubellis Road to U.S. 41: make it a toll road.

The effort to extend Ridge Road has been plagued by environmental issues and skyrocketing construction costs.

A toll road may not solve either of those problems, but Ridge Road advocates say the proposal is worth studying.

"We need to explore all avenues, and that seemed a viable alternative," county Commissioner Jack Mariano said of a toll road. "I think it has a lot of merit."

Cost estimates for the Ridge Road extension are hovering around $111 million, the result of road-building prices that have more than tripled in four years. The road also remains under review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because it would cross wildlife habitat set aside to offset wetlands destroyed by the Suncoast Parkway .

The Metropolitan Planning Organization, the county agency that oversees transportation planning, last week asked planners with Florida 's Turnpike Enterprise to consider making the extension a toll road.

Florida 's Turnpike Enterprise runs the state's network of toll roads. The group's planners will meet next month with county road planners to start weighing the MPO's request.

The request for a study grew out of recent discussions by a citizens committee recruited to recommend changes to the county's impact-fee structure, which finances road projects.

Tolls came up as one way to pay for certain road projects, said Joanne Hurley, the spokeswoman for the turnpike authority in West Central Florida who sat on the impact-fee committee.

County commissioners see the extension as opening a third east-west hurricane evacuation route between densely populated west Pasco and Interstate 75. Critics say the road will ruin environmentally sensitive lands west of the Suncoast Parkway and open more property to development.

Without making the extension a toll road, Pasco County will have to pay the full cost of the project.

Tolls could cover 40 percent to 60 percent of the cost, Hurley said.

The potential users will be a factor in deciding whether the state or county could borrow enough money to build it, Hurley said.

The turnpike study also will take into account whether the project would be environmentally sound and financially feasible, Hurley said.

It's unclear how the potential tollway would be built, who would build it or how many people would use it.

One option would be to have the turnpike authority build and run the road.

Another option could be the county's long-dormant expressway authority, created more than 20 years ago to pursue a toll road linking Trinity Boulevard and Ehren Cutoff using an abandoned railroad bed, commission Chairwoman Anne Hildebrand said.

"If that's a vehicle we could use, I think it would be prudent on our part to do that," Hildebrand said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at kwiatrowski @tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4201

Black bear sparse in Hernando County

By TONY HOLT
wholt@hernandotoday.com


WEEKI WACHEE — To survive and thrive in its habitat, the Florida black bear requires clean water and acres upon acres of woodlands.
Environmentalists think developers are making it impossible for the local bear population, particularly in Hernando County . They are also perplexed at the government’s refusal to declare the species endangered.
“Their plight is pretty bad,” said Marcie Clutter, a member of Defenders of Wildlife, which filed the lawsuit. “Saving the land is so critical.”
Clutter was the guest speaker during Thursday night’s Gulf Coast Conser-vancy meeting at the Springs Coast Environmental Center .
Her talk was less about the politics behind protecting the black bear and more about the animal’s behavior and instincts for survival. The audience was mostly made up of local GCC members and their families.
Clutter gave a slide presentation and held up various exhibits — from a molding of a bear’s paw to branches from a cabbage palm tree, a favorite food source for the Florida black bear.
The audience gasped when Clutter recalled a conversation she had with a colleague. The latter told her the Weeki Wachee area had a total of five bears.
Clutter thinks there is more, but she conceded bears that roam the area are in danger of being killed by motorists traveling up and down U.S. 19. There have been several reports of the animal being killed along the popular highway.
“I can’t think of a better symbol of wilderness than the black bear,” Clutter said. “Native Americans really admired the black bear. They thought it was a spiritual animal … People today still feel that way.”
Clutter said only 500 black bears lived in Florida in 1974, when it was deemed a threatened species. Since then, the population has grown to anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000.
Nonetheless, environmentalists and animal rights advocates would prefer to see black bears better protected, much like manatees today and bald eagles more than a decade ago.
Clutter called the Florida black bear an “umbrella species.”
“You save other species when you save bears,” she said. “They need large tracts of land to survive.”
Florida black bears, Clutter said, are a subspecies of the black bear. They are listed as carnivores, but they are typically referred to as omnivores because most of their diet consists of plants and berries.
The conservancy donated a stuffed black bear to the environmental center in memory of the late Linda Pedersen and Nikki Everitt “for their work in protecting the bear habitat,” said GCC member Leslie Neumann.
Neumann described the history of the stuffed bear, which was officially named “Bob” Thursday after a child in the audience suggested it.
The bear, which was nearly six feet in length and weighed more than 200 pounds, was killed a few years ago along U.S. 19. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offered to give the bear to the GCC.
The conservancy had raised $1,600 and did not know what to do with the money. After the state called and offered to donate the bear, members agreed to spend it on the bear, which cost exactly $1,600 to stuff.
The GCC has existed for up to 15 years. It was created to “promote natural resources preservation through public education and acquisition of sensitive areas by public agencies,” according to its Web site.
Its aim is to preserve the local habitat for the survival of certain plant and animal species.

Reporter Tony Holt can be contacted at 352-544-5283.

Facts about the Florida black bear

• The Florida black bear is a subspecies of the American black bear.
• Adult males weigh anywhere from 250 to 450 pounds; females weigh between 150 and 250 pounds.
• Cubs usually remain with their mothers for one-and-a-half years.
• Florida black bears have a brown muzzle, or snout, and a patch of white fur on their chest.
• Due to their smaller claws, adult black bears can climb trees. Among the remaining species of bears in North America , only cubs can climb trees.
• Black bears technically do not hibernate. They are usually in a soft sleep during the winter and can easily awaken if disturbed.
• Black bears have a keen sense of smell, are excellent swimmers and can run up to 35 mph at full speed.
• Meat from other animals makes up seven percent of a black bear’s diet; 12 percent is made up of insects.
• Armadillos and carrion (or animal carcass) make up most of the meat in a black bear’s diet. They are at their hungriest after waking up from their winter hibernation.

VOLUSIA & CENTRAL FLORIDA THE AREA IN BRIEF

Red-tide toxins linger

April 23, 2007

Fort Myers -- Deadly red-tide toxins can linger on sea grass for weeks after the algae fades from surrounding waters, scientists now think.

Red-tide-tainted sea grass has been linked to the deaths of 27 manatees whose bodies were found in Lee County waters in late March and early April, said Leanne Flewelling, a scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is unusual for such a large number of animals to die when red tide is not present in the water.

Flewelling's research found sea grasses at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River retained lethal amounts of toxin weeks after the red tide left Lee County waters. Scientists think the sea cows ate the contaminated grass as they left the river.

As of April 13, 120 manatee deaths had been reported in 2007 across the state.

Etan Horowitz, Nancy Imperiale, Robert Sargent and Jay Hamburg of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.

North Port rethinks land pact

By JOHN DAVIS

john.davis@heraldtribune.com
NORTH PORT -- It's unclear what the city has to gain by walking away from the 25-year planning deal it finalized with Sarasota County just three months ago.

The agreement ensured county support of some future land annexations by the city, promising to eliminate future disagreements over services and development in southern Sarasota County . Now all that appears to be in jeopardy, and whether anything will replace it is unclear.

Tonight, the North Port City Commission is likely to take the first step toward opting out of a deal that took months to put together and was supposed to last for decades.

"The political games that go on, they're completely frustrating to a business owner," said JoAnn Steganga, co-owner of the Myakka River Oyster Bar. Her restaurant's growth depends on water and sewer service expanding just west of North Port , something for which the planning agreement helps pave the way.

North Port 's option to end the contract expires in less than three weeks. So if the city wants out, it has to act now.

City officials hope to convince the county to craft a new deal if they ditch the current one. But that appears unlikely.

"This isn't about do-overs or best of three or anything," said County Commissioner Joseph Barbetta, a sentiment held by a majority of the County Commission .

County commissioners plan to meet face-to-face with the North Port City Commission before the city's final opt-out vote in a last-ditch effort to preserve the agreement.

Sarasota County is in a stronger bargaining position now than it was in January because of a charter change approved last month by voters that gives the county control over how many homes can be built on rural lands annexed by the city in the future.

The fact that the county proceeded with the charter change vote after the planning agreement was hammered out angered city officials and prompted them to discuss tossing out the agreement.

Yet what exactly North Port wants in a new planning agreement is unclear. Commissioners have been unable to articulate their vision for a new agreement.

