Roads a pivotal issue in SpringHills debate

By CINDY SWIRKO

Sun staff writer

This is Gainesville, where roads lead to conflict.

The costs for road work necessary to handle traffic from SpringHills promise to be a complicated but key factor when the Alachua County Commission considers the project, possibly in April.

At issue are two sets of plans.

One is the original list of roads and intersections that will need improvement because of SpringHills. This set was used last year when the decision was made to forward the project to the state for review.

The second is a new set of estimates prepared by the county based on an analysis of road needs by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council.

SpringHills attorney Patrice Boyes said the first list should be used. Changing in midstream of the process is unfair, she said. Boyes added that the state departments of community affairs and transportation have approved the list.

"The (DOT) has accepted our list of road improvements and DCA has essentially said 'cool,'Ê" Boyes said. "We've been in this process for four years. These agencies were there in 2002 at the preapplication meeting. The state is saying it's too late — you can't come now."

SpringHills has agreed to pay a percentage of the cost of new roadwork under "proportionate share" — a state tool that allows developers to pay for road capacity needed to handle their project.

The new data is designed to show how much roadwork would be needed for SpringHills to meet concurrency, said county Growth Management Director Rick Drummond. Concurrency is the state law that requires that capacity exist when new development comes into existence.

The new list of roadwork is far more extensive than the original and includes six-laning portions of NW 39th Avenue and eight-laning some intersections.

Drummond said he will present that data to the County Commission when it considers the comprehensive plan amendment sought by SpringHills because it is the most recent data.

But Drummond added that the recommendation his department will make to the County Commission will likely not include doing all those roads.

Instead, Drummond said the recommendation will be do to roadwork that will have the most benefit with the estimated $58 million that SpringHills would owe for proportionate share of the total $120 million cost.

"If we are going to implement proportionate share, of all of those projects, where do we get the biggest bang for the buck?" Drummond said. "We worked with the city on intersection modifications — but not the massive eight-lane ones — and six-laning 39th Avenue in front of the project. We all got together and looked at, if we have $58 million to spend, where can we get the best results for the transportation network."

That still leaves about $62 million of work without a source of funding.

Under the original list of roads, SpringHills was projected to pay $40 million up front, with later reimbursement of up to $18.4 million.

Boyes believes the calculations for the new plan are flawed and the list is an attempt to get more money out of the developer, the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.

Traffic modeling was not done, Boyes said. She added that traffic which already exists on 39th Avenue was tacked on to the estimate of traffic SpringHills will create.

"This whole freelance exercise that the Planning Council went off on ... is faulty and it's not accepted by the state," Boyes said. "It wasn't coordinated with DOT and DCA."

Marlie Sanderson of the Planning Council disagreed, noting that city and county planners were involved.

"We did what I thought was a very thorough analysis of their transportation impacts," Sanderson said.

Regardless of what data is eventually used by the county and SpringHills to try to arrive at a proportionate-share formula, the latest numbers are being used as fuel by city commissioners and residents who oppose the project.

Cindy Swirko can be reached at 374-5024 or swirkoc@gvillesun.com.

On the path to gridlock?

Busy University Parkway is being pushed to its limit

by FRANK GLUCK

frank.gluck@heraldtribune.com

What was once a speedy five-mile stretch of University Parkway between Interstate 75 and U.S. 301 has become a snarled mess of traffic, road construction and frustrated drivers.

Now comes news that a "mega-mall" and 1,700 homes will be built on 276 acres off University near the interstate.

Traffic from the proposed Town Center mall, which was approved by Sarasota County this week, will add to congestion already caused by retail stores such as Super Target and a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, and from massive subdivisions like Palm Aire, University Park and Lakewood Ranch.

In just five years, traffic on University Parkway jumped 60 percent -- from 30,000 cars a day in 2001 to 48,000 in 2005, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

But despite the worsening traffic on University, which already gets a flunking grade in capacity from transportation officials, no significant plan is in place to expand the road.

Construction already frustrates motorists on the road, as more than $70 million in mostly intersection work is either planned or under way to help University.

But while that may speed traffic flow, it won't add capacity.

The DOT has no plans for a comprehensive fix for this vital connector that runs from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in the west to Lakewood Ranch in the east.

The DOT, which is in the throes of a major study of the University corridor, is years away from clearing land to add lanes.

"I don't want to say we'll never get ahead of the curve, but I'm not sure you can," said Mike Maholtz, a transportation planner for the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization. "There's just so much development going on ... it's all a work in progress."

The increase in traffic is being driven by incredible and rapid development of the "Manasota" region, which is bisected by University Parkway, the border between Sarasota and Manatee counties.

On the parkway's east end, Lakewood Ranch, with its 7,000 existing homes, is certain to keep growing with new projects like The Concession, The Lake Club and several condo projects east of I-75.

On the west end, closer to U.S. 301, the last remaining vacant properties are up for sale, and landowners say they are getting strong interest from developers for that land.

In between, much of the land on both sides of University has or will be developed.

Serenata, a new community near the overburdened Tuttle Avenue intersection with University, recently opened 240 condominiums across from restaurants and two shopping centers.

Nearby, a large medical complex sits along the Shade Avenue extension. To the north of Shade, University Parkway Properties is planning 330 multifamily homes whose residents will certainly see University as a connection to north-south routes.

All that adds to established housing projects along the parkway, such as the upscale Palm Aire and University Park communities that surely add thousands of daily trips on University.

Retail stores and restaurants have kept pace, serving residents but increasing traffic from people visiting the area.

A 174,000-square-foot Super Target opened in October next to the site of Benderson's planned mega-mall.

A Wal-Mart at Lockwood Ridge Road will be expanded into a Supercenter soon.

Local officials are aware of the problem, but also have no major plans to add vehicle capacity.

"It's a heavily traveled road," said Manatee County Commissioner Donna Hayes. "You can sit there for 20 minutes waiting to get out of Lakewood Ranch."

To get ahead of the growing demand, the state and counties -- with their limited transportation budgets -- will have to rely more on developers to pick up greater portions of the tab, Maholtz said.

Manatee County, for example, has asked developers to contribute to its planned widening of a two-mile stretch of State Road 64 a few miles north of University.

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, developer of Lakewood Ranch, is spending $9.5 million for University Parkway improvements, including a widening of the parkway east of I-75.

Drivers and businesspeople here often apologize for their foul language when they describe the hassle of navigating and living with University Parkway.

Robert Fusco, owner of Mister Moped at the parkway's intersection at U.S. 301, calls it a disorganized mess.

