Drawing A Line In The Sand
Published: Feb 25, 2007
LAND - O' LAKES - On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Kathleen Barksdale stood behind her Dupree Lakes home trying to photograph an alligator basking in the nearby pond.
She and her family were still moving into their new home on Sheer Bliss Loop, but they were already enjoying the wildlife inhabiting the large drainage pond behind their home. They were, however, a little perplexed by the hole dug near the top of the pond's bank.
What the Barksdales thought was an armadillo's work was more likely the home of a gopher tortoise, one of hundreds of burrowing turtles that lived on the former Dupree Gardens botanical park before Beazer Homes turned it into Dupree Lakes.
In developing the land, Beazer got the state's OK to bury the tortoises living on the 468-acre property off Ehren Cutoff, according to records from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burying tortoises in the course of development is a common practice builders refer to as "pay and pave."
No one at Beazer's Riverview office responded to repeated calls to comment for this story.
The notion that their homes sit atop hundreds of dead turtles shocked the Barksdales and their Dupree Lakes neighbors.
"If people [knew] this was the situation, they'd be upset," said Allen Haikins, who moved to Dupree Lakes two months ago from Pinellas County.
Pasco's recent population explosion has been borne on the backs of gopher tortoises, bread box-sized reptiles that prefer the same sandy soils as housing developers.
Since the state began keeping track in 1991, Pasco's developers and road builders have received 149 incidental-take permits allowing them to destroy more than 4,500 tortoises.
Two-thirds of those permits have been issued since 2002. The recipients are a who's who list of companies building homes, shopping centers and roads across the county.
Beazer, for example, paid state wildlife officials $435,600 in 2004 for permission to bury 351 tortoises at Dupree Lakes. It remains the largest take permit issued in Pasco County.
Pasco isn't unique. State wildlife officials have approved the burial or relocation of more than 87,000 gopher tortoises since 1991. Many of those permits have gone to counties along interstates 4 and 75.
But a pending change in state law could shift the balance of power in favor of the tortoises.
A Step Up In Protection
On Feb. 16, wildlife officials released new management rules for gopher tortoises that will force developers to move the animals rather than kill them. There will be exceptions for in extreme circumstances.
The new plan declares the gopher tortoise a threatened species in Florida, a step up from its current listing as a species of special concern.
"Simply burying them is not going to be acceptable," said Tom Connelly of New Port Richey. He makes a living relocating gopher tortoises from land under development.
The proposed changes are open for public comment through April 4. They will go into effect this summer.
Supporters want to protect gopher tortoises because their tunnels shelter dozens of other animals, from frogs to moths to snakes, which live nowhere else. Many of those creatures are similarly threatened or endangered because of vanishing habitat.
"There's a whole community that would be lost without the gopher tortoise." Connelly said.
The threatened status reflects biologists' assessment that developers are plowing under gopher tortoises faster than the slow-growing animals can reproduce. Tortoise numbers are falling fast, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's research institute in Gainesville.
Wildlife officials estimate that Florida has 750,000 gopher tortoises, based on how much habitat is left to support them, Hills said.
Although that sounds like a lot of animals, that's not the point, said Hill.
"It's not the number [of tortoises], it's the rate of decline," Hill said. "There's a lot of things that are against them. Habitat loss is just one of them."
Costly Solution
Developers say the new rules could quadruple their costs related to gopher tortoises and could make tortoise-laden properties such as the former Dupree Gardens simply undevelopable.
"The bottom line is that this process will be more cumbersome and much more costly than it is currently," said John Goolsby, the environmental planner for Tampa's Heidt & Associates, Inc., one of several engineering firms that work extensively in Pasco County.
Those costs will be passed directly on to future home buyers and retailers, Goolsby said in an e-mail.
The new rules try to offset the raft of new costs by giving developers financial breaks for moving gopher tortoises to protected areas capable of supporting them. The higher quality the new site, the lower the relocation fees, Hill said.
Moving tortoises now averages $8,000 per animal, about six times the cost of bulldozing them, Connelly said. Buying land or conservation easements on property to house relocated animals will add dramatically to the cost of business, developers said.
Under the rules, developers must give each relocated tortoise at least a half-acre to call its own. That's an expensive prospect for developers moving lots of tortoises in a county with rapidly rising land values.
It's hard enough already to find places to put relocated tortoises, Goolsby said.
"This new process will quickly outpace the recipient site availability," Goolsby said.
Up to now, developers have paid the state a fee to buy tortoise habitat as a way of offsetting the animals they destroy. But state lands now have all the tortoises they can handle, Connelly said.
"We're hoping developers will see this and will decide to set aside land to preserve tortoises shifted from their property," he said.
FWC GOPHER TORTOISE PLAN To read the state government's plans for managing Florida's shrinking gopher tortoise population, go to: myfwc.com/imperiledspecies/plans/draft_gopher_plan.pdf
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
Water Study Will Take A YearThe river's potential water yield for Polk and other counties in the Kissimmee River Basin will be determined by a study under way by the South Florida Water Management District. That study will determine how much water will be required to remain in the river to complete the massive restoration project there.
"The quantities will be evaluated based on the natural systems," Duke Clem, the county's water policy manager, told the Polk County Water Policy Committee on Friday.
"What's left will be evaluated for public supply," he said.
The results of that study will not be known for at least a year, he said.
Water from the Kissimmee River figured heavily among the alternatives listed last year in a report prepared by the Heartland Water Alliance, an effort by Polk and three other inland counties to examine their future water needs and possible sources to satisfy those needs.
The study concluded Polk County would need an additional 74 million gallons a day by 2025.
Jeff Spence, Polk's director of natural resources, said the search for water is important for inland counties, which don't have access to desalination.
"We think there's 35 million gallons a day available, but we may be competing with other counties for it," he said.
Spence said the other alternative is the Peace River, but it has little potential because flow in the upper reaches is too low and other utilities have claimed water downstream and are planning to ask for more.
He said Polk County officials are talking with their counterparts in Orange and Osceola counties about allocating available water from the river.
He said they also plan to try to work together to jointly fund projects to get the water from the river to the utility systems that want it.
Local officials estimate the cost of the project, which could involve everything from reservoirs and deep wells to pipelines, could cost $500 million.
Spence said the South Florida Water Management District will not fund Polk's project because the water will be piped outside the district boundaries.
However, officials at the Southwest Florida Water Management District have said they are willing to help finance the project, he said.
Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com.
The grants, which are up to $5,000 each, will help fund projects that provide communities the opportunity to learn about water resources.
This year, Swiftmud gave 49 grants that totaled $171,444. This is the 10th year these grants have been available.
The goal of the grant program is to actively engage adults in water-related issues pertaining to conservation, protection and preservation, Swiftmud officials said. The grants are funded by Swiftmud's Basin Boards, and the program is intended to motivate communities to get involved in water protection through various activities and educational formats.
The following three projects are funded by the Peace River Basin Board, which includes portions of Charlotte, Hardee, DeSoto, Highlands and Polk counties.
The city of Winter Haven will receive $4,000 for the "Be a Better Boater Chain of Lakes City" campaign, which will provide recreational users with information about the area lakes and what they can do to help keep them clean, Swiftmud officials said. The information packet will contain maps of the lakes and canal systems and will list nearby amenities. It will also contain an educational section encouraging responsible boating. Signs will be posted at four popular boat launches to remind boaters of things they can do to protect water resources. The project will reach 15,000 people.
Keep Winter Haven Clean & Beautiful will receive $4,897 for a pet waste station and bag replacement project, Swiftmud officials said. Pet waste stations and disposal bags will be placed in six parks throughout the city. These parks are adjacent to lakes, ponds or ditches. The stations will educate pet owners on the importance of picking up after their pets in an effort to reduce contamination from pet waste entering area lakes through stormwater runoff. This project will reach 10,000 people.
Haines City will receive $2,000 for the "Water and Me" workshop, Swiftmud officials said. This project will show Haines City-area residents that failing to conserve water affects everyone, including local plants and animals. Through classes at retirement communities and appearing at the local Heritage Day event, participants will learn about low-flow irrigation and other Florida-friendly landscaping techniques. Grant funds will be used to purchase faucet aerators, shower timers, drip counters, hot water gauges and water hose nozzles for participants. Approximately 2,000 people will be reached through this project.
Where Should Farm Animals Live?
By GARY PINNELLgpinnell@highlandstoday.com
SEBRING — To James Wood, this should be a no-brainer.
To the Avon Park pig farmer – who’s also a Sebring real estate broker – farm animals should live on land zoned for agriculture. Domestic animals, like cats and dogs, should be the only animals allowed to live in the city. But, of course, the real answer isn’t that easy.
David and Linda Wack live on Schlosser Road, south of Sparta Road, outside Sebring’s city limits. The 10-acre lot is zoned agricultural, so they keep a pig and a cow there.
Next door, Tim Bohan’s daughters ride their horses behind their grandparent’s house. A year ago, the Wacks’ pig squealed and spooked Bohan’s horse. It reared its head and broke the nose of Bohan’s daughter, Laura, 18.
Bohan – whose wife has been a 4-H leader for eight years - complained the pig pen is too close to his in-law’s house. The matter wound up before the county planning and zoning board, and eventually before the county commission in December.
The commissioners agreed with the Wacks and amended the county ordinance regulating farm animals, to allow hogs, sheep, goats, poultry and other animals raised for 4-H and FFA. Normally, farm animals can’t be kept within 500 feet of a residence, or 200 feet of a property line. Paragraph 2A exempts show animals within 100 feet of a dwelling, or 50 feet from a property line.
Wood presented a third side to the argument: that everyone, not just 4-H and FFA kids, ought to have the right to raise farm animals on farm land.
Bohan, a Delta Airlines pilot who flies the Bombay trip – missed the December meeting when the law was changed, and claimed he wasn’t properly notified. Now, he’s taking his argument back to the commissioners.
Bohan’s proposed amendment would allow two animals for five months a year within 300 feet of a neighbor’s residence, and within 100 feet of a property line.
Jim Polatty, the county’s development services director, said Bohan’s request is scheduled to appear before the planning and zoning board on March 13, and on the county commissioner’s agenda on March 27.
He hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll officially endorse Bohan’s request.
“But by and large, we’ve allowed pigs too close to the house,” Polatty said. “That’s always bothered me.”
Polatty likes the recommendation of Louisiana State University, which Bohan brought to his attention: “The ideal pen is far enough from your house so you don’t smell odor, but close enough to be convenient. About 300 feet away is ideal. Be considerate of neighbors when deciding on the pen location, and keep it as far as possible from their houses.”
As for the Wacks, they agree with Wood. “As long as you have ag property, you ought to be able to keep animals on it,” said Linda Wack. Their barnyard does, of course, have a country smell, but she pointed out that Daisy the pig has no odor, nor does the 15-month-old Brangus heifer, Dixie.
Bohan disagrees: “It’s a constant noise and odor issue.”
Plans for towers take a tumble
Downtown Orlando condo bust: 41 projects -- but 15 built or now rising
Jack SnyderSentinel Staff Writer
February 25, 2007
Last year, even as storm clouds gathered over the local and national housing markets, developers marched into Orlando City Hall with plans to add more than 1,600 condominium units to a downtown already brimming with thousands of condos, real or imagined.
As a result, the city center has now attracted more than 40 high-rise and midrise condo projects going back eight years. Yet nearly two-thirds of the towers still exist on paper only.
An Orlando Sentinel survey of the downtown core six months ago found that only 12 of 30 announced projects were finished or under construction. Since then, the number of announced projects has jumped to 41 -- but the number of towers completed or rising out of the ground has crept up to only 15.
"Sometimes it's hard to stop a locomotive once it's left the station," said Jack McCabe, a real-estate consultant in Deerfield Beach who follows markets statewide.
The developer of Eola Place, a 510-unit condominium in the southeast area of downtown, said last month that it was putting the two-tower project on hold after having spent thousands of dollars trying to generate sales for a 196-unit first phase.
Instead, JLJ Properties Inc. of Lake Mary has listed the project's 2.5-acre site with Grubb & Ellis/Commercial Florida in hopes of selling it or attracting a partner for a redesigned, smaller complex.
John Bahng, JLJ's president, said the project's sales center on East Central Boulevard has been shut down. Of the sagging market, he said simply: "It is what it is."
Mike Beale, senior vice president of Florida operations for Highwoods Properties Inc., has also stopped working on the residential portion of his company's Capital Plaza III mixed-use development.
"The condo tower is on hold until we see what happens with the market," Beale said of the 125-unit building. Highwoods is still hoping to start construction this year on the project's office building and hotel.
Market crested in 2005
Housing markets across Florida and the U.S. generally peaked during the second half of 2005. Prices appreciated like rockets soaring from Cape Canaveral, as increasing numbers of investors bought single-family homes, town homes and condos, hoping to quickly "flip" the purchase contracts for sizable profits.
But the party is now long over. Speculators have fled the market, and even though mortgage-interest rates have remained relatively low, other buyers have pulled back in large numbers as well.
McCabe, president of McCabe Research & Consulting LLC, sees the potential for a monumental disaster in South Florida -- a crash so dire, he said, it could take a decade for that overbuilt condo market to recover. He also thinks that region of the state could see criminal prosecutions tied to appraisal and lending fraud, common side effects of an overheated market.
He doesn't see any of that happening in the Orlando area, at least not on the kind of scale possible in much larger, coastal markets such as Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
"Orlando has weathered the correction cycle best of all the Florida cities so far," McCabe said.
But that merely means those Orlando condo towers built or begun during the boom are managing to fill up. More than a score of other projects haven't been able to sell enough units to justify construction financing. And so they wait.
Steve Patterson is president and chief executive officer of Zom Holding Inc., which developed the Waverly, downtown's first luxury-apartment high-rise, and the Paramount, a condo tower on East Central Boulevard now under construction.
Patterson said the Paramount couldn't be launched in the current market.
"Construction costs have outpaced growth in income, and the loss of investor-buyers makes the possibility of much new high-rise development unlikely in the near term," Patterson wrote in a recent e-mail, though he said he expects the imbalance between costs and income to correct itself eventually.
'We remain committed'
David Reed, president of the Reed Cos. of Altamonte Springs, is a partner in the Monarch, a 24-story condo tower proposed for a site on South Street. The company has been actively marketing units from a sales office on the property since September, but no construction date has been set for the 180-unit project.
"We remain committed to downtown, this project, and remain financially committed to the successful completion of this project," Reed said.
Craig Ustler, a veteran downtown developer who also works the sales side through his brokerage, CondoHQ Orlando LLC, sees problems and opportunities in the current market.
"Fundamentals are still good," Ustler, a principal of Ustler Development Inc., said of the area's continuing growth in population and jobs. "There is just not a lot of pent-up demand, like there was in 2005 and early 2006."
Though it will be difficult to launch towers with several hundred units, there are opportunities for smaller, niche projects, he said.
Ustler is involved in just such a development, both as a partner and through CondoHQ Orlando. The 13-story East on Park condo tower at 217 N. Eola Drive is 43 percent sold, he said, and construction of the 43-unit tower should start this summer.
One of the city center's largest unbuilt condo projects is Tradition Towers, which is to rise at 150 E. Central Blvd., site of the exclusive University Club. But according to Steve Walsh, president of Broad Street Partners, the project's developer, construction should begin within the next three or four months.
The twin towers, to be connected by a distinctive sky bridge containing the club, are designed to hold 276 condos.
Walsh conceded that the market has changed a lot since the project was announced in 2005. For one thing, estimated costs have risen $60 million, pushing projected sale prices to $550 to $575 a square foot.
At that rate, a 1,000-square-foot condo would cost $550,000 to $575,000.
Still, Walsh expects the towers to sell out because of their "premiere location" and high-quality design.
A 146-unit condo tower under construction at 101 S. Eola Drive has sold almost 90 percent of its units, according to Chance Gordy, vice president of Real Estate Inverlad Development LLC, the project's developer. Even though many of those sales occurred last year, and not in 2007, Gordy said the company has enough confidence in the current market to at least start designing another tower nearby, at 201 S. Eola Drive.
"It's much smaller, and we feel we can get it done," he said.
Developer: '08 to be better
Many times larger than those projects is City Place, a mixed-use development designed to include 1,200 condominiums -- the single-biggest total now on the books. Despite the size of the project, partner Barry Greer is optimistic about its chances.
For one thing, the developer probably won't be ready to start work on the condos until the middle or latter part of 2008, Greer said. "The good Lord has been awful good to me," he said. "We think the market will be a lot better by then."
The giant development, which would include offices, retail, parking garages and a condo hotel, is expected to be a $500 million undertaking.
"If we didn't believe in the Orlando market long-term, we wouldn't be in this," Greer said.
See which condo towers are done, which are going up and which ones might not. Page A16
Incorporation For Wesley Chapel
Pasco Tribune Editorial Published: Feb 25, 2007
The ongoing hubbub over plans by the Salvation Army to build a thrift store along County Road 54 across from Lexington Oaks underscores the need for Wesley Chapel residents to take stock in their community and future.
They need to seriously consider incorporation.
The issue is not the Salvation Army, a fine organization that should be welcomed, not opposed. Its proposed "family retail store" is targeted for an appropriate place - in a commercial zone along a major highway.
The driving issue is local control. Wesley Chapel residents do not have it. If they did, judging from the concerns of many residents, it's doubtful there would be the proliferation of car dealerships or homes so close to them or such crowded roads.
It's unfortunate that the unincorporated area isn't more attractive. More and more, sprawl and traffic congestion are overrunning what is very much a community, one that deserved far better planning by county officials and more thought by developers. Wesley Chapel doesn't deserve to be typical sprawl extending along both sides of an interstate highway.
But a municipal government, with a charter and ordinances written by residents, could change the landscape, dictating zoning and land use, architectural design, public services and, of course, a tax structure. Granted, county officials say most of the open land in Wesley Chapel is spoken for, but it's never too late to control one's destiny. And it's possible remaining open land could be down-zoned to less intensive or intrusive uses.
There would be difficult decisions to make. Studies show that almost all municipal incorporations result in more taxes. That wouldn't be totally bad because, in most cases, state revenue-sharing funds and state and federal grants could be available.