"You can't truly say what it is that's an issue without having the ability to really, truly look it over," said City Commissioner Vanessa Carusone.

Publicly, city leaders have made no specific demands regarding what they want out of a new planning agreement. They have told the city staff to find things to ask for, should a second round of talks happen.

According to City Manager Steven Crowell, vetting the current agreement and coming up with another proposal will take months.

Meanwhile, the potential demise of the current deal is putting those who had counted on the agreement in limbo.

"I thought everything was going so well," said Dale Weidemiller, president of Bradenton-based Neal Communities.

Weidemiller fought for his 800-acre development to be on the list of areas for possible annexation into North Port , a city that many consider more friendly to developers than Sarasota County .

Now, with North Port walking away from the contract -- and all of its development stipulations -- Weidemiller doesn't know how he will proceed with the $100 million project.

Building office in Clermont may close

Robert Sargent
Sentinel Staff Writer

April 23, 2007

TAVARES -- Lake County commissioners could decide Tuesday to close a satellite office in Clermont because of the steep drop in new-home construction.

Average construction permits handled each day through the county Building Department's south Lake facility at Clermont City Hall dropped about 55 percent since 2005 -- a dramatic sign of the slower growth felt across the area in the past year or so.

Countywide, Lake officials have reported a $3.3 million loss in fees from permits and inspections needed to run the Building Department. That prompted stiff budget cuts and the layoff last week of 14 workers.

Now commissioners must decide whether to make another cut by closing the Building Department's office in Clermont.

The commission will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the round courthouse in Tavares.

The move would save about $36,000 in rent and utilities the county pays to Clermont, but it would force building customers to travel to Tavares for permits.

Clermont officials would have to decide whether to stick with the county, which has handled the city's building permits and inspections for years. The city also could hire a private company or create its own building department to take care of those services.

"We'll have to look at the whole situation," City Manager Wayne Saunders said. "We would hope they find a way to keep this office open."

City Council member Ray Goodgame said the county should take full consideration before deciding to shutter the south Lake office.

"I think the county ought to be very conscientious about what they're doing," Goodgame said. "There's still a tremendous amount of construction and home building in south Lake County ."

Carol Stricklin, senior director for Lake 's Department Of Growth Management, said the county could still provide building services to Clermont even if commissioners decide to close the Clermont office.

The county serves Montverde and Umatilla from its Tavares offices.

Robert Sargent can be reached at rsargent@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5909.

Plans for S.R. 776 condos face opposition

By KEVIN DALE

kevin.dale@heraldtribune.com
ENGLEWOOD -- Three years ago, Sarasota County approved a massive revision of the types of development it wanted to promote along the county's nearly nine-mile portion of State Road 776.

Years in the making, the S.R. 776 Corridor Plan outlined a mixed-use future, an antidote for the steady sprawl of walled, single-family home subdivisions that define much of the corridor.

But the strength of those on-paper desires will face its first significant test Tuesday when the County Commission will vote on the first major project inspired by the plan.

Sue Zipay, owner of the Englewood Tennis Club, is asking to rezone the club and her adjacent home to allow for 47 condos and a 7,900-square-foot shopping center.

The four-acre project includes a 50-foot-wide "pedestrian greenway" that separates the buildings from the roadway -- one of the plan's "pedestrian friendly" features.

But neighboring residents of Blue Dolphin and Dale Lake estates oppose the development. In an argument familiar to commissioners, residents are expected to claim that the condos, proposed to rise 47 feet, will overwhelm the neighborhood, spoiling the open-space charm that drew them to Englewood .

In the past year, anti-condo sentiment -- which runs high in change-resistant Englewood -- has helped sink two condo proposals: 95 units on East Dearborn Street and 84 at the Shady Haven Mobile Home Park.

Zipay's project is the first request to bring multistory condos to Sarasota County 's stretch of S.R. 776, which runs from U.S. 41 to the Sarasota-Charlotte line.

The S.R. 776 plan envisions a landscape of offices and condos that differs greatly from a driver's current view: a mix of single-family homes, undeveloped parcels and churches -- until the commercial area around Dearborn Street .

Between U.S. 41 and Dearborn Street, for example, the corridor plan designates an almost unbroken, seven-mile line of parcels for future "office/multifamily residential."

With that future zoning category, many other S.R. 776 property owners will be able to ask to rezone their land for projects such as the tennis club proposal.

Intensifying the frustration of area residents is a another proposal to build 60 condos of similar height and a 4,700-square-foot retail center on a vacant parcel south of the tennis club. The County Commission is scheduled to vote on that project May 22.

Jeff Kern, a 27-year resident of the 30-home Blue Dolphin Estates, said his neighbors accept that Zipay has a right to rezone and build.

But "it's the height. It's going to be an eyesore," Kern said. "There's nothing like that built along the 776 corridor now."

In February, three members of the county's Planning Commission sided with residents and recommended that the County Commission reject the proposal.

The other three commissioners said the project, with its pedestrian greenway and mix of residential and retail, embodied the S.R. 776 plan and should be approved. The 3-3 vote meant the proposal was forwarded to the County Commission without a Planning Commission recommendation.

Planning Commissioner Roland Piccone said he liked the project, but thought it was "in the wrong place." Commissioner Marianne Reilly said: "It will stick up like a sore thumb."

Before the Feb. 1 vote, Brian Lichterman, the project's consultant, prefaced his presentation with a refresher on the aims of the S.R. 776 plan, a project that he led before he left the county's planning staff in 2005 to consult developers.

Lichterman said the plan was inspired by residents who worried that, if land uses weren't changed, the corridor "was very quickly going to evolve into a series of strip residential subdivisions being screened by a series of nondescript walls and fences."

Lichterman said he hopes the county commissioners see that the project is "exactly what they adopted in the corridor plan. What is going to be before them is exactly what they anticipated."
Volusia schools talk growth

By LINDA TRIMBLE
Education Writer

DELAND -- A busy week is in store for the Volusia County School Board as it wrestles with decisions about how to balance school enrollment and new development, and how to spend taxpayers' money.

A months-long discussion on how much overcrowding should be permitted in Volusia schools before approval of new residential development is jeopardized will continue when the board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the School Administrative Complex, 200 N. Clara Ave.

The board ultimately must agree with the County Council and all Volusia cities on a school concurrency plan required by a state law taking effect next year and a County Charter amendment that goes into force Sept. 30.

School concurrency is the policy of assuring there's enough classroom space for residents of new development within three years of final approval to build housing.

School Facilities Director Pat Drago doesn't expect the School Board to take a firm stand Tuesday but rather to discuss a position to be shared with other local governments as negotiations continue.

"We see this as fluid," Drago said.

Two weeks ago, the School Board suggested a consultant's recommendation that enrollment be allowed to climb to 120 percent of capacity before being considered too overcrowded for new development was too high.

A broadly representative community advisory committee has since recommended a 110 percent enrollment limit at elementary and middle schools and 120 percent for high schools if that's financially feasible.

Developers still might get permission to build if they donated land or school construction money, for example, or there were classroom seats available at nearby schools.

Plans for future school construction, also to be reviewed by the board on Tuesday, and revenue projections are other critical factors that must be considered in resolving the capacity issue, Drago said.

On Wednesday and Friday, the School Board will continue a series of budget workshops leading up to the approval of a 2006-07 spending plan in September.

Previous meetings dealt primarily with school construction spending. The board will turn its attention to the daily operating budget in three upcoming meetings. They're scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. April 30, all in the School Administrative Complex.

linda.trimble@news-jrnl.com

RV park residents get boot ... but no check

Condos, shops and a hotel will replace an RV resort, where folks do not get the financial help their mobile home park brethren receive.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published April 23, 2007

GIBSONTON - The letter arrived April 3. It was the bombshell that residents feared. "At this time, we would like to inform you ..." owners of the Alafia River RV Resort began. The residents had less than 90 days to get out, the letter stated. Some have lived on the tree-lined property that rolls down to the river for more than 30 years. The letter was the first official confirmation residents had that anything was amiss. But many people in the park had seen a sign posted at the Gibsonton Drive entrance in March that announced the Shoppes of Alafia. They found the door to the recreation hall locked. Inside, where residents had coffee-and-doughnut socials every Wednesday morning, where they played pinochle and penny-ante poker and even held church services, an organ and a piano collect dust.