Fusco figures he's lost about half his business and has laid off two employees since the intrusive reconstruction of the intersection started about a year ago.

Construction barricades obscure the single entrance to his parking lot, and piles of dirt make it hard to see his building from the road.

He is hopeful loyal customers will come back.

"The only reason I'm still in business is because I've been open since 1991," he said. "Otherwise, I'd be closing my door."

Work at Lockwood Ridge Road was so bad that its recent completion is cause for an official celebration at a nearby Albertsons plaza.

The grocery store plans a sale and barbecue on Feb. 2 and 3, and other plaza businesses are offering deals during the celebration.

"We're now just getting the flow of traffic back in," said Ashley Griffin, assistant store manager. "The whole plaza was down in sales."

University Parkway, formerly known as County Line Road, hasn't always been a crowded suburban thoroughfare.

Hub Hubbell, 88, has lived on University Parkway for 54 years and is one of the few residential holdouts on the roadway.

He remembers riding his horse along University Parkway when it was a two-lane dirt road that saw 10 to 12 vehicles a day.

Back then, a large orange grove was across the road to the north, and Lakewood Ranch was home mostly to cattle, he said.

"You never thought of locking your car or the door to your house, even when you left for a couple of days," Hubbell said. "Yeah, it's changed."

When I-75 got extended into Manatee and Sarasota counties in the early 1980s, County Line Road was destined to become a major thoroughfare and a vital link between I-75 and the airport.

The DOT ranks University Parkway as a high priority for expansion because of its connections to I-75, U.S. 301 and the airport.

The boulevard is one of the few highways in this area listed on the state's "strategic intermodal system."

Drivers say they don't need a study to understand the problems.

Making a turn at U.S. 301 and University Parkway usually requires sitting through a couple of changes of the traffic signals.

Rush hour at the I-75 interchange is so backed up that traffic is stop-and-go inside Market Square, a Lakewood Ranch shopping center a quarter-mile east.

Because of its lack of turn lanes, the Tuttle Avenue intersection has frequent backups.

Nancy Potter of Venice said she occasionally shops in Lakewood Ranch and Sarasota and welcomes news of a new mall.

Yet she hopes that kind of commercial development stays out of her neighborhood.

"We'd shop there, but we're just glad we don't live here," she said.

L.B. Grubb, who lives in the 5000 block of Ithaca Lane near Lockwood Ridge Road, said he avoids rush hour at all costs.

"I don't want any part of 5 o'clock," he said. "This road is not even set up for the traffic we have already. It's a joke."

Staff writer Dale White contributed to this report.

Development Still Going Strong Despite Polk's Weak Home Market

By Jeremy Maready
The Ledger

DAVENPORT
Contractors at Providence didn't get the memo about Polk County's lag in new home sales and construction.

As one of the county's largest and most ambitious planned developments, the 2,200-acre Davenport golf and country club community is on track to build more than 4,800 homes over the next six years.

While other local developments, including Indian Lake Estates, near Lake Wales, 8,200 homes; Ridgewood Lakes, off U.S. 27 in Four Corners, 8,100 homes; and ImperiaLakes, near Mulberry, 3,979, all have the potential to be larger, none is as far along as Providence.

Already, Providence, off U.S. 17-92 and County Road 54, has met several milestones without much difficulty:

The first phase of its development: Cleared.

The roads: Paved.

The first neighborhood, 83-home Chelsea Woods: Sold out.

The dirt is moving and the money is flowing.

What began as unmarketable wetlands and scrub is turning into a money-making megaproject.

For 15 years, the property was owned by Lawrence Gough and David Scales, a pair of potato farmers from Canada and Maine. They found the property while on vacation and thought cultivating the land was a possibility in the Sunshine State.

"They liked it," said Janice Summers, owner of Janice Summers Realty Inc. in Winter Haven and Realtor for the property. "But they didn't have a clue as to what was going on. At first they wanted it as farm land. Then they saw that wasn't realistic.

"Their next thought was to put in a dirt road and sell off 50- and 100-acre lots to their friends up north," she said. "But when they learned they couldn't do that in Florida anymore, they decided to keep it as an investment."

And so began the creation of Oak Hills Estates, the development of regional impact's (DRI) original name. That began in the late 1980s and carried over to 1991.

"It took three to four years to get it all in order," Summers said.

The DRI was approved by the county in the early 1990s, but sat vacant, waiting for a new owner and the price of property to increase.

The property, which was a compilation of seven parcels, was at one time in the running to be the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Summers said. But organizers opted for Cleveland.

Another potential for the site was Wings Over Florida, an aviation theme park. But again, the deal fell through.

"To be honest, those people had great ideas, but they didn't have the money," she said.

A new start

The property was purchased for about $30 million by David Kohn, president of Orlando-based ABD Development Co., in 2003.

With new ownership came a name change: Oak Hills Estates became Providence.

And when Kohn took control, Summers' work made development of the property an easier process and an attractive purchase.

While marketing the property for more than a decade, Summers had five water wells installed on the property; a school, Loughman Oaks Elementary, had been built on donated land to house the children from the area; a water treatment facility had been built to meet concurrency requirements by the county; and the first 100 lots had been plotted and the entrance created.

"They needed everything I already had in place," Summers said.

Within a year of its purchase by ABD, plans were drawn for the development. They included an 18-hole golf course, a driving range, a fitness and aquatic center, a clubhouse and three commercial retail centers, all to be built out by 2013.

The first phase of the community includes 2,048 homes, the first nine holes of the golf course and 135,000 square feet of commercial space. And it's all scheduled to be completed by December 2008.

The second phase will finish the remaining 2,813 homes, 180,000 square feet of commercial space and the remainder of the golf course.

varied project

But don't envision this as one large cookie-cutter community. Many of the homes are semi-custom from the builders and come with packages that give each home a unique contrast to its neighbors.

The brick-paved entrance leads into the vast development that is dotted with lakes, ponds, oak trees and undeveloped environmental land. And the diversity of the homes varies from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Companies already committed to the project include Lennar Homes, Inland Homes, Toll Brothers, Meritage Homes, Contempo Signature Homes, Grant Homes and ABD Development.

The first Providence phase includes single-family homes and townhomes that will range in price from $300,000 to more than $1 million, significantly higher than the projected $180,00 to $500,000.

"The owners were very picky when selecting a buyer," said Summers, who was in charge of the initial marketing of the property. "We ended up with the best with David Kohn. He has a track record for producing top communities."

