Myregion.org looks at suspect poll data

110-Mile Tollway Could Reshape Rural Central Florida

By BILLY TOWNSEND The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 9, 2007

LAKELAND - For now, the Heartland Parkway, a proposed 110-mile toll highway roughly linking Lakeland and Fort Myers, looks a little like a wide-bodied snake drawn on a map. Its possible routes cut a wide, indefinite swath through some of Florida's most rural land.

What it might mean in reality for the giant cattle ranches, orange groves and isolated small towns west of Lake Okeechobee depends on who's looking at it.

Some environmentalists and planners see a multibillion-dollar boondoggle, a classic "road to nowhere" sprawl creator and habitat killer that should not be built.

The state Department of Transportation sees a needed north-south traffic corridor to ease pressure in "high-growth" Polk County and on Interstate 75, U.S. 17 and U.S. 27. It also sees a new hurricane evacuation route. The road is one of the highways envisioned in the Florida Transportation Commission's New Corridors study. State officials say it is more likely to happen sooner than a proposed east-west corridor that could crisscross it.

And a group of major area landowners represented by longtime state civic and political leader Rick Dantzler sees the future of the seven-county Heartland region, roughly defined as southern Polk, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, DeSoto, Hendry and Okeechobee counties.

Dantzler's group has dubbed itself the Heartland Economic Agricultural Rural Task Force, or HEART. Its chairman is Mark Morton, senior vice president of land investment for Lykes Bros. The famous Florida agricultural company owns 337,000 acres in Glades and Highlands, much of which lies in the path of the road, as it is broadly proposed.

Both men insist that HEART's advocacy for the highway is about more than converting agricultural land into right-of-way payments and lucrative development potential. They see an economic and quality-of-life corridor, with accompanying rail, telecommunications, utilities and wildlife corridors built in, along with tight growth rules - "a whole host of public benefits," as Dantzler puts it.

Beyond vision, Dantzler says his group brings something practical: "an awful lot of land owned by relatively few people." That probably would mean some form of right-of-way donation and greater likelihood of large-scale, multicounty planning agreements.

HEART has sought out environmental and planning groups in the hope of building broad support for the corridor idea. Some, such as the Florida Wildlife Federation, like what they hear from Dantzler and are willing to withhold judgment until more details emerge.

"HEART came together around the idea of a road," Dantzler said. "But now we see it as a chance to organize the growth that's coming. It's the planning of an entire region all at once."

What's Actually Happening?

Randy Fox is in charge of planning for Florida's Turnpike system.

His office is wrapping up a study of traffic potential for the parkway. The numbers are not final, but Fox said the study will show that potential traffic justifies construction of the road, most immediately for its northernmost portion in Polk County.

If approved, Fox said, construction of the Heartland Parkway would begin in Polk and move south as land and money become available. There's no real time estimate, though advocates have tended to talk about a 20-year plan for the road.

The Polk portion would happen sooner. It would create a large half-circle loop around the population centers of Lakeland and Winter Haven, and include a link to Interstate 4. The proposed loop - about 45 miles - also would tie into the CSX Transportation freight distribution center Winter Haven hopes to bring to a complex on its southeastern fringes, providing a route for the center's heavy projected truck traffic.

In a December letter urging state support for the road, Winter Haven City Manager David Greene wrote, "Many of the approximate one thousand semi-trucks that will enter and leave [the CSX complex] daily will be able to utilize the Parkway."

He added, "Growth is occurring and unless we expedite the process, the suggested corridor may close due to development."

Dantzler echoes that sentiment, suggesting that his group needs a green light in the next year to 18 months to maintain its cohesiveness.

If the financing and politics lined up perfectly, the Polk loop portion of Heartland Parkway could exist within 10 years, Fox said.

The remainder of the route would roll south, roughly straddling the long border separating Highlands, Glades and Hendry counties on the east and Hardee, DeSoto, Charlotte and Lee counties on the west. It would end at State Road 82, just east of Fort Myers.

It Will Take Billions

The money involved is enormous.

The central Polk section, the highway's most urban stretch, is likely to cost more than $1 billion, Fox said. Estimates for the entire parkway top $3 billion. As is typical for any large, new project, tolls alone will not cover that cost, Fox said.

But the proposed corridor is one of nine included in the Florida Transportation Commission's study, which aims to identify ways to ease a predicted congestion crunch driven by surges in population and freight traffic in the 20 to 30 years.

With that in mind, Fox expects the state to pay for a preliminary design and engineering study, which would better hone the route and costs of the parkway. No matter what the study shows, building the highway would require a patchwork funding arrangement involving tolls, governments at all levels, land contributions from property owners and other financial tools, Fox said.

HEART's planning and the state's planning appear to be proceeding on parallel tracks. Fox said he has had informal meetings with HEART but is not coordinating with the group.

Everyone seems to agree that growth pressures are increasing for the Heartland counties, as coastal living becomes increasingly expensive - both in cost of land and insurance. Dantzler says some parcels in the area are selling at square-foot prices that are too high to sustain agricultural uses.

And Morton, HEART's chairman, said he fears for the fate of the small towns along U.S. 27 if that road and others don't get relief from freight traffic, which the state says is expected to double statewide by 2020.

U.S. 27 is one of the few viable north-south freight routes not on either coast. "Everything ends up on 27, and it disrupts our small communities," Morton said. "Lake Placid could end up with an eight-lane, divided highway."

A New Kind Of Road?

HEART has existed for about a year as a nonprofit organization.

Dantzler, a former state lawmaker, is its public face and lawyer. It also has retained engineering consultants.

They all have been meeting with environmental and planning organizations. Dantzler said HEART is preparing to release two documents about the Heartland corridor proposal. The first is a list of principles "that will guide the land-use planning of those who participate" in whatever arrangement HEART might make with the state. Those principles could be released in the next few weeks, Dantzler said.

The second is a more detailed vision of the corridor, which HEART will debate and decide upon during a meeting this month, Dantzler said.

Without concrete plans, corridor advocates are left to talk about the project in attractive but general terms.

"We want this to be a prototype, the most environmentally conscious road in the history of the nation," Dantzler said.

Some of the features he touts include:

•An "enormous" amount of undeveloped space surrounding the corridor.

•Extensive wildlife corridors and other protective measures, such as fences to prevent roadkill, to protect such species as the Florida panther and black bear.

•Limited access and exit points to the highway.

•Rail, utility and other corridors.

•Growth rules that would mandate clustering development near the road and broad protection of the rural countryside beyond.

•Construction that seeks to preserve wetlands.

The key element, Dantzler said, will be a legal framework that locks in any commitments by local governments and landowners.

If that is achieved, the Heartland Parkway could become a mechanism for bringing growth to the Heartland region on its own terms and schedule, reversing a long Florida pattern.

"In the past, we've grown and then tried to thread the transportation corridors through existing growth," Dantzler said.

Curiosity And Skepticism

That all sounds good to Manley K. Fuller III, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. Fuller has met with Dantzler and representatives of HEART and offered them suggestions.

"We don't like new highways," Fuller said. "They tend to be giant growth stimulators. But whether we like it or not, there's going to be more highways built.

"We'd like to see conservation planning totally connected to transportation planning," Fuller said, and Dantzler's vision has the potential to do that. Fuller said he is willing to wait on what emerges from the state and HEART documents before recommending a position on the corridor to his board of directors.

Not everyone is as forbearing.

John Ryan, a Sierra Club activist and a member of the Polk County Planning Commission, calls the parkway "a completely unneeded road to nowhere built solely for economic development." He adds, "There's no way in hell that road can be justified on trip rates."