In addition, community development district fees that many Wesley Chapel residents pay could be enough to cancel the need for municipal taxes. That would depend upon the level of service residents would want and the amount of the fees. And some county taxes still would have to be paid.
Another factor is absorbing any financial obligations of the community development districts. But those assessments can be used to qualify for state revenue-sharing money, according to the Florida League of Cities.
Incorporation would be a major undertaking requiring much energy and work. But some ground already has been laid by a committee of residents and business leaders who studied the possibility four years ago before abandoning it.
Wesley Chapel, with more than 22,000 residents, is still evolving. Residents have to decide whether they want true local control or don't mind putting up with the status quo.
Development code is too weak
Pasco Times Letters to the EditorPublished February 25, 2007
Re: To protect our trees, it's a good-sized stick Feb. 21 editorial
Somebody should pass along the commissioners' alleged newfound stomach for environmental protection to County Administrator John Gallagher and the Development Review Committee since it is they and not the commissioners who approve the day to day development that is systematically destroying this county's environment.
Pasco's Land Development Regulations allow destruction of essential habitat and other environmentally sensitive land as long as the other regulators involved, usually the Army Corps of Engineers or Southwest Florida Water Management District, permit it. In other words, this county accepts the lowest standards any other agency will permit instead of taking a pro-active stance to give increased protection to our local environment.
And unfortunately, as any regular reader of the Times knows, the Army Corps' willingness to devastate this state's wetlands is well documented. At one point the Army Corps went multiple years without denying a single application to destroy wetlands. So the commissioners can cry alligator tears for a tree here and a tree there - not coincidentally after there has been bad press - but if they were really serious about protecting Pasco County's environment, they could do it with the stroke of a pen by putting some teeth into our Land Development Code.
Personally, I think it is time for the voters of this county to demand they do just that. Of course, such action would infuriate the local development crowd, which I suspect is why our code is so weak when it comes to environmental concerns to begin with. Let our commissioners know which side of this debate you come down on, and then watch their votes to see if your interests are being served. By policing their votes and being willing to throw the rascals out is the only way we can reasonably expect change.
Steve Byle, Leisure Beach
Enough water for new buildings?
According to the people, whose business it is to know just how much water there is, we don't have enough water now and we're in extremely dry conditions. So dry that new water restrictions have been issued for the public.
If there's any truth in this, how is it that hundreds of new homes, condos and shopping centers are being allowed to be built? Where's the water for them supposed to come from?
To put it very simply, if there's not enough water for us now, where's all this water supposed to come from after the new construction is built?
Harold W. Graham, Bayonet Point
Housing permits down 34 percent
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — Single-family home permits in Hernando County plummeted 34 percent in 2006, as the housing slump continues to affect builders.
The county issued 2,787 single-family home permits for all of 2006, compared to 4,271 in 2005, a record-setting year.
The county started off strong in January 2006, with 478 permits.
In fact, the first three months of the first quarter yielded 1,182 permits. But succeeding quarters have seen steadily declining numbers.
• The second quarter: 747 permits;
• Third quarter: 531 permits;
• Fourth quarter: 327 permits.
Perhaps the most glaring statistic of how bad things have become: Hernando County issued 149 single-family home permits in January 2007, compared to 478 in January 2006 — a 69 percent plunge.
The building boom of 2005-2006 was fueled by investors who took advantage of rising appreciation costs and were out to make a quick killing in the market, said Hernando County Building Director Grant Tolbert.
Also, the Suncoast Parkway became a magnet for Tampa builders and developers who suddenly saw a lucrative market in Hernando County, he said.
But the boom was lowered and now builders are rushing to sell off their existing inventories before proceeding with more development.
And that’s not exactly a bad thing, Tolbert said.
“A number of builders have told me that the pace now is more controlled,” he said. “They can actually get workers easier and materials are not shorted.”
Also, many residents say they prefer the slower growth because it puts less strain on local schools and roads, he added.
Tobert is estimating about 100 permits a month for the foreseeable future, more in line with past years.
“I think we’ve bottomed out,” Tolbert said. “But I think we’re going to stay pretty much at this level at least through 2007,” he said.
“If you look at our residential home permits now and compare them to years other than 2005, it’s really not a bad year,” said Dudley Hampton, president of BJH Construction Inc. in Ridge Manor.
The building boom of 2005 was a fluke, he said.
“We won’t see that again, not for a long time — if ever,” Hampton said. “That was just one of those anomaly years.”
Hampton agrees that the slowdown has allowed builders “to catch their breath.” It has also forced builders to rethink some of their selling strategies and perhaps tweak their models to adapt to the changing consumer needs.
“There’s no better time to buy a home,” Hampton said. “Real estate prices have stabilized. We don’t have the wild speculation we had a couple of years ago, although I do think some properties are still overpriced.”
Interest rates are also hovering near a low 5 percent mark and the Feds have indicated they don’t plan on raising them anytime soon, he said.
“The builders have positioned themselves for an upturn in the market and I think they’re going to provide an excellent product in Hernando County,” he said.
Hampton said the signs leading to recovery are favorable.
State legislators are finally taking steps to solve the insurance crisis that has deterred homebuyers, he said.
“I don’t know if that’s the end solution, but they’re taking steps and that’s very helpful,” he said.
He believes residential construction will pick up by June or July this year.
Nationwide, total housing starts declined 14.3 percent in January as builders worked down their inventories of unsold homes, according to figures released Friday by the Commerce Department.
The pace of construction for the month was 37.8 percent below January 2006.
“My expectation is that housing, particularly in Florida, will continue to decrease at least through the second quarter of 2007,” according to Chris McCarty, with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
“Home sales apparently stabilized late last year, but the overhang of unsold housing inventory still is quite heavy, said David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. “Builders have been cutting back on starts of new units to bring supply and demand back into balance.”
Seiders expects housing starts to bottom out in the first quarter of this year before making a gradual recovery.
The slowdown in single-family permits nationally may be fueled by the growing interest in more affordable multi-family housing, especially townhomes.
People can enjoy the pleasures of home ownership without paying the price for single-family homes, especially as the appreciation value of the latter increases.
But that interest in multifamily hasn’t reached Hernando County yet, Tolbert said.
“We haven’t quite urbanized to the point where the majority of people are looking to rent apartments or buy condos,” he said.
However, that may change.
Several developers have already received approval from planning and zoning commissioners to move forward with apartment, condominium and townhouse projects.
Coming Tomorrow
Hernando Today will examine the existing home market.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.
The Hickory Hill campaign
Sierra Properties has been everywhere promoting it's 2,800-acre development.
By DAN DEWITT
Published February 25, 2007
BROOKSVILLE - When Tampa developer Sierra Properties LLC first announced plans to the build the 2,800-acre Hickory Hill subdivision, Mark MacKinlay said he was "really and truly sick" about the idea.
But an early meeting with the developer convinced him to wait before judging the project, said MacKinlay, who lives on 10 acres in the middle of the proposed development in Spring Lake.
But what really left an impression, he said, was a visit from Sierra chairman Bob Sierra at MacKinlay's house on Shirley Drive.
By the time Sierra left two hours later, MacKinlay and his wife, Becky, were convinced that the development was the best use of the land, said MacKinlay, now a leading advocate for the project, which will include 1,749 houses and three golf courses.
"Until that time, we had not made up our mind," said MacKinlay, a retired Florida Highway Patrol lieutenant.
"That visit was what swayed us across. It was extremely crucial."
It is also an example of how Sierra Properties, more than any developer in memory, has taken its case to the community - mailing out thousands of glossy brochures, hiring a Tampa public relations firm, maintaining a Web site, catering meals and holding so many meetings with residents and business leaders that Sierra vice president of operations Sebring Sierra has lost count.
Though opponents of the project dismiss this campaign as "propaganda" and supporters praise it as "education," most of them agree it makes good business sense.
Sierra has recognized that county commissioners often base their votes on public opinion, said Gary Schraut, a Brooksville developer and real estate broker; and when the commission faces a chamber full of potential voters complaining about a project, they usually turn it down.
"Sometimes, because of the atmosphere created by the crowd, the board doesn't even go along with the recommendations of its own planning department," Schraut said.
"Everybody's afraid to say it, but it's true."
Spreading the word
Bob Sierra and Robert Thomas, whose family has owned the land since the 1930s, seemed determined to control how their project was viewed from the time they first proposed it in the spring of 2004.
After inviting neighbors of Hickory Hill to the Best Western motel in Ridge Manor West, they explained Sierra's background as a developer of high-end subdivisions, including Avila in Lutz, and promised that Hickory Hill would be similar. At a separate meeting for residents of Shirley Drive, they said they might eventually be interested in buying their land.
About year ago, Sierra Properties sent out a mass mailing to homes across eastern Hernando - pamphlets that featured pictures of the ranch in its undeveloped state and emphasized the amount of tax revenue the project would generate.
Sierra Properties has also mailed cards to business promoting Hickory Hill's economic benefits. It hired a lobbyist, Tom Barnette, to spread the word of the project in the community and, last summer, public relations consultant Honey Rand.
The company has previously held one meeting for business leaders at Silverthorn Country Club and will hold another at the club on March 8 for members of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce.
More visibly, the company has pressed its point of view in local newspapers. Sebring Sierra and Sonny Vergara - a Spring Lake resident, former executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and long-time friend of Sierra attorney Jake Varn - have written guest columns in the Hernando Times advocating the development.
Since Jan. 1, the Times has run a dozen letters supporting the project, roughly matching the number of anti-Hickory Hill letters. The public dialogue seems likely to grow even more intense as April 26, the date of the commission's decisive hearing on the project, draws closer.
Rick Carlton, director of financial planning for Hernando Healthcare, said representatives from Sierra encouraged him and his father-in-law, Gary Morton, a government teacher at Central High School, to write pro-Hickory Hill letters.
"It wasn't the development's owners but people who are affiliated with it and who want it to happen," Carlton said.
Maurice Ryman, owner of Complete Technology Solutions, a computer consultant firm, also said he has talked with Sebring Sierra and other proponents of the project. He wrote a letter in favor of the project and encouraged three of his employees to do the same.
One opponent of the subdivision, Shirley Robinson, said she felt the company was trying to silence her voice.
After her letter to the Times appeared in December, a lawyer for the developer sent her a certified letter advising her to "make only truthful statements" about Hickory Hill.
"I interpreted it as intimidating," she said.
Opposition exists
Along with a large turnout of supporters at commission meetings, these letters have created the impression of strong support. But maybe it's only that, said Sindra Ridge, a Spring Lake resident and the leader of the opposition to the project.
Many businesses or families, including the MacKinlays, have sent out more than one letter under the name of different individuals, making it seem as though the backing for the project is more widespread than it actually is.
More importantly, she said, the supporters, "have something they are going to gain. There has to be a profit margin," she said. "John Q. Public, the average homeowners, they are opposed to it."
There's nothing wrong with business leaders favoring the project, said Sebring Sierra, if it indicates it will improve the business climate in Hernando.
"I think it's going to help the overall economy," he said. "We've got supporters across the county."
Carlton, for example, said Hickory Hill will not only bring in more potential hospital patients, but ones who are insured or able to pay their bills. Having more clients, he said, could allow the hospital to provide services - a hyperbaric chamber that helps wounds heal more quickly, for example - that it could not afford with a smaller customer base.
Ryman also see the prospect of more customers for his company, citing Bob Sierra's claim - disputed by a prominent economic development expert - that Hickory Hill residents will move their enterprises to Hernando County.
"I started following it and doing some of my own research," Ryman said. "I saw it would be a good thing for the county."
In some cases the benefits could be more direct.
Soon after the project was announced, Hickory Hill identified Mike Hensley, chief deputy of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, as a resident who favored the project. But last year he sold his house on Shirley Drive to the Hickory Hill developers for $325,000 and moved to Inverness.
The 2.5 acres of land and 1,800-square-foot house, built in 1982, is valued at $124,000 by the Hernando County Property Appraiser's office. But Hensley said he sold it near the height of the housing boom, at a price based on a private appraisal.
"I got very close to my appraisal price," he said. "I did not get a sweetheart deal."
MacKinlay acknowledges he may also sell his house to the developer. Bob Sierra "said that if we decided to sell at a later date, he would like the right of first refusal, and that's the way it stands," he said
But that's why he or most other neighbors favor the project. And it is most of the other neighbors, he said, citing as proof the results of the 2006 election. Former County Commissioner Nancy Robinson, who had backed the project, beat eventual winner Rose Rocco in most precincts in eastern Hernando including Spring Lake, where she won 658 to 533.
"Sindra says the people of Spring Lake don't want this, and that's one of the things that really irritates me," MacKinlay said.
Respecting Thomases
He and other supporters said, almost universally, that they would like to see the land remain as woods and pasture. But they respect the Thomas family's right to develop it and think this will happen inevitably. If so, they would rather have the project in the hands of a responsible, high-end developer such as Sierra.
In its marketing campaign, they say, the company has done nothing more than present what many of them called facts.
"He has never told me anything that hasn't been right on the mark," Hensley said of Brent Whitley, the company's vice president of land development, who lives in Spring Lake.
Opponents, however, say the campaign has consistently misstated the facts. It has understated the project's potential environmental damage, they say, and offered a skewed interpretation of the comprehensive plan which they say clearly forbids the project.
"If this is such a great thing for the county, it would be self-evident," said Joe Murphy, an environmental activist from Ridge Manor. "They wouldn't have to spend so much time and money convincing people of that fact."
Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6116
Loxahatchee Groves slate must placate eclectic town
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 25, 2007
LOXAHATCHEE GROVES — It would be easier for everyone if things in Loxahatchee Groves were a little more uniform.
Instead, the only consistency in this community is inconsistency.
Along the grid of roads - some paved, most unpaved - we find a retired couple in a cabin-themed home with chickens outside, a mother of two on a manicured 5-acre lot, a nudist resort, an ostrich farm, a wholesale nursery on two dozen acres, the edge of a house obscured by overgrown hedges, equestriennes and scattered, sundry livestock.
In October, residents of this decades-old enclave voted to break away from Palm Beach County's rule and govern themselves, in large part to preserve Loxahatchee Groves' hodgepodge nature.
But diversity can be divisive. Governing it can be doubly so. Still, 10 Loxahatchee Groves residents want a shot at the challenge. On March 13, five will get it when voters choose this new town's legislative slate.
Several issues have risen to the fore in the race to rule, some as basic as whether code enforcement makes sense for this town of 3,400.
"You can go and live in your own little world, and your neighbor doesn't bother with what you're doing," said Howard Voren, a 30-year resident who runs an aviary on his property. "That, by and large, is the biggest reason for living in Loxahatchee Groves."
But some do get bothered. In online forums, they talk about the guy next door's clunker and wonder whether there may be a chance to tidy things under a new town council.
There's always someone to tell the story of one resident's griping over his neighbor's renegade sprinklers or complaints of the crowing roosters across the way.
"That's everybody's biggest fear out there: that it'll be like Wellington, where they'll come in and hit you up for every little thing," said Lee Wright, a Wellington resident who owns 15 acres in Loxahatchee Groves and is part of the landowners association.
Voren says code enforcement is fine as long as there's legitimate cause. Of course, what one person deems legitimate another might not, which Voren admits.
Many residents said the marker might be whether the activity harms the environment or wildlife.
Either way, the town won't have enough money in its initial budget - $1.09 million in 2007-08 - to pay for code officers immediately.
A toll on roads
Roads are another hot spot: whether to pave the dirt thruways, whether to encourage commercial operations on Okeechobee Boulevard, whether nurseries with heavy trucks should pay the lion's share of maintenance on most of them.
Loxahatchee Groves has an estimated 30 miles of dirt roads.
Paved roads typically raise the value of property along them. That has sparked a split between those who plan to stay put till their dying day and those keen on selling, then moving on. Yet others say they want the asphalt to cut down on dust.
Doug Schaper lives on a dirt road and likes it that way. The bumpy ride is part of the reason he moved to Loxahatchee Groves. It makes him slow down and relax.
Paving would just lead to traffic and speeders, he said.
Beyond that, Schaper said, he lacks the extra cash to fork out for asphalt, nor does he believe paved roads would work along the narrow canals unless private property were taken.
"Our road system wasn't set up for them," said Schaper, who was a skeptic of incorporation.
Rick Wagner, who owns the Plant Factory at Okeechobee and A Road, said it seems unwise to nix the idea of putting businesses along Okeechobee, the town's Main Street. The commercial outfits and higher overall density in town would generate greater revenue for the town, he believes.
"Without it, you'll have no taxes," he said.
It also seems unbalanced and unfair to concentrate all new commercial and business activity on Southern Boulevard, a major highway that borders Loxahatchee Groves to the south, Wagner said.
Yet many residents have suggested that, and most of the candidates have said it would be best to keep Okeechobee low-key.
"You shouldn't let the people on Southern get all the commercial and be millionaires," Wagner said.
He suggested density transfers, like those in Boynton Beach's Ag Reserve, in which developers must preserve 60 acres for every 40 they develop and are limited in the number of homes they can build unless they can transfer development rights from another property.
Supermarkets, video stores and restaurants are a few miles away on Okeechobee Boulevard in Royal Palm Beach.
"Why permanently screw up Loxahatchee for a 5- to 8-minute car ride?" asked residents Bea and Charles Dore in a community forum.
Road maintenance is more important than paving, said Voren, , who has the aviary.
The town's several dozen large-scale nurseries pummel the thoroughfares with their weight-laden wheels.
"They're obviously taking a toll on the roads," he said. "Maybe they should contribute more to the upkeep."
Pressures of growth
Loxahatchee Groves is not immune to the pressures of growth that are pervasive throughout South Florida.
Many nursery owners recount tales of developers eyeing their property, even making offers. But Palm Beach County guidelines allowed just one home on 10 acres, one home on five ares in one section, scaring off developers.
Last month Centex Homes rekindled its 2-year interest in the Guest property: 87 acres, with another 130-acre adjoining parcel. The company has an option to buy the farm at 162nd Drive north and Okeechobee Boulevard through 2009.