The park, on 40 acres just east of Interstate 75, is changing. Owners in August got the commercial zoning they needed to build 350 condominiums there, plus shops and a 150-room hotel.

"It's inevitable," said Debra Jones, who has lived at the park since the 1980s. "They don't want to make $300 a month in lot rentals. They want big bucks."

County officials agree. Planner Brian Grady said he has seen more mobile home park owners asking to change their land use in the past two years.

Investors are mostly buying parks where residents lease the ground beneath their units, said Warren Weathers, the county's deputy property appraiser.

That includes parks like the Alafia River RV Resort, where scores of residents have left in recent months after being alarmed by a string of warning signs.

The owners wanted to give residents more time, according to general partner Lawrence Bauman. But an overhaul of the park's wastewater treatment system would have been needed if residents stayed into July, said Alex Giannini, Bauman's partner.

* * *

The weekend before they were to appear before a zoning hearing master, owners called a meeting with residents.

The owners told residents that they had no immediate plans to develop the park but wanted to keep their options open, said Jones, who attended the meeting.

The next week, a flier invited residents to meet with owners again "to brainstorm ideas for improvements to the park."

In August, the owners got the zoning they needed for the hotel, condos and 60,000 square feet of office space. In approving the commercial zoning, county commissioners signed off on a zoning hearing master's recommendation and an earlier court ruling that the community is a recreational-vehicle park.

That means residents who are forced to move aren't entitled to the financial help that state law requires for residents of mobile home parks.

Still, few tenants at the Alafia River RV Resort could simply turn the ignition switch and drive away.

The community includes mobile homes, manufactured homes and park models, which resemble traditional mobile homes but are smaller than 400 square feet. Hauling the park models elsewhere costs $2,800 to $7,000, said Tampa mobile home mover Adam Brooks.

State law also lets mobile home park residents stay for six months before owners can evict them because of a land use change. But because Alafia River is an RV park, the required notice for residents shrinks to 15 days.

In January, a "for sale" sign went up along Gibsonton Drive . Still, no word went out to residents.

* * *

Zeke and Johanne Forney met three years ago at the park's recreation center. He was a retired plumber with leathery skin. She had been coming to the park from Pennsylvania since 1983.

The Forneys are moving to Hidden River , a Riverview mobile home park for retirees. They'll miss the Northern Lights Show, skits the seasonal residents put on each spring before their annual trek home.

And they will miss the parades. Residents organized costume parades for Halloween, Christmas and St. Patrick's Day. They'd march through the park banging pots and pans or ringing dinner bells.

"Anything they could come up with," Forney said.

* * *

By February, owners had dropped the idea of selling the property. A new sign went up: The Shoppes of Alafia would open in 2008. Now leasing.

Since the first sign went up, Juanita Deckoning asked neighbors and the park manager what was happening.

Her worries about the park increased in March, when a new sign appeared: The Shoppes of Alafia was now a hazy watercolor, like a New Yorker cartoon.

"No one knew anything," said Deckoning, 65. "Until yesterday."

That was the day the letter came.

Owners wouldn't be collecting lot-rental fees for May and June, it said. Residents would have to leave by noon June 29, when workers will shut off power and utilities and destroy any remaining units.

"The reality is that this is an RV park, a transient park," said Giannini, a retired dentist. "It's sad for those that have been there, but the time has come."

An expiring wastewater permit forced his hand, Giannini said.

Had it not, he might have been able to give residents more time.

Either way, mobile home and RV parks are quickly fading into the past, said Weathers, the county appraiser.

"We've gone from being the land of cheap, easy living to where anything near the waterfront or developed areas has become expensive land," he said. "It's part of the natural economic cycle."

* * *

Debra Jones has taped a for sale sign in the window of her 1999 home. She's asking $14,500.

"Obviously, it's not being sold because nobody's going to buy it," she said. At 49, she is too young to move into a 55-and-older park. But Bobby, her husband, turns 55 in August.

Being uprooted like this reminds her of the homeless. "Does anybody realize that circumstances like that are exactly what little it takes" to be homeless? she said. "That could be me," she said. "It might be me."

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or "ameacham@sptimes.com.

Record Profits Amid Insurance Crisis

Tampa Tribune editorial Published: Apr 23, 2007

As state leaders desperately try to stabilize the state's property and casualty insurance market amid industry claims it can't afford to write policies for Florida properties, the industry reports record profits. Florida property owners and lawmakers have reason to feel duped.

Insurance companies' net income rose to $63.7 billion in 2006 from $44.2 billion in 2005, according to ISO, a New Jersey-based risk information service. The announcement gives ammunition to those like Gov. Charlie Crist who complain insurers are little more than profiteers raking in billions on the backs of their customers.

The industry says its profits reflect both growth in premiums - up $18.3 billion to $443.8 million in 2006 - and a decline in loss and loss adjustment expenses - falling by $27.9 billion to $283.7 billion.

And where is that premium growth coming from? From customers who live in places at special risk for natural disasters, like Florida .

But even consumers far from the coast wonder why their insurance rates remain high. Legislation intended to lower the cost of insurance hasn't caused premiums to drop much, if at all.

This is the industry's big public relations problem. Insurers warn it would only take one Andrew-like hurricane striking Miami or Tampa to wipe out decades of profit. But ordinary citizen's onerous insurance ills create little sympathy for industry economics.

Old Problem Resurfaces

By Douglas Carman of Highlands Today

Published: April 23, 2007

SEBRING — Jim and Dee Grevan had fun walking through it Sunday morning. Mark Thomas from Sebring also enjoys fishing from it.

But Fred Carino and other boaters can't get around it, and for boaters as well as for the environment, the city wants to get rid of those stumps sticking out of Lake Jackson near Veterans Beach .

The ash-colored stumps –– remnants of invasive Melaleuca trees removed 10 years ago –– were left behind since workers were unable to take them while they were submerged.

Melaleuca, also called paperback trees, are an exotic species that were introduced to Florida in order to dry out the Everglades . Today, the trees still threaten the swamp

Sebring City Administrator Bob Hoffman said the city, the county and Southwest Florida Water Management District killed the Melaleuca forest 10 years ago, but they could not remove the trees entirely since they were submerged, so instead, the trees were cut down to the stump and left alone.

With the ongoing drought drying the lake, they're now sticking up on a three-acre island northeast of Veterans Beach . Hoffman said this would be the perfect time to get rid of them and finish what was started.

"This is kind of a 'phase two.'" Hoffman said.

Sebring has approached Highlands County for help because it does not have all the equipment needed to remove the stumps.

The commissioners will vote Tuesday on whether to help.

Assistant County Administrator Rick Helms said if county commissioners accept Sebring's requests, then a part of Veterans Beach would be used as a staging area for trucks to perform the work.

Hoffman said the county had some of the necessary equipment the city needs to perform the project. In addition, the trucks need some supporting soil to reach the stumps.

Beach-goers were all for their removal, but some thought the stumps and the unusually low water level gave the lake a bit of a character.

"It's unique," Jim Grevan said, while standing on the island. He and his wife, Dee, wanted to check the new real estate out while they could.

Stumps or no stumps, Thomas said his friends were catching "boat loads" on the lake while he waded from the island's northern shore.

A Growing Barrier

In a separate project, the city will also remove part of a sand bar that developed immediately north of Veterans Beach . The bar, a peninsula that has grown beyond the lake's drying, extends behind Carino's house and threatens to block his dock's access to the lake.

"The natural action of the wind and the lake pushed some sand in that corner" near Carino's dock, Sebring assistant city administrator Scott Noethlich said.

An April 16 letter from Hoffman to Highlands County Administrator Carl Cool said Carino requested the bar's removal. Carino could not be reached for comment.

Hoffman said the city will "shave that tip off" the peninsula, leaving a beach that only extends 20-foot radius from the beach wall

Peaceful paradise in mangroves is a man's 'legacy to the world'

BY PATTIE MIHALIK

CORRESPONDENT

There's solitude.

There's mystery.

And there's total isolation along a watery trail kept clear enough for kayakers by the stubborn dedication of one man, 90-year-old Ed Woolverton.

The trail just off Catfish Creek in Placida had been a secret for years until Woolverton decided to share his private playground.

The trail through the mangroves around the corner from his home has been added to the protected Charlotte County Blueway Trails.