Ryan does agree the concept Dantzler is peddling is better than nothing - if the road can't be stopped. But he also is skeptical that such a plan could be forged and enforced over time.

"Rick's a nice guy with good intentions, but based on experience, we don't see that scenario being played out the way he hopes it will," Ryan said.

Dantzler said he understands that sentiment, acknowledging he often "goes to war with myself" over the idea of a road. But he hopes critics will "hold their powder" until a more specific plan is revealed.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at wtownsend@tampatrib.com or (863) 284-1409.

Condo Market Morphing

By SHANNON BEHNKEN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 9, 2007

ORLANDO - The frenzied condominium building boom in Florida's major cities appears to be slowing dramatically, and as a result some developers may scrap their plans while others shift to apartment construction.

At least that's the assessment of some of the builders and developers gathered here at one of the nation's largest annual builders conferences, the International Builders Show.

"There are too many high-end projects in many of the cities in Florida," said Bill Donges, chief executive officer of Lane Co., an Atlanta firm that specializes in developing and managing multiunit projects.

Donges was among the builders and developers who sat on a panel Thursday to discuss the outlook for the condominium and apartment market. Panel members said they expect major condo projects that are under way in Florida's major cities to be completed but for unsold units in those projects to take longer to sell. That could further cool the appetite for starting high-rise condo construction projects, panel members agreed.

A representative from the National Association of Homebuilders, the show organizer, said there still is a demand for condominiums, including the dozens scheduled to open in downtown areas of Florida's big cities this year.

However, panel discussion members said too many developers latched onto the boom and planned more projects than the market can absorb - particularly luxury high-rises.

Developers in Florida cities such as Tampa, where more than 30 condo buildings have been proposed for downtown, likely will scratch more than half of the planned developments or postpone them until the condo market gains steam again, Donges predicted.

"These high-end units will be in the market and will have to be absorbed at some time," he said.

In Tampa, eight condos are expected to open in the downtown core this year. Several are nearing completion, including SkyPoint, Grand Central at Kennedy and Towers of Channelside. The developers have said their projects are nearly sold out.

Panel members noted that many units being built in Tampa are priced for a well-heeled clientele, and that raises an affordability issue.

Prices for condo units in projects planned for Tampa have ranged from $200,000 to more than $1 million, with the majority of sold units priced at more than $300,000. That's more than the median price of a single-family home in the Tampa Bay area.

Donges said his company wanted to jump into Tampa's condo market and was planning to build one at Kennedy Boulevard and Hoover Street. But as the market slowed, the company decided to build a 210-unit luxury apartment building on the site.

Steve Patterson, chief executive officer of Orlando-based Zom Inc., also sat in on Thursday's panel discussion. He said his company, which historically has been an apartment builder, converted many of its projects to condominiums in recent years and got into condo tower development.

But the company is changing its strategy now and focusing on building apartments, converting some condos back to rental units and trying to build more affordable apartments.

In Tampa, the company has focused on apartments, including the Arbors at Carrollwood and Arbors at Fletcher Island.

The apartment-to-condo conversion trend has been white hot in the Tampa Bay area, where several high-end apartment complexes near the city were converted to condos. As the median priced single-family home jumped from the low $100,000s in 2000 to about $230,000 in 2006, converted condos in suburban areas offered an affordable alternative to some homebuyers.

In all, more than 28,000 Tampa Bay area apartment units were purchased for condo conversions in the past 2 1/2 years, according to New York-based Real Capitol Analytics, which tracks real estate trends.

With so many condo conversions in suburban areas, there is a demand for affordable work-force housing, Patterson said

"We're faced with having to pay these high land prices and construction prices and still build affordable" units, he said. "We're going to have to push the limits on rents and accept bare minimums on returns." Many of the converted condos are sitting empty, and investors who fueled the conversion boom by buying up blocks of units are struggling to sell or lease them.

"The conversion started with Class A apartments, then the conversion craze moved down. Apartments that were built in the 1970s were converted," he said. "That eliminated many affordable units."

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at sbehnken@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7804.

Brit investors find dream homes aren't

50,000 More People

“We had 7,400 people during snowbird season, and we’re under 3,000 year around,” said Mick Grosh, assistant general manager of the housing development, north of Sebring on U.S. Highway 27.

So when he heard the latest Highlands County population estimates – that we’ll grow more than 50,000 people in 10 years – Grosh wasn’t surprised.

“That’s probably a reasonable guess,” Grosh said. He looked at the reports for driveway permits in Sun ’n Lake, a unincorporated community of 3,230 homes, filled mostly with retirees.

In 2002, only 15 driveway permits were issued, he said. In 2003, the number jumped to 70; then 121 in 2004, 89 in 2005, and 211 in 2006. And so far this year, permits for new driveways are averaging one per day.

“We could be headed toward a record year again,” Grosh said.

And the demographic is changing too, Grosh thinks. Sun ’n Lake started as a golf course community for retirees. Now, he says, “People are bringing children with them. The houses with five and six bedrooms are selling the most.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Highlands County had a population of 95,496 in 2005, a 9.3 percent increase from the April 1, 2000 head count.

Don Hanna, a planner for Highlands County, used the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research 2006 estimate of 96,672 to project a winter population of 117,206.“That’s a 20 percent increase,” Hanna said.

“I would say that’s low,” said Mike Willingham, executive director of Sebring Airport Authority and an economic developer who is familiar with population estimates. “I’d say the number ought to be more like 35,000 to 40,000. But that’s just my guess... I base that on the roadways during this time of year, the occupancy of the hotels and restaurants, Wal-Mart, you name it.”

Sebring is attracting more vacationing and residential tourists, and it’s also getting more in-migration from coastal cities to escape the congestion and traffic, Willingham agreed with Grosh. “Younger people with families are moving here to work. No question about it.”

The Highlands County Profile 2006-2007 predicts 155,300 permanent residents by 2025.

And because property values have doubled or tripled in Highlands County during the past 10 years, Willingham predicted Florida’s most rural counties, like Hardee and DeSoto, will see more growth in the next 10 years.

“Central Florida is Florida’s last frontier,” Willingham said.

Others aren’t as sure. Marty Roepstorff, utilities director for the city of Sebring, says sewer and water use in Highlands County’s largest city remains consistent.

“We don’t seen a significant increase in pumpage,” Roepstorff said. The number of meters read goes up and down throughout the year, without a significant upward trend in the winter.

“Fifty thousand people sounds awful high,” said Highlands County Commissioner Edgar Stokes. When the commissioners were deciding whether to pass impact fees, Stokes studied how many deeds were recorded and how many building permits were sold.

“The number of deeds recorded has fallen,” Stokes said. “We knew it was just a buying frenzy.

“We thought we were growing like crazy,” Stokes said, “but we weren’t.”

He produced the Highlands County Profile 2005-2006, and compared its projections with the University of Florida’s Statistical Abstract 2005.

The abstract projects low, medium and high categories. He believed Hanna is using the highest possible growth category.

Florida’s Department of Community Affairs used similar reasoning for limiting growth in Highlands County, said Hanna.

Hanna’s boss, Development Services Director Jim Polatty, wrote a memo to DCA, pointing out that high and low categories existed because of the uncertainty of precise medium growth categories.

“Historically speaking ... two-thirds of all (67) county forecasts should fall within the Low and High forecasts,” he wrote.

Hanna projected a population increase of 50,000 during tourist season – the six coldest fall and winter months – over the next 10 years.

“It doesn’t really surprise me,” said South Florida Community College President Norman Stephens.