By and large the new town's candidates have said they support a uniform density of one unit on five acres. That's what Loxahatchee Groves' neighborhood plan calls for.
But skeptics fear large landholders will push for higher density, hoping to cash in.
Having a nursery and selling is a great way to make money in Palm Beach County, said resident Rita Miller.
She was opposed to incorporation because the town charter lacked provisions guaranteeing density would remain low. "The developers are pretty much in charge now," she said.
Incorporation organizers said the town's comprehensive plan would be the place to address density and zoning issues. The town has three years to create its comprehensive plan, a land planning Bible, so to speak. Until then it will follow county rules.
Sky is falling, but spending isn't
Commissioners worry about tax rhetoric coming out of Tallahassee.
By DAVID DECAMP
Published February 25, 2007
NEW PORT RICHEY - Taxpayers might be alarmed by what was not discussed at Tuesday's County Commission meeting.
The governor's tax-cut proposal would cost county government millions in annual revenue, commissioners were told.
Up on the dais, hand wringing began.
We'll have to raise property taxes.
Or cut services.
Commissioners complained about the state ordering counties to take over services without giving them any money to do it.
They lauded themselves for cutting the budget last year - even though what they really did was reduce the increase.
But at no time did any commissioner suggest that county government could be more efficient.
Commissioner Ted Schrader could have spoken for most of his colleagues when, days later, he told a reporter:
"I'd like someone to point out where the waste is," Schrader said.
That attitude chafed Republican activist Gary Willner of Trinity.
"The thing that bothered me," he said, "was they didn't talk about what they could cut."
For the record, Willner stood at the podium last year and lauded commissioners' handling of the budget.
* * *
Last week's discussion about the possible loss of property tax dollars comes after a decade in which county government enjoyed rapidly increasing revenue.
Since 1998, the county has collected 38 percent more per resident in property taxes. And, keeping in mind that property taxes are less than a fifth of this year's total budget the rest coming from sales and gas taxes, utility bills, impact fees and other fees county spending on a per capita basis has risen 76 percent during the decade. The Times adjusted both figures for inflation.
Gov. Charlie Crist's proposal to double the homestead exemption would reduce the county's $1.1-billion budget by less than 2 percent.
However, budget director Mike Nurrenbrock said the cut would be tough. Other county funds, such as impact fees, can only be spent in certain ways. The actual effect would be a 10 percent cut in the county's property tax revenue - the pot of money that pays for policing, libraries and maintaining parks.
Pasco also has been criticized for not investing enough to meet demands from growth. Now, commissioners said, the county could be hamstrung in its efforts to catch up.
All of which prompted the first reactions from county officials:
This could be DEVASTATING.
Commissioner Jack Mariano complained about the state mandates for the county to pay for courts and other justice programs. Mariano said he wants those to stop before a tax-cut plan could be supported.
"The cost of running a government and providing the services that people expect is very expensive," Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said afterward, noting demands to add services like recycling have risen. "All those things cost money, and those costs have continued to go up."
Not so fast, says Florida TaxWatch. The Tallahassee group, generally regarded as fiscally conservative, found that local governments have raised taxes and money faster than personal income has increased.
TaxWatch spokesman Harvey Bennett said local officials have some legitimate fears that inequities among taxpayers would only shift under the governor's tax cut proposal.
But, Bennett said, their defense of their spending doesn't add up.
"Unfortunately, like kids in front of a Christmas tree, they've not seen three presents under the tree. They've seen six or seven," Bennett said. "Some of those things just aren't mission critical."
Pasco Republican Party Chairman Bill Bunting, who urged a deep tax rate cut for this year, echoed Willner.
But in a nod to the uncertainties of the effects, Bunting - a Crist fan - said he couldn't support doubling the homestead exemption without a guarantee that all homeowners would pay at least some taxes. He said he needed better projections of revenue given Pasco's growth.
In 2007, Pasco has budgeted to collect $180-million in property taxes, which is $29-million more than last year. Still - thanks to the Save Our Homes cap that limits the tax increases on primary residences - many homeowners will pay less in county taxes, not including property taxes for schools, special districts or mosquito control.
New construction and higher values on nonhomesteaded property - inequities Pasco officials cite in the tax proposals - helped allow the county to cut its tax rate and gather more money.
And there's another threat to the county's intake of property taxes.
Republican leaders in the Florida House have unveiled a plan that would ultimately end property taxes for homeowners and increase the sales tax 2.5 percentage points. The dent in Pasco's spending is uncertain, but the county would lose money.
Not that they are discussing how to efficiently do that - yet.
David DeCamp can be reached at (727) 869-6232 or ddecamp@sptimes.com.
Conservation purchase of river area passes first review by Florida agency.
Officials with the agency responsible for buying land for preservation on behalf of the public agreed last week that a proposal to buy as much as 1,100 acres, known as the Rainbow River Corridor Project, met the agency's first set of criteria and warranted further consideration.
The next step will be for state officials to visit the area, which is mostly along the east side of the popular river, north of County Road 484, said Dan Hipes of the Florida Natural Areas Inventory, which is part of Florida State University, and advises the FDEP on land purchases.
By June, officials from the agency will report about the site to FDEP's Acquisition and Restoration council. The council will then decide whether the land is worth buying and its benefits to the public.
"There is a lot of politics that goes into that and sometimes it has to do with the landowner," Hipes said.
But considering the pristine nature of the river and that the state already owns much of the land in the area, the Rainbow River Corridor Project has a good chance of making at or near the top of FDEP's list of land that should be purchased.
The final step would be to negotiate with land owners for a price, Hipes said.
Among the 1,100 acres at issue, 258 acres immediately north of County Road 484 and east of the river would be of most interest to many Dunnellon residents. That is because the land is owned by Rainbow River Ranch LLC and is at the center of a feud between many city residents and a developer wanting to build as many as 450 homes there.
Rainbow River Ranch owner Gerald Dodd said he would consider selling his 258 acres if the price was right. He paid $7.5 million for the property in 2004.
Pushing the Rainbow River Corridor Project is Rainbow River Conservation Inc., a Dunnellon area environmental group.
"This would provide a lot more protection [for the river] than it has now," said the group's president, Burt Eno. "And it makes sense to buy the land now and add to what the state already owns."
The 1,100 acres, broken into 23 individual parcels, is owned by 12 landowners.
The FDEP would negotiate to buy part of the 1,100 acres if not all of the landowners were willing to sell their property, said FDEP's Dee Ann Miller.
The land acquisition branch of FDEP has $300 million each year to spend on land purchases.
Eno said the 1,100 acres would be a perfect buy for the state because with one purchase, it could expand its existing protected land in the area, stop development along the river and additional pollution and protect wildlife and plants that depend on the river and surrounding area to survive.
Fred Hiers may be contacted at fred.hiers@starbanner.com and (352) 867-4157.
County officials say the need for, and cost of, new roads is so great that developers should pay more.
Impact fee advocates say it's about time.
Critics say people who want to buy a new house or build a new business will suffer - the current fee on a new 2,000-square-foot home of $2,104 could more than double. A fee at the full calculated impact would put Alachua among the top counties in Florida.
But a Gainesville consultant who helps counties develop impact fees, retired University of Florida professor James C. Nicholas, said no one should be surprised.
"The reaction is that people have sticker shock. Well, what do they think happened to the cost of roads? They see what's happened with the cost of land and cement. Did anybody really think that roads would go down in cost?" Nicholas said. "Traffic is going up and up and up. Maybe the Easter Bunny is going to come hippity hop and build some roads."
Impact fees are a way to get developers of new homes or businesses to pay for the traffic their project will create. The fee is typically passed on to the buyer.
When it comes to large-scale stuff - such as the planned SpringHills development of regional impact at NW 39th Avenue and Interstate 75 - proportionate share is another tool.
County commissioners are tentatively set in early May to consider comprehensive plan amendments sought by SpringHills to substantially increase the retail space it can build.
Under proportionate share, a study is done to determine what roadwork is needed to handle traffic from the new development along with general traffic increases in the same area. Costs are then split between the developer and the county.
Recent action by the county indicates a more aggressive approach to getting money from developers may be coming.
"The cost (of roads) is going up," County Commission Chairwoman Paula DeLaney said. "And I think we have had a failure in leadership of not making the decisions that maybe we should have been making all along - that if we had been making we wouldn't have such a huge backlog right now. I think you are going to see us getting tougher and tougher to deal with in transportation."
Alison Cox, president of the Builders Association of North Central Florida, said new homes and businesses will become more costly if impact fees are boosted.
That could price some homebuyers out of the market and lead to higher home costs in general, since some owners of existing homes could increase their prices, she said.
It could also lead to more people buying homes in neighboring counties but working in Gainesville, she said.
"We are always concerned with things that make housing more unaffordable," Cox said. "If you look at the proposed impact fees on businesses, some of them are extremely high. How is a smaller shop supposed to compete?"
The county said keeping up with transportation needs will be difficult without the measures. In 2003, it cost $1.75 million to build a milelong lane of road. County officials estimate that cost now at $6.78 million.
If that is sticker shock for the county, developers said they are shocked when they see the impact fee increases that county planners say are needed.
The current residential impact fee is $1,052 per 1,000 square feet of house. The new calculated fee is $4,348 per square foot. That would add $6,592 to the cost of a new 2,000-square-foot home above the current impact fee.
County commissioners, aware of the potential of impact fees to jeopardize affordability for some buyers, put $100,000 into a fund to help residents who meet income guidelines in buying a new home.
DeLaney believes prospective home-buyers can find something affordable regardless of impact fees - but not necessarily new homes in western Alachua County subdivisions.
"The real affordable housing is always going to come from the used-house market, where you are not paying an impact fee," she said. "Generally, inside the city of Gainesville, there is an awful lot of affordable in resale. And your kids can walk to school there."
Potential impact fee increases on businesses are even higher. A fast-food restaurant now pays $3,814 per 1,000 square feet. The new calculated fee is $166,772 per 1,000 square feet.
Large-scale superstores would also face substantial increases from the current $3,814 per 1,000 square feet to $74,869 per 1,000 square feet.
Under the new calculated rate, a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter - the size of the store being built in east Gainesville - would have to pay more than $14.9 million in impact fees if it were built in the unincorporated area.
The rationale is that those businesses create a lot of traffic that further crowds the roads.
"What we did with our calculations is show the relative impacts of different kinds of uses have," said Growth Management Director Rick Drummond. "That way if you compare the tables, the calculated fees compared to the ones in effect, they are capturing the full impact of some of those retail commercial uses."
But some commissioners also have questions about the how the calculations were determined and whether any consideration is given to how a particular development - a mixed-use residential/retail complex or the new Publix at Haile Plantation, for instance - might ease traffic in some areas.
Among them is Commissioner Lee Pinkoson, who also believes that some of the calculated fees are too high.
"That $166,772 for a fast-food restaurant is absurd," Pinkoson said. "We won't have any with a fee like that."
Drummond added that a recommendation to the County Commission on whether the new fee should be the full calculation or a reduced rate has not yet been formed.
Current impact fees were enacted about two years ago and are reduced from the original calculated fee. Drummond said that is fairly common among counties with impact fees as a safeguard against litigation.
Some believe higher fees are overdue.
Kendra Siler-Marsiglio, president of Women for Wise Growth, said the organization favored higher fees two years ago but agreed to the compromise reduced fees to at least get something.
Siler-Marsiglio said the group intends to participate in the process leading to a commission vote on fees, and favors a tougher stance.
"We would definitely support higher impact fees at this point in time," she said. "If you just look around, development is all around us. You can go outside and see new buildings going up everywhere. That typically equals more traffic. It does impact the community, so development should pay its way a little bit."
So far, proportionate share is being considered only for SpringHills. But there, too, the county is looking to get more money for roads.
A new list of road improvements was developed midstream that is much more extensive than the list that was used in the early negotiations.
SpringHills developer the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is now looking at a $58 million bill compared to about $22 million when an initial vote on a comprehensive plan amendment needed for the development was approved by the commission in early 2006.
Drummond said he will present the new list to the commission when it again considers SpringHills. Drummond said he is obligated to give the commission the best available data.
State Department of Transportation Lea Gabbay said the county can use whatever list it wants.
Gainesville attorney Patrice Boyes, who represents SpringHills, believes the county is unfairly changing the roads list in midstream to get more money out of the developer.
Boyes also contends the original list is the only one that has been accepted by the state departments of transportation and community affairs.
"That should be of paramount influence on the County Commission. The developer's traffic study is the only one done according to state standards and held up to scrutiny," Boyes said.
Boyes added that changing the road lists now "is out of bounds. And if it happens on this project, it can happen to any other economic initiative that comes to this community and there will likely be no meaningful development in this community in the future."
But commissioners say they want the full picture of road costs with both SpringHills and development in general.
Several have said they believe measures such as increased impact fees are needed, thought not necessarily at the full rates.
"What I would support is, even if we want to go all the way to the top (fee), that we would do it over a couple of years," DeLaney said.
Cindy Swirko can be reached at 374-5024.
"We are always concerned with things that make housing more unaffordable."
The deal behind Port St. Lucie's downtown
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 25, 2007
PORT ST. LUCIE — At 113 square miles, Port St. Lucie is the second-largest city in Florida landwise, but it never managed to fit a thriving downtown into its vast landscape because of planning foibles and political frailty.
This week, as Port St. Lucie nears a staggering population of 160,000, that wrong will be righted as city leaders descend on the demolished Village Green Shopping Center to break ground on a nearly $400 million project many predict will revolutionize city life more than any single event before it.
"We're building the heart and soul of the city," said Vice Mayor Jack Kelly, whose district encompasses City Center, the planned name for the downtown.
"I think it's gonna be the biggest thing to ever happen in Port St. Lucie."
After hungering for a central gathering spot for decades, city officials will begin work on an ambitious seven-story downtown that will debut in November 2008 with a palatial civic center, 4-acre outdoor plaza and two four-story parking garages where the decaying shopping center once stood at U.S. 1 and Walton Road.
By early 2009, Jupiter developer George de Guardiola will cut the ribbon on three seven-story buildings anchored by ground-floor retail and with upper-story condos and apartments. Three large restaurants and a five-story Neoclassical office building identical to one in the 100 block of Clematis Street in West Palm Beach will also debut then, giving Port St. Lucie its first visible skyline.
By December 2012, the entire 70 acres bordered by U.S. 1, Walton Road, Village Green Drive and a drainage canal will resemble an idealized old-fashioned downtown with narrow streets, multistory buildings and outdoor cafes almost identical to de Guardiola's signature development, Jupiter's Abacoa.
The end result, experts predict, will be much greater than the sum of its parts.
"It's like putting the heart back into the body," said Marie York, associate director of Florida Atlantic University's Catanese Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions. "It's important to have a public gathering place where people can socialize and feel like they're part of something. What's the alternative but to live in our cocoons and our gated communities looking at our computer screens and living in isolation?"
Residents of the nation's third-fastest-growing city admit they mostly leave town if they want to entertain guests for the night or relax with cup of joe and watch people stroll by. Although Port St. Lucie's new master-planned community of Tradition includes a pedestrian-oriented town square that offers trendy shops and hometown events, it is much smaller than the U.S. 1 site and is too far west to attract many residents east of the St. Lucie River.
Despite the downtown's steep price tag to taxpayers - estimates start at $85 million - city officials say the bigger risk was in doing nothing.
"The people have wanted this a long time," Kelly said. "There's a risk in everything you do, but we investigated and we accepted the lowest risk possible to give the people what they wanted."
De Guardiola, who was criticized in Jupiter when he didn't deliver on promises to bring a hotel and conference center and a variety of home builders to Abacoa, says he's learned from the mistakes he made in that project.
For one, he's not building a glut of retail space before homes - a cart-before-the-horse scenario that left many Abacoa Town Center businesses floundering and prompted the 16-screen movie theater to close last year. City Center's prime location at U.S. 1 and Walton Road ensures tens of thousands of motorists will pass by the downtown each day, a complaint of Abacoa retailers, who are hidden from major traffic on Donald Ross Road.
De Guardiola says he's also learned the value of placing civic buildings in the town square, an element that is largely missing in Abacoa but which serves as the cornerstone for City Center.
The city's promise to build a $25 million, 100,000-square-foot civic center that will attract thousands daily - along with construction of a high-speed east-west parkway that will lead western motorists directly from Interstate 95 to City Center - were key ingredients in de Guardiola's decision to plunk down $22.5 million for 48 acres on U.S. 1 in 2005.
"That was a big piece of the equation," said de Guardiola, who estimates he and his partners will invest and borrow $291 million for the project. "A lot of the success depends on the programs that are offered in the plaza, and we have a lot of experience with that from Abacoa."
The city's parks and recreation department will schedule weekly events in the expansive brick-paver esplanade, where an open-air concert pavilion and an interactive play fountain undoubtedly will attract a steady stream of parents with kids in tow.
Inside the civic center's 20,000-square-foot ballroom, employees can cater a wedding, graduation or conference for up to 3,000 people, while a gymnasium, workout center, art gallery and game room are among the offerings intended to make the center a daily destination for residents.
Assistant City Manager Greg Oravec, who oversees the community redevelopment agency that is paying most of the city's tab using rising property taxes generated inside CRA boundaries, expects a dramatic change in the city's complexion and sense of community once the downtown debuts.
"Initially I think there will be disbelief," said Oravec, noting that the city has never had a building taller than the five-story hospital. "There will be a lot of people walking up to it, knocking on the wood to make sure it's real."
Sociologists say people crave a sense of belonging, and de Guardiola says that's just what his neighborhoods ooze.
"People feel a very strong sense of ownership in these areas, sort of like going to their own living room," said de Guardiola, a native of Cuba who grew up in Coral Gables and spent years developing the village of Wellington before deciding his true passion was building old-fashioned towns where people can walk to get a haircut or vanilla latte.