The 18-hole golf course is being designed by Michael Dasher, out of Winter Park. Dasher has been involved with more than 40 top courses across the country. The course will be open to the public and residents of the community will be eligible to receive discount memberships.

The course's clubhouse was designed by The Evans Group, an Orlando architectural firm, and will include a restaurant and a golf pro shop.

"This is a great community," said Jim DeGennaro, the director of business development for the Central Florida Development Council. "It has topography, lakes, rolling hills and large oak trees. It is a shining jewel in the northeast part of the county."

Providence's location and access to Interstate 4 and U.S. 27 make it a highly desirable location to live, he said.

That's part of the reason developers think that, despite a lag in the state's housing market, the community will move along according to schedule.

full speed ahead

While the building boom of 2005 has ended, it hasn't slowed development at Providence, said officials with ABD Development.

Building permits for new home construction in 2006 totaled 6,761 in Polk County, a 40 percent drop from 11,269 in 2005.

And December, which is typically slow for builders because of the holiday season, was especially lethargic.

On a monthly scale, December held the lowest total since September 2001, according to records kept by The Ledger. Last month, builders pulled 278 permits, down 70 percent from the previous year's December total of 935.

But this is the slow time of the year for home sales in Providence, said Sheryl Rotondi, a sales consultant with ABD Development.

However, sales are picking up, she said. "We have seen a lot more traffic in the last two weeks. But we are all geared up for the spring."

That's when Providence gets the most sales action, she said.

But already Chelsey Woods has sold out and about 50 percent of Heritage Green has sold in presales. And work has begun on the initial development on Cortland Woods, Drayton Woods and Lexington Green.

Much of the inflation of 2005 was caused by speculative buyers, said Rotondi. Buyers would invest in properties and turn them around to sell in a short time, making a large profit, while the home remained vacant.

It has happened in surrounding neighborhood developments, just across the county line, she said. But a vacation and rental home community is not what ABD plans to have.

"We are family oriented," Rotondi said.

Reunion Resort, in Orlando, fell prey to becoming only vacation homes and rentals, she said. "It's a totally different community over there. There aren't any neighbors. It's like a ghost town over there."

At Providence, there will be only one division of short-term rental homes, Victoria Woods by Contempo Signature Homes.

"We're going for the family-oriented buyers," Rotondi said. "Many of the buyers are going to be local, but we also attract many buyers from the United Kingdom."

And as for the sales market for new homes, Andrew Boswell, project manager for Toll Brothers' Drayton Woods, said the typical buyer for Providence isn't a first-timer.

"The people that come here are going to know what they want," he said. "This is more for the second- or third-home buyer. These people are knowledgeable and have done their research."

Jeremy Maready can be reached at jeremy.maready@theledger.com or 863-802-7592.

Minneola wants more land

Annexing a new development could move the city's border north of County Road 455.

Robert Sargent
Sentinel Staff Writer

January 27, 2007

MINNEOLA -- In the past couple of years or so, the city has annexed hundreds of acres of rural land to make way for more development.

Builders want to convert the vast, open area into a huge cluster of neighborhoods and commercial and industrial centers. But to get approval, they had to meet strict requirements from the City Council long before construction begins.

Now Minneola is preparing to annex another large area that will push the city's borders north of County Road 455. But this time the development already has been approved in Lake County.

If annexation is approved, the city will have limited control over the development of Sugarloaf Mountain, an upscale community proposed for more than 2,200 homes, a golf course and commercial areas.

Representatives from Minneola and Sugarloaf met this week for preliminary discussions to bring the project into the city. Three council members toured the construction site.

Developer LandMar Group will provide information about Sugarloaf today at an open house hosted by Minneola to allow residents and government agencies to learn about various projects proposed in the area. The event will be from 9 a.m. to noon at City Hall, 800 N. U.S. Highway 27.

Minneola could annex Sugarloaf this summer.

The community was approved in the county years ago. Construction is under way now, and homes could start going up this spring.

The 1,400-acre site, straddling C.R. 455, is the highest elevation in Central Florida. Plans call for more than 2,200 homes including The Overlook, a gated neighborhood of 550 upscale homes, and a golf course co-designed by golfer Ben Crenshaw.

Mayor David Yeager supports the annexation.

"It's a first-class development -- they really thought it through," Yeager said. "I think it will be a great addition to our city."

Before she considers annexation, council member Sue Cordova said she wants to know how Sugarloaf will impact the city, how it will conform to certain city regulations and how much control Minneola can impose.

"I want to look at the full cost of bringing them in," Cordova said.

Sugarloaf already has preliminary approvals from the county that govern how part of the community will be built.

The developer also has asked the state to establish a community development district, a type of mini-government allowed under Florida law to help provide infrastructure for development.

Minneola cut a deal in 2005 to provide utilities to Sugarloaf. The agreement gave Minneola the option to annex the development once it was adjacent to city limits.

Sugarloaf is adjacent to the massive Hills of Minneola, a community proposed for nearly 4,000 homes that Minneola annexed in October.

Under its utility agreement with Minneola, Sugarloaf agreed to build a water plant and the city would run it. The city may pay back the developer by waiving some of the impact fees typically charged to new homes and commercial buildings planned for Sugarloaf.

Minneola also will provide sewer and garbage service.

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

Give us back our county

Hernando Times Letter to the Editor Published January 26, 2007

Re: Developer's plan looks to avert impact requirements Jan. 23 letter to the editor

Is this another example of our county commission and building department selling out our county?

Your article states that a qualified geologist, referring to the cave, said it "contained some of the most spectacular formations in the Southeast."

The fact that residential-commercial building continues to be rampant in Hernando County shows us there is no concern for the taxpayers, but only for the pockets of those who issue all these permits.

We have just been subjected to a watering restriction limiting us to one day a week until the end of July! So, why do the houses grow? Where is the building ban? Why has not the Southwest Florida Water Management District issued a total building ban until this "crisis" has abated? Because there is no water problem!

Come on, commissioners, building officials, code enforcers, Swiftmud and anyone else involved, give us back our county. Stop selling us out to the highest bidder because that is what is happening, believe it or not.

No more destroying of our natural resources, including water and caves.

Elizabeth Wood, Spring Hill

Kumquat Growers Out On A Limb

Tribune editorial Published: Jan 27, 2007

More than 30,000 people are expected to attend the 10th annual Kumquat Festival in St. Joseph today amid a fruity controversy that keeps kumquat growers from expanding their market.

At issue is this: Is the kumquat a citrus fruit?

It sure looks like citrus, with its bright orange peel. And its leafy trees look an awful lot like orange trees.

But Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson says kumquats "are slightly different." He considers them more of an ornamental fruit.

Why does this matter? Because of citrus canker.

To prevent the spread of the grove-destroying disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year began prohibiting Florida citrus growers from shipping fruit to citrus-producing states. It also barred shipments of citrus leaves and stems north of the Suwannee River.

While used in baked goods and jellies, kumquats are especially popular in Asian cuisine. And their leaves hold special significance in Asian New Year's celebrations.

So last year, the state sought a variance to ship kumquat stems and leaves, given that kumquats show a great deal of resistance to canker. But the feds refused, saying the kumquat was "citrus-like."

In December, the feds lifted the restrictions for kumquats shipped with their own roots, but not those clipped from trees with their leaves and stems intact.

If the fruit is not susceptible to canker, the U.S. Department of Agriculture should revisit the rule and allow the shipment of Pasco kumquat leaves beyond the Suwannee River to the global marketplace.

Bronson is right. Kumquats aren't quite the same as citrus. Whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit they're something curiously special.

St. Pete Could Help Hillsborough Complete Unique Natural Corridor

Tribune editorial Published: Jan 27, 2007

Lake Rogers is one of the last lakes in Hillsborough without a house on its shore. County residents can thank St. Petersburg for that.

St. Pete bought the land that includes the lake back in the 1930s because it needed to dig wells for drinking water.

Of course, county residents weren't thanking St. Pete back in the 1970s when heavy pumping shriveled the area's lakes and wetlands. But the formation of a regional water management utility - Tampa Bay Water - put an end to the "Water Wars."

Today, the tract still contains a number of wells, but pumping is limited.

So if St. Petersburg will cooperate, Hillsborough might ask to buy the land and preserve its natural state forever.

The northwest Hillsborough tract includes not only the 90-acre lake, but pristine uplands believed to be among the county's last.

The tract would connect to a 1,600-acre corridor of open land that includes three parks with ball fields, including Ed Radice Park, as well as large swaths of open land that buffer a county wastewater treatment plant.

But most of the land is wooded and untouched. It serves as a retreat for horseback riding and hiking. And it could easily connect to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, which runs for more than eight miles and eventually will connect to the Suncoast Trail up to Hernando County.

Adding Lake Rogers to this corridor would give northwest Hillsborough at least four miles of continuous recreational land.

Thanks to an agreement with St. Petersburg, the county already manages much of the parcel as a passive park. However, it cannot improve the property with docks or restrooms. And as Hillsborough Commissioner Jim Norman points out, nothing prevents future St. Petersburg officials from selling the property to developers.

Norman rightly believes Hillsborough should move to buy the land outright, especially since money is available in the fund that's dedicated to the purchase of environmental lands.

While the county holds the right of first refusal should St. Pete want to sell the land, it's unlikely the county could match the offers of developers, who would relish the opportunity to build on such a prized location.

Norman wants the county to buy it now, before we must compete with builders. He says the deal could be arranged so that St. Pete retains its pumping rights, but Hillsborough owns the land.

While Norman is known as a sports lover, he recognizes the site's ecological value and promises "no ball fields." It would be managed strictly as a nature park. Only docks and restrooms would be allowed.

In years past, St. Petersburg has been reluctant to sell because the regional water authority was new and the Hillsborough wellfields represented a fall-back option. But after nine years, it's clear Tampa Bay Water is here to stay. In fact, it would send a gracious signal for the water board to encourage the land sale, given all that Hillsborough has contributed to make the partnership work.

St. Pete land managers seem open to the idea, but say Hillsborough hasn't approached them recently.

That should change as Norman presents the project to his fellow commissioners, who should recognize the benefits.

If St. Pete will cooperate, Lake Rogers, once a source of bitter conflict between Hillsborough and Pinellas County, could be transformed into a symbol of inter-county cooperation that preserves open land for the public good.

Shorebirds have disappeared from Lemon Bay

ENGLEWOOD -- Laughing gulls and pelicans crowd onto a mid-tide sandbar just south of the Tom Adams bridge in Lemon Bay.

Uninterrupted sunlight makes the day a birder's dream, except for one thing: the lack of shorebirds.

"There is a definite decline in shorebirds and things like red knots are particularly in decline," said Paul Holmes, president of the Peace River Audubon Society.

The decline appears to be limited to Lemon Bay. Bird counts elsewhere in the region show a normal number of shorebirds.

That leads Bill Dunson, a retired Pennsylvania State University professor, to theorize that the problem is local.

There are no scientific studies to explain the reason for the Lemon Bay decline, but Dunson has figures to back up what bird watchers are saying.

Each winter since 2003, as part of the Audubon Society's annual Christmas bird count, Dunson has recorded birds bobbing in the water or dabbling in mudflats on Lemon Bay.

This year, during the Dec. 12 count, many types of shorebirds were missing, including Wilson's and semipalmated plovers, dunlins and red knots.

Birders also counted only one red-breasted merganser, a diving bird, when in past years the lowest count was 26.

Skeptical that the Christmas count represented accurate conditions on the bay, Dunson struck out for another count five days later.

He followed the same route, at the same time of day and during the same tidal conditions.

The results mirrored the first count. The same low numbers appeared again on Jan. 7.

Last week, the dunlins and mergansers had returned, but not the other species.

"Here's a prime flat and there's not a single small plover, no least sandpipers or sanderlings," Dunson said while he scanned the flat with binoculars.

Other avid birders back up his recorded observations.

Mary Dommermuth, a volunteer who counts birds monthly for Cedar Point Environmental Park, noticed a decline in shorebirds at the park this year.

She counted on Monday, separately from Dunson.

"Sure enough, the tide was low and the shorebird numbers were down," Dommermuth said. The birds usually feast at low tide when more mud is exposed.

Dunson speculates that red tide combined with the recent dredging of Stump Pass made Lemon Bay less attractive to the birds.

He theorized that opening the pass flushed more red tide into the bay and caused a loss of sand spits.

In addition, the toxins from red tide could have killed the mud-dwelling critters the shorebirds like to eat, he speculated.

Jan Landsberg, a harmful-algae scientist with the Florida Wildlife Research Institute, said Dunson's theory is a "plausible hypothesis." But to prove it would take intense research, including an analysis of red tide levels and effects on animals in the bay.

"There's so many factors why birds may or may not be in an area," Landsberg said.

But she said Dunson's data-keeping is worthwhile.

"You need to make observations on what species are out there and what they're doing," Landsberg said.

Dunson plans to continue recording birds on Lemon Bay to generate a longer set of data that could be used to pinpoint trends.