“Snowbirds – I use that as an affectionate term,” he said, “are at the heart of the cultural programs we put on here. We set our schedule for them. We don’t want to have a program too early, or too late.”

The life-time learners program designs classes to attract visiting senior citizens, including aquatic exercise. During the spring and summer, buffets are suspended at the college-operated Hotel Jacaranda. A Sebring restaurant, Sweetie Pye’s, closes in the summer.

The county grew 3.5 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 92,057 to 95,496, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Stephens divided the 50,000 estimated increase into 10 years, and realized it would mean only a 2 percent increase per year.

“That’s realistic,” he reasoned

Move These Houses, Expert Says

By SHANNON BEHNKEN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 8, 2007

Home builders should offer incentives or slash prices to sell off hundreds of thousands of vacant new houses glutting markets nationwide, housing experts warned Wednesday at the International Builders Show in Orlando.

In addition, until the new home inventory is gone, builders should hold off constructing more homes, said David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.

"I'm telling builders that we absolutely have to move these houses" before the real estate market will rebound, Seiders said.

The Tampa Bay area is among the places with an oversupply of new homes on the market.

There were 4,606 vacant new homes in the Bay area at the end of the fourth quarter of 2006, an increase of 1,700 from the same period a year ago, according to housing research firm Metrostudy.

Tony Polito, a Tampa-based director for Metrostudy, said the Bay area is faring better than the rest of Florida, which has an average of a four-month supply of new homes for sale. Inventory in the Bay area is at 2.8 months, he said, meaning it would take that long to sell all the homes at the current sales pace.

Nationwide, economists estimated home builders constructed about 600,000 more homes during the past three years than the market could absorb.

The number of homes under construction is dropping, and builders are offering incentives, such as free upgrades and discounted prices.

Polito estimates it will take three to six more months to work through the inventory in the Bay area.

Economists from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac predicted Wednesday at the builders conference that the housing market will see more drops in the number of sales and prices in some markets, but that the cool-down will bottom out later in the year and a gradual recovery will begin.

"But that doesn't mean we'll bounce back to 2005 levels," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac. "Absolutely not."

The new home market is suffering in part because of the record number of existing homes on the market, economists said.

More than 34,000 existing homes are on the market in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, according to local real estate trade groups.

The slowdown in building and the need to move the inventory of new and existing homes is good news for some, Nothaft said. It has gotten tougher to afford a home because of the record price increases since 2000, he said.

If home prices come down in some markets, more people will buy, he said.

In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, the median sales price of an existing home in December was $230,800, up 3 percent from the same month in 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. In December 2000, the median sales price was $108,200.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com

New Mall's Neighbors Plan Apartments

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 8, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - As Cypress Creek Town Center gets closer to construction, its neighbors are moving to remake their property more in the regional mall's image.

A group of landowners along Cypress Creek Road has asked Pasco County to rezone 29 acres to allow construction of 488 apartment units.

The property is on the west bank of Cypress Creek. The mall will be on the east bank.

The Development Review Committee will consider the rezoning proposal at 1:30 p.m. today in Dade City.

James and Sylvia Scarpo are joined in their proposal by Carlyle and Judith Wolding and Randall and Diane Sherman. The three couples own abutting properties along Cypress Creek Road.

Greystar GP LLC, a Texas-based company, will develop the land.

Just to their south, the owners of King Ranch also have proposed turning their property into a mix of commercial and residential uses.

King Ranch is south of the regional mall site, between Cypress Creek and County Line Road.

Mall developer Richard E. Jacobs Group plans to extend County Road 54 south across their property and King Ranch to County Line Road.

As part of their proposed project, the landowners will have to make several improvements to Cypress Creek Road and County Line Road. The list includes:

•Widen Cypress Creek Road between Laurel Ridge Drive and Bald Cypress Lane.

•Add northbound and southbound turn lanes to Cypress Creek Road.

•Add eastbound and westbound turn lanes on County Line Road at Cypress Creek.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Development Review Committee consideration of apartment project on Cypress Creek Road

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. today

WHERE: Historic Pasco County Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave., Dade City

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

A Leon County project that was billed as a way to save a threatened creek is raising concerns among some residents that it could end up damaging the environment.

Last year, the county began construction on the Black Creek restoration project, which will move a stretch of McCracken Road out of Black Creek. Since then, some residents have raised concerns that the destruction of forest land is too much for what should be a small connector road serving only a few hundred cars a day.

"It's a lot bigger than anybody thought it was going to be," said Susie Howell, who lives off McCracken Road. "I wonder where all the animals are going to go."

But County Commissioner Cliff Thaell, the lead commissioner behind the project, said plans for two 11-foot lanes of road and three stormwater ponds haven't changed from what was presented to the public.

"I don't know why (residents) would be surprised," Thaell said. "You can't cut a road through a property without cutting down some trees."

Kim Wood, the project manager, said a little more than 100 trees that are more than 12 inches across were taken down, plus an uncounted number of smaller trees. The project will add 344 trees and 5,000 underbrush plants where the old road now runs, she said.

Efforts to restore Black Creek began several years ago because residents were concerned that the creek fills with sediment every time it overflows and washes over McCracken Road, which is a dirt road.

Residents opposed the idea of paving McCracken because they like the slow speed limits and the area's rural feel, said Edith Sheeks. Instead, in 2003, they backed a plan to move the road and let the wetland revert to its natural state. The county bought 70 acres of land, assessed at $533,000.

Over the following few years, the county worked on permitting and design, said Tony Park, the county's director of Public Works. Last November, county commissioners voted to move forward with a $1.8 million construction contract. Work should take about a year.

Some residents, such as Sheeks, were opposed to the project from the get-go.

"I feel very strongly that this whole thing was a mistake and is very damaging to our quality of life and our environment," she said.

But Howell and several others started worrying more after seeing the trees come down.

"We just have concerns that other parts of the environment are being impacted," said Kelly McGrath, who moved into the neighborhood recently.

Others, however, expect unintended benefits from the project.

Andy Bruggner, who lives off Miccosukee Road, said he's seen at least four crashes at the curve near his home in the five years he's lived there. He hopes signals at the new intersection will have a calming effect on traffic.

"It'll slow them down a bit," he said. "At times, it gets to be a racetrack out here."

Fern fuels fears over control of refuge

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Oppenheimer Report

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Global warming likely to hit hard in Americas

Andres Oppenheimer

aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

If you listen to some of the experts who issued a much-awaited United Nations report on global warming in Paris last week, it sounds like rising oceans will soon make their way to your bedroom and force you to hop out of bed in the middle of the night.

It sounds a little bit far fetched, but many scientists say that climate changes will have a greater impact -- and closer to home -- than many of us think.

Earlier this week, after more than 500 leading scientists from 113 nations issued the preliminary findings of a U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I called several authors of the report to ask them what can we expect to happen in the Western Hemisphere if global warming continues at its present pace.

The U.N. report said that world temperatures will rise by two to 11 degrees this century -- mainly because of the massive U.S. burning of fossil fuels and the rapid deforestation of the Amazon forest -- and that this will cause oceans to rise by seven inches to two feet over the same period of time. The report did not give regional forecasts. A more specific report is due out later this year.

So, based on these general projections, I asked Osvaldo F. Canziani, co-chairman of one of the panel's groups, in a telephone interview, what we can expect to happen in this part of the world.