But it wouldn't be a canopy for paddlers without Woolverton.

Woolverton, who moved to Placida from Minnesota in 1975, found an old map that indicated ditches had been dug for mosquito control through the mangroves nearby.

"It was so thick and dense in there that I had to look for a long, long time before I could find the ditches. I had to work a long time to find and mark channels," he says. "It was a maze of little rivers flowing through the mangroves. It's so easy to get lost in there."

Woolverton figured the mangrove trails could be a paddling paradise. So he approached Marion Schneider, the first lady of Grande Tours of Placida and the person who was smart enough to recognize the recreation potential of kayaking long before the sport became a national pastime.

"I've lived here all my life and thought I knew every inch of the water. But I was shocked when Ed told me about the mangrove paths. It was definitely a secret from the world," said Schneider.

It's a secret no longer, but the mangroves aren't a "once and done" project. Anyone who ever has trimmed hedges in Florida knows how fast they grow back. Keeping the mangrove paths open requires hard work.

When Hurricane Charley swept through the area, Woolverton cleared toppled trees and restored the paths.

"That was a tough job," he admits, adding he got help from his son, Richard, grandson Dan Snell and a few others.

Woolverton stresses that he doesn't cut down mangroves, which is against the law and should never be done under any circumstances. Rather, he works to keep open the paths that were established when the land was dredged for mosquito control.

While that would be a huge undertaking for any man, it's an even bigger feat for someone Woolverton's age.

At 90, he's spry and strong, a fact he attributes to his lifelong dedication to exercise and his healthy diet of fish and vegetables. "Being 90 is great," he says, smiling.

While he has the body and mind of a younger man, it's his attitude toward life that is even more noteworthy.

"Everything in life is a wonder," he says. "Bugs, rocks, nature. Everything!"

He has held so many jobs in his life that he claims "it would take a lot of paper to list them all." But he said he's never had what most would call "a proper job."

"My wife was always at me to get what she called 'a more suitable' job," he said. "I'm college educated (five years at the University of Minnesota ), but I switched majors so much that I never got a degree in any one thing. I've always been glad of that because I would have been pushed into work I didn't like."

One of his favorite jobs was overseer on an isolated island estate in Minnesota . "The owners were only on the island a few months out of the year. The rest of the time was mine to do what I wanted," he said.

That freedom, he said, is what brought him in 1975 to Placida, where he bought a waterside mobile home, a place he still calls home for half the year. The rest of the year, he travels the world or lives on an island in Cook, Minn.

Like everything else in his life, his Minnesota home has a story: "I made $400 working all summer at a lookout tower. My boss asked what I was going to do with the money. He told me if I used it to buy eight lots on Lake Vermillion , I would never be sorry. He was right. It's worth a lot of money now."

When Woolverton's wife died in 1978, he joined Servas, an international hospitality exchange organization, and began traveling the world.

Even at his age, he still "country hops," meeting new friends, learning new cultures, and acquiring new interests. He doesn't like organized tours.

"I always wanted to learn birch bark weaving, so I went to Finland a few years ago to learn this," he says, holding up a basket and slippers he made with strips of bark.

Woolverton's once-private paradise has been named the Edwin Woolverton Trail.

Laura Kleiss-Hoeft, who heads Charlotte County Parks and Recreation, says the Blueway Trails map is being revised and hopes signs will be added to mark the trail.

But plenty of kayakers already know to paddle there. Schneider says paddlers come from Tampa and other parts of the state just to experience the mangroves.

"It's a real jewel for the county and the entire area," says Schneider, whose company offers outdoor tours and guides. "And it's a tribute to Ed that so many people are enjoying the fruits of his labor."

Hearing that, Woolverton's smile widens: "It's my legacy to the world."
Bee colony collapse still a mystery

In November 2006, a Pennsylvania beekeeper preparing to winter in Florida reported the unexplained disappearance of two-thirds of his hives.

Six months later, "Colony Collapse Disorder," as science has named a phenomenon recorded in two dozen states, has affected some 700,000 hives, including as much as a third of the bee population of Florida .

This is not the first time an epidemic of bee die-offs has occurred in the U.S. , but it is by far the largest, prompting investigations into a variety of possible causes, from disease to pesticides to global warming.

Because bee pollination is so vital to the American agricultural industry -- a third of the national diet comes from foods dependent upon it -- some have warned of potentially dire consequences for apiculture, bee farming, in the United States .

While alarmed, industry leaders have so far urged beekeepers not to panic.

"I would characterize it as serious," said Daniel Weaver, president of the American Beekeeping Federation, in an interview about Colony Collapse Disorder with the Washington Post in February.

"Whether it threatens the apiculture industry in the United States or not, that's up in the air."

BEES FOR HIRE

By BILL HUTCHINSON

bill.hutchinson@heraldtribune.com
The orange blossom season has been done for almost a month now, so Gary Ranker has just about finished moving his 30 million honeybees from the citrus groves where they spent the winter to the vine-crop fields -- melons, cucumbers, squash -- where they will do their pollination thing until early fall.

Ranker is the last big beekeeper left in Manatee County , and a beekeeper's life, as he tells it, is all about "chasing the blooms."

As soon as crop plants start to flower, farmers hire his bees by the truckload to do what bees do, carry male pollen to the female blossom, thus turning the blossom into a zucchini, or an ear of corn, or a melon.

Tomato plants spread their pollen on the wind, but most everything else that Florida grows needs the help of bees, a fact of nature people seem to have lost sight of, says Ranker, now that "they think food gets made at the supermarket."

"No bees, no crops," he shrugs. That much is still true.

Ranker moves his bees on a flatbed truck that is the only new vehicle he has owned in his 61 years, and he does it by night.

Bees don't sleep, but darkness quiets the hives down. Even so, there is always some activity during transport. It's better if the roads aren't crowded because people do not react well to the sight of swarming bees.

On a night when he is moving bees, Ranker will typically be stung 100 times.

After countless thousands of stings over the 48 years he has been keeping bees, his body has adjusted so that the stings no longer swell, but every one still hurts.

"I liken it to the person who has to take insulin for their diabetes," says Ranker, a Maryland native who has been here long enough for his accent to have picked up a light dusting of interior Florida 's slow drawl.

"Does it hurt when that needle sticks ya' -- well, yeah. But you need to do what it takes it to get the job done."

The bachelor life

"This is the bee house," says Ranker of his '70s split-level on the 10-acre Palmetto farm where he lives and works.

Stacks of bee magazines spill out from under a coffee table appointed with bee coasters. There is a large bee pillow on the sofa, and plastic bees of varying sizes serve as paperweights for bee articles he has clipped.

His pets all have names that begin with B, including a cockatiel called Benjy and a cat named Barker because Ranker really wanted a dog.

He's been married twice, neither time for very long, five years the first time and three years the next. Some artifacts of the second marriage remain in his living room -- salmon-colored walls, the occasional crocheted doily -- but the house feels like a bachelor lives there, which is how he likes it.

It is a solitary life, beekeeping. Ranker works alone for most of the year, except when he hires on a couple of helpers during the honey harvests that follow each growing season.

His honey gets shipped off in barrels to the SueBee folks in Iowa, who blend it with honeys from thousands of independent bee farmers around the country -- "bee men," he calls them, even if they're women, which they rarely are.

"I always wanted to be a bee man," Ranker says, meaning since he discovered bees in the fifth grade.

A year after that, he bought his first hive. By 15 he owned a dozen hives -- maybe half a million bees -- and was selling his honey to a wholesaler.

Ranker worked five years after high school at a tire factory to save up enough money to finance his business degree from the University of Maryland . After graduation, he stopped being a "sideliner," as bee men call the hobbyists among them, and went into the business full time.

He will do a bee removal once in a while, but Ranker's income is about evenly split between pollination and its by-products, honey and beeswax.

Like the farmers who are his customers, Ranker is feeling the increasing threat of cheap foreign competition.

Other countries are not allowed to export their bees to the United States , but they sell their honey and beeswax here, especially China , where bee cultivation has become a significant industry.

"I'm basically working for Chinese wages, as far as the honey is concerned," Ranker says.

As far as pollination is concerned, beekeepers in 25 states, including Florida , have been hit hard by what's called "Colony Collapse Disorder," which causes whole hives to empty out overnight.

"There are no dead bodies," says Ranker, no evidence that the insects have died in the hive. "They're just gone."