"It looks like something's happening, but we need more of this good monitoring," Dunson said.

River advocates: Problems go on beneath surface

By Rachel Simmonsen

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 27, 2007

STUART — After a months-long dry spell, the St. Lucie River looks considerably better than it did a year ago. But look below the surface and the view isn't so nice, river activists said Friday.

Grass beds, which are home to fish and help filter nutrients from the water, haven't rebounded as quickly from the 2004 hurricanes and subsequent discharges from Lake Okeechobee as activists had hoped.

"What used to be grass beds are now algae beds," said Kevin Henderson of the St. Lucie River Initiative.

Speaking Friday at the monthly meeting of the Rivers Coalition, Henderson likened the situation to a fire that had wiped out a forest that years later still shows no signs of new trees.

The problem is that even though the river has gotten a reprieve from discharges of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, sediments from previous discharges have settled to the river's bottom. Heavy winds and choppy waters stir up those sediments, clouding the water and making it difficult for sunlight to reach aquatic plants struggling to survive, said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society.

Lake Okeechobee faces a similar challenge. The 2004 storms wiped out about 50,000 acres of aquatic plants that only recently have started to regrow, said Paul Gray, a Lake Okeechobee expert for Audubon of Florida. But it takes about two years for those plants to fully recover once they've started regrowing, and they'll likely survive only if there's another year of dry weather.

If the coming year is like 2004, "the lake can get knocked off line for five or six years," Gray said.

Coalition members said they fear the improved appearance of the St. Lucie River might prompt the public to lose interest in pushing for restoration of the river and the lake, which are linked by the St. Lucie Canal. After all, there's no sick-fish epidemic, as in 1998, or bright green algae blanketing the river, as in 2005.

But residents soon might notice a very big difference in the river if grass beds don't fully recover: There will be a lot fewer fish, said Karl Wickstrom, founder of the Stuart-based Florida Sportsman magazine. Aquatic plants provide places for juvenile fish to hide from predators. If the plants disappear, so will the young fish, Wickstrom said.

Water managers said they certainly haven't backed off any restoration efforts.

"While things may look better at this point in time, the magnitude of the problem has only increased," said Susan Gray, director of the Lake Okeechobee division of the South Florida Water Management District, which manages the lake with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Susan Gray, who is not related to Paul Gray, said water managers continue to work on projects that will provide more water storage north of the lake and will cut down on the amount of pollutants entering it.

Meanwhile, Rivers Coalition members vowed Friday to step up public education efforts and rally support for the group's court battle with the corps. Owners of several properties along the St. Lucie River sued in November on behalf of the Rivers Coalition, claiming that the corps has mismanaged the lake, causing pollution in the river and damaging property rights.

The Rivers Coalition, an alliance of more than 40 civic, business and homeowners groups trying to clean up the St. Lucie and Indian rivers, was founded in 1998.

Official urges patience on water issues

By Jim Hunter

The chairman of the Citrus/Hernando Restoration Council told the members of TOOFAR Thursday that the council will keep the pressure up on removing berms in the Flying Eagle property, but that progress will be slow.

Michael Moberly explained the make-up and mission of the council and told the near-overflow TOOFAR audience at its monthly meeting that the legislature had created the council to give the interested public a role in the restoration of water bodies in Citrus and Hernando counties.

New TOOFAR president Al Grubman said that in effect, the council was not only a window for the public on government bureaucracies but a way to enact change through projects. He said the council may be the lakes’ best hope for restoration and said Moberly was “a man with a let’s-get-things-done attitude.”

As the new chairman of the council, Moberly said, he had his own way of leading the council and promised to be persistent with proposed projects, but he also cautioned TOOFAR about the pace of progress with state agencies because of their bureaucratic nature.

TOOFAR, a citizen activist group dedicated to water issues, has long advocated removal of berms put between the Withlacoochee River and the lower Tsala Apopka Lake chain on property now owned and managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The group says that change would restore the original sheet flow of water from the river across what was once mostly marsh to the lakes.

The berms, put in by a rancher in the early 1960s, changed that dynamic, TOOFAR has said, changing the natural system and limiting the flow of water to the lakes when the river was high enough to flow across the flats. Now, the lake chain is fed only by water from the river that enters at the southern end, the Floral City pool, through two control structures, the Leslie Hefner Canal structure and the Orange State Canal structure.

Water flows north through the lakes into the Inverness pool and then the Hernando pool, and then rejoins the river as the river turns west toward the gulf.

TOOFAR has said another problems is that now hardwoods have been allowed to take up in the flats that were once marsh most of the time and they would be an impediment to the sheet flow, even if the berms were removed to restore the natural flow. The river, which fed the marsh, is subject to drastic swings in levels due to the natural cycle of wet and dry seasons and years, but TOOFAR Vice-president Larry Hartman, who grew up in Citrus, believes reverting back to the natural sheet flow would put up to 10 times more water in the lake system.

Moberly explained how the restoration council listens to the technical advisers to the group and then formulates projects based on the public’s desires for common-sense projects that never seem to be accomplished. He said the council’s restoration scope incorporates both fish habitat and navigation — which he said gives a wide latitude for projects in the lakes system.

The council is empowered to ask the legislature for money and picks a state agency to get the funding and to do the project when the money is appropriated. He said the council tries for matching funds to maximize the effect of projects.

The council was created in 2003, and by Moberly’s own admission has had limited success, so far, but he said he intends to make a difference with his leadership. “This is a new year for us. We are going to go after some common-sense issues.”

Last year the council had submitted a request for $250,000 for a feasibility and alternatives analysis for removing the berms in the 11,000 acres Flying Eagle property. Moberly said the council would be making a visit to the area soon so the members could actually see the berms and better understand the situation.

The request was not granted, however, and this year the council is asking for $500,000 to finish the original U.S. Army Corps of engineers study on the whole Withlacoochee River watershed — which water district managers say must be done before any feasibility of removing the berms is considered. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has expressed some interest in possibility doing that feasibility study, once the larger study is done.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Moberly said, noting the studies the scientists say have to be done before changes could be made. He said there were also some issues of changing sovereign land to submerged land that would have to be sorted out, too.

Water managers also point to a whole habitat that has evolved in the bermed areas that would be destroyed to take it back to the previous state.

“The wheels turn a little slow,” Moberly said of such decisions. TOOFAR members have expressed frustration, saying the agencies tend to study things to death. Moberly said that patience was needed when dealing with bureaucratic agencies and it might be that the studies showed the situation might have to be lived with, but that would be revealed by the studies.