Canziani said we will see a 1- to 2-centigrade rise in temperature over the next two decades, which will cause havoc in several countries:

• Rising oceans will cause severe flooding in U.S. coastal areas, Caribbean beach resorts, the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio de la Plata Basin. This could affect major cities, such as Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

• Glaciers in the Andean mountain range of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador will melt at an increasingly faster pace, creating water accumulations that will cause flooding and mudslides. This will pose great danger to many mountain villages.

• Meantime, deforestation of the Amazon as Brazil and its neighbors destroy huge jungle regions to, among other things, expand their booming soybean exports to China, will reduce rainfall in much of South America. This will lead to more forest fires and a greater shortage of water in many areas.

• Shifting air currents, in addition to deforestation, will make rainfall levels drop in some areas and increase in others. Rainfall will drop by up to 20 percent in Mexico, Central America, northeastern Brazil and southern Chile, while it will increase by up to 15 percent in South America's Rio de la Plata Basin stretching through Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Most experts agreed that poor people in the region will suffer the greatest losses because they tend to live in more exposed areas and in more fragile homes and often lack quick warning systems.

''In Latin America, politicians haven't realized the seriousness of this issue yet,'' Canziani told me.

Critics of the U.N. report say there have been many previous U.N. apocalyptic warnings that turned out to be wrong, and that it's far from certain that global warming is caused by fossil fuel emissions, as the U.N. panel concluded. They point out that there were periods of global warming thousands of years ago, long before humans began driving Hummers.

''The panel's report is not conclusive,'' says Israel Ortega, a spokesman for the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. ``The debate is just beginning.''

My opinion: I agree that U.N. scientific panels are not always right. In the late 1970s, U.N. climate experts were predicting an imminent Ice Age and worsening famines in India.

Instead, the world turned out to get hotter, and India is now exporting food.

But common sense tells me that something weird is happening. Over the past few years, we have seen extreme weather conditions in the United States, the first hurricane along Brazil's coast and golf-ball-sized ice cubes falling on usually balmy Buenos Aires. The weather is going crazy. So it may be time to focus our energies on climate changes, before the water starts rising under our beds.

Post script: The Venezuela Information Office, which according to its website is funded by the Venezuelan government, says I incorrectly stated in my last column that a new ''enabling law'' will allow President Hugo Chávez to, among other things, call a referendum to change the Constitution and allow his indefinite reelection. Indeed, Chávez has repeatedly said he will do that, but this is unrelated to the new law

Disney may expand into urban frontier

The company talks of themed hotels and entertainment districts across U.S.

Daytona pursues eastern water authority

Group focuses attention on Ichetucknee Springs

By TONY BRITT tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 10:53 PM EST

The Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group has launched a public information campaign where members will place awareness posters in local businesses.

Jim Stevenson, Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working group coordinator and Loye Barnard, the Save Our Suwannee Representative who is part of the Ichetucknee Springs

Basin Working Group, are scheduled to circulate the awareness posters to local

business beginning today.

“Tomorrow (Wednesday) Jim Stevenson and I are going to try to put these posters around

Lake City,” Barnard said.

She said Hunter Printing and its owner, Glenn Hunter, took the responsibility of printing 100 of the basin posters because of their importance to Columbia County.

“We've got to find the places where people are a captive audience and also have curiosity about the DOT (Department Of Transportation) signs

defining the Ichetucknee Basin,” she said of pending poster locations.

The working group was formed in 1995 to protect the waters flowing to Ichetucknee Springs. The Ichetucknee Springs Basin includes 38 percent of Columbia County reaching north to Interstate-10. Rain falling on the 600-square-mile basin recharges the underground reservoir that supplies water to Ichetucknee Springs. Rain seeps through the soil and enters the limestone where it moves slowly toward the springs. Water is also transported in the three creeks that cross the basin and enter sinks that are connected to caves. Once the water reaches the caves it flows rapidly to the springs, sometimes at the rate of three miles per day.

Barnard said the Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group wanted to circulate the posters throughout the community so that local residents would understand the importance of clean and quality water practices.

“Lake City's wastewater, septic tanks and fertilizer-charged stormwater is showing up in the aquifer and ultimately in Ichetucknee Springs and our drinking water,” she said. “The people in Columbia County are beginning to realize that they are part of the problem with septic tanks, and now they can be part of the solution.”

Keep Thirsty E-Grass Out Of Everglades

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Feb 7, 2007

An imported, fast-growing plant called giant reed is being touted as an energy crop that Florida farmers could turn into ethanol.

The import from South Asia has been used as a landscape ornamental in Florida for many years and has not been considered a threat to native vegetation. But planting thousands of acres of the stuff would raise the threat considerably.

The Florida Native Plant Society opposes agricultural use of the bamboo-like plant, Arundo donax. The group's concerns are valid. The state should proceed with great caution.

The reed spreads during floods when twigs as short as two inches are swept downstream where they take root. One wayward sprig can spread to cover hundreds of acres.

In California, giant reed has become a giant pest. A columnist writing in the Santa Barbara Independent says it "can be seen choking out just about every trickle of a stream around here." It grows 10 times faster than native plants, robs wild animals and fish of habitat, soaks up water like a sponge and causes erosion. The newspaper reports it "reproduces faster than nymphomaniac rabbits on speed."

If large tracts are planted in the tall grass - sometimes called E-grass when used as an energy crop - hurricane winds could sow clippings across the state. Should the reed, which grows about 20 feet tall at a pace of up to two inches a day, get into Lake Okeechobee or the Everglades, the cleanup costs would be astronomical.

California has found it costs up to $17,000 an acre to get rid of it.

Ethanol for fuel is a good idea, but state officials should take a conservative approach to potential runaway plants that might dry up streams and soak taxpayers.

Goodness Snakes, Toughen Serpent Rules

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Feb 7, 2007

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission is poised to pass a new rule banning people from keeping tigers and alligators in residential neighborhoods, which is a good thing.

The commission should apply the same logic to venomous snakes.

The state began tightening its exotic pet restrictions after a series of incidents involving pythons, anacondas and Nile monitor lizards that have been dumped into the wild where they now thrive.

But more needs to be done.

Imagine learning that your next-door neighbor had 15 venomous snakes and some crocodiles in his home. That's what happened to residents in a Town N' Country mobile home park three years ago. They made the discovery after the owner was nearly killed by an African black mamba. And they were shocked to hear that keeping a poisonous snake in their neighborhood was perfectly legal.

Poisonous snakes have no business as pets and should be included in the restrictions on exotic pets. Imagine firefighters answering an emergency call, only to come face to face with a deadly viper.

At a minimum, the state should make it easy to find out who has permits for these snakes. Hillsborough County keeps a database of dangerous dogs. The same should hold for venomous snakes. The difference is that the state holds sole regulatory power over snakes.

People are entitled to have dangerous hobbies, but the public deserves a bigger buffer from dangerous playthings.

Tighten rules on wildlife

Imagine hearing that your neighbor was bitten by a deadly black mamba snake, one of 15 poisonous snakes kept at his house. It happened in a Tampa mobile home community. Or consider children frolicking on the Starkey Elementary School playground in Pinellas County, unaware that tigers and other big cats pace in chain-link cages nearby. In both instances, the proximity of dangerous animals to unsuspecting adults and children is perfectly legal.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will meet today to consider tougher rules for people seeking permits to keep dangerous wildlife in captivity. And while the changes recommended by the commission's staff are an improvement over existing regulations, they don't go far enough to protect Floridians.

Now, any animal no matter how dangerous can be kept in a residential neighborhood as long as minimal lot size and caging requirements are met. The commission staff would exclude "Class 1 Wildlife" (the largest wild animals) from residential areas, but still allow "Class 2 Wildlife" and poisonous snakes to be kept there. That means animals as dangerous as cheetahs, hyenas and cobras could be in cages a few dozen feet from your door.