He's down 250 hives this year, a quarter of his optimal bee population, and he knows of other beekeepers who have been wiped out.

"They haven't found anything that can be done about it because they haven't found out what causes it," says Ranker, who subscribes to the theory that there's some sort of chemical involved, some sort of additive to commercial seeds, producing blossoms that causes bees to "fly off and die somewhere."

Now, bee colonies are starting to collapse mysteriously in western Europe.

In Great Britain , they're talking about cell phone radiation as a possible culprit.

"It's a funny world," says Gary Ranker. "And that's a fact."

More hard work ahead

Ranker lost 70 percent of his bees over the long and windy summer of Hurricane Charley.

One of his two grown sons came down to help him rebuild, which required hundreds of new queen bees at $12 to $15 apiece. ("I remember," he says, "when you could get a queen for 75 cents.")

If another disaster were to hit Ranker Apiary, he's not sure he'd have the money or the energy to start up again.

He hopes to get another 10 years out of bee farming, but you never know.

California bee-farming has been cut in half over the last 20 years because development has eaten up so much land that once served as "bee pasture" -- farms, orchards, wildflower fields.

Ranker's scruffy 10 acres, dotted with stands of palmetto ("about the best honey there is") and mounds of rusted metal salvage, is being blocked in by planned communities of "400 homes here, 600 homes there."

"Sooner or later, they're going to pave over the shell road out here at the end of my driveway, and that'll be the end of (the rural) way of life out here."

He's been broken into a couple times, both his home and the "honey house" at the edge of his property, the working warehouse where he does his extracting and his processing.

"You couldn't imagine something like that happening 10 years ago. Now, I lock up my truck when it's sitting out in the yard."

But a farmer's life allows little time for nostalgia.

Ranker has a pole barn to finish putting up, to protect the bees while he's working them during the summer, treating them for the pests and mites to which Florida honeybees are especially vulnerable.

Before the next honey harvest, his extractors and the processing tanks will need a good cleaning.

He's got new queens coming in and colonies to build, replacing those that have disappeared.

And there's a grower up the way who's desperate for bees, his usual supplier having gone out of business and his 600 acres of cantaloupe plants already flowering on the ground.

Ranker's bees were all working elsewhere, but he was able to deploy some of the troops to save the melons.

"No bees, no crops," he says again.

"You always want to help a guy out if you can."

Some Conventional Growers Can't Make the Change to Organic

By Kevin Bouffard
The Ledger

LAKELAND
For Garvie Hall, the hardest thing about converting from traditional to organic farming was watching the weeds grow between the once perfectly manicured rows of citrus trees.

Learning to love, or at least tolerate, weeds wasn't the only adjustment Hall, 74, had to make after a lifetime of growing sugar in his native Hawaii and then citrus in Florida.

Hall was a leader in the citrus industry's fight against the Diaprepes root weevil, which involved experimenting with many different pesticides on his Central Florida groves, including the Bartow grove he now manages. Hall said he feared a weevil explosion when the grove went organic.

But he found using natural pesticides, such as oils, sulfur and copper compounds, and relying on natural predators have kept pests at bay effectively, he said. In the case of Diaprepes, Hall discovered that eliminating pesticides increased the population of underground nematodes, a predator of the weevil that lives underground during its larva stage.

Uncle Matt's Organic Inc. of Clermont has about 1,000 acres of citrus grove that have been certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or somewhere in the three-year process of certification. Benny McLean, 64, an owner and production manager of his family's company, hired Hall to manage the company's 200-acre organic grove in Bartow.

"Not everybody can be an organic grower.'' McLean said. ''Some people literally can't stand to see the weeds."

Another difficulty in converting from traditional agriculture is the restrictions on chemical usage, Hall and McLean said. It's a misconception, however, that organic farming prohibits all chemical substances.

The USDA organic regulations certainly prohibit the use of most fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other synthetic chemicals commonly used in modern agriculture.

But oils and other substances mined from the ground and applied without processing are compatible with organic agriculture, McLean said.

Still, growing organic requires a major shift away from the chemical-based farming that came to dominate U.S. agriculture in the second half of the 20th century. McLean and other organic growers acknowledged farmers embraced synthetic chemicals for one simple reason - they performed more effectively.

Like Hall and McLean, most farmers convert to organic after growing alarmed with the environmental damage they've observed from the ever increasing use of chemicals.

Kenneth Der, 53, an organic blueberry grower in Plant City, had his farm literally burned by chemicals.

Der was one of the thousands of farmers who sued DuPont over the damage caused by its fungicide, Benlate. He blames the chemical for destroying about 10 acres of blueberries, ornamental plants and palm trees in the early 1990s and putting him out of business.

DuPont denied Benlate was responsible for the widespread crop damage, and it won some of the cases brought against it. Still, it had paid out more than $1 billion in claims and legal fees by 2001. Der declined to discuss his settlement.
Organic herbicides are so ineffective in a grove that it's better to pull the weeds under the trees by hand and mow down the others growing in the rows between trees, Hall said.

"There's more labor required to keep things at a level playing field," said Hall, who estimated labor costs in an organic grove are two to three times higher.

In theory, organic growers recoup those extra costs, and perhaps a bit more, through the price premium organic products get in the marketplace. The farm price for organic commodities ranges from 30 percent to 100 percent higher.

But organic farmers can't get those premiums until their products earn the USDA organic label, which requires a three-year transition period to purge synthetics from the soil.

"For those three years, you face increased cost of production," Swisher said "Sometimes during the transition, yields (production per acre) go down. And you still don't get that price premium."

The costly interim is the major reason traditional farmers give for their reluctance to convert to organic.

''You're saying to the grower, 'Learn new techniques, perhaps experience a reduction in yield, and when you finally get certified organic, you might get a higher price,' " Swisher said. "I think if I were a businessman, that would be a very hard decision to make."
Profit Is Problem For First Three Years of Change

By Kevin Bouffard
The Ledger
LAKELAND - Suppose someone offers you between 30 to 100 percent more for your product if you change your ways of business.

Do you change?

Is this a trick question?

It is if you're a farmer or rancher faced with the decision to go organic.

While it's true that organic producers get farm prices from 30 to 40 percent higher for fruits and vegetables to double the price for milk compared to conventional producers, that's not the only number that goes into the ledger book.

Whatever nasty things one might say about the harmful environmental and biological effects of current agricultural practices - heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides - modern farming embraced them for one basic reason: They increased yields.

"One quick trip with a sprayer would solve a lot of problems," said Oren Holle, a Kansas grain farmer and a pioneer in organic farming. "As (chemicals) came on, that made good economic sense."

Holle started converting to organic farming in the early 1980s, he said, and in 2005 he became one of the first to get official organic certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA did not set organic standards until 2002, and the initial certification takes at least three years.

Price is just one major factor in farm economics, however. The others are yield - how much produced per acre or per animal - and the cost of production. Increasing yields means not only producing more but operating more efficiently - lowering the cost of production per unit sold.

Raising prices and yields and lowering production costs mean higher farm income. So while higher prices would entice one to go organic, a smart farmer would also ask what organic farming means for yields and costs.

There's no controversy over the costs of organic farming. Even its staunchest advocates admit it costs more than chemical-based farming.

Organic farming requires more labor because many tasks, such as weeding, must be done by hand instead of that one pass over the field with a chemical herbicide, Holle said.

"If you're going to be an organic farmer, you're going to have to resign yourself to hand-weeding. It takes twice as much labor," he said. "It's clearly one of the things that keeps organic farms small."

Bartow native and second-generation citrus farmer Benny McLean, 64, said caretaking an organic grove requires more work from managers as well as farmhands.

Organic farming requires much more attention to nutrient levels in the soil, which means more testing, said McLean.

"We spend a lot of money on leaf analysis and soil analysis," he said.

Garvie Hall, McLean's production manager for a 200-acre organic grove in Bartow, said weed control takes two to three times the labor of a conventional grove.

USDA organic regulations allow for use of some "natural" herbicides and fertilizers, such as manure, as long as the substance comes directly from the ground, animal or other natural source without chemical processing, McLean said.

But he and Hall acknowledged they are not as effective as their chemical counterparts.

"You don't have the flexibility in organic. You're more limited in what you can do," Hall said.

McLean estimated organic practices raise grove caretaking costs at least 20 percent.