At one point in the discussion, Citrus County Commissioner Joyce Valentino, apparently reflecting the group’s frustration, told the audience, “I’d just as soon — it’s been done before — someone go in there and take out the berms.”

Grubman said in relation to patience, if there is one thing TOOFAR has proven over time is that it does not give up and go away.

Both Valentino and Grubman, however, said it seemed that there was a lot of encouraging movement on restoration and water protection issues afoot, and she noted the county’s springshed protection ordinance that the commission will soon take up as an issue which will important to protection of local water resources.

State aims to put squeeze on wayward pet pythons

BY CURTIS MORGAN

cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

Buying a python in Florida, a no-questions-asked process today, soon could be more like buying another kind of lethal weapon.

There won't be criminal checks or three-day waits as there are for handguns, but new proposals could make it a lot more complicated, and a little more expensive, to buy a Burmese python or five other large exotic reptiles that have found the state an all-too-appetizing place to live.

Under rules that Florida wildlife commissioners will consider next month, both prospective python purchasers and an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 current owners would be required to get a state permit and have a veterinarian insert a microchip -- similar to the IDs routinely implanted in traditional house pets -- into every one of the cold-blooded critters.

That would create what amounts to a reptile registry that would allow wildlife officers to trace the owners of lost, escaped or illegally released ``species of concern.''

There's more. Owners also would get a visit from wildlife inspectors to ensure snake housing is up to snuff -- big enough, strong enough and locked.

''It's more or less cradle-to-grave following like we do with hazardous waste,'' said Skip Snow, a biologist with Everglades National Park who leads a multiagency effort to eradicate fast-spreading and formidable invaders that threaten native wildlife. Researchers have pulled everything from birds to bobcats out of python bellies.

IN THE BALANCE

As one of the largest snakes in the world, sometimes topping 20 feet, pythons potentially could even challenge the natural dominant predators of the Everglades or other wild places -- a concern bizarrely illustrated two years ago by now-famous photos of a 13-foot python that exploded after swallowing a six-foot alligator.

While scientists have found evidence that pythons are now breeding in Everglades, they know the first snakes didn't slither over from Asia and elsewhere by themselves.

Some pets or breeding stocks may have escaped into the Everglades after Hurricane Andrew ripped across South Miami-Dade in 1992, but the prime suspects for the proliferation are owners with animals suddenly too expensive to feed or scary to keep.

Valli Finney, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the proposals are designed to ensure buyers are prepared for what they're getting into.

The agency also intends to launch an education campaign to coincide with the tougher rules.

''Responsible pet ownership is what we're aiming for,'' Finney said.

ANSWER QUESTIONS

Before the agency would issue the free permit, which would be available online through the FWC, buyers would have to fill out a questionnaire assessing their knowledge of any one of six ''species of concern'' -- Burmese, reticulated, African rock and amethystine pythons, green anaconda and the Nile monitor lizard.

They must clearly state they're aware, for instance, that the cute, two-foot-long baby snake they're buying will stretch a dozen feet by age 6 and be capable, potentially, of crushing the life out of an unwary owner.

The cage requirements and inspections will be similar to those the state already requires for owners of venomous snakes.

The rules, if commissioners approve them Feb. 6, won't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2008. People who already own snakes would have to file for permits by that date, but they would have until July 1, 2008, to get microchips implanted.

Anyone found illegally releasing, buying or selling snakes, or failing to obtain permits, would face misdemeanor charges, up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.

While big snakes aren't a big part of the reptile market, breeders and retailers are expecting a drop in sales. Some customers already are asking questions about the rules.

Alana Lacentra, managers of Pets USA in the Shenandoah Square in Davie, said the added paperwork and costs could discourage the typical buyer: teenagers and children who have coaxed permission from parents. The shop won't sell a large breed to anyone under 16.

Buying and registering a microchip could double the cost of a $75 python, she said. The store sells only a few of the big snakes a year now anyway. But the sale of a fast-growing python promises a lot of food sales down the line. Still, she said, ``I don't think it's going to be a huge deal.''

Conrad Kranz, manager of Snakes at Sunset in Kendall, also expects the rules to take at least a small bite out of business. But he has long steered most buyers to smaller breeds anyway, pointing out the eye-opening 18-foot Burmese the shop keeps as resident pet.

''I try to shy people away from the large snakes,'' he said. ``Unless you're an enthusiast or had a lot of experience or you're really, really ready for a large snake.''

The proposals don't go as far as import and ownership bans that some have advocated, but crimping the key supply line to the wild should help scientists already struggling to figure out how to wipe out an elusive invader, Snow said.

''I don't know if it will solve the problem,'' he said, ``but it would be a step in the right direction.''

Floridians moving out, not in

St. Petersburg Times

For the first time in years, three of the nation's largest moving companies say they're transporting more customers out of Florida than into it.

In 2006, what the industry calls ''outbound'' moves actually surpassed ''inbounds,'' according to data from United, Atlas and Allied van lines. The industry had seen a steady increase in the number of customers heading out of the state in the past five years.

Florida still had an overall increase in residents. But the newly released statistics may corroborate what economists have been predicting for some time: Higher insurance, utilities and property taxes are conspiring to make Florida less attractive for some residents.

''Many people who would have moved here in the past are now opting for Georgia and the Carolinas,'' said Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wachovia Bank. ''Some Floridians are moving to Georgia and the Carolinas as well.''

The Virginia-based company that tracks data for the nation's moving companies won't release 2006 statistics until April. But a look at the difference in inbound and outbound Florida moves from 2004 to 2005 indicates a trend among the top 11 companies, said Mary Scott, spokeswoman for the American Moving and Storage Association.

In 2004, 61,496 shipments came into the state and 43,372 left, Scott said. About the same number came into the state in 2005, Scott said, but 57,188 shipments left.

''The warm-weather states like Florida, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona have traditionally been inbound states,'' Scott said. ''The question would be, why would people want to leave one of those states? Did something go kerflewie in Florida?''

Last year's decline in the national housing market could have played a part, said Jim Dewey, director of the economic analysis program at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida.

Homeowners in the Northeast who had trouble selling their homes couldn't afford to move, Dewey said. In addition, the spike in house prices in the last five years in Florida has made coming here less of a bargain.

''It wouldn't be a surprise to me that there is a temporary slowdown,'' he said. ''Real estate here has gone way up.''

The downward trend in ''inbound'' customers might be attributed to a decline in the number of people using, or who can afford, moving companies.