One group arguing for tougher regulations is the Florida Animal Control Association, the officials in each county who must deal with nuisance and unwanted animals. The residential restriction "should be on any animal that is a danger to families or pets," said Bill Armstrong, Hillsborough's director of animal services and a spokesman for the association.

Those animal experts have some other helpful suggestions the Wildlife Commission should consider before it passes a final rule. Houses that harbor dangerous animals in cages should have signs indicating so in plain public view, and their locations should be posted on the commission's Web site. Owners of dangerous animals should be required to report escaped animals immediately, and a disaster preparedness plan filed with emergency responders should be at the ready.

While accidents such as the one with the black mamba are not common, they aren't unheard of, either. Escaped pythons have become a nuisance in the Everglades, where they threaten native wildlife, pets and maybe, one day, humans.

The Wildlife Commission owes it to unsuspecting Florida residents to provide more protection.

Permanent 1-day-a-week watering rule discussed

The discussion soon turned to the county’s watering ordinance, however.

At least two commissioners said it’s time to put a permanent, one-day-a-week watering policy in effect and the issue could be on an upcoming meeting agenda in the near future.

Commissioner Dave Russell said that action would save the county and developers time and money to enforce what he called “draconian measures” outlined in the landscape ordinance.

“If we have one day week watering ordinance in place, it would follow that any developer is going to recommend putting in a Florida yard that doesn’t require watering as often rather than a water-thirsty lawn,” Russell said. “It seems to me it would be a simpler way to deal with the water shortage rather than mandating what could be very expensive fixes.”

It would also help ease the confusion for residents, said commissioner Diane Rowden.

“We need to stick with something and not keep going back and forth,” said Rowden, who asked staff to put a proposal together for an upcoming commission agenda.

Currently, Hernando County has a twice-a-week watering policy, but is under a once-a-week mandate by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud.

Swiftmud declared a water shortage last month and instituted the one-day-a-week mandate for all 16 counties in the district.

Grant Tolbert, the county’s development services director, highlighted some of the main strategies to save water that the county could employ in a revised landscape ordinance. The ordinance was last revised in 2001.

The changes would apply primarily to new commercial and residential development.

Among some of the suggestions from staff:

— Increase the percentage of a commercial site that must include preserved, natural vegetation. The current ordinance requires 3 percent. That could be bumped up to, say, 10 percent, Tolbert said.

“The greater conservation area we have, the greater water conservation we have,” Tolbert said.

— Make it mandatory to commercial development use shallow wells, lakes or reclaimed water for irrigation, if possible. This would alleviate stress on the county’s potable water system, Tolbert said.

County administrator Gary Kuhl said the county is currently looking at grants to help pay for infrastructure and retrofit water treatment plants to provide reclaimed water to areas of new growth, such as the planned development district near the State Road 50/Interstate 75 interchange in Ridge Manor.

— Reduce from 75 to 50 percent the amount of a development site that can include high-water-use turf grasses such as St. Augustine and Floratam. Those grasses could be banned altogether, Tolbert said.

Commissioner Chris Kingsley said he supported bringing the percentage down to at least 50 percent.

— Require commercial and residential sites to install irrigation systems that feature soil moisture sensors.

Bob Eaton, chairman of the government affairs committee for the Hernando Builders Association, said he was concerned that his organization hasn’t been asked for input as it was in 2001.

He said builders and developers could help put some of the theories into real-world perspective.

“This is the first our industry has seen of this,” Eaton said. “We haven’t looked at any cost data for these proposals.”

Local builder Joe Pastore warned commissioners about putting severe limits on grass types that would force developers to use less attractive options.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Pastore said. “It’s going to look ugly and people aren’t going to want to move here.”

Tolbert said he would form a focus group and invite builders and developers to provide input. The commission will then hold a public hearing before voting on the revised ordinance.

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

Drought remains despite some rain

A water district spokesman says the area still has a large deficit.

Glades mining study OK'd

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Cost to fix Lake O's leaky dike skyrockets

By Robert P. King

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Swiftmud to Pay $400,000 for Land

County ideal for wildlife sanctuaries

By CINDY SWIRKO

Sun staff writer

Attorney dives into springs feud

A fan of the mermaid park will work for free against Swiftmud.

BROOKSVILLE - Jacksonville lawyer Leslie Goller was 6 when she fell in love with the Weeki Wachee mermaids.

At 49, she still is. So much that she has volunteered to help the attraction for free in its ongoing legal battle with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Goller will help Weeki Wachee attorney Joe Mason as the two sides prepare to head back to court in August. They are expected to pick an exact date sometime this week.

After three years of trials, mediation, appeals and meetings, there are still differences that stem from a lease - Swiftmud owns the land the attraction is located on - plus a few other disagreements.

"I'm picky with who I'll handle," Goller said from her office at the Terrell Hogan law firm in Jacksonville. "To me, Weeki Wachee is not the polluter in this situation."

Goller said she made her decision after a weekend trip to the attraction last month. She had lived in Dunedin until she was 7, when her family moved to Washington, D.C.

After attending Duke University and graduating from the law school at Washington and Lee University, Goller came back to Florida in 1983. Though she primarily handles personal injury cases, she has fought her fair share of environmental battles in Florida courts.

In the past, she received Sierra Club awards and worked in various capacities to protect the St. Johns River and other state waters.

During her recent visit, Goller was shocked to find out from women in the gift shop that Weeki Wachee was still in litigation.

Goller believes that Swiftmud is to blame for the shoddy condition of the springs. The dead eelgrass and huge globs of algae growing along the river bed - visible from the river cruise - are because of runoff from U.S. 19, she said.

As landlord, Swiftmud is responsible for dealing with that, she said. She believes runoff is also to blame for the sand that accumulated on the springs beach, which the park tried to fix during the infamous dredging incident.

Swiftmud has disputed that and maintains that the park illegally dug sand in the middle of the night.

The water district also continues to argue that the city of Weeki Wachee broke state law by keeping the private company, Weeki Wachee Springs LLC, intact when it was donated to the city by the previous owner.

But the primary concern of Swiftmud - which has been a major sticking point in negotiations with Weeki Wachee - is to have the park obtain permission, or what's been referred to as an "underwater lease," from the state Department of Environmental Protection to use the springs and the river the attraction is located on.

"The litigation goes away if we resolve the issue of the underwater lease," said Michael Molligan, Swiftmud spokesman.

Last May, Swiftmud Chairman Tom Dabney and Weeki Wachee Mayor Robyn Anderson met in Tampa - without lawyers - and went through the existing lease between the two parties line by line for hours.

Except for the underwater lease, Molligan said both sides agreed to other changes. At the time, the parties said they felt confident about coming to an agreement.

But then a few weeks after the Tampa meeting, Mason filed a request to start formal court mediation again. Swiftmud fired back a motion to continue arguments before a judge.

Most recently, the water district received a revised lease - written by former DEP employee Dale Adams, hired several months ago as an environmental consultant by the park - which Molligan said was different from what had been agreed to.

Weeki Wachee spokesman John Athanason said that no business would sign an agreement without consulting an attorney and other officials. And that's what Weeki Wachee did.

In the meantime, all the back and forth has caused Hernando Circuit Judge Richard Tombrink to lose patience - again - with both sides. During a Jan. 29 hearing, he ordered the parties to settle or pick a trial date.

To Goller, the case between the mermaid park and the water district is evidence of little guy getting picked on.

"The violator is Swiftmud, not the park," Goller said. "And it's been going on since they've owned it."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1432.