Interestingly, de Guardiola first worked with the city on an unrelated project less than a mile from City Center in 2002. At the time, partners Jeffrey Lee, Wiley Reynolds and Wilhelm Bing owned City Center and were working to develop a downtown, but the trio was hesitant to raze the rent-paying offices and ultimately abandoned the idea, selling their $6 million investment to de Guardiola for $22.5 million in 2005.
De Guardiola's first project in Port St. Lucie, East Lake Village, is a burgeoning downtown of sorts on Lennard Road. Its multicolored two- and three-story homes and condos are framed by tree-lined streets, wide sidewalks and intermittent parks where families feel safe teaching their children to ride bikes.
"Where we used to live in Ranier Lakes, the speed limit was 30 and cars went 45," said Jeff Barrett, who moved with his wife and three children to East Lake Village a month ago. "We love it here. My daughter learned to ride her bike in a few days because we didn't have to keep stopping for traffic."
A village square and city park with concert pavilion are under construction there, and an urban biking trail winds through the woods to City Center, allowing families to bike or skate to the future downtown.
"I don't know of another urban greenway on the Treasure Coast," de Guardiola said. "I've talked to several environmental groups, and they consider it our version of Central Park."
In addition to building three municipal buildings and four parking garages, the city and CRA agreed to buy six outlying parcels that were not part of de Guardiola's purchase and pay a small share of the road, utility and drainage costs.
Rising property taxes generated by the privately owned buildings in the 1,110-acre CRA are expected to cover the city's $85 million contribution over the next 25 years, although Oravec conceded Thursday that he's concerned the state's push for property tax reform - which could reduce revenue for municipalities - could jeopardize plans to pay for the project.
He even considered delaying Thursday's 9 a.m. groundbreaking because of tax concerns, but City Manager Don Cooper responded in an e-mail: "We have already floated the bonds and let contracts. Which ones do we breach? I would proceed."
City council members will discuss the possible effects from property tax reform at Monday's meeting.
Oravec and Cooper say they've built in adequate safeguards to protect the city in the unlikely event de Guardiola defaults on the deal. If de Guardiola doesn't repay his share of $25 million in special assessment fees for street-level work, the 48 acres would be sold at auction and another developer could step into the role, Cooper said.
De Guardiola's major lender, Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust of West Palm Beach, also would likely claim the property if the developer failed to deliver the buildings he's promised the city.
"You don't rely on one developer," Cooper said. "You create a situation that's attractive to any developer. Once the infrastructure is built, the property value will easily be four times the cost of the improvements. No bank or landowner is going to walk away from that."
Although securing financing for Abacoa's Town Center was difficult because it was de Guardiola's first traditional-neighborhood development, he said he's had little trouble getting a loan of up to $45 million from Fidelity Federal for City Center because of his track record at Abacoa.
His brother, Eduard , who specializes in multifamily projects in Atlanta, is a major partner, and he counts Wachovia Bank and Rendina Cos. of Palm Beach Gardens among his investors.
Mayor Patricia Christensen, who has listened to people complain about the city's lack of identity since 1987, believes the city's investment will be returned threefold in the coming decades as Port St. Lucie spirals toward an eventual population of 400,000.
"For so many years, people would drive through Port St. Lucie and not even realize they were here because there's nothing but strip centers the entire length of U.S. 1," Christensen said.
"We want to be known as something other than a sprawling bedroom community," the mayor said. "Our residents go to downtown Stuart and Fort Pierce now for entertainment. Why shouldn't they be able to go to downtown Port St. Lucie?"
A Pristine Florida Habitat Is Home to Abundant and Varied WildlifeJUPITER
The approach to the launching area on the Loxahatchee River doesn't
promise much of a nature experience at first.
It's a short distance from Interstate 95, the superhighway that cuts through
what's left of coastal Florida's undeveloped landscape. At the moment
there's a construction project under way on both sides of the river to build
a new bridge. It will expand Palm Beach County's Riverbend Park to add an
environmental education center.
But once you leave the construction behind and clear the nearby Indiantown
Road bridge and paddle deeper into the stream lined with bald cypress,
cabbage palmetto and pop ash, the road noise and dust quickly disappear.
You are in another place.
The Seminoles called this river Lowchowhatchee, which means "River of
Turtles."
The turtles are still there. They sun languidly on the trunks of fallen
trees until they're startled by an approaching canoe.
If you want to navigate the upper reaches of this river, which is classified
as a federally designated wild and scenic river - the only one in this part
of Florida - you have to do it under your own power. Motorboats are
prohibited.
Motorboats probably wouldn't be practical anyway. This is a wild river; the
fallen trees are left where they lie unless they totally block downstream
progress.
The path of the stream is sinuous, sometimes curving with little warning. In
places your only guide is to watch the current.
The river is not totally free-flowing.
And there are two log dams, the Lainhart Dam and the Masten Dam.
You can hear the roar of the falling water before you reach either of these
artificial cataracts. The structures, which, strictly speaking, are weirs
rather than dams, were originally constructed in the 1930s by local families
to maintain water levels for farm irrigation in the land around the river's
upper reaches.
Today they are maintained by the South Florida Water Management District
primarily for historic purposes, said Pat Walker, lead planner in the
agency's Coastal Ecosystem Division.
Downstream from the dams, the river eventually changes from a winding,
wild-looking stream to a more open waterway. Gradually, as the river nears
Jupiter Inlet, cypress gives way to mangroves.
The river's watershed covers 107,000 acres - more than twice the size of
Lakeland - draining water from Jonathan Dickinson State Park to the north
and Loxahatchee Slough to the south.
Parts of the watershed historically flowed into the Everglades.
Walker said water district officials are working on a restoration plan,
approved last year, that would reverse some of the impact of 1950s-era
drainage projects that deprived the river of some of its freshwater flow.
The drainage projects allowed saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean to seep
farther upstream from Jupiter Inlet and changed vegetation along the river,
according to studies of the river.
DIVERSE VEGETATION
The vegetation along the river is diverse.
A survey published last year described the area along the river as
containing "some of the last pristine subtropical cypress swamps in
Southeast Florida." It described the floodplain swamp as a place with
"interesting diversity because of the overlap of temperate and
subtropical species."
Canoeing the river, you'll see red maple and cinnamon fern, which are
familiar plants in Central Florida, and coco plum, which is not.
Ferns are everywhere, with giant leather ferns towering over the smaller
species such as swamp fern.
SFWMD's Walker said the vegetation has changed since the 2004 hurricanes.
"We lost of a lot of canopy and the ground cover came alive," she
said.
On some of the tree trunks and branches above the river, the large epiphytic
bromeliads are hard to miss.
"This has also been a good year for bromeliads," Walker said.
DIVERSE WILDLIFE
While turtles and alligators laze along the river's bank, birds are busy
among the trees and undergrowth.
This is winter, so migratory songbirds like robins and yellow-rumped
warblers are everywhere. Catbirds call from somewhere unseen. A
red-shouldered hawk perches on a cypress branch, resting between hunts.
Farther on, the high-pitched, haunting call of a pileated woodpecker breaks
the silence, followed by the low-pitched tapping of its bill against a
bug-infested tree trunk.
The official bird list at Jonathan Dickinson State Park includes 140
species.
But some of the Loxahatchee River's biological diversity isn't readily
visible from a boat on the river's surface.
"One of the most interesting things is the diversity of fish,"
said Albrey Arrington, director of water resources for the Loxahatchee River
District, a special district created by the Florida Legislature in 1971 to
protect the river from pollution and overdrainage.
"The Loxahatchee is a coastal river, where you see snook, mullet and
flounder," he said, adding that, because the river is in a subtropical
area, it also has fish species from the Caribbean, such as mountain mullet.
The river contains unusual fish species such as the bigmouth sleeper and the
opossum pipefish, the latter of which has been studied for protection by
federal wildlife officials because of concerns about habitat loss and water
pollution.
There are oyster beds and very healthy seagrass beds near the river's mouth.
And manatees journey up portions of the river.
"It's a great intact system," Arrington said.
HISTORY AND PREHISTORY
People have been visiting the Loxahatchee River for millenia.
Archaeologists have found the remains of prehistoric Indian camps along
the river that date to 3000 B.C.
By the time Florida was on its way to becoming a state and recorded history
of the area had begun, the Seminoles were the dominant tribe.
The Battle of Loxahatchee occurred Jan. 24, 1838, near present-day Riverbend
Park. It was a decisive battle for American forces during the Second
Seminole War and opened the way to white settlement of the area beginning in
1842.
Settlers found the river a convenient transportation route in the early
days.
Logging of pine and cypress began in 1891 and loggers floated logs downriver
to sawmills.
Early settlers grew pineapples in the uplands not far from the river.
According to a local history of the river, a school boat plied the river in
the early 20th century, picking up the children of settlers along the river
and transporting them to a spot where they could walk to the local school.
Land near the river that had been a federal reservation since the Seminole
wars became World War II's Camp Murphy, where soldiers were trained in the
new technology called radar and where other troops practiced amphibious
landings.
After the war ended, the military base became Jonathan Dickinson State Park
in 1947, named in honor of the victim of a 1696 shipwreck on Jupiter Island.
Today the river is protected by other public land, much of it purchased by
the South Florida Water Management District.
The agency's Walker said the river has gone from being the commercial and
transportation route it was in earlier times to a popular recreation
destination.
"It's a very connecting element for all the residents," she said.
Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com
or 863-802-7535.
UF professor advises Bush on ethanol
Friday was a big day for alternative fuels at the University of Florida.Lonnie Ingram, a UF professor and expert on ethanol, spent the morning at the White House talking with President Bush about the potential of alternative fuels. On the same day, the university also received a $2.5 million state grant to develop a pilot plant designed to supply power and refrigeration with alternative or conventional fuels.
Ingram was among a small group who met with Bush Friday to discuss alternative fuel sources, including cellulosic ethanol, which can be derived from nonedible portions of plants like stems and leaves.
In Bush's most recent State of the Union Address, he set a 10-year goal of reducing gasoline consumption by 20 percent, and his guests at the White House told him that was achievable with the right resources, Ingram said.
"Bush began by telling us how committed he was to reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and he thought cellulosic ethanol would be a major part of reducing that dependence," said Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels.
Ingram, who has worked with ethanol for more than 20 years, was recommended for the meeting by officials with the U.S. Department of Energy. Ingram sat directly to the right of Bush during the meeting, and said he used that opportunity to tout Florida's potential to be a key player in the alternative fuel market.
"I told him Florida produces more biomass than any state in the country," Ingram said. "Florida could lead the country."
The meeting also was attended by Bush's senior presidential adviser Karl Rove and by Samuel W. Bodman, U.S. secretary of energy.
"I was very impressed with how knowledgable he was about the area," Ingram said of Bush. "And he had very specific questions about how to reduce the cost and how to (commercialize alternative fuels)."
After the morning meeting, Bush headed to the South Lawn of the White House to discuss his energy goals with reporters. He referred to guests like Ingram as "people on the leading edge of change," according to a White House transcript.
"We're going to be driving our cars using all kinds of different fuels other than gasoline," Bush said, "and using batteries that will be able to be recharged in vehicles that don't have to look like golf carts."
Back in Gainesville, UF officials celebrated news that the university will receive $2.5 million to build a pilot plant designed to provide power, refrigeration, air conditioning, heating and water.
The plant could run on conventional fuels or biofuels like ethanol.
Bill Lear, the project's principal investigator, said the power system will be small enough to fit in a closet but powerful enough to support the energy needs of an apartment complex or hospital.
The system that UF is developing would serve to supplement large power plants, Lear said.
It could be particularly useful in emergencies like hurricanes, because it wouldn't lose power with the rest of a grid, Lear said.
"You'd have many places that didn't lose power at all (in a hurricane)," he said. "So if you're in an affected area that lost power, you don't have to wait for ice to be trucked in from Arkansas."
Jack Stripling can be reached at 374-5064 or Jack.Stripling@gvillesun.com
Jackson County Floridan
According to a board staff report, the applicant, Zaxby's Restaurants in Valdosta, Ga., has requested to build a 3,185 square-foot restaurant and a 192 square-foot ice house facility.
The proposed site is an undeveloped 1.67-acre lot located at 4235 Lafayette St., next to Sherwin Williams.
Zaxby's is a fast-food chicken chain with about 350 locations through out the Southeast, including a location in Dothan, Ala.
It's menu includes buffalo wings, french fries, Texas toast, and chicken fingers; and serves Coca-Cola beverages.
In the staff report, the board confirmed that the developer's proposals are compliant with the Marianna Comprehensive Plan. The board also approved of a variance requested by the developer that calls for a larger driveway than the city's land development code normally allows.
Under the code, driveways are not supposed to exceed a width of 25 feet. The developer requested a variance "based on safety issues with patrons entering and exiting the site from Lafayette Street, primarily during peak hours."
The planning and zoning board will also address its propose ordinance No. 942.
In a memo from planning and zoning director Kay Dennis, the ordinance is relative to "ensuring necessary public facilities are available, concurrent with the impacts of development."
It means that, if transportation facilities are needed to serve a development that is creating new traffic, facilities will be "in place within three years after the local government approves a building permit or its functional equivalent."
As the memo read, the proposed transportation concurrency management system would only apply to non-residential development or residential developments of 10 or more units.
The memo referred to the Proportionate Fair-Share Program, which would "create public/private partnerships to mitigate impacts associated with development on transportation facilities."
The board's approval of the Zaxby's development order will allow the development proposal to go before Marianna City Commission, as will the proposed transportation concurrency ordinance.
The next commission meeting will be held Tuesday, March 6 at the city hall.
A draft of the management plan, released last week, sets goals of relocating 4,000 tortoises and protecting 25,000 acres of tortoise habitat every year through 2022. Builders would pay permit fees starting at $500, funding tortoise habitat acquisition and management.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission last year proposed declaring the gopher tortoise a threatened species, launching the development of the plan. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the plan in June.
But both tortoise advocates and developers say the plan has flaws that first must be addressed, from a delay in ending the burial policy to the high cost of relocation permits.
"Compliance with the regulations should be as cheap and easy as possible," said John Wooding, a biologist relocating tortoises for the Oakmont development on Parker Road south of SW 24th Avenue in Gainesville. "If you price things too high, you're encouraging people not to comply."
Alachua County's comprehensive plan already encourages developers to relocate tortoises, and Oakmont is an example of how the policy works. Wooding is helping move tortoises to a 46-acre fenced preserve in the nearly 1,000-home, 556-acre development.
He said the new system would have required the developers to pay $216,500 in permit fees - in addition to the cost of moving tortoises and the loss of money from setting aside the preserve.
The gopher tortoise is called a keystone species because its burrows are also used by 350 kinds of insects and animals. Because those burrows are located on uplands prized for development, they often lie in the path of construction.
Under the state's current system, developers pay a fee allowing them to bulldoze over burrows and consequently entomb gopher tortoises. The state has permitted nearly 80,000 tortoises to be buried since 1991, including at least 129 in Alachua County, according to wildlife commission figures.
Permit fees have paid for the acquisition of about 11,000 acres of existing tortoise habitat, including the nearly 1,300 Barry's Ranch property in southwest Alachua County. Gov. Charlie Crist' Cabinet approved that $10 million purchase last week.
The new system shifts away from protecting existing habitat as a way to mitigate the loss of tortoises. Instead, the system would mean tortoises get moved to habitats where they might thrive that currently lack the animals.
Ray Ashton, who operates a gopher tortoise preserve near Archer, said the plan is a good start but he favors a different approach. Instead of charging for permits, he said, the state should require developers to protect an amount of land equal to what they're developing.
He wants a system that gives tax incentives for protecting tortoise habitat and keeps conservation money in counties.
"Conservation begins at home," he said.
He also said the state should act in June to eliminate tortoise burials except in emergency circumstances. The plan wouldn't eliminate burials right away, phasing out the program during the next few years.
Because establishing places to relocate tortoises takes time, there will need to be some sort of transition period, said Joan Berish, biologist with the wildlife commission.
"You have to have places to put these tortoises," she said.
Ashton said there are about 185,000 acres of private tortoise preserves in the state, including the Nokuse Plantation in the Panhandle. The 53,000-acre plantation has shown tortoises can be successfully relocated when the property is properly managed and fenced to keep tortoises from wandering, said Matt Aresco, the plantation's conservation director.
He said both private preserves and public lands should be available for relocation.
"There's certainly going to be plenty of places to relocate tortoises," he said.
Under the plan, developers would pay fees for relocation permits as well as bear the cost of relocation. The permit fees would start at $500 for properties with 10 or fewer tortoises, but rise up to $9,200 per tortoise under certain circumstance.
Builders are concerned about the costs of the plan as well as the difficulties of relocation, said Steve Godley, a biologist representing the Florida Home Builders Association.
"It puts all the burden of tortoise conservation on the backs of current developers and not those who caused the problem to begin with," he said.
He said builders are also concerned about the precedent set for relocating protected species. Wildlife advocates also say relocation isn't the only answer to stopping the decline of the species.
"Gopher tortoises need to be protected where they live," said Lauren Macdonald, Florida director of Defenders of Wildlife.
Macdonald said she's still reviewing the plan, but supports relocation as an option only when existing habitat can't be protected.
Berish said the plan isn't set in stone. She said the public comment period, which runs until April 4, will provide ideas to change the plan before commissioners vote in June.
"That's why we're putting the plan out for public comment," she said. "We're trying to hone and refine these things."
A California development group got approval of a land-use change from Agriculture 2 to Residential this week from the Jackson County Planning Commission, over the objections of several residents pleading conservation and country life.
Chad Taylor said the proposed development acreage is "perhaps the largest most vulnerable spring basin in Jackson County next to Jackson Blue Spring Basin."
He and others asked the commission to deny the land-use change.
"If I had wanted to live in town, I would have built in town," said Rusty Lawrence, whose namesake road borders the property in question.
"I don't want a subdivision in my back yard," he said.
"The change would and could forever have an adverse impact on my quality of life," said John Turner, who said his property is within 600 feet of the land in question.
Turner submitted his comments in writing as did Chad Taylor, who spoke on behalf of himself and the Apalachicola Riverkeeper organization.