U-Haul, which provides trucks and trailers for less expensive ''do-it-yourself'' moves, helped more families move into the state than move out in 2006, according to information provided by company spokeswoman Ashley Wagner.

Whatever the reason, Florida remains a popular destination for many people, Dewey said.

In fact, Florida is second only to Texas in the number of new residents and remains the fourth-most-populous state with 18.1 million residents, according to Census Bureau figures released in December.

Yet it's unclear how many of the 321,697 residents who were added to the state's rolls in 2006 moved here from somewhere else.

The socioeconomic status of the newcomers, as well as those who are leaving the state, also is unclear.

The moving company statistics seem to indicate that those who are leaving are likely to be middle- and upper-middle class individuals who can afford moving vans, Dewey said. They also could be families with children who are unhappy with the state's funding for K-12 education, he said.

Department of Education statistics appear to support Dewey's hunch. While state enrollment has grown an average of 51,000 students annually since 1989, regular enrollment in 2005 grew by only about 30,000 children.

The numbers were down again at the start of the 2006 school year, even in districts with normally climbing enrollment such as Orange, Manatee and Palm Beach.

In Pinellas County, the decline in student enrollment was nearly twice what the district expected. The decreases were less pronounced in mid-county, which has more affordable housing for young families.

''In the short term, we'll have the luxury of having nice facilities with plenty of rooms for programs and students,'' said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association. ''But sooner or later, we'll face the issue of having to close some facilities.''

Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg, said it's no exaggeration to say Florida is at a crisis point. ''You're always going to have the weather attracting people, and it's still a very business-friendly environment,'' Brown said. ''But it's a difficult issue. It's a very serious concern for Florida.''

Turnpike at 50: Hard old artery still flows

BY LARRY LEBOWITZ

llebowitz@MiamiHerald.com

Fifty years ago Thursday, ranchers on horseback arrived at the Golden Glades for a ribbon-cutting to mark the opening of a modern superhighway.

For the first time, truckers and tourists alike could drive the entire 110 miles from Miami to Fort Pierce without encountering a traffic light, shaving at least 90 minutes and more than 100 signals off the same trip along U.S. Highway 1.

In its inaugural year, the Sunshine State Parkway supported 13,000 vehicles a day and generated more than $3 million in tolls.

A half-century later, the parkway has morphed into Florida's Turnpike: a 460-mile network of urban expressways and rural toll roads from Wildwood to the Florida Keys, used by 2.1 million vehicles a day. The turnpike has become a financial juggernaut, generating $630 million in toll revenue annually, and a major cog in the Florida growth machine.

''The people were going to come anyway. So where would we be without the turnpike?'' said Orlando attorney Charles Gray, who chaired the Turnpike Authority in the mid-1960s and led the construction of a crucial interchange at Interstate 4.

Shortly after viewing that interchange from the air, Walt Disney decided to build his new theme park on 43 square miles of nearby swamp and pastures.

Without the turnpike, the Legislature in 1990 wouldn't have had the resources to rescue the Sawgrass Expressway from the scandal-plagued Broward County Expressway Authority.

The Homestead Extension that opened in 1974 became the a western beltway for Dade County, opening up hundreds of thousands of acres for far-flung suburbs from Country Walk and the Hammocks to Doral and Miami Lakes.

The extension continues to fuel the Southwest Miami-Dade boom today. Average daily traffic on the extension is anticipated to swell from 160,000 vehicles a day to nearly 275,000 by 2019.

The vision for Florida's Turnpike started in the late 1940s, when a politically active Miami accountant, Charlie Costar, became enthralled with the sleek new limited-access highways in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

''I can remember it like it was dinner last night,'' his son, Charlie Costar Jr., said Thursday after a turnpike anniversary celebration in Pompano Beach. 'I was 13 at the time, and he'd come back from a business trip, and he'd tell me, `Son, someday we'll be able to drive all the way from Miam-uh to Maine without hitting a traffic light.' ''

The elder Costar, who knew his way around Tallahassee, convinced the Legislature to create an authority that would build Florida's first limited-access highway backed by tolls.

Costar never lived to see it open, dying of cancer in 1955 at age 53.

The first 110-mile segment, known to many old-timers as the Bobtail, was built in just 18 months at a cost of $62 million by a tough-as-nails former Fort Lauderdale mayor, Col. Thomas Manuel.

On the Sunday before it opened, The Miami Herald published a 16-page special section lauding the engineers and politicians who made the state's first superhighway possible.

An article reprinted from Changing Times magazine, How to DRIVE on a Superhighway, offered sage advice: ''don't look at maps, toll tickets or the scenery''; at 70 mph, drivers should stay at least 50 yards behind the next vehicle; and ``never stop on the highway.''

Families cruised ''all the way out to the country'' -- the Golden Glades interchange was rural in those days -- for the novelty of joyriding from the original zero mile marker on that opening day, Jan. 25, 1957.

The second section, from Fort Pierce to Wildwood, opened in 1964, followed 10 years later by the Homestead Extension.

By the late 1970s, growth had subsumed most of the turnpike corridor in western Miami-Dade and central Broward.

The turnpike had become a major urban expressway, carrying more commuters than truckers or tourists, and the old fare cards were replaced by coin-toss baskets in the urban areas.

By the mid-1980s, with the original turnpike bonds paid off, the Legislature debated whether to remove the tolls entirely.

Instead, in 1990, it voted to not only maintain the tolls but to use the extra revenue to widen the turnpike in South Florida, buy the troubled Sawgrass in Broward and build more than 150 miles of new toll roads in Central Florida.

Florida has not built a new limited-access highway without tolls since 1992.

Amid dozens of employees dressed in 1957 fashions and a handful of vintage Thunderbirds and Corvettes, turnpike executive director Jim Ely used Thursday's anniversary to honor the past and look toward a future driven by three T's: more toll roads, made more efficient by emerging technology, and adapting the system to be more accessible for mass-transit express buses.

Asked whether his father could have foreseen what his turnpike dream had become, Charlie Costar Jr. choked back tears.

``My dad had a dream, but he couldn't have imagined this. No way. Never in a million years.''

Deal Lets Waterfront Park, Resort Proceed

By JULIA FERRANTE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jan 27, 2007

HUDSON - Pasco County officials and owners of the Sun West Mine reached an agreement this week that will allow developers to move forward with plans for a major resort and the county to build a coastal park.

The county commission signed off on an amended settlement with the mine owners at a meeting Tuesday in New Port Richey. As part of the settlement, the county relinquished claims to a 915-acre portion of the mine west of U.S. 19 and Sun West conveyed 26 acres to Pasco for a public park.