A possible final decision on the proposed Mariana Oaks development on Old St. Augustine Road could come next week.

And it appears that the developers are no closer to an agreement with nearby residents, who want a big reduction in the number of home sites.

Former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox, who is representing the neighbors, met late last month with attorney Rick Bateman, who is representing the developer, Helios Investment Group.

"We made absolutely no progress in that meeting because the applicant's attorney was unwilling to discuss closing the access to the canopy road, buffering or any other conditions," Maddox said.

The proposal currently under review calls for only one entrance - from Old St. Augustine, a protected canopy road. The canopy-road cut is permissible if the development has no other entrance.

But the developer, under a different corporation, also is planning a residential development called Mason Creek just west of Mariana Oaks. And Bateman has proposed building a road that would go through both developments and allow cars to enter and exit through Williams Road.

Maddox said the argument that Mariana Oaks doesn't have access other than from Old St. Augustine Road is "disingenuous at best."

But Bateman said only one tree would be lost because of the canopy-road cut. And he said it's possible that the entrance from the canopy road would be closed after Mason Creek is built.

"That's just something we've discussed," he said.

County staff members have said that Mariana Oaks basically complies with the Comp Plan, the local blueprint for growth. However, it's the type of development that comes under review by county commissioners, and they have voted against it twice so far.

Mariana Oaks has 52 home sites on about as many acres. Nearby residents live on much bigger lots, and they don't want more compact housing next door. They're worried about traffic congestion, flooding and harm to trees and wetlands. But mostly, they're worried the area will lose its country feel.

"Basically speaking, they're going to ruin the neighborhood," said Bob Nelson, who lives on nearly 14 acres on a hill above Mariana Oaks. Nelson says he has no doubt the homes will be attractive, but he says there will be simply too many of them.

A public hearing is set for Feb. 13. Commissioners aren't saying much about the situation because the developers are suing the county over previous commission denials. Commissioner John Dailey would say only that he wants "something that the neighborhood is pleased with and the developer."

What: Public hearing on Mariana Oaks development

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13

Where: Fifth floor of the Leon County Courthouse, 301 S. Monroe St.

3 executives join Lake Nona Holdings

The trio will help oversee the expansion of the Orlando community.

Fluid Industry

AVON PARK — Dairy farmer Dennis Coulter starts his day with buttered toast, two eggs over medium, bacon and of course a glass of milk.

“I’m supporting the grain industry, poultry business and dairy, and with a couple pieces of bacon, that takes care of the hog industry,” he said.

Coulter owns and operates the Wabasso Road Dairy on State Road 64 east of Avon Park.

The dairy industry faces declining per capita milk consumption, stagnant prices, rising feed costs and environmental concerns.

But, despite these challenges, local and Florida dairy farmers are working year round to keep the state’s supermarket coolers supplied with milk.

In 1974, when Coulter entered the business, there were more than 400 dairy farms in Florida. Now there are about 160.

To meet the growing population and demand for milk, the 160 dairies are producing as much or more milk than the 400 were producing then, Coulter said. It’s pretty much like every other industry, everything is having to get bigger and bigger to survive economically.

Along with larger farms, advances in dairy cow genetics has led to more milk per cow, increasing dairy production, he said.

The Wabasso dairy is milking 2,000 cows three times a day, which yields 16,000 gallons a day.

With cooler temperatures making for contented cows, this is the peak production time for Florida dairy farmers. Cows are very sensitive to heat, Coulter said. When they are cool and comfortable they have a bigger appetite resulting in more milk.

The rain and humidity makes it miserable for the cows, said Nick Bishop, of the Bishop Brothers Dairy, Lorida.

“If it’s 9 or 99 [degrees], if it’s dry, it’s not so bad,” he said. “But, when it’s 99 and wet, it’s bad.”

In an effort to produce enough milk for the growing population of the Southeast, particularly Florida, the winter months see excess production with milk shipped out of the state, according to Southeast Milk, Inc., a dairy cooperative. Conversely, the summer’s heat and humidity reduce production levels and create a milk deficit situation and SMI procures and moves milk into the state.

Thirty years ago there were basically no environmental costs associated with dairy farming, but today it is one of the industry’s biggest concerns, Coulter said.

“We are in favor of most all of it,” he said. “It’s accelerated the pace at which farms get bigger. You’ve got to spread the cost. It costs as much to make a 100-cow dairy environmentally acceptable as it does a 1,000-cow dairy.

The Bishop Dairy implemented its first environmental plan around 1991, Nick Bishop said. The dwindling number of dairy farms in the county is largely due to the environmental regulations.

“We are in compliance and have been in compliance, but they want more and that comes out of our milk check,” he said. “We just can’t raise the price of our milk because the government agencies want us to do more [environmentally].”

The environmental groups are bad mouthing the farmers saying we are polluting, we are polluting ... they are running us out business,” Bishop said. “If they complain about having a gallon of milk for $3 when they go to the store and there is not a gallon of milk in the store, that’s going to be problem.”

It’s getting harder and harder for young farmers to get into and stay in business in any kind of farming, he added. It’s very costly and the price of land is getting so high now.

Highlands County dairies have been impacted more by the environmental pressures than Hardee County dairies, Southeast Milk, Inc. President Joe Wright said.

“In Highlands County, a lot of it is in the Okeechobee Basin with all those Lake Okeechobee issues,” he said. “In Hardee County we have a little different type soil, clay soils, and it’s a little easier to comply with environmental regulations.”

The big push to use corn for ethanol as a replacement for petroleum is going to hit the consumer’s pocketbook, Wright said. It substantially increases a dairy farmer’s operating costs and also affects the beef, chicken and hog industries.

What does not eat corn, Bishop asked. It’s going to hurt all farmers.

Most cow feed is comprised of byproducts such as cotton seed and cotton seed hulls, citrus pulp and hominy.

Feed is a dairy operation’s biggest expense, amounting to 40 percent of the production cost, Coulter said.

A dairy cow eats about 40 to 48 pounds of feed each day.

“A year ago we were buying corn products for $100 a ton and today they are $160 to $170 a ton,” Coulter said. “That’s a 60 percent to 70 percent increase to a part of our cost that equals 40 percent of the total cost of production.”

The consumer thinks ethanol is grand, but it’s based on corn costing $2.50 per bushel, he said. Now all of a sudden corn is $4.50 a bushel.

The price of oil has gone down a little, “so, I think it’s all based on false economies,” Coulter said.

“We are going to have to produce several billion more bushels of corn in this country to supply the ethanol deal,” he said. “Whether it’s going to be economical to do that, I don’t know.”

In 1909, Americans consumed a total of 34 gallons of fluid milk per person – 27 gallons of whole milk and 7 gallons of milks lower in fat than whole milk, mostly buttermilk, according to Amber Waves, a publication covering rural farming.

Fluid milk consumption shot up from 34 gallons per person in 1941 to a peak of 45 gallons per person in 1945. Milk was not rationed during World War II.

Since 1945, however, milk consumption has fallen steadily, reaching a record low of just under 23 gallons per person in 2001 (the latest year statistics were available for the report).

The decline in per capita consumption of fluid milk may be attributed to competition from other beverages, especially carbonated soft drinks and bottled water, a smaller percentage of children and adolescents in the U.S., and a more ethnically diverse population whose diet does not normally include milk, according to the Amber Waves report.

The per capita consumption of lower fat milks was 15 gallons in 2001, up from 4 gallons in 1945 and 6 gallons in 1970.