Taylor asked for the commission to wait on the land-use change request until after the county's Comprehensive Plan is updated, calling the plan "fatally flawed." He said the acreage up for development has sinkholes and caves and is located in a springshed.
However, commission chairman Mack Glass reminded the speakers that the approval was for a change of land use only, not for any specific development.
Asking to change the designation for four parcels to Residential was Marianna Real Estate Development LLC. The group is planning a subdivision and annexation into the City of Cottondale, with the city providing water and sewer.
The development would also have an 18-hole golf course and a "neighborhood commercial" strip.
The parcels are between the current nine-hole Marianna Oaks Golf Course and the Cottondale City Limits, about four miles west of Marianna. They are a total of 436 acres at the southeast corner of Lawrence Road and U.S. Highway 90, two miles from Cottondale.
The property is also adjacent to Moore Road, just south of U.S. 90.
The Cottondale City Commission is working to expand its utility service to the area and talking with other landowners about annexation. The city recently had second-reading and approval of annexation for a piece of private property and one of the city's parks.
Any land annexed must be contiguous to the municipality, and landowners must ask for or agree to annexation.
The county's Community Development director told the commission at its meeting that she found the Marianna Real Estate proposal "consistent and compatible" with the county's Comprehensive Plan. Director Joan Schairer said the application states that from 600 to 1,000 homes are planned.
The potential could be 1,744 homes, she said.
Schairer quoted the developer as being committed to getting water and sewer from Cottondale. But she said that without commitment from Cottondale as well, her staff could only support the development if it had its own central water and sewer systems.
Schairer said she had spoken with the state's Department of Community Affairs, and DCA may consider the development one of regional impact. A DRI requires more investigation.
A representative of the developer's engineering consultant, who is also working as an intermediary with the City of Cottondale, said the city plans to make a commitment. Melvin Engineering's Joseph Alday said the city is in the process of creating a structure for impact fees.
"Neither of us can move forward until that is done," said Alday, referring to the city and the developer.
The planning commission voted 3-1 to approve the land-use change, the no vote coming from Bruce Christmas.
Residents' remarks ...
Turner said the land has at least three caves, large amounts of exposed limestone, sinkholes and other depressions, and development would require bringing in dirt or bulldozing around low areas to build the land up.
"When this is done, a cave, a sinkhole or a natural limestone watercourse that allows water to flow to the underground aquifers will be covered up, and the natural flow of the water will be stopped," he said. "The underground water system in this area flows to the Spring Lake water basin."
Septic tanks would be detrimental, plus, he said, the property is home to gopher tortoise, turkey, red fox, deer and the large-bill redheaded woodpecker.
"I certainly don't want to see 1,400 units. I'd like you to walk the property, just look around and you'll see," Turner said.
Alday replied that extending the city water and sewer system to the proposed subdivision would be better than many individual septic tanks, and the development has to be large enough to warrant the extension.
"It might help end (urban) sprawl adjacent to Cottondale," he said.
Alday said the developer has had a biologist on site and would allow for wildlife and natural preservation through buffers. But planning commissioner Jan Poller questioned the developer's knowledge of the site "because there's nothing in your report about caves."
Alday said a thorough survey would be done if the land-use change was approved.
Taylor presented a topographic map along with his remarks and noted the development "is likely in the springshed for the Spring Lake cluster of springs" with "sinkholes, exposed limestone bluffs, caves and at least one very large surface feature known as a river trace."
He said that feature was indicative of an underground river and "all indicative of highly vulnerable groundwater natural resources."
Taylor said Spring Lake is a major tributary to Dry Creek and it to the Chipola River and it to the Apalachicola River and Bay, "and the decision you make ... is of regional significance."
He suggested a special review by the Northwest Florida Water Management District before a vote, "so you can appreciate the magnitude of your decision and get it right."
During the discussion, Christmas said he had grown up in the area in question and was not ready to vote.
"I'm more in the middle," he said.
When the question was called, he was the only one voting no.
Renar partly finishes project
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 23, 2007
STUART — Martin County commissioners won't have to decide Tuesday whether to buy back the southern part of the controversial Renar River Place development in Jensen Beach: They no longer have the option.
Renar Development received certificates of occupancy for all 32 units of the project's first phase, south of Pineapple Drive, on Wednesday afternoon, four days shy of its deadline to finish the entire project, according to County Building Official Larry Massing.
The company bought the land from the county in 2004 and has until Sunday to finish its two-phase development, which calls for 53 condominiums, a parking garage and an arts studio.
The county can buy back any part of the project not completed by the deadline for the original price of the land plus 10 percent, County Attorney Steve Fry has said.
The certificates of occupancy for the 32 condos take the first phase off the table. But that still leaves the project's second phase in question.
County commissioners are slated to discuss the project at their meeting Tuesday. The board had considered making a decision earlier this month but held off at a county planner's advice so they could see whether Renar completed the first phase before deciding whether to buy the second phase for about $488,000.
At least two of the commissioners said they're undecided about what to do: Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi said he wants to go out to the Renar property on Monday to assess the first phase before voting on what to do with the second phase, which has "all the public benefit" because of the proposed parking garage and studio.
Commissioner Lee Weberman said he would have a hard time killing the second phase of the project unless there's evidence of some procedural mistake in the development process. He wants to hear public comment.
Commissioner Sarah Heard, meanwhile, said it would be a "good deal" for the county to buy back the property for the second phase because "anything that we add to it adds to more traffic impacts." The first phase is too big and out of character with the surrounding area, Heard said, though she doesn't blame the developer.
"I think Renar River Place, to the best of their ability, tried to give the county what was asked of them," Heard said. "We really can't blame Renar."
Commissioners Susan Valliere and Doug Smith did not return calls Thursday.
Renar owner Renee Doss has argued that the county doesn't have the right to buy back any of the property because it has caused 817 days of delays, pushing the deadline for the second phase to 2009. The county attorney's office has repeatedly turned down Doss' request for deadline extensions.
Doss said she will let commissioners make the first move on the fate of the second phase.
"Right now the ball is in their court," she said. "I don't think the ball should be in their court, but I'll leave it there for now."
After saving 35,000 acres, county hopes to do more
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 23, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Two voter-approved bond measures aimed at protecting environmental and agricultural lands have resulted in the preservation of more than 35,000 acres in Palm Beach County, according to the county's Environmental Resources Management Department.
And while the bond money, totaling $250 million, ran out this month, there is hope that expansion of the state's Florida Forever Land Acquisition Program could enable land preservation to continue.
"It was a fantastic program," said Richard Walesky, the county department director, of the 1991 and 1999 voter-supported bond issues.
Walesky said increasing the Florida Forever program's funding from $300 million to a $1 billion a year, which some environmental groups are lobbying for, would allow the county to further pursue preservation.
"It's a substantial amount of land" that could still be bought for greenways, corridors and trail systems, he said.
The $150 million in bond money approved in 1999 included $100 million to buy and preserve land in south county's Agricultural Reserve.
The county bought 2,356 acres there and leases 1,782 acres to farmers; the other 574 acres are co-owned with the South Florida Water Management District.
Since the 1991 bond, the county received state matching funds totalling $65.6 million through various programs that helped with the land preservation.
Herb Zebuth, a resident of The Acreage who has served on county committees that recommended land purchases, said the county's environmental department was instrumental in producing a successful program.
But he admitted he was "disappointed" with efforts to preserve land in the Ag Reserve, saying high land prices and development pressures hindered attempts for more conservation.
"We were able to acquire much less land than we anticipated," Zebuth said.
EPA wants close look at Peacock wetland issues
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 23, 2007
WELLINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is behind the grand jury inquiry into whether Palm Beach Polo improperly filled in wetland in 2005, an indication of the seriousness of the investigation.
"When a case is either a repeated or flagrant violation, we forward it to the EPA," said John Studt, chief of the Army Corps of Engineers south permit branch, whose office grants approvals for any wetland work. "They have a number of enforcement tools that the corps doesn't."
Studt declined to specify what those tools were and referred further comment to the EPA, which did not return phone calls.
On Thursday, Palm Beach Polo downplayed the impaneling of a grand jury in Miami to investigate possible environmental violations on Wellington wetland the company once owned. A company representative said no one from Palm Beach Polo had been asked to appear in front of the grand jury and doubted criminal charges were being contemplated.
"We believe it's purely civil, and it appears to us this is just normal government oversight," said Craig Galle, attorney for Palm Beach Polo Holding Inc.'s president, Glenn F. Straub. "The consultants, experts, local, state, county governments and the current and past landowners will fully cooperate with the inquiry."
So far, the U.S. Attorney's Office has subpoenaed records from Palm Beach Polo and Stadium Jumping Inc., a producer of Wellington horse shows that owns a portion of the environmentally sensitive Peacock Pond. And Developer Mark Bellissimo, who owns the other half of Peacock Pond and other former Polo properties, said Thursday federal authorities requested records from him also.
According to a subpoena, federal authorities are focused on at least four properties that Palm Beach Polo once owned:
• Two parcels at the 79-acre Peacock Pond site,
• A 70-acre slab south of the show grounds called Parcel F
• And a 67-acre tract south of the Boys & Girls Club on South Shore Boulevard.
Government records suggest that Palm Beach Polo had filled in wetlands without permission or not complied with permit requirements for wetland restoration.
But Galle said, "Our multiple environmental experts and consultants, we believe, obtained the necessary approvals, and any required work, we believe, was done."
One of those consultants, he added, was C&N Environmental Consultants, Inc. A federal subpoena to Stadium Jumping earlier this month requested documents on that firm.
In 2000, Palm Beach Polo applied for a corps permit after it had already cleared 40 acres from the 67-acre tract near South Shore Boulevard, 30 of which became practice polo fields, according to a 2004 Wellington-commissioned report.
As a condition of that after-the-fact permit, however, Palm Beach Polo had to complete preservation and restoration work at wetlands at the nearby Parcel F. That work was not done, Wellington Community Services Director Paul Schofield said Wednesday.
The village's 2004 report stated that "the reforestation and construction of the shallow and deep-water marsh was to be completed by Jan, 31, 2002."
Later in 2005, Palm Beach Polo began clearing non-native, exotic plant species from Peacock Pond after receiving permission from the village. But the corps argued Palm Beach Polo had filled in the wetland there with mulch and debris and issued a cease and desist letter.
South Florida Water Management District spokesman Randy Smith said Thursday that his agency also took action against Palm Beach Polo for clearing Peacock Pond without prior approval.
Straub, in a 2005 letter to the Corps, defended the action, writing the removing of invasive plants, which often compete with local species, "benefitted the property and surrounding areas."
Plus, Palm Beach Polo also has contested in the past whether some of these lands were in fact water retention areas instead of wetland, meaning they would not require the corps oversight or stricter regulations.
As trees topple by the hundreds at the new Fallschase development and along Interstate 10, the city of Tallahassee this year is again rolling out its effort to help mitigate the destruction.
About 400 trees are available through the Adopt-A-Tree program, which provides residents with one tree each. The trees are planted, for free, by city crews.
This is the third year Summerbrooke resident Ben Goldberg has requested a tree.
"It makes for a nice neighborhood," he said. "The more people do this and the more the city helps, the better it is."
The available trees are: live oaks, southern magnolias and Carolina ashes.
But you'd better hurry: It's first come, first served, said Jim Martin, the foreman of horticultural operations for the city.
"The overall goal is canopy enhancement," Martin said. "With much of the development that we've had, often those properties are heavily forested."
To get your tree, make your request and place a wooden stake where you want it planted. Make sure it's on the city's right-of-way, within 15 feet of the street curb. Make sure not to mark a spot that's under a power line or within five feet of a sidewalk.
Goldberg said he has used his to separate his home from his neighbor's.
"It gives a little more privacy for each one of us," he said. "It's much appreciated."
To request a tree: fill in an online form at talgov.com/pubworks/adoptatree.cfm or call Jim Martin at 891-5676.
4,800-home Sunrise pushed back
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — County commissioners were scheduled Thursday to discuss whether to approve the proposed 4,800-home Sunrise as a development of regional impact (DRI) for the county’s eastside.
At the request of the developer, commissioners postponed debate until 9 a.m., Monday, May 7.
Attorney Joseph Tew, representing the property owners, said that should give the developer and planning staffers time to work out infrastructure issues and other concerns posed by the county planning department.
“We have no intentions of postponing again,” Tew said. “We’re under great pressure to get this going.”
A workshop is planned for sometime in April which would allow the public to voice any concerns. However, the project has drawn sparse attendance at previous hearings.
Because the subdivision would include more than 1,000 homes, it is deemed a DRI and subject to stricter local and state scrutiny.
County Commissioner Rose Rocco said she needs to know the economic and environmental impacts of the project before voting in May.
Sunrise is planned for 1,385 acres and is part of the planned development district along Interstate 75 and State Road 50. When built out, the community would include a motel, retail and office space, golf course and clubhouse.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.
From Rock Mine To Resort
Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Feb 23, 2007
A proposal to turn a lime-rock mine into a resort-style development in northwest Pasco County carries appealing possibilities, including the protection of 1,300 acres along the coast.
The owners of Sun West Mine, which has operated more than 50 years, envision a grand community with 2,900 residential units, a conference center, marina and shops. SunWest Harbourtowne also would dredge an existing canal to give boaters easier access to the Gulf of Mexico, something lacking in Pasco.
As part of the proposal, SunWest would give 1,300 acres to the Southwest Florida Water Management District in exchange for 90 acres of district property that would better fit its development. The offer would add to the 9,000 acres already owned by the water district and create an even larger wildlife corridor along the coast, home to Florida black bear.
A spokesman says the district is interested in the land swap, but cautions that more study is needed. Though the proposal seems a no-brainer, district land managers should ensure it meets criteria for protecting water resources.
Environmental concerns remain. A small amount of seagrass would have to be destroyed and about 40 acres of wetlands filled in. Given that the site is home to scrub jay, a bald eagle and manatees, it must be protected.
To their credit, the developers have met with citizens groups and have altered plans to minimize impacts.
Combined with Pasco's plans to redevelop a once-dormant park on 300 acres adjacent to the mine, SunWest Harbourtowne could give a much-needed economic boost to the Hudson area, energize Pasco tourism and turn a mining site into an attractive community.
Western residents cringe at prospects
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007
It's just too much. Too many proposed homes, too many cars, too much pollution, too much pressure from developers.
Residents on Wednesday night spoke out resoundingly against giving a green light to some 27,000 homes planned for central-western Palm Beach County. They also wanted to know how to make their voices better heard to get county commissioners to listen.
At a community meeting that County Commissioner Jess Santamaria hosted in the old Wellington Mall, County Engineer George Webb painted a grim traffic scenario, one that showed many roads would surpass their limit even if the 15,000-acre area is not built out to 27,000 homes.
"Traffic is coming, traffic is coming," Webb said.
The meeting wasn't meant to decide any issues, Santamaria said, but rather to update residents on the status of several proposed large-scale projects and the county's stalled growth blueprint, or sector plan.
To put it simply, the proposed projects - at Callery-Judge Grove, a GL Homes site and Mecca Farms - would put an estimated 65,000 residents on current farmland. That's double the population of Royal Palm Beach and more residents than The Acreage or Wellington, which neighbor the proposed projects.
"This type of development in this community is absurd," said Diane Queller of Royal Palm Beach.
The county last spring preliminarily approved the Callery-Judge project and in April is scheduled to take its final vote. GL Homes on Friday submitted its plans and will begin the review process.
"It's coming to a head," Webb said.
The meeting also was a chance for residents to digest traffic estimations released to county and city officials last month, and a chance for them to weigh in on whether the additional traffic is worth the benefits it might bring: tax revenue, shopping, affordable homes and jobs.
"It's a matter of understanding the trade-off," Webb has said.
Most residents said they didn't want the trade-off. The traffic is bad enough now, Fox Trail resident John Earley said. "Why can't you just say no?"
For one man, the trade-off makes sense.
"I'd like to see some attitude changes on how we do make this work," said Robert Tripp of The Acreage. "The negativity doesn't help."
Santamaria said westward development is inevitable, and "what we want is the right kind of development."
The declaration didn't sit well with some.
"I hate hearing that development is inevitable - it's not," Loxahatchee resident Alexandria Larson said. "The density and intensity is not necessary."
More important than traffic, though, is the strain the development would put on the environment and water resources, said Rosa Durando, chairwoman of the Audubon Society of the Everglades.
Santamaria said the next step is for residents to speak up at county commission meetings. Residents encouraged each other to show up too, stressing that if Callery-Judge wins final approval, the standard for denser development will have been set.
The county's traffic study will be available today at pbcgov.com.
Beach Wal-Mart comes despite local objections
Mediator's settlement calls for $300,000 to help cover city costs.
The settlement Wednesday would let the Wal-Mart be built in the 600 block of Atlantic Boulevard, even though the City Council rejected the development application in September after residents complained the store would ruin Neptune Beach's small-town atmosphere.
The retailer would have to meet 16 conditions, according to the settlement agreement that followed mediation hearings between the city and Wal-Mart.
The Neptune Beach City Council has set a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday to review the recommendations and vote on the proposal.
Part of the deal includes $300,000 from Wal-Mart to help cover the city's costs.
The city has spent about $100,000 on attorney fees and staff expenses defending a challenge from Wal-Mart. City Manager Jim Jarboe said if the city and retailer agree to that sum, the financial settlement would seem appropriate.
"The city had put out a bunch of money on different things in this process and that [settlement] would make the city whole," Jarboe said.
Special magistrate Carlos Alvarez also recommended Wal-Mart increase landscaping surrounding the Supercenter site where a vacant 148,000-square-foot building now stands. A Food Lion, Scotty's and clothing outlet store used to be there.
In addition, Alvarez recommended Wal-Mart change the aesthetics of the new building, which would be erected after the vacant structure is demolished. Wal-Mart has already submitted a proposed redesign that calls for pitched roofs and more earth tones on the building's exterior walls.
Wal-Mart corporate officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
drew.dixon@jacksonville.com, (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313
Gardens council race focused on building heights, growth
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 22, 2007
PALM BEACH GARDENS — The upcoming election centers on a man often perceived as the swing vote whenever a contentious development proposal goes for city council approval.