Given higher farm prices for organic products - a 30 percent premium for organic citrus, McLean said - organic farms can still earn higher profits than conventional operations if they can match conventional yields.

There's less consensus on whether organic practices inherently produce lower yields.

Holle acknowledged organic methods generally mean lower yields, but the difference is slight, he said.

"I don't buy into the notion yields increased so significantly when we got away from traditional (organic) methods," Holle said.

The biggest drops in yield come during the three-year transition from conventional to organic methods, McLean said.

"By the time we got to the third year, we were at conventional yields. At five years, we were above conventional yields," he said. "All these trees were on steroids. It takes three years to wean them off steroids. If money were no object, we can turn them around in one and a half years."

None of the above calculations account for the hidden costs of conventional farming in damage to the environment, Holle and McLean said. However, running a more environmentally friendly farm directly result in more cash to a farmer or rancher, at least not yet.

For many farmers, even the organic premium on farm prices is not always an enticement, Holle said.

Many skeptics question whether that premium will exist five and 10 years from now and beyond as more farms and ranches transition to organic.

Swings in farm prices are routine with every agricultural commodity, he said.

The current upward spike in Florida citrus prices is making it harder to entice more Florida growers on converting to organic, McLean said.

The 2006-07 Florida citrus season has seen near record farm prices, so the organic premium means less given the costs and effort needed to transition to organic, he said.

"The opportunity to make money as an organic grower is not as big as it was three years ago," McLean said.

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591.

Future Holds Many Challenges

By Kevin Bouffard
The Ledger

LAKELAND - If organic orange juice becomes the dominant product in the competitive OJ market, Matt McLean said he will sit back and smile - even if that means his larger competitors put Uncle Matt's Organic Inc. out of business.

"In my perfect world, organic becomes conventional. For the passionate organic guys, they'll say, 'We won!'<0x200A>" said McLean, 35, the chief executive of the Clermont-based family company, which makes and markets Uncle Matt's Organic Orange Juice, its largest product, and fresh organic citrus.

McLean, who counts himself among those passionate organic guys, expects to remain standing in that perfect world. For now, he's a pioneer.

Uncle Matt's owns about 1,000 acres of orange grove in Florida , all of them either certified USDA organic or in the three-year certification process, he said. That includes a 200-acre grove south of Bartow.

If the organic revolution transforms Polk County agriculture, it will likely be in the guise of an organic OJ carafe.

Polk has long held the position of Florida 's leading citrus producer, including the top orange grower, and 95 percent of the state's oranges go to juice. In the 2005-06 season, Polk led the state with 32.5 million boxes of citrus, including almost 27.7 million boxes of oranges.

A fourth-generation citrus grower, McLean by the mid-1990s grew concerned about the environmental damage from conventional farming and the resulting chemical residues in the fruit and juice, he said.

He didn't need to convince his late grandfather, W.B. "Ben" McLean Sr., a former head of the Citrus and Environmental Horticulture Department at Florida Southern College.

"He said we'd become too dependent on pesticides (and other synthetic chemicals) as an industry. He'd been preaching that for 10 years," McLean said. "For my granddad and great-granddad, it was going back to the way they used to farm."

Because none of Florida's citrus processors were interested in producing an organic orange juice at the time, McLean had to create his own company, he said. That meant starting at zero and handling everything from growing the fruit, squeezing it, creating the packaging and marketing the product.

The first run of Uncle Matt's Organic OJ - 600 cases - rolled off the line in June 1999. Sales have grown on average 20 percent each year, said McLean, who declined to disclose current sales figures.

"We easily do more than 10 times that," he said.

Uncle Matt's already has a competitor in the organic juice market.

Blue Lake Citrus Products Inc. in Winter Haven began its Noble Juice organic line in 2004 with an OJ product. It subsequently added an organic orange-tangerine blend and last year added organic lemonades.

"We saw the existing (non-organic) brands out there, and they weren't growing," said Wade Groetsch, president of Blue Lake, referring to a declining U.S. sales of orange juice since 2001. "We thought it was the right time to get into (organic OJ) because people were interested in it."

In the supermarket, organic orange juices sell for $1.50 more per carton, about 58 to 60 ounces, Groetsch and McLean said. That price difference allows organic processors to pay growers about 30 percent more for their oranges.

That creates a major challenge in today's market, where OJ prices have spiked 20 percent compared to a year ago in response to declining Florida orange crops following the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes. Orange growers need some premium on their fruit because organic production costs are higher than conventional methods.

"The challenge in the organic market is to keep that price differential but not get so high that we lose customers," Groetsch said.

Despite that challenge, both McLean and Groetsch were bullish about the future. Organic foods are growing among all consumer segments from students and young families to the baby boomers, they said.

"If I have a baby and have a choice about what to feed that baby - what I'll feel better about - is it organic or regular food? If I have a choice between organic and non-organic, I choose organic," Groetsch said. "We really think it's the wave of the future."

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591.

Buying into the organic food chain

A fresh produce co-op springs forth from a small herb farm in Wesley Chapel.

By ERIN SULLIVAN
Published April 23, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL

People kept asking Rose Kalajian where they could get fresh, organic produce in the area - something she claims is somewhat hard to come by in these parts. So, Kalajian, an herbalist who owns a 7-acre herb farm and health clinic called the Natural Health Hut in Wesley Chapel, decided to start her own produce club.

"We're bringing a community of people together," said Kalajian, who treats people and animals with her homegrown and handmade herbal tinctures, teas and other products. She also gives workshops on raw food, making herbal medicines, cosmetics, cat and dog health care, and other subjects.

The organic produce club started last month. Its 17 members pick what they want from a list more than a few dozen items long - from the standards like Yukon Gold potatoes, garlic and celery to the things not so mainstream, like Swiss chard, Medjool dates and Lacinato kale. Kalajian puts in the order from Global Organics, a certified organic produce distributor in Sarasota .

The delivery truck comes to her house - which is on the farm - on Thursdays and members pick up their goods on Fridays.

Keri Upchurch, a 21-year-old club member from Wesley Chapel, said she eats organic to clean out all the junk food she has eaten.

"I want to help myself be healthy."

Organic food - which has many definitions, but is basically food grown on land free of chemicals - has gone from a hippy-dippy, tie-dye, patchouli-scented image to glossy mainstream in recent years as consumers are becoming more aware of nutrition. They want to know where their food comes from and what happened to it before it got there.

Enthusiasts swear that organic food makes them healthier. But, the United States Department of Agriculture will not say whether organic food is safer or more nutritious, only that it is different from conventional food in the way it is grown, handled and processed.

Regardless, the trend is booming.

Organic retail has grown 17 to 20 percent each year since 1997, according to Packaged Facts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com. In 2004, the U.S. organic market was worth more than $15.4-billion and represented 3 percent of food sales. It is estimated that organic food and beverages will reach $32.3-billion by 2009.

In the Tampa Bay area, most grocery stores now carry an organic produce section and hormone-free meats. There are locally owned and chain natural food stores, markets and farms, such as Sweetwater Organic Community Farm in Tampa , where you can buy directly - as a nonmember on Sundays or as a member for a yearly fee - from the people who farm the land.

In 2005, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that all 50 states had certified organic farmland - a first for this country. California tops the list with the most certified organic cropland - more than 220,000 acres. Florida has nearly 8,500 acres.

Kay Rice, a 72-year-old produce club member who lives in San Antonio , said that when she was growing up, her family got their vegetables from their back garden. They would get meat, eggs, raw milk, butter and cheese from farmers in town.

"Everything was organic back then," Rice said. "We just didn't know it."

Membership in Kalajian's club is $25 a year, plus a few hours of volunteer work each month (such as operating the register during pickup time).

Orders now are placed every two weeks. But as the club grows, Kalajian plans to expand it to every week. Produce is local when available.

Member Melissa Faust likes it because with most co-ops, all members get the same thing; but with this, you never get what you don't want. Plus, she loves any excuse to come out to the farm.

"It's a little piece of paradise in the city," Faust said.

Erin Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4609.

Will city shut off power to signs?

JEFF ADELSON

Sun staff writer

For months, Gainesville residents, business owners and organizations have debated whether electronic signs are an aesthetic abomination or an integral part of small business marketing.

That discussion will come to a head tonight as Gainesville city commissioners are given the option to set in motion a process that could place restrictions on the type and size of signs used or potentially ban them outright.