“We’ve had some very favorable scientific studies in the last couple of years about the importance of whole milk products.” Coulter said. “For the last 20 years, all we’ve heard was negative stuff.”

Eggs went through a similar cycle with studies showing the negatives, but that has also changed now, he said.

“We like to think milk is nature’s most perfect food – and complete food.

Pizza’s popularity is a plus for the dairy industry.

It takes about a gallon of milk, which weighs 8.6 pounds, to make a pound of cheese and on a really good quality pizza there will be a pound of cheese, Coulter said. So the pizza industry has been good to the dairy industry.

The federal milk marketing program requires most milk producers and handlers to set minimum prices on their products and to pool their revenues.

Southeast Milk, Inc., handles pricing, within the federal limits, for many local and southeast U.S. dairy farms.

The Wabasso dairy nets about 17 cents for a pound of fluid milk, Coulter said.

He recalls getting 12 cents a pound 30 years ago, when diesel fuel was a quarter a gallon.

“We don’t see that trend changing,” he said, about the price remaining low compared to the rising prices of most products and services. “We are going to continue to have to get bigger,” to remain profitable.

“It’s kind of sad in a lot of ways, but I don’t see it changing,” Coulter said.

Proposed coal plant slated for construction near Lafayette County

By Ira Mikell, Free Press Reporter

— Construction of a coal-fired power plant to generate electricity is scheduled to commence sometime next year and is projected to be completed by 2012. It will be built on 3,000 acres of pineland near the Fenholloway River in Taylor County and approximately five miles north of the Lafayette, Taylor County line off US 27.
Since it was first discussed in 2005, this new plant, called Taylor Energy Center, has created a massive controversy. It is an ongoing heated debate among the citizens of Perry, health and environmental officials, local interest groups, and others, the effects of which can be felt as far east as Baker County. Even several surrounding counties—Dixie, Madison, Leon, and Wakulla—have become involved in the fight.
The coal plant, according to TEC officials, will be a state-of-the-art facility that is environmentally friendly. For example, TEC officials have stated that the quality of the air we breathe will not be compromised because the plant will strictly conform to all air quality standards set forth by law.
Those opposing the plant disagree. They believe the effects from it will do greater harm to the environment than the benefits it will produce. One such opponent is Diane Whitfield who is a Taylor County resident. According to Whitfield, coal plants produce an abundance of carbon dioxide that pollutes the air. “The coal plant proposed is 800 megawatts big and will have two or three 700 ft high emission stacks. It will emit enough carbon dioxide that it would take over 800,000 acres of young planted pines to absorb a year’s worth,” Whitfield said.
Capital Medical Society, based in Tallahassee, is also adamantly against its construction and warns those in favor of it, as well as residents who will be in its wake, of the dire health effects that will be produced. “From a healthcare point of view, we are opposed to a coal-fired power plant in our area because it will be detrimental to the health of our patients who have lung and cardiac diseases and because it increases the incidence of both respiratory conditions and neurologic developmental problems with children,” CMS said. In addition, according to CMS, the pollutants that are emitted from the plant do not respect state or county lines.
Advocates of the plant contend that it will bring additional jobs, revenue, and produce byproducts that local businesses can use. Examples of these byproducts include ash for concrete and gypsum for making drywall.
Whitfield has attended many of the meetings in which the coal plant has been debated. When asked if she was aware of anyone from Lafayette County in attendance, she said that she has not seen any residents or county officials come and participate. But added, that she hopes to see citizens of Lafayette County start to come out and attend the meetings and voice their concerns.
Watch the Free Press for continuing coverage of proposed coal plant

200 turn out to oppose Charlotte County mine

Residents tell Charlotte officials about worries over truck traffic

New regional park planned for U.S. 19

But in recent years, the traffic has increased and the number of housing developments has grown. More subdivisions are planned.

With more people headed toward Hernando County’s northwest section, county commissioners believe it’s time to consider a new regional park.

In fact, it’s beyond the consideration phase. Parks Director Pat Fagan is already crunching numbers and looking at funding options to make the park a reality. Other than state-owned land, there are no parks or recreational facilities along U.S. 19, from just past Glen Lakes to the Hexam Road area.

“That is really the only area in the county right now that does not have a park site on it,” Fagan said.

But before residents pack a picnic lunch and head out to the new park, the county will have to purchase 50-75 acres of land, design and build it. And it won’t be cheap.

Preliminary cost estimates are coming in at about $15 million over a 10-year period.

And there is only $600,000 in impact fees in that district to help pay for the new park and all the goodies the county would like to include.

There is also another park in that district — Ernie Wever Park — that is slated for improvements, so that pot of money will have to be split.

Ideally, here is what the county would like to see in the new regional northwest park: softball and baseball complexes, multi-purpose fields, basketball courts, tennis, bocce ball, shuffleboard, racquetball, handball and volleyball courts.

Visitors would also find a playground, picnic shelters, fencing along the perimeter and sidewalks.

One way commissioners are trying to offset the costs of new parks is asking the developers in that area to help pay for them.

The county is already asking them to pay their fair share of road improvements in certain areas, so why not needed services such as parks, they reason.

There may be a way to build the park without breaking the bank.

Fagan said one inexpensive option of getting the new park built cheaper and quicker is by partnering with the school board, which will build a new high school in northwest Hernando County in the next three years.

The school is planned for a 70-acre site on the east side of U.S. 19, three-quarter miles south of Centralia Road.

The high school will be built on the southern portion of the site and accommodate between 2,000-2,500 students. Eventually, an elementary school will be built on the northern end, with 750-900 students.

With that many families moving in, it is in the best interests of school and county officials to team up, commissioners believe.

Partnering with the school board would not only save money, it could move up the creation of the park by about five or six years, Fagan said.

“It would save money by not having to duplicate efforts,” he said.

The school district needs athletic fields. The new school is right in the middle of the expected residential growth.

“If we work with the school system, it would be a win-win situation for both of us,” Fagan said.

County Administrator Gary Kuhl agrees that a partnership with the school board is the preferred way to build the proposed park.

Partnerships with other public or private entities are probably the ideal way to fund other big-ticket capital projects earmarked for the future, Kuhl added.

And the northwest area is sure to need its share of infrastructure improvements as development there ramps up.

“A lot of the growth is headed that way,” Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings said of the northwest region.

That growth is driven largely by the expansion of GlenLakes and up to 11,000 unsold lots at Royal Highlands, Jennings said.

Other large-scale housing developments in the Northwest include Seville and World Woods and the proposed Lake Hideaway.

Planning Director Ron Pianta agrees that he is braced for development activity along U.S. 19 heading north.

Fagan admits he has his work cut out for him. He plans to present a budget to county commissioners in the next two months or so, showing the cost breakdowns of the park, with or without school board involvement.

“There’s a lot to do and my priority is to work with the school system to build a park with amenities so we can both use them,” he said.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.

Housing Slump Delays Roads

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 4, 2007

At the northern edge of Hillsborough County, Sunlake Boulevard wends through a quiet, residential section of Lutz before petering out in dirt and potholes.

Beyond the end of the road lies Pasco County and Long Lake Ranch, owned by Nick and Pete Geraci.

Pasco County officials see a day when Sunlake Boulevard continues north from Hillsborough, crossing Long Lake Ranch, Bexley Ranch and more Bexley family land before meeting State Road 52 just east of the Suncoast Parkway.

County officials say extending Sunlake Boulevard will take traffic pressure off increasingly congested U.S. 41. For now, however, Long Lake Ranch and the extension are tied up in regulatory knots as Nick Geraci tries to remove nearly 300 acres from the project's southeast corner to develop separately.