And in Palm Beach Gardens, the biggest controversy is over height.
seventh term.
David Levy, the other hand, faces a challenger after his first term. Vying for the Seat 4 post is criminal trial attorney Michael O'Rourke.
O'Rourke, 52, says his biggest concern is the height of buildings.
High-rise development projects approved during the last several years are setting a bad trend and ignore residents' objections, he says. If elected, O'Rourke says he wants to organize a group of residents to craft a new vision for the city.
Levy was the deciding vote in getting one of those high-rise projects approved.
He defends his support of Gardens Pointe and its two 12-story towers - which are now proposed to be converted into a six-story hotel - saying they deserved code waivers because The Landmark condo project adjacent to them was given the go-ahead to reach as high as 17 stories.
Last year the council voted 3-2 for Gardens Pointe - with Levy, Russo and Eric Jablin in favor of it - and had it not, Levy says the developer would have had a solid lawsuit against the city.
"We have to base our decisions on what is fair," Levy says. "I fretted over that. ... I could not find a reason to vote against it based on logic."
O'Rourke opposes height waivers. Levy favors them for commercial buildings when they allow developers the flexibility to build "better projects."
For Levy, the greatest potential threat for the city is western development.
O'Rourke says a vision plan needs to be set for the western area that looks at development in a "broad perspective" and not property by property.
Levy says to avoid suburban sprawl, development out west should bring in employers first. Homes should follow suit only as they're needed. That way workers and residents don't become long-distance commuters and clog roads.
Levy also proposes using the county-owned Mecca property, once eyed for The Scripps Research Institute, as wetlands. Developers could pay to protect these in exchange for the right to fill wetlands in sites closer to the coast, Levy says.
But development isn't the only issue. O'Rourke is also picking apart Levy's role on the council. He says Levy "doesn't look deeply enough into the issues." Instead, O'Rourke says the incumbent seems to vote alongside Russo and Jablin.
Levy concedes that he's been told, "You need to think on your own." But he says he already does.
As a geologist, he's been trained to make conclusions following the scientific method, he says. If residents think one side or another is swaying him, Levy says it's because he won't commit to a position until he hears all the facts.
And if someone still doesn't understand his decision, all he or she has to do is approach him.
"I think they need to sit down and talk ... ask me why I voted like that," Levy says.
Man's vision converts pasture to paradise
Last
month I had the opportunity to visit a very special place -- a tropical
jungle a man had created in his backyard, one plant at a time.
Started in 1970 by Gene Joyner, this tropical rainforest reproduction on
the outskirts of West Palm Beach was once a 2 1/2-acre cow pasture with just
two pine trees. Twisting maze-like paths fill this property, which is a
feast for the eyes and soul for the tropical plant lover.
As I walked down each well-groomed pathway, I could not wait to see what
was around the bend. Gorgeous Brazilian red cloak (megaskepasma
erythrochlamys) with huge fuchsia flowers were everywhere throughout the
garden. Unusual and rare plants were tucked away in nooks and crannies,
leaving no space empty, no space without vegetation. At first it was really
overwhelming. Where do I go first? Where does this path lead?
After realizing I would not get lost, I let myself wander and tried to
immerse myself in this wonderful tropical fantasyland.
I stopped and paused as a hummingbird flew overhead, and noticed how
beautiful the light was as it shined through a big elephant ear leaf. I
smelled the fragrance of citrus blossoms, and for a couple of hours I was
one with the jungle.
Now I know this sounds really crazy, but this is what happens when you
enter this garden. You are transported to another time and place. You can
forget all your troubles and pretend for a while that you are on some
tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
And if this was the garden creator's intention, then he has succeeded.
But the most impressive thing about this place was that it was one man's
vision and creation.
"I planted every plant in this garden," Joyner said as we
walked over to some of his Brazilian red cloak plants that I had been
drooling over earlier.
I felt lucky to have been able to meet the man responsible for this
horticultural masterpiece and he kindly gave me some cuttings from this
beautiful plant.
Joyner, who has been a horticultural agent for Palm Beach County for the
last 34 years, is also an expert on tropical fruit trees, of which he has
160 varieties -- including 92 varieties of citrus.
The garden also has quite a history. More than 500 television programs
have been filmed there, and the gardens have been written about in many
magazines, including Southern Living and Florida Gardening. A certified
butterfly sanctuary and wildlife habitat, this tropical garden is home to
more than 2,000 varieties of plants, including orchids, bromeliads, palms,
ferns and many tropicals we grow here as houseplants.
Joyner also believes in the power of mulch and replenishes it weekly,
providing the garden with a very thick layer of mulch, and no weeds
anywhere.
Since this is a private nonprofit garden, visitors are welcome by
appointment only, from 1 to 5 p.m. the second Saturday of the month. Guided
tours are given at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for
ages 6 through 11, and free for ages under 6. To make an appointment, call
weekdays, (561) 242-1986.
To think that one man can make such an impact, such a lasting
contribution to our world is an inspiration. While we may not have a plot of
land that large, we can still influence and change the little plot of land
we do have. We can still make a difference for generations after we are
gone. We can still make our property a place where we can go and escape,
even if just for a while.
-- Chris Weigl is a graduate of the University of Florida master
gardener program. She has been gardening in Flagler County for 24 years and
is the owner of a gardening service in Flagler Beach.
Port Orange project to require wetlands trade
PORT ORANGE -- Developers foresee displacing
a sizable expanse of wetlands for a major shopping complex proposed for the
city's west side.
CBL & Associates Properties aims to buy 20 credits from a wetland
mitigation bank -- totaling $750,000 -- to offset the wetlands the shopping
center would supplant on 73 acres east of Williamson Boulevard and north of
Dunlawton Avenue, city officials said.
In Port Orange, developers often buy a portion of a wetland bank -- a
5,000-acre well field -- when their projects destroy wetlands.
CBL's early plans call for the "Pavilion at Port Orange" to
have a 75,000-square-foot anchor store, a 14-screen movie theater, a variety
of shops and eateries, a central plaza and a waterside seating area. The
site design is known as a "lifestyle center," an industry term for
an open-air, village-style complex.
The complex would cover 550,000 square feet, with the possibility of
300,000 square feet being added later. Tennessee-based CBL owns the Volusia
Mall and also plans to build a 240,000-square-foot shopping complex in Palm
Coast.
County, city buying place to protect, enjoy nature
BUNNELL -- It won't be on the grand scale of Princess Place or Linear Park, but about 60 acres that Palm Coast and Flagler County are purchasing at Big Mulberry Branch will provide residents with a new place to enjoy nature, officials said.
The main purpose of the purchase, however, is to protect wetlands and keep natural drainage in place.
"This is a natural watershed for the area," said Palm Coast Recreation and Parks Director John Jackson. "It's critical that it be maintained. That's why the county cooperated with the city in coming up with the funding to purchase this land."
The land is a couple of miles north of Palm Coast Parkway between Old Kings Road and Palm Harbor Parkway, east of Interstate 95. Though about 50 acres of the 60-acre parcel are wetlands, the owner several years ago platted 37 lots to be developed.
Jackson said the lots still could be developed, but builders would have to fill in some wetlands. If they did, there would be numerous problems because water runoff from a large area, including land west of the interstate, would have nowhere to go, he said.
County commissioners this month agreed to pay half the $2.4 million price with money set aside for the purchase of environmentally sensitive land. City and county officials expect to recoup $820,000 from the Florida Forever Florida Communities Trust.
Palm Coast is handling the grant application and will develop and maintain the park. If the application is successful, the city will get $660,000, while the county will receive $420,000.
Commissioner Jim O'Connell said he reluctantly approved the purchase, even though he thought the grant money should be split equally between the city and county. He said the money is being spent to purchase the land, not develop it, and the county should be reimbursed equally.
Jackson said the property is "a long, skinny piece" of land that is heavily wooded. The only development planned is a trail that will connect paths along Old Kings Road and Palm Harbor Parkway.
He said the city probably will put in benches, but the land's main use will be as a nature trail.
"There is a lot of wildlife," Jackson said. "We have wildlife all over Flagler County. You would see a lot of critters out there. It's a nice walk, and a way to connect the two roads."
But keeping the natural watershed is the main reason for the purchase.
"This is really, truly an environmentally sensitive land," Jackson said.
State may oversee X-way deals
Sen. Daniel Webster says his bill would protect public trust, cash
Christopher ShermanSentinel Staff Writer
February 22, 2007
A state panel could monitor the local toll-road authority's budget, land acquisition, bond management and other performance if a bill filed by a local legislator wins approval this year in Tallahassee.
Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, has proposed that the Florida Transportation Commission expand its oversight to include the state's nine expressway authorities, including the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority. It would also cover Central Florida's Lynx transit agency and the state's three other regional transportation authorities.
"The state has a responsibility to ensure that public dollars and the public trust are protected," Webster said after filing the bill.
The Florida Transportation Commission, made up of nine members appointed by the governor, was created in 1987 to provide accountability for the Florida Department of Transportation.
The local toll-road authority is undergoing a full audit by the Orange County comptroller as well as a criminal investigation by the Orange-Osceola State Attorney.
The agency's spending practices have been under fire since it was shown that former chairman Allan Keen initiated payments to toll foe Doug Guetzloe's consulting business without the knowledge of other board members.
Webster -- for whom the authority's western toll road is named -- hopes oversight by the Florida Transportation Commission would enhance and solidify whatever findings emerge from the investigations.
Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, who took over as chairman after Keen's resignation in January, said on first blush Webster's idea sounded good.
"The more oversight the better," Crotty said.
"I will soon propose reforms for an increase in transparency, so an increase in oversight seems appropriate."
Webster also considered the idea of putting the expressway authority under Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, but he decided that was too drastic.
"This infrastructure belongs to citizens in Orange County -- they've paid most of the bill on it," Webster said.
If the expressway authority were rolled into the Turnpike Enterprise "it would become a cash cow to other projects remote from Orange County."
Scrutiny of the local expressway authority was not the only impetus for the bill.
Webster also noted problems at the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which was cited by the state auditor general last year for hiring contract lobbyists and lacking sufficient cost controls.
Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, has filed a bill that would switch the expressway-board appointments from the governor to various local governments for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority.
Some critics of the Orange County agency have proposed having more board members who are elected officials rather than political appointees, but no legislation has been filed to do that.
The Florida Transportation Commission is an independent body. It would not get involved in the day-to-day decisions or management of the expressway authority. The commissioners would not have a say on individual road projects or contracts.
However, it could review the authority's performance as often as quarterly and monitor some of the issues being scrutinized, such as land-acquisition guidelines and management of revenue and bond proceeds.
The commission's staff of four would have to be increased to handle the additional responsibility, but it is already performing many of the tasks Webster wants it to do for the expressway authorities, said Executive Director Sally Patrenos.
The commission has not met since Webster filed his bill, so it has not taken a position.
But Patrenos said there does seem to be a push for more oversight because of problems with expressway authorities around the state.
"The common thread is there is a lack of accountability," Patrenos said.
Christopher Sherman can be reached at csherman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6361.
DeLand community to get shopping center
A mix of offices, shops and restaurants should open in the Victoria Park development by fall.
Jerry W. JacksonSentinel Staff Writer
February 22, 2007
Despite the home-building slowdown, St. Joe Co. is moving ahead with a small retail center for its Victoria Park master-planned community in DeLand.
Trycon Inc., a Central Florida-based mixed-use specialist, will develop and manage the 35,600-square-foot center in the community's Victoria Commons neighborhood, company representatives said Wednesday.
Jeff Gersh, Victoria Park's vice president and project manager, said Trycon's years of experience in retail and mixed-use development throughout Central Florida was a deciding factor in the selection process.
"This really makes the community a destination," Gersh said, and indicates that Victoria Park, which has closed on about 1,000 homes and has 2,000 to 3,000 residents, is now large enough to support retail development. It is permitted for 4,200 homes altogether.
The retail center will consist of five buildings, including 30,000 square feet of office, retail and dining space and a 5,000-square-foot space for a proposed bank.
Trycon, based in Lake Mary, will handle construction and leasing, and has begun negotiating with potential tenants. Site work for the Volusia County project also has started.
"We are signing leases," said Spencer Phelps, Trycon senior vice president. "We should start construction about June 1, on the buildings, and turn over the stores to the tenants in October or November. So they will get in some holiday shopping."
Phelps said he could not identify any of the tenants or describe the businesses just yet because of ongoing negotiations with other potential tenants.
Gersh said the 35,600-square-foot center is "certainly not a power center" with hundreds of thousands of square feet, but is designed on "a neighborhood scale, to blend right in with the community."
He said the center uses about half the space set aside for retail along the entrance on Orange Camp Road. The company has no timetable for developing the other half of the retail land, Gersh said.
Trycon has handled numerous shopping center and retail projects since the 1980s, including Alafaya Village and The Shoppes at Andover in Orlando, Hancock Village in Clermont, and St. Augustine Centre, a 300-acre development of regional impact in St. Augustine.
Other projects in the pipeline include three strip centers: a second phase for the Shoppes at Andover, Hancock Commons in Clermont, and Shoppes at Spring Valley, also in Clermont.
"This fits into the core of what we like to do," Phelps said of the St. Joe retail project. "Our focus right now is 20,000 to 40,000 square feet."
Jerry W. Jackson can be reached at jwjackson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5721.
Builders cancel, put plans on hold
Some developers hope to wait out the real estate market's downturn
Ward doubled-down, pitching two more projects far more ambitious than the first, with some 3,000-square-foot units carrying $1.5 million price tags.
Today, both are at a standstill.
"We'll probably be back this time next year with a new project," said Ward, 49. "We think the world will be a little bit better then."
It's a familiar story these days, when many developers have either slowed their pace or abandoned development plans to allow the market to regain steam. Building and planning officials across the region confirm they're seeing growing numbers of plans like Ward's being shelved or delayed.
The only measure of the slackening pace is the decline in building permits across the region. Last May, for example, Charlotte County permitted 472 single-family homes worth $97.3 million. Last month, it permitted a about a third as many, 165 worth $35.1 million. In the same period, Sarasota County permits fell from 146 to 38. Manatee County's also dropped, from 269 to 225.
"People are not in quite the hurry-up-and-get-it-done mode," said Manatee County's interim planning director, Joaquin Servia.
In Charlotte County, about a half-dozen projects have either expired or sought time extensions, according to Development Review Committee Coordinator Buddy Brazelton. "It's higher than usual," said Brazelton, adding that during the real estate boom there were no expirations or extensions.
Certainly, some of the region's largest developments are moving forward. In North Manatee, developers continue to push the 1,484-home Arbor Park and 1,999-home Cone Ranch. In North Port, Pulte Homes continues to build its 1,584-unit Sarasota National. Thomas Ranch developers continue to wrangle with planners over phases of what may one day be the 15,000-home West Villages.
But examples of the slowdown abound. In the undeveloped scrublands of north Venice -- where city leaders expect more than 9,000 homes to come in the next decade -- major projects such as J&J Homes Bella Venetia and Villa Paradiso, Standard Pacific Homes of Southwest Florida's 155-acre residential project, are slowing. After considering the market, project managers have opted to move forward only on "phase 1A," which represents about a 10th of the development.
"We're waiting the market out," said Mike Shannon, vice president of land development for Standard Pacific Homes of Southwest Florida.
Farther south in Venice, plans for Charleston Place, a 95-home community billed as a high-end tribute to the low-country architecture of historic South Carolina, recently were discarded. Those involved in the deal say they are looking to sell the land.
The number of stalled projects has prompted Venice planners to recently send out a round of letters to developers who have gone quiet, asking if their projects are still a go. Meanwhile, the city has left one vacancy in the department unfilled and assigned extra responsibilities to two staffers, one registering business licenses and another permitting special events.
In Sarasota, Kolter Communities recently announced that development of the Grande Sarasotan, a $210 million, 17-story luxury residential tower, is on "hiatus." Another tower planned for 1740 Main Street will not be built. And the Premier at Main Plaza on property behind the movie theater on Main has failed to reach fruition. The changes have affected the pace of work at the city's planning office.
"It was busy all the time," administrative coordinator Linda Strange said of the recent boom years. "I couldn't have had this phone conversation."
For Ward, who named his two Venice projects -- Kymberly's Court and Kelley's Way -- after his daughters, the market shift has pinned him between property owners who refuse to sell and a bank that's reluctant to loan him money.
Since the market downturn, appraisals of the six properties that make up the 1.5-acre Kelley's Way site have come in about 25 percent below what the sellers are asking, Ward said. The bank refuses to lend any more than the appraisal.
"I'm trying to say this nicely: We're not proceeding forward based on what some of the sellers think they should be getting," Ward said. "Was that nice enough?"
Ward said he intends to redesign Kelley's Way as a smaller building with smaller units, each with a more modest price tag.
Meanwhile, the city's approval of a special exception to Ward's plans for Kymberly's Court across the street -- 3,000-square-foot condos priced at up to $1.5 million -- expired late last year.
The three-quarter-acre site, which Ward bought in November 2005 for $1.9 million, sits empty and unused.
Ward has hired a broker to help find someone to either partner with him or buy both projects entirely. He's asking $7.5 million.
Until then, he will continue to pay about $150,000 annually in taxes and insurance on the Kymberly's Court land and negotiate with the landowners across the street.
"We're still working on it," Ward said. "I can't tell you how it's going to end because we're still in conversations, but obviously, I'm not going to sit here and overpay for property because that's not what I'm in the business of doing."
Many developers remain confident and predict a turnaround timed so as to catch the tidal wave of baby boomers expected to retire to Florida.
"There will come a point in time when they'll believe they can see the turnaround in the market," said Jeff Boone, a leading land use attorney based in Venice. "And that's when some of the projects will pick back up and get into the development stage: in order to time the units being available for when the market turns around."
Of his own hassles, Ward speaks gratefully, saying they forced him to do what so many of his competitors have done and slow down.