The signs, which use technologies such as LED bulbs or video screens to display advertising images, are seen by city officials as presenting unique issues that are not addressed by the city's existing sign ordinances. Electronic signs project light toward viewers, can be animated or changed and are seen as less attractive than other types of signs by some officials and residents.

But business owners say the signs are the most cost-effective way for locally-based shops and banks to spread their messages, provide an easy way to advertise specials and can contribute to the community by displaying information about non-profits, events or the weather and time.

"There's probably going to be quite a few people there and a lot of discussion," Gainesville Planning Manager Ralph Hilliard said

At least three options are available to the City Commission.

The City Plan Board last month recommended the commission completely ban electronic signs and establish an "amortization period" in which businesses would be considered to have recovered the cost of the signs before being required to take them down.

"Our general feeling is that they probably should be prohibited just because of the impact it has on a community," said Hilliard, who also said city staff will support the Plan Board's recommendation.

He noted the sign's visual impact as well as its potential to be distracting. No one involved in the debate has provided studies that show the signs can have a negative impact on the safety of motorists, but many residents have complained to the city that they can draw attention away from the road.

Business owners and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce initially fought any regulation, but after negotiating with city planning officials, developed a compromise that would allow signs of a limited size - chamber and city officials could not agree on an exact size - and impose other aesthetic restrictions.

Chamber of Commerce President Brent Christensen said the Plan Board's recommendation was "draconian" and disrespected the work that had been done to reach a compromise.

"It's unfortunate that the Plan Board felt the need to thumb their nose at such a compromise after an awful lot of people spent an awful lot of time crafting it," Christensen said.

City commissioners could also decide to take no action and issue no new restrictions on the signs.

"I think we walk a fine line here, and as elected officials we should be very careful," said Commissioner Ed Braddy, who said he plans to vote against any new restrictions. "It doesn't necessarily follow that more regulations lead to a better city."

While tonight's decision is only the first in a series of votes city commissioners must take before any proposal becomes law, the direction the commission gives to the city attorney at this point in the process is typically a good indicator of where it will end.

Whatever decision is made, it would only effect signs within the city limits. While signs in unincorporated Alachua County will not be directly affected by the City Commission's decision, county commissioners have suggested they would be willing to follow the city's lead on electronic signs to standardize the rules across the county.

In addition, the electronic signs that adorn entrances to the University of Florida would not be subject to any policy passed by the City Commission because they are on state property and not subject to the city's land development regulations.

Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said Friday that she had not yet had a chance to review materials put together by various organizations on the issue.

But Hanrahan said she believed the Plan Board's recommendation was "a little bit of a tougher stance than we've taken on most other issues."

Hanrahan said she would likely support some sort of regulation on electronic signs and suggested it might be a time to revisit all of the city's sign regulations.

"This may be a good opportunity, since we have everyone's attention, to discuss the sign ordinance overall," Hanrahan said.

Warming Now on Front Burner

By Anna Scott
New York Times Regional Media Group
GAINESVILLE - With "STOP GLOBAL WARMING" bracelets dangling from his wrist, Gov. Charlie Crist took his seat between the two women who would soon embrace him in a hug before a row of television cameras: rock star and environmental activist Sheryl Crow and Laurie David, producer of the Al Gore documentary on global warming.

This seat might rank near the bottom on the comfort scale for a Republican governor of Florida - even one who is a fan of Crow's hit song "Soak up the Sun."

Crist, however, feels at home.

"It's not a Democrat or Republican issue," he told a news conference at the University of Florida for the "Stop Global Warming" college tour. "It's a right or wrong issue and this is what's right to do."

Crist is the first governor in the South and one of a handful of Republicans nationally to so publicly get behind the issue of global warming - an issue the Republican presidential administration denied existed until recently, and to which Crist's predecessor, Jeb Bush, paid little attention.

In doing so, analysts say, Crist is taking his moderate politics to the national stage and opening the door to environmental issues marginalized under the state's previous administration.

Crist mentioned global warming occasionally on the campaign trail but made a splash when he called it "one of the most important issues that we will face in this century" in his state-of-the-state speech in March, and then joined in calling for conferences on the issue.

Going against the traditionally Republican grain has become characteristic for Crist, who returned voting rights to felons and supports stem cell research.

But his attention to global warming achieved a new level of publicity last week when he appeared at the University of Florida rally and reaffirmed his plans to host an "Environmental Summit" this summer.

Scientists and activists from around the world will be invited to plan future legislation in Florida relating to greenhouse gases, alternative fuel sources and emissions standards, Crist said.

The invitation list is expected to include California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, along with Sen. John McCain, are two big-name Republicans in the movement to address global warming.

Crist credits both men, and the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," with helping shape his concerns about global climate change.

Bush joked about not seeing the movie and pointed out that "X-Men: The Last Stand" grossed more sales.

"Sen. McCain in a private meeting mentioned it was important for me to pay attention to this issue even more and I took his heed on it," Crist said.

Crist rented Gore's movie, which shows melting icecaps submerging the state of Florida , and watched it after the election.

"You just kind of look and observe and listen and pay attention and you can see that there's climate change. I think if you're aware and willing to listen to science you come to that conclusion pretty quickly."

Crow, who owns a home in Okaloosa County , said it felt "fantastic" to perform with a Republican.

"It's awesome," Crow laughed. "We're just following him around worshipping him."

NOT A NEWCOMER TO GREEN ISSUES

Crist's passion for protecting the environment is personal and dates to 1971, when he was president of the student council at Riviera Middle School in St. Petersburg . He said he led his class to donate $100 to the city council to start the city's first recycling program.

As a state senator he was an avid proponent for the state's net ban, something he felt strongly about because as a boy he remembered fishing with his father and, as he grew older, noticed there were fewer fish.

Crist hopes to lead the state to conserve energy by example. Earlier this month he volunteered the governor's mansion undergo an energy audit and decided to outfit the 50-year-old Greek Revival with high-efficiency florescent light bulbs and solar panels, including a set to heat his pool. The up-front cost is expected to be recouped in five to seven years.

His car is an ethanol-fueled Chevy Tahoe, which his aides dutifully drive past regular gas stations to Tallahassee 's single ethanol station.

Environmentalists feel they've found a friend in Crist. But they're cautious.

"The early signs are very good but the rubber is going to meet the road very quickly here," said Stephan Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We need very specific state level policies."

When pressed by environmental groups, Crist stopped short of pledging against new coal plants, saying instead he would rather explore other forms of energy such as solar and wind. Coal produces carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping contributor to global warming.

Because scientists say global warming results in extreme weather, such as hurricanes and droughts, and sea-level rises, Florida is considered particularly prone to the negative effects because it is surrounded by water. But, like other southern states, Florida does not cap carbon emissions the way some western and New England states do. California became the first state last year to put a cap on emissions.

Crist proposed $68 million in funding to reduce global warming, just a fraction of the state's $71 billion budget.

Yet, as he demonstrated at last week's rally in Gainesville , Crist is reaching out to environmentalists.

Before the show started, the governor chatted backstage with David and invited her to the mansion the next time she comes to Florida . She recommended that he read this month's Vanity Fair magazine.

"The second annual Green issue," Crist interrupted. "I know it."

"The more awareness you create, the easier it gets," he said later. "People see what's happening with Gov. Schwarzenegger. Hopefully they'll see what we're doing in Florida . We've flipped the switch."

CRIST COULD ALIENATE SOME REPUBLICANS

"It certainly positions him well in the mainstream of American politics but it could hurt him in the short run," said Lance DeHaven Smith, a political scientist at Florida State University . "We have a very conservative right wing of the Republican Party in Florida and, up until now, that's really dominated policies."

Others disagree. J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, a longtime Republican adviser for Bush and Crist, and, at one time, Katherine Harris, said Crist's position on global warming will resonate with an important group. But it isn't the sort of thing that will decide votes.

"Global warming is an inside the beltway, professional politicians, press kind of issue," Stipanovich said. "In that relatively small constituency in the state and in the country who are the opinion leaders, he's probably make a pretty favorable impression. He's demonstrating that he's not a knee-jerk conservative of the old school."

In the Keys, paradise is at a premium

DOUGLAS HANKS

As the good life gets better in the Florida Keys, business has gotten worse for Captain George Wohlers.