An extended Sunlake Boulevard is part of a network of future roads Pasco's planners hope to put in place in the next 20 years.

That network looks dramatically different from the one that exists now: Four-lane roads swell to six or eight, overpasses replace congested intersections and miles of new roads cut through the vacant acres of central and east Pasco.

The county is depending on developers to build many of those roads as part of future subdivisions and shopping centers. As a result, the county's transportation network hangs on the economic forces driving both the housing industry and the road-building business.

"We're really at their mercy," said Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader.

The recent slide in Pasco's housing market has put a crimp in the county's plans for that road network as developers delay their housing projects and the roadwork associated with them. On top of that, the recent run-up in road construction costs is giving some builders second thoughts about how much they're willing to do.

Road Plans Don't Jibe

In short, it's becoming clear that the county's road-building plans don't always jibe with developers' market-driven schedules. The county has few tools to force developers to build roads ahead of their own schedules nor the money to build the roads itself, said commissioners.

"They're supposed to be the developers' responsibility to do," commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said. "It would be nice if we could do it, but I don't know if we have the financial wherewithal."

Road construction costs peaked last year at $6 million a mile, a figure that forced everyone from developers to the Florida Department of Transportation to rethink plans.

At the moment, county officials seem willing to wait the developers out.

"Other than shutting them down and not giving them any more building permits, I don't know what we can do," Schrader said.

A shutdown last summer forced Seven Oaks' developers to start fulfilling their commitment - made in 2001 - to widen Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Wesley Chapel.

Developer Craig Weber has secured a $34 million line of credit to finance the project, which could start this fall.

There is one notable exception to Pasco County's wait-and-see approach to its developer-built road network: State Road 56.

The eastern extension of Pasco's newest highway was envisioned as a relief valve for chronically congested State Road 54, giving drivers a second route to Morris Bridge Road, Zephyrhills and Tampa.

The project was originally the responsibility of Meadow Pointe developer Don Buck. Buck passed the job to Pulte Home Corp., as part of its Wiregrass Ranch development west of Meadow Pointe, and GL Homes, which is developing the Wynfields project east of Meadow Pointe.

Wiregrass Ranch has bogged down in its two-year course through county review, leaving its part of S.R. 56 unbuilt years after it was supposed to be finished.

S.R. 56 'Has To Be Built'

Commissioner Pat Mulieri expressed her frustration with the stalled project during discussions about Wiregrass and its potential impact on traffic in eastern Pasco and northeastern Hillsborough counties.

"[S.R.] 56 "The people who live there believe 56 will help them."

The first phase of the road calls for two lanes stopping short of Meadow Pointe Boulevard.

Pulte vice president Scott Neal has said work on the road could start this spring.

But the Department of Transportation has told Pulte it won't accept the road unless it connects with Meadow Pointe Boulevard.

Until that happens, the road is a driveway into Pulte's Del Webb project. Pulte is working on plans to fill the gap and win DOT approval, said county engineer Jim Widman.

In the meantime, Rick Costello, GL Homes' Tampa president, hears the clock ticking on the commitment he made in 2005 to build S.R. 56 from Meadow Pointe Boulevard to U.S. 301.

"The deadlines right now are extremely tight, but they're tighter for other people than they are for us," Costello said.

Costello's part of the road is supposed to cross Zephyr Egg's property, southwest of Zephyrhills, to reach Morris Bridge Road.

The development of that property was thrown into question last year when Zephyr Egg and Metro Development Co. went to court in a dispute over timing of the project. It's unclear when that dispute will be resolved.

For the moment, Costello is focusing on the part of the project Pulte must build.

"The timeline is going to be dictated by what it takes to get the road to us," Costello said. "Otherwise we're building a parking lot."

WAITING FOR ROADS

County officials expect developers to build many major road projects. That approach puts the future transportation network at the mercy of changes in the housing market and road construction costs. Here's where four major road projects stand now:

CURLEY ROAD: Lennar Corp. hopes to renegotiate its deal with the county over widening and relocating the southern end of Curley Road. The developer wants to do the work as part of developing Epperson Ranch instead of paying $20 million upfront so the county can do the work.

STATE ROAD 56: A falling out between the owners of Zephyr Egg Co. and Metro Development Inc. has cast into limbo plans for extending Pasco's newest east-west road to meet Morris Bridge Road southwest of Zephyrhills.

SUNLAKE BOULEVARD: A dispute between brothers Nick and Pete Geraci over their Long Lake Ranch project in Odessa has made it unclear when work will begin to extend Sunlake Boulevard north from Lutz to State Road 54. Other developers have begun work on segments north of S.R. 54.

CLINTON AVENUE EXTENSION (S.R. 52A): A yearlong delay in developing Bella Verde has set back plans for building the western end of Clinton Avenue, which will form the resort community's main entrance. Work could begin next year.

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

Meadow Pointe districts argue over use of facilities

As a result of the community's growth, its reciprocal use policy appears on the way out.

WESLEY CHAPEL - When Demetrius Greene returned from serving his country in Iraq last year, he was happy to be back in the United States, away from community strife.

But lately, the soldier has seen a neighborhood rift, right in his back yard in Meadow Pointe.

His kids Asha, 13, and Ashton, 9, were headed over to use the Meadow Pointe II clubhouse a few weeks ago, but they weren't let in the door. The kids didn't really understand why, and it turns out, neither do most Meadow Pointe residents.

From the outside, Meadow Pointe looks like one big community. But the area is actually four distinct community development districts - governing boards originally created by developers. They can levy taxes for infrastructure needs and oversee community issues.

The districts are responsible for the clubhouses and pools each area has, and for years have had agreements where residents could go to any facility they wanted. The agreements were signed when the developers still controlled the boards, but residents were elected as the population grew. That's when the conflict crept in.

The latest example is when Meadow Pointe II built a new fitness room. It started demanding IDs for admission and wouldn't allow residents from Meadow Pointe I, said Dennis Smith, district representative from Meadow Pointe I.

Smith said that rather than argue about the issue, his board would just cancel their 10-year reciprocal use agreement, which is to end in March.

Meadow Pointe I's chairwoman, Patricia Asklar, sent over a written notice to Meadow Pointe II's leadership.

That notification was reprinted in Meadow Pointe II's January newsletter, along with a note that said because of Meadow Pointe I's decision, those residents were no longer allowed in any of Meadow Pointe II's facilities.

A group of about 15 angry residents gathered Thursday night during a joint meeting of the two groups to complain.

Some residents of Meadow Pointe II were upset they could no longer use the lap pool in Meadow Pointe I. Most didn't understand how the decision was made in the first place.

Gerald Lynn, the chairman of the Meadow Pointe II CDD, defended the original decision, saying that the new fitness center could not hold more visitors than those who live in his district.

He would not comment further when contacted Friday, other than to say the matter would be discussed at the next district meeting.

Sandra Minieri, 64, said the matter has devolved into a power struggle between the two districts, with residents suffering.

"It cured me from moving into these developments," said Minieri, who moved to Meadow Pointe II from California two and a half years ago. "You have a few people making decisions for thousands of people, and I don't know who they answer to." They answer to the residents, who vote on district board members as part of general elections.

Smith thinks part of the problem is that builders and Realtors perpetuate the notion that any resident of the area - which now stretches nearly nine miles - has access to everything under the umbrella of Meadow Pointe.

He's not opposed though, to working out a new agreement - if everything is on the table.

"If there is an agreement that treats everyone the same, I would vote for it in a minute," he said.

Gina Pace can be reached at (352) 521-6518 or gpace@sptimes.com.