"If I decided to build a year ago, I'd be in trouble," Ward said. "I'm grateful for my dumb luck."_____
Staff writers Kevin McQuaid and Chris O'Donnell contributed to this report
Once-a-week watering may stay
ASJYLYN LODERPublished February 22, 2007
BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County Commission is planning the first steps toward permanent once-a-week watering.
The hope is to save water and counter the confusion brought on by changing restrictions based on conditions, said Commissioner Diane Rowden, who in 2001 opposed permanent once-a-week strictures.
Her change of heart followed complaints from irritated homeowners after the recent imposition of once-a-week watering by the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The County Commission will consider whether to pursue once-a-week watering at its Tuesday meeting.
The new restrictions went into place in January, prompted by lower than average rainfall. It was the first time since 2000 that Swiftmud imposed such restrictions.
Before that, county residents outside of Brooksville could water twice a week. Brooksville residents could water only once a week.
Hernando County Utilities Department sent out literature detailing the new restrictions, and the County Commission also has worked to publicize the change.
Residents can be fined for watering on the wrong day or at the wrong time. So far, Hernando County Code Enforcement has been tolerant of homeowners facing a confusing transition.
Many offenders have received informational literature instead of fines, said Frank McDowell, director of code enforcement. But McDowell plans to step up enforcement in March, meaning homeowners could face fines for errant soaking.
Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127
The four commission members present voted 3-1 to deny a request from Hana Property Development Inc., to change a land-use designation so they could erect more apartment buildings.
The development group built apartments on College Street a couple of years ago over neighbors' objections, and the neighbors told the planning commission Tuesday they certainly did not want more.
The county's Department of Community Development did not recommend approval because the development would have been inconsistent with existing use. Going along with that recommendation and voting against the land-use change were Mack Glass, Jan Poller and Bruce Christmas,
Voting for the change was Clyde Crutchfield. The three other commission members were absent.
The property that would have held more apartments was just one acre, but surrounded by single-family dwellings. The neighbors said they could not do anything about the college parking lots across the street, which by nature aren't the nicest of views, but they could try to stop the building of more multiple-unit dwellings.
The argument centered on the definition of "Mixed Use Urban Transitional," which was the land-use designation requested. Two of the Hana group claimed the apartments were in line with that classification, but one of the commission members noted that one acre isn't much of a transition from the existing land-use of Residential.
Adding to the question was the fact that the Marianna city limit is in the midst of the neighborhood. The first apartments were originally to go on unincorporated county land, but in order to get utility service from Marianna the property had to be annexed.
It's possible that the developers will ask the city for this acre to be annexed. The city limit is just north of Ninth Avenue and along the east side of College Street.*
One who lives three blocks away, Chad Taylor, said apartments were incompatible. He suggested, "You need a session with the college, the city and the county sitting down to address growth ... to avoid doing it piecemeal."
Jay Mitchell said he still had the petition signed by neighbors against the first apartments, and though the petition was old and a few residents had moved, "It represents the views of the people."
He said the signatures were from residents who lived from Fish Hatchery Road to the north to Kelson Avenue to the south.*
Chuck Lockey, who lives on River Forest Road, spoke of "old established homes" in the area and said he'd "seen the trash and heard the noise" coming from the apartments, backing up a statement Mitchell made.
One of the developers, Joseph Alday, said not considering the apartments as transitional "just baffles me." He said the development would fit the description of Mixed Use Urban Transitional as described in the county's Comprehensive Plan.
He spoke of how more Chipola College students wanted to live in apartments nearby, especially with the college now offering bachelor's degrees.
"We got 35 phone calls for one vacancy," he said. He said he and his three partners "bought the land because we knew of its potential."
However, Poller challenged Alday on plans to use the land in a way other than its designation.
"Multi-family is not compatible. There's single family on either side and all around," she said.
Christmas then began to withdraw his motion to table the issue, intending to replace it with a motion to deny the change. However, the neighbors in the audience were so on edge, they thought he was moving to table it again and shouted "No!"
Christmas launched into a lecture on being civil, especially to one volunteering his time as planning commissioners do. He then completed his motion to deny
Local projects receive SWIFTMUD grants
By TONY HOLTwholt@hernandotoday.com
SPRING HILL — Two Hernando County projects each received a $5,000 grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWIFT MUD).
The community education grants are designed to fund projects that provide communities with the opportunity to learn about water resources. In turn, these communities would be more motivated to become actively involved in water protection.
The Nature Coast Botanical Gardens/Spring Hill Garden Club will receive $5,000 to remove “invasive plants” from botanical gardens and replace them with native plants. Local residents would help replace the plants during the designated “remove and replant” days.
After participating, local homeowners will be able to apply what they have learned to their own yards and gardens. The project has the potential to reach 100,000 people, according to SWIFTMUD.
The Hernando County Groundwater Guardians, the second local recipient, will use the grant money to hold a one-day workshop to educate residents on the impact of storm water. The workshop is designed to show people that storm water is “linked to water quality, natural systems and floodplain management and to illustrate how developments and their storm water treatment have a lasting impact on water resources,” according to a SWIFTMUD media release.
Approximately 135 people are expected to attend.
This year, SWIFTMUD awarded 49 grants in the district for a total of $171, 444. It was the 10th year the grants have been available. The money is funded by the district’s basin boards.
The district’s 2008 grant program will begin its application process in June if funding is approved. For a 2008 application, call 800-423-1476, or 796-7211, Ext. 4757.
Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283.
The Grove To Break Ground March 8
Published: Feb 22, 2007
WESLEY CHAPEL - The developer of The Grove at Wesley Chapel plans to break ground formally on the area's first major shopping venue next month.
Pittsburgh-based Echo Real Estate Development says it plans to break ground on the 800,000-square-foot shopping center in a ceremony set for 10 a.m. March 8. The plaza will sit north of County Road 54 between Oakley Boulevard and Interstate 75.
Echo's project won county approval in late January. At the time, President Bill Krahe planned to break ground earlier this month but had to delay those plans to address last-minute concerns raised by county officials.
Also this week, Echo announced it has secured $115 million to build the open-air plaza. About half the plaza's space is leased, the developer said this week.
The first phase of The Grove is expected to open by fall, Krahe told county officials in January.
Echo has announced a variety of tenants, including Best Buy, PetSmart, and a 16-screen multiplex by Cobb Theatres.
In the race for Pasco pocketbooks, The Grove is extending its lead over competitors: the Shops at Wiregrass complex at State Road 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and Cypress Creek Town Center at S.R. 56 and I-75.
The Shops at Wiregrass is under review by county officials but still must wait for final approval of the overall Wiregrass Ranch development, of which it's an element.
Cypress Creek Town Center recently reached an agreement with neighbors who sued to force design changes in the project. It remains under review by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
More stores coming to Osowaw and U.S. 19
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
SPRING HILL — The intersection of U.S. 19 and Osowaw Boulevard is already home to a Wal-Mart Supercenter, CVS Pharmacy, Blockbuster, Great Clips and other smaller stores.
That hot retail corner is about to become even hotter.
County commissioners at last week’s Land Use Hearing voted 5-0 to approve development of a 10,880-square-foot retail strip center at that intersection’s southwest corner, on a Wal-Mart outparcel.
Obviously, traffic congestion was one of commissioners’ big concerns. However, the developer agreed that the impact should be minimal because the only way shoppers will be able to get in and out of the new retail center is from an existing frontage road to the west that extends from Wendy Court to Osowaw Boulevard.
Also, the developer will install a right-turn only lane off Osowaw Boulevard to allow motorists to get on U.S. 19.
County Engineer Charles Mixson is also requiring sidewalks along U.S. 19 for people to walk to the stores.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290
Wheels are in motion for rail
trails
State nears deal to buy 52
miles of old tracks for hiking, biking
BY JIM WAYMER
FLORIDA TODAY
More than 50 miles of abandoned industrial rail line running through Brevard and two other counties could be converted into recreational trails linking downtown Titusville to Enterprise, Edgewater and Deltona under a state plan expected to move forward this summer.
In what would be its largest single trail buy ever, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection likely will secure 52 miles of unused rail corridor from Florida East Coast Railway in the next few months and lease it to Brevard, Volusia and Orange counties.
Each county would then be responsible for building and maintaining the biking, hiking and horse-riding trails.
DEP expects to bring the deal before Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet by June.
The project is part of a grander vision of trails countywide and a national initiative called the East Coast Greenway, which includes 3,000 miles of trails from Maine to Key West.
"I'm all for it. That would be
great," said Mary Everett, standing where part of Brevard's 11-mile
portion of the trail would pass her home at Folsom Road and Broadway Avenue in
Mims.
While questions linger about the trail's long-term cost to build, police and maintain, county officials say those won't derail the plan.
"You either like them or you don't," Brevard Commissioner Truman Scarborough said of stretches that would run through his district. He sees them as ideal ways to link north Brevard's strengths. "We've got wildlife. We've got water. We've got historical downtown."
But what Brevard doesn't have is firm cost estimates and specific local funding sources.
Cost estimates
The trail could cost the county $2.75 million to $5.5 million to build, or $250,000 to $500,000 per mile, according to the Brevard Metropolitan Planning Organization. The organization, which plans regional transportation projects, has $675,000 set aside to build three or four trailheads next year for this project.
The total three-county price could approach $26 million.
Nationally, trails run an average of $6,500 per mile per year to maintain, said Barbara Meyer, who coordinates trails projects for Brevard MPO. That would add up to about $71,500 of annual upkeep for Brevard's 11-mile leg. The estimate includes maintaining ditches, weed control, mowing shoulders and other routine maintenance.
The trail would likely be covered in asphalt or a special concrete or rubberized surface that lets water seep through. A dirt horse trail path could run parallel. Black granite plaques along the way would tell the story of the old FEC railroad.
The main hub of Brevard's portion would be the 300-acre Chain of Lakes complex in Titusville.
County officials have been negotiating to buy 11 acres along U.S. 1, part of which would be used to create the trailhead near Dairy Road.
The trail could link to Blue Springs and other popular springs in Volusia County and to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge via old rail bridges.
"Ours is just a plan. We don't have the detail," said Dorn Whitmore, refuge ranger at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. "We would not be bulldozing out a path for this."
Property boost
Real estate experts say such large investments in trails pay off.
In a 2002 survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and National Association of Home Builders, buyers ranked trails the second most important amenity among a list of 18 choices. A 1998 study of Mountain Bay Trail in Wisconsin found lots next to the trail sold for 9 percent more on average, and faster, than similar lots farther from the trail.
"People are tired of the standard subdivision," said Bob Willmarth, president of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors. "Any time you can break that up and offer a golf course, greenway or nature preserves, that makes it more desirable."
And proper monitoring can keep the trails safe.
"I don't think it's something that significant that we would have to change budget or personnel allocation," said Andrew Walters, spokesman for Brevard County Sheriff's Office. "It's just going to be another area where they're going to focus their directed patrols. By all means, we would monitor it."
Chemical element
Jim Wood, assistant director of DEP's greenways and trails program, anticipates no major pollution along the abandoned industrial rail, which had been sprayed for years with arsenic to kill weeds off the rail.
"Arsenic is usually the obvious and most common thing we have to deal with," Wood said. Asphalt pavement usually caps the toxic chemical element safely in the soil, he said. "As long as the soil is not being turned up and becoming airborne, everything's fine. We wouldn't sign off on a project that would be a risk to the public."
Everett, the Mims resident, is just glad to see the corridor evolve into something useful, having watched rail torn out for so long.
"They were working on that for what seemed like forever," she said.
Sallie Haynes of Grant can live with the cost, as long as she gets to ride her horse through rural areas.
"I personally would rather pay taxes on that than on some of the other things I don't have a choice," she said.
Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.
North Port, tree group meet today at City Hall
The two groups will discuss proposed changes drafted by the committee to the city's tree ordinance. The North Port Contractors Association will also give a 30-minute presentation.
For years, residents and builders have clashed over tree clearing and preservation. In an attempt to resolve those issues, the city created a committee nearly a year ago with members from the building industry and residents. But shortly after the board formed, the building industry representatives resigned.
The workshop begins at 6 p.m. in the commission chambers at City Hall.
Even though Arbor Day isn't until April, the city is paying some special attention to its tree count.
Starting next week, a company will begin counting trees on public rights of way along public streets and on public property, including parks, cemeteries and municipal buildings.
Live oaks, palms, crepe myrtle, magnolias and elms-more than 22,000 trees will be assessed and documented for a federally funded program that was created after the 2004 hurricanes destroyed urban forests in Florida.
"When the hurricanes came through in 2004, we didn't know the state of our public trees," Andy Palmer, planner with the Winter Haven division of leisure services said.
The total cost of the grant project is $233,000. It is primarily funded through the Emergency Hurricane Supplemental Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program, which will pay $172,420. The city is putting up $60,580.
 |
The first part of the project is the tree assessment, which is expected to last two to four months.
A team of arborists will be equipped with backpacks and a palm pilot to mark the tree information through a Global Positioning Unit.
First, arborists will map the location of each tree. They'll look at each tree individually, documenting its species, measuring the tree size and looking at the stem and condition of the tree.
Then, they'll measure the health of the tree, grading it from dead to excellent.
After the field work is completed, the data will be analyzed and results will be used in the creation for a multi-year Urban Forest Management Plan. This plan is meant for prioritizing tree maintenance and planting recommendations.
"We're really excited about the project because it give us a comprehensive assessment of our urban forest," Palmer said. "It's a high priority for us."
jessica.levco@newschief.com
City may rule on plans for golf path
Members of a Mount Dora subdivision don't want a future complex nearby to have access.
Martin E. ComasSentinel Staff Writer
February 22, 2007
MOUNT DORA -- A controversial plan to build a golf-cart path linking two isolated subdivisions could end up being decided by City Council members after all.
That pleases Jack Riley, a decade-long resident of The Country Club of Mount Dora. Like most of his neighbors, Riley opposes the proposed paved path connecting his golf-course community with the Lakes of Mount Dora, a 950-home, gated retirement community under construction just to the north.
"I find that very encouraging," he said of the council's possible discussion of the issue. "Now we just have to wait and see."
Before a packed room of mostly Country Club residents, council members Tuesday decided to hold off discussing plans for the cart path. That's because city planning officials said permits and the final plans for the Lakes of Mount Dora have been submitted and will come before the board in the coming weeks.
At that time, City Council members could decide whether the path can be constructed.
Also Tuesday, Assistant City Attorney Drew Smith gave council members his opinion: A golf-cart path can be considered an "accessory" to the Country Club's golf course. Therefore, the path would not violate the approved plans for The Country Club of Mount Dora.
"After reviewing the city's documents, I do not believe the addition of a new golf-cart path constitutes a material change to the PUD [planned urban development for The Country Club of Mount Dora]," he said.
However, the decision on whether the path can be built between the two developments rests with the City Council, Smith said.
Council members last month asked City Attorney Cliff Shepard to study the plans for both developments and determine whether a golf-cart path would violate those approved plans.
Riley and his neighbors argue that a path -- less than a half-mile long -- will mean more golf carts driving the streets of The Country Club of Mount Dora, just off U.S. Highway 441, creating an unsafe environment for residents and golfers.
Opponents also say the path will allow strangers to wander into their neighborhood. Others say that a golf-cart path gives Lakes of Mount Dora residents the unique privilege The Country Club of Mount Dora residents have -- access to the public golf course via their own golf carts.
But Larry Dunn, director of land acquisition, planning and development for Pringle Development in Eustis, the Lakes of Mount Dora's builder, dismissed those claims.
He said the path will have a stop sign and signals warning golfers about oncoming cart traffic. It will have a gate that can be opened only by golf-course members, and that will help the course remain profitable, Dunn said.
"We have good people that are buying homes [in the Lakes of Mount Dora], that will be good neighbors," Dunn said. "They won't interfere with the lifestyle of those living in The Country Club of Mount Dora, and hopefully they'll be good friends."
Council members on Wednesday shied away from commenting on the proposed path until they know all the details.
"I'd like to see what our city staff and planning and zoning say before I come to a decision," council member Robert Thielhelm said.
However, Thielhelm said he was concerned about having a gated path that allows residents from only one community through.
"That doesn't bode well for having a unified, cohesive community," he said.
Martin E. Comas can be reached at mcomas@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5927.
Rules constrict ability to own certain snakes
She's a big girl. She lays her head on your shoulder, gives you a hug and sighs.She flicks you with her tongue. And hisses.
You start to get why people own Burmese pythons.
The 13-foot, 60-pound snake lives at Oldsmar's Herp Hobby Shop. Like most giant constrictors, she's sluggish unless, of course, there's a small furry critter before her.
But now, Burmese pythons, four other constrictor species and one species of lizard are at the center of a debate between state officials and snake enthusiasts.
New rules, which take effect Jan. 1, 2008, categorize the animals as ''reptiles of concern.''
Now, owners of the pets must fill out a questionnaire, meet stricter caging requirements previously reserved for venomous reptiles and identify their reptiles with a photograph or implanted microchip.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say the rules will increase public safety, promote better pet care and protect Florida's wildlife and ecology from invasion by non-native species.
Snake lovers call the rules discriminatory and say they set a precedent for further regulation.
Microchip a snake?
Hillsborough Animal Services director Bill Armstrong pushed for the new rules after he realized wild animals could be kept in almost any residence in Florida.
''Eighteen-foot anacondas or 13-foot Burmese pythons should not be in a residential neighborhood,'' he said.
No Floridian has ever been killed by an exotic reptile kept under a permit, said commission Capt. Linda Harrison. Still, Armstrong supports tighter restrictions.
''Does it happen often? Heck no, it doesn't,'' he said, but ''these are snakes that can kill a human and clearly could consume a small cat or even an infant.''
Armstrong served on an 11-member panel that came up with the new rules. Most of the other members, he said, worked in the reptile industry.
Eugene Bessette, a Gainesville-area snake breeder who also served on the panel, said the new rules were ''enforceable and workable.''
Not everyone agrees. Stephen Norman, who owns five Burmese pythons, isn't wild about the rules requiring microchips and registration.
''I have no intention of getting it done,'' he said, after feeding a dead rat to a python.
Norman, 19, works at the Herp Hobby Shop. He said the rules are unenforceable for existing snake owners because the state has no record of them and no way to find them.