Tourists pay $40 to fish off the side of the Marathon Lady, a 73-foot party boat where the squid bait is free but cleaning your catch costs 33 cents a fish. Bookings are down a third this year, a slide Wohlers blames on developers buying up nearby motels and campsites for luxury resorts.

''There aren't as many places'' to stay, Wohlers said while taking a butterfly knife to a pile of grunts dockside. ``And the places to stay -- they're so expensive.''

The Florida Keys are going more upscale than ever before, prompting a shakeout of the tourism industry there. With nearly 40 vacation spots set for major renovations or demolition, motel rooms are harder to come by: down 12 percent since 2001, according to state figures.

Many of those rooms will come back online later in the decade -- complete with plush sheets, flat-screen televisions and five-star rates. The average price of a room is already up 30 percent from 2003 to $182 a night as more upscale properties open and budget motels find they can boost prices amid the thinned-out supply.

Lodging analysts see the changes as overdue: With 125 miles of islands strung between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, the Keys could be on par with posh locales from Martha's Vineyard to Martinique, they say.

''The Keys is unique geography,'' said Gregory Rumpel, a hotel broker at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. ``It's connected to the U.S., but it's got a Caribbean feel to it.''

Right now, Rumpel added, 'when I have guests who I want to take the Keys, I tell them, `We're going to drive through strip-mall hell for two hours.' ''

But the trend has the margarita set nervous. Some are wondering if the Keys can retain its island charms after the upgrade.

'' Key West is more of a honky-tonk,'' said Mark Rossi, a city commissioner and owner of the Rick's complex of bars on the famous Duval Street . ``They're trying to portray it as art galleries.''

Dozens of hotels, motels and trailer parks are on the redevelopment track. A survey by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council lists 38 vacation spots throughout the Keys recently upgraded or set for one. Most are conversions to luxury condo-hotel properties -- resorts where owners can rent their units to tourists.

Key West's Hampton Inn, once home to 157 rooms and a free breakfast bar, has been knocked down to make way for the Parrot Key Resort -- a lush outpost with 74 three-bedroom townhomes, gourmet kitchens and concierge service.

The Gilbert's motel and marina in Key Largo offers dockside showers and a small pool near its 38 rooms; the Karina Bay condominium resort replacing it puts a spa and pool in each of its 19 townhomes. Prices start at $2 million.

And while tourists can still pull their RVs into the Fiesta Key KOA campground in Long Key, they should cherish their memories at the waterfront site. KeysCaribbean, a company with five luxury resorts under construction or planned in island chain, owns the gulfside property and plans 200 vacation homes there.

SOME BARGAINS REMAIN

''We had the best thing going,'' said Ginny Vakalis, a teacher from Wells, Maine , who was a frequent Fiesta Key camper.

She and her sister, KellyJo Williamson, and their husbands switched to the Lime Tree Bay motel this year, and they said the $164 rate there seemed reasonable enough for the gulf views, elevated pool and clean rooms.

''I like the place,'' Williamson, a hairdresser and bookkeeper in Roseburg, Ore., said while sunning herself by the pool. ``It's nice.''

But they should probably take lots of pictures. Part of the motel's office has been converted to a sales center for the Lime Tree Bay condominium resort, with 42 residences priced from $800,000 and up.

The conversion trend has tourism leaders worried. The TDC study said roughly 2,400 transient units -- defined as both rooms and trailer bays in campgrounds -- are being converted to condominiums. That's about 25 percent of the Keys vacation inventory.

And while 70 percent of the new projects will offer lodging to tourists through the condo-hotel model, the resorts themselves will house fewer people.

Since zoning laws typically bar expanding the properties, developers are forced to build fewer units to provide the spacious villas and townhomes wealthy vacationers want. The 2,435 transient units in the old properties are slated to become as few as 1,825 units after the redevelopment -- a 25 percent drop.

In Key Largo , 75 percent of the campgrounds and RV parks are being turned into condominium properties, the TDC report said, a dramatic shift for a locale popular with vacationers who don't mind roughing it by the sea.

''Nature-based tourism has been a profitable market for the Keys,'' the TDC report said. ``Campground and RV unit accommodations especially appeal to this visitor segment.''

OPTIONS FOR THE RICH

But the purge of budget accommodations also will mean an unprecedented choice of top-notch lodging throughout the island chain -- meaning more options for affluent South Floridians shopping for second homes or luxury vacation spots. Craig Hunt, CEO of KeysCaribbean, said his company has talked to Ritz-Carlton and other luxury brands about running one of its resorts. Though no five-star chains have opened in the Keys, Hunt says it's only a matter of time as the brands seek more outposts in the tropical market.

''If you look at what's happening in the Caribbean , you're having a lot of the high-end brands going in,'' he said. ``And they weren't there before.''

The trend will also bolster the Keys marketing strategy to target vacationers with household incomes topping $100,000.

WINNING LOCATION

Sean Epps and Sharon Walker considered several high-end destinations -- St. John , Turks and Caicos, Kiawah Island in South Carolina -- before settling on Islamorada for their family vacation spot.

The couple from Darien, Conn., paid about $900 a night for a two-bedroom suite at the Cheeca Lodge, which was recently upgraded amid a condo-hotel conversion that funded extensive renovations.

''It's like being in the Caribbean, but it's convenient,'' said Epps, who works for a New York investment firm. He and his wife took a direct flight into Miami with their three school-age children and then drove to Islamorada.

After a morning trip on a charter boat from the resort, the family -- including Elizabeth , 11; Spencer, 8, and Ian, 6 -- headed across the street for lunch at a tony beachside restaurant and some sand-castle construction.

''We've been really happy with it,'' Walker said. ``It's expensive, but I feel like there's value there.''

AIMING HIGH

With room revenues in the luxury hotel sector growing 58 percent faster than the mid-scale category during the past three years, according to Smith Travel Research, tourism destinations across the country are pursuing wealthy vacationers with new gusto.

Fort Lauderdale 's tourism promoters brag about chasing off spring breakers to make way for a new wave of hotels targeting the four- and five-star markets. With average room rates up 43 percent this year compared to 2001, Miami-Dade's promoters tout their marketing campaigns to high-spending tourists -- noting the year's 12 percent spike in room revenues, despite a 5 percent drop in occupancy.

FOCUS ON CALIBER

''The main objective is to improve the caliber of the visitor that comes to the destination,'' said Maria Sastre, a senior executive with Royal Caribbean cruise line and chairwoman of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. ``It's a traveler that's going to leave more money in our market.''

The Keys hotel market made a similar trajectory in recent years as higher room rates brought lower occupancy levels. Hotels there filled 66 percent of their rooms last year, compared to 70 percent in 2004, while the average room price grew 18 percent to $182 a night.

But while hotel taxes have been growing in Broward and Miami-Dade, the Keys saw revenues drop 2 percent in 2006 and grow just over 1 percent this year.

Although perception problems from Hurricane Wilma's assault on the Keys in late 2005 get some of the blame, tourism officials also cite the squeeze on room inventory.

Bill Scott says he's feeling the pinch. The one-time landscaper bought Marathon's 7 Mile Grill four years ago, but he put the diner up for sale earlier this month. That's partly because his partners dropped out of the venture, and his wife got sick.

But Scott, 62, said the vanishing trailer parks and budget motels have helped send business down a third this year.

''Knight's Key, that's gone,'' Scott said, pointing to the spot on a Keys map where an RV camp used to be. ``There was a Hampton over here. They turned into time shares.''

And even with luxury resorts coming, he wonders how much demand there will be for his roadside restaurant's fried grouper sandwiches and root beer floats.

REFINED TASTES

''When they go out, they go downstairs'' to the hotel restaurant, Scott said. ``They want the fine dining.''

That's fine with Stuart Kemp. He used to run the Wax nightclub in Key West but said he sold it five years ago as he watched the tourist demographics shifting.

Now he owns Nine One Five, a Duval Street bistro redone with Brazilian hardwood and featuring an eclectic menu of Asian short ribs, duck pté and steak frites au poivre.

''I have my own personal [feelings] about the gentrification of Key West , but on a business level, it helps me,'' said Kemp, who has lived on the island since 1988. ``We're into a Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket direction.''

Kemp calls that a welcome shift from Key West 's summer influx of Central Florida tourists ``with the NASCAR caps, etc.''

''I'm not saying I object to that,'' he said. ``But they would never come in my restaurant.''