He owns several big constrictors on the ''species of concern'' list, including the pythons and four reticulated boas, with names like Foamy, Ugly and Thundercles.
Harrison said big snakes like the Burmese pythons are ''not an animal that's going to hunt you down and try to attack you.'' She's more worried about non-native breeds getting loose and hurting native species.
For example, some experts think escaped Burmese pythons are becoming a menace in the Everglades, competing with alligators for the top spot on the food chain.
Worried about privacy
Bobby Rex, owner of exotic-pet store Scales in Brandon, said when he heard the commission was considering the new rules he stopped buying Burmese and reticulated pythons.
''As soon as I sold out of them, I did not reorder,'' he said.
Rex said he doesn't sell many of the big constrictors anyway. He steers customers to smaller and more manageable snakes. But he resents a new rule that allows unannounced inspections of snake enclosures in owners' homes.
''To me, it's just an invasion of privacy,'' he said. He fears the rules may lead to stricter legislation in the future.
Armstrong, of Hillsborough Animal Services, considers the new rules a first step to closer oversight of snakes. He hopes to create an online database of registered large-constrictor and venomous reptile owners.
''The people that own this stuff say that if you do that, people will protest in front of their house,'' Armstrong said, ''or thieves who know the value can use it as a shopping list.
''My argument is that public safety trumps what they would claim to be a right to privacy.''
Antivenin a requirement
The new rules also expand existing restrictions on venomous reptiles. Already, owners have to have 1,000 hours of experience handling and caring for venomous species before they can get a venomous reptile permit.
Now they must have a plan in case they get bitten, keep antivenin on hand and label cages with the snake's species name and photograph.
Joe Pittman , a snakebite expert at St. Joseph's Hospital, says that he treats about two dozen bites a year, nearly all from wild snakes. In the eight years he has worked at the hospital he has treated only three bites from venomous pets.
About two dozen snake owners have venomous snake permits in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, according to commission records.
Holders of venomous-animal permits and owners of big constrictors tend to be well trained, said Pittman, who owns several smaller snakes.
''Most people who own these bigger types of snakes are very responsible,'' Pittman said.
Shirley Parker, a 75-year-old Plant City grandmother, got into venomous snakes more than 30 years ago as a teacher for Nature's Classroom, Hillsborough county's outdoor education center.
She currently owns a young male copperhead snake, which she estimates is her 12th poisonous pet.
Parker was bitten twice while in her 40s, once by a diamondback rattlesnake and once by a cottonmouth rattlesnake. Neither bite required antivenin, though both times her arm swelled and turned black and blue.
''I hate to say this, but it's sort of exhilarating,'' she said. ''My best friend thinks I'm dumb, but it makes me think I'm still alive.''
Reptile owner
If you own one of the following reptiles, you must obtain a permit to keep it. ''Reptiles of concern'' include:
Indian or Burmese python
Reticulated python
African rock python
Amethystine or scrub python
Green anaconda
Nile monitor
Get a permit
Complete an application and a qualifying questionnaire, specify where the reptile will be held and provide appropriate caging. Applicants must also provide 1,000 hours of experience in caring for the species, or provide 500 hours of experience in addition to passing a written exam.
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Burmese pythons and other constrictor species are at the center of the debate
Martin commissioners delay vote on cluster pockets
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
STUART — The battle over rural growth in western Martin County will rage on.
After nearly eight hours of public comment and commission debate, county commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday night to postpone a vote on a consultant's recommendation to allow clustered pockets of homes on rural lands and instead hold more public hearings. Sarah Heard was the dissenting commissioner.
Commissioners also voted to use a proposed 2,758-acre clustering development in Hobe Sound that commissioners will consider in April as a test case.
"We need to keep talking. We have a lot more work to do," Commissioner Susan Valliere said.
The county's comprehensive plan - its state-required blueprint for growth - limits development in rural areas to one home for every 20-acre lot.
The $528,000 study, conducted by Orlando-based firm Glatting Jackson, recommends allowing clustered pockets of densely packed homes on land in rural areas if developers promise to conserve at least 60 percent of their land as open space.
While building homes on 20-acre parcels does preserve wetlands, it doesn't do a good job of connecting large pieces of wildlife habitat or preserving large-scale agriculture, consultant Tim Jackson said. Allowing clustering on rural land would help the county preserve habitat and farming while leading to only 2,500 more homes than staying with the 20-acre lot plan would, Jackson said.
Of the more than 200 residents who attended the meeting, about 70 spoke before it ended shortly after 9 p.m.
Opponents of clustering spoke against population growth and the development it would bring, while supporters said growth was inevitable and clustering would at least make housing more affordable.
"If I had my way I'd build a fence across the county line," said one opponent, Dorothy Richwine of Jensen Beach.
Dave Dew, chairman of the Democratic Party of Martin County, claimed: "Clustering is a fraud. Nowhere in Florida has it been proven to work." He said allowing clustering eventually would cover the entire county with homes and roads.
But Steve Barney, owner of the Calusa Creek Tree Farm in western Martin County, said: "People are still saying you have to plan for 'no growth.' That's silly. There isn't going to be 'no growth.''"
And Tom McNicholas, a spokesman for several large agricultural landowners, said only the wealthy can afford the 20-acre lots that are now the only development option in western Martin County.
"This is the rich kids in the sandbox fighting over every scrap," he said.
Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi said a clustered rural village could work in western Martin County and pointed to Indiantown as an example.
"It's actually clustering that has worked in Martin County for more than 50 years," DiTerlizzi said.
Dozens of opponents asked commissioners to not consider any of the study's recommendations.
"We have a program that says we have one home per 20 acres that has worked well for many years," Palm City resident Bill Summers said. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
But supporters of clustering said the current rules have led to traffic jams, and finding a way to use the study could lead to something better.
"Our comprehensive plan is great," land planner Mark Mathes said sarcastically. "Where else can you sit at the foot of the Palm City Bridge for 30 minutes before you go home at night?"
Commissioner Lee Weberman suggested holding the additional public hearings so that residents can continue to debate clustering.
Weberman also suggested that the county wait until after a public hearing for the Atlantic Ridge Preserve project in April to vote on clustering.
The Atlantic Ridge project - which is mostly inside the county's urban services line, where the 20-acre rule doesn't apply - would cluster 650 homes on 400 acres and donate nearly 2,400 acres of open space to the county in Hobe Sound.
"Atlantic Ridge may not be perfect," Weberman said. "But it's the best thing we have going."
Morris Crady, the land planner for Atlantic Ridge, said that project's developer, Alberto Micha, does not want to get caught up in the land-study debate by being used as a test case.
Heard, who voted against continuing to consider clustering, said the Micha project had nothing to do with the issues in the growth study and that the study's recommendations should be rejected immediately.
"People will perceive this as an attempt to wear out the public's interest," Heard said. "What you are doing is wearing out the public's trust."
Man's plan for land upsets his neighbors
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
STUART — A showdown is brewing along Ranch Trail Road.
Andrew Perl, who owns 8.8 acres at the end of the road in Tropical Farms, wants to increase the number of homes allowed on his land from four to 17. His neighborhood wants just the opposite and is pushing to cut the number of homes that can be built in the rural neighborhood west of Florida's Turnpike.
More than a dozen neighbors on Ranch Trail Road and the adjacent St. Lucie Falls neighborhood appeared before the Martin County Commission Tuesday to oppose Perl's proposal, saying his plan to increase the density of his property would create traffic that would overwhelm the privately maintained road and ruin their rural lifestyle.
"It's currently being used as small farms out there and we would like to see it stay that way," Bill Pakonis said.
Said Joan Eubanks, one of Perl's neighbors: "We just love the country atmosphere there. That's why we bought there.
"We didn't buy there to make money."
The neighbors want the county to rezone the entire neighborhood around Ranch Trail Road, including Perl's property, to reduce the number of homes allowed to one home for every 2 acres. Currently, two units per acre are allowed.
Development rules limit the number of homes Perl could build on his vacant land to four units, planners said.
Perl's attorney, Tim Wright, said he bought the property more than 20 years ago with an expectation that he would be able to develop it and he has a legal right to have it rezoned to allow development.
The land is now zoned for farming, Wright said. The half-acre lots Perl is requesting is the only land use he is allowed to get under the county's comprehensive plan, its blueprint for growth, the attorney said.
"His market value in the property is tied to your laws," Wright said. "The question is 'what is he legally entitled to do?' "
Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to delay making a decision until April.
Commissioner Lee Weberman said he worried that increasing the number of homes would dry up wells in the area and overwhelm the road and the bridge on Ranch Trail Road.
Wright said the only reason commissioners were putting off voting on Perl's rezoning is so they can approve the neighbors' proposal and use that reduction as justification for denying Perl's request. Wright said they should approve Perl's request based on the laws that existed when he applied last year.
"I don't think you can legally base your decision on policies that you have not written yet," Wright said. "It's your prerogative not to follow the law."
County Attorney Steve Fry told commissioners that they had the right to put off the vote and reduce the number of homes allowed on the property. He said Perl may sue at that time, arguing that the county had reduced the value of his land.
The planning commission was having public hearings on two development orders and for land-use changes for four large-scale properties and four small-scale properties. One member of the planning commission, John McCaffrey, was absent. The other members ? Mack Glass, Jan Poller, Bruce Christmas and Clyde Crutchfield ? were present. Cresh Harrison and Janet Taylor Bryan's terms expired earlier this month and neither were present, although both have expressed an interest in serving another term.
A request for final plat approval for a 29-lot minor subdivision, to be known as Spring Chase Phase III, located along Chase Way and Spring Chase Lane about 2.5 miles northeast of the Marianna city limits, was unanimously approved with the five conditions the county's Department of Community Development recommended.
Phase II of the Spanish Trail Lumber Project was also unanimously approved with the seven conditions placed on it by Community Development. This is a 4-acre expansion of an existing lumber business on the north side of Old Spanish Trail.
All four of the requests for large-scale amendments won approval, having been found "consistent and compatible" with the county's Comprehensive Plan. All will have to go through the Jackson County Commission and to the Department of Community Affairs because of their size.
Of the requests for small-scale amendments, two were tabled, one was approved, and one disapproved.
Two of the land-use changes brought audience members to their feet ? the one wanted by Marianna Real Estate Development LLC, and the one wanted by Hana Property Development Inc.
The group thinking of a subdivision near Cottondale, Marianna Real Estate Development LLC, got the approval they wanted for a land-use change from Agriculture 2 to Residential, but it came over arguments against it from neighbors.
However, the planning commission noted that it was only approving a change of land use, not the development itself. When the developer gets to that point, the subdivision plan would have to come back before the planning commission.
Those protesting the Hana request fared much better. Though it appeared at first the matter would be tabled, the planning commission did take a vote and denied the land-use change 3-1.
Voting for it was Clyde Crutchfield.
Residents of the neighborhood said the area around Chipola College should remain single-family residential and not have any more apartments. Hana already has two apartment buildings there, which went up over neighbors' objections.
Joshua Davidovich
Staff Writer
TAVARES - Lake County Property appraiser Ed Havill continued his crusade against undue agricultural tax exemptions Tuesday, though he and others admitted the real decisions will be made by judges and not county officials.
Havill is hoping to deny tax exemptions to properties that are slated for development but still have agricultural uses on them. He sees the exemption as a loophole exploited by developers to rob the county of tax dollars.
"Somebody has got to do something," he said. "They are playing games."
Havill went before the county's Value Adjustment Board, which is made up of three county commissioners and two school board members, to argue that 19 properties granted the agricultural exemption by special magistrate Mort Aulls, an attorney in Mount Dora, be denied.
The board ended up deadlocked in a 2-2 tie, with board member Jimmy Conner absent. They will reconvene Tuesday to make a decision.
Agricultural operations in Florida are granted special tax exemptions on their properties as a way of promoting growing crops over residential development.
Havill is claiming that because developers paid more than three times the value of the property - in many cases considerably more - they cannot be considered bona fide farms by state law, and are not due the exemption, even if they do continue to grow oranges or keep cows grazing on the land.
"It's a sham, it's a hole in the wall they've used, " he said. "You can't find a farmer anywhere that will pay that kind of money."
Havill has been on the other side of the fence with Aulls before. Aulls said he played a part in the court battle currently brewing between Havill and Seminole County Attorney Jack Baldwin over a similar agriculture exemption issue. Fifth circuit judge Richard Singeltary ruled that because Baldwin was continuing his agriculture use, he was eligible for the tax break.
Though Havill is appealing that decision, County Attorney Sandy Minkoff advised the board to follow the ruling, saying that no matter what commissioners decide, one of the sides will appeal the decision in court.
"When they get to court your opinions don't count much," he said.
Commissioner and VAB member Elaine Renick said she didn't believe Singletary's ruling held any water.
"It's hardly a definitive opinion when it's still under appeal," she said.
One property that drew Havill's ire is Secret Promise, a 3,400-acre plot of land south of Leesburg planned to have more than 9,000 homes. Tampa developer Randall Benderson has filed a Development of Regional Impact already, but because cows are still grazing on the land, he is asking for over $1 million in tax breaks.
Proponents of the exemption contend that the purchase price of the property should not matter as long as there is still some agricultural use.
"If you have agriculture, does it matter what you paid for it?," said Commissioner Debbie Stivender, who sits on the VAB. "You shouldn't be taxed for what might happen."
More retail stores slated for Ridge Manor
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
RIDGE MANOR — Brooksville Realtor Gary Schraut doesn’t need a crystal ball to predict the future for the Interstate 75 and State Road 50 corridor.
Exploding population growth, spurred by the planned development of the 1,750-home Hickory Hill community and the 4,800-home Sunrise, will create a need for shopping centers, restaurants and other services, he said.
To that end, Schraut appealed to planning and zoning commissioners Monday to approve a master plan on six outparcels on the south side of S.R. 50 and Sherman Hills Boulevard.
Planning members voted 4-1 to approve the plan, which paves the way for future retail needs on that side of the county.
“We’ve had some serious interest in two of the parcels already and we’ve had offers presented,” said Schraut, representing Beth & Wendy Corporation, a Tampa-based investment firm. “There’s demand out there.”
For example, a new Microtel Inns & Suites is about to begin construction just west of the Cracker Barrel along S.R. 50.
Except for one sticking point, Schraut’s request sailed through P&Z Monday. The main concern was the planned realignment of Sherman Hills Boulevard.
The six lots are adjacent to the existing Winn-Dixie-anchored Sunrise Plaza and would be accessed from S.R. 50 by an existing driveway.
The plan calls for that driveway to be extended as a frontage road and would connect with the future extension of Sherman Hills Boulevard.
The Florida Department of Transportation and the county want to pull Sherman Hills Boulevard to the east so it aligns with the main entrance of Sunrise Plaza.
A plaza representative is concerned because his client would lose a median cut on Sherman Hills Boulevard, which people have used for years to enter the shopping center.
But transportation officials believe it would be too dangerous to leave that median open and then have another median cut 600 feet to the east.
What planning commissioners were looking for Monday was agreement between the three principal property owners there agreeing to the road realignment.
Schraut said they have a verbal agreement but nothing in writing, because they were awaiting the results of Monday’s P&Z outcome. He expects a formal agreement when it comes before county commissioners for approval at their March Land Use hearing.
Planning Commissioner Anna Liisa Covell said she couldn’t vote for the outparcels without a firm, signed agreement.
“We will have a real major problem in that intersection,” Covell said.
But Planning member Robert Widmar said the county has already stipulated that access to Sherman Hills Boulevard extension will be redesigned to allow for the new developments.
“It is critical that road network work,” stressed Planning Director Ron Pianta.
Civic activist Irma Carr said the county needs to do something to fix Sherman Hills Boulevard, especially with the anticipated growth.
“It is imperative this intersection be straightened out,” Carr said. “It’s a mess now.”
Schraut would not reveal the identity of the tenants who have expressed interest in the parcels, which average about one acre in size.
But those size parcels could accommodate everything from a gas station and convenience store to a fast food restaurant or a bank, he said.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.
To protect our trees, it's a good-sized stick
Published February 21, 2007
The legend surrounding our first president states the young George Washington couldn't tell a lie and admitted to his father that he chopped down a cherry tree. Nowadays, he could have added, "It's the cost of doing business."
At the urging of Commissioner Pat Mulieri, Pasco commissioners decided Tuesday they should try to drive up the cost of doing business when the commerce entails damage to the environment.
Commissioners instructed their legal staff to draw up a measure, which would require a local bill from Pasco's legislative delegation and approval by the Legislature, to increase environmental penalties within the county from the state maximum of $500 to $5,000.
The proposal mirrors the Pinellas County Environmental Enforcement Act, which allows the county to pursue civil penalties against violators of the county's environmental protection rules. The Legislature approved the act in 1990 and amended it two years ago to allow the maximum penalty to increase to $10,000 per infraction.
Though it would apply to water and air quality, wetlands and storm water discharges, the Pasco focus is trees. Specifically, cypress trees.
The commission action follows a story from Times staff writer Chun-Wei Yap that detailed the frustration of Land O'Lakes resident Richard Konnen, who attempted to report the removal of cypress trees from a vacant lot abutting Lake Padgett.
After Konnen's unsatisfactory conversations with environmental regulators at the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the state Department of Environmental Protection, a county code enforcement officer cited landowner J. Glen McDonnell for removing the trees improperly. The maximum fine is $1,000 or $500 for each of the two trees. Under the proposed legislation, future cases could mean $10,000 in civil fines as well.
It's a good-sized stick to wield at would-be polluters and parties less than friendly to the environment. It also is a logical extension of the commission's previous work to preserve environmentally sensitive land, and to protect the landscape with tree-removal rules and other safeguards.
Commissioners should expedite their request to legislators in order to secure sponsors and to schedule a public hearing before the local delegation. Pasco's state legislators, likewise, should be sympathetic to the county's concerns and ensure the desired legislation is handled in a timely manner during the legislative session beginning next month.
Allowing landowners and developers to disregard environmental protections as the cost of doing business shouldn't be business as usual in Pasco County.