The parties had reached a similar agreement to end a long-running lawsuit several months ago. They returned to the negotiating table, however, after workers evaluating the parkland found arsenic.

The county subsequently hired a consultant to determine whether the arsenic was seeping onto adjacent land. The consultant found there was contamination on the 26-acre parcel but not enough to endanger park patrons. The contaminated area is in a spot to be used as a parking lot. The paved area will provide a sufficient buffer, the consultant said. The state Department of Environmental Protection would have the final say.

"There is some contamination, but Sun West is responsible to take care of it," Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite said.

The county and Sun West have been at odds for several years over the terms of a mining permit issued two decades ago during a mining moratorium. The county claimed Sun West was to convey land to the county once mining was completed, as a condition of the permit. Sun West claimed Pasco was entitled only to a small portion of the mine.

As part of the settlement, the parkland from Sun West, which is adjacent to a larger parcel the county owns, must be viable for 250 boat trailer parking spaces and seven or eight boat slips, Wilhite said.

The county and Sun West also have agreed to work together on plans to gain access to the Gulf of Mexico via a jointly owned canal.

County officials predict the park will attract kayakers, canoeists and fishing enthusiasts.

"This is going to be a crown jewel coastal facility," commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand said.

Sun West's owners are working on plans for a resort at the 2,260-acre mine site, possibly with a hotel, beaches, golf course, condominiums and shopping.

Any land-use changes would require extensive state and local review.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

County given impact fee idea

CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published January 27, 2007

A parade of state, county and private-sector leaders met for a Pasco Economic Development Council luncheon Friday to revisit the region's traffic problems.

They spoke of broad challenges - high construction costs and booming populations, among others - even as the county is facing pressures from developers to cut its proposed increases to the road impact fee, a tax on new construction that pays for transportation improvements.

But the most interesting idea came from offstage.

Architect-developer Frank Starkey is suggesting that the county do something it's never tried before: introduce a sliding scale of impact fees that would favor developments that lessen their loads on local roads.

The county is listening - though officials are nowhere close to embracing the idea.

If the proposal takes off, it would end the current practice of levying the same road impact fee regardless of a property owner's location.

Instead, it would bring in a computer-assisted system that varies the tax according to where residents and businesses choose to build.

Starkey's proposal comes at a time when the county is struggling to arrive at a reasonable increase for the road impact fee.

The county is thinking of tripling these impact fees to keep up with dizzying growth.

The development community thinks the increase is too drastic and would drive out business if implemented. Most in the industry want the county to cut the hike.

Starkey's response: Don't cut it. Just tier it.

"Location is an important consideration for impact fee relief," Starkey said. "My proposal is that the impact fee should be used as a tool to encourage development patterns that reduce traffic demand."

As it stands, the county's proposal would see impact fees rise from $3,900 to a state-high of $13,000 for each house built. Different rates are charged for different building categories; businesses like fast-food restaurants face even heftier proposed increases.

If Starkey had his way, the $13,000 top-end rate would stay, but only be applied to developments that choose to build in rural areas far away from commercial establishments, since they would most dramatically raise existing traffic loads.

If the developments choose to build closer to existing stores or offices, or design an internal road system that takes the burden off public roads, or incorporate pedestrian- or bicycle-friendly trails, they should qualify for lower impact fees, he said.

"If the development pattern were to shift to one which lowered traffic demand, the impact could be lower," he said.

Starkey, an architect by training, is heavily involved in New Urbanism, a nationwide antisprawl movement that emphasizes walkability and highly connected internal street systems within communities.

As a Pasco developer, Starkey steered Longleaf, a development outside New Port Richey that emphasizes these New Urbanism values.

On Thursday, he will meet with Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein and engineering services administrator Michele Baker to explore his impact fee proposal.

Starkey may have some convincing to do.

Goldstein said he fears a sliding scale would saddle Pasco's building department with an implementation nightmare: how to decide which location befits which level of impact fees?

Starkey may have an answer: Criterion Planners of Portland, Ore., has a software program called INDEX, which crunches data to identify development locations that reduce sprawl. Such a program could link to the impact fees.

But Starkey may have joined the debate too late.

"There are already two studies out there," Goldstein said, referring to consultant studies that underlie the impact fee debate. "I'm not sure we want a third study."

Staff writer Catherine Shoichet contributed to this story. Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at 813909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

Commission Lacks Funds For Projects

By Diane Lacey Allen
The Ledger
LAKELAND - Lakeland city commissioners got a crash course in creative financing Friday as they hashed out possible ways to fund $108 million in capital shortfalls.

During their two-day retreat with senior staff at The Lakeland Center, commissioners tackled the nagging problems of growth. The city needs $54 million for parks and recreation, another $37 million for roads and $17 million for stormwater projects to keep pace.

Thursday commissioners listened to the challenges. Friday they began looking at ways to get the money - including increasing property taxes, impact fees and the cost for electricity, water, sewer and garbage.

"This is where the rubber meets the road," said City Manager Doug Thomas.

But coming up with more than $100 million isn't an easy task, particularly when residents are already up in arms about the high cost of homeowners insurance.

Commissioners are very aware of their constituents' unwillingness to open their wallets for more taxes. They only had to recall the recent attempt to use a municipal service taxing unit to pump money into the overburdened parks system. After an outcry by business owners and lack of support from the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce, commissioners backed off the idea that would have enabled the city to buy large tracts of land for parks.

Thursday and Friday, with the Chamber represented, commissioners took another whack at addressing overused fields, crowded roads and future mandates to clean lakes and rivers.

After their reluctance to use a special tax to add .5 mills ($50 on a house with a taxable value of $100,000), it was no surprise they did not warm to the idea of increasing property taxes an additional .62 mills ($62 for a home with $100,000 of taxable value).

The millage increase could raise $45 million over 20 years.

Still interested in generating that amount, commissioners looked at the Lakeland Regional Medical Center subsidy that has been going to pay for police and fire expenses.

Lakeland will get $9.8 million this year from LRMC through its annual lease agreement with the hospital. About $3.3 million goes to the general fund rather than the public improvement fund that historically has included parks.

The .62 millage increase could replace that $3.3 million, allowing for other projects while not leaving a hole in the general fund.

But commissioners could also consider raising electric, water, sewer and garbage bills to get $3.3 million a year. Commissioners directed staff to craft plans where those bills could be increased in a package that might include some sort of property tax increase.

Commissioners also looked at increasing stormwater fees. By upping it from $2 to $4 per household, the city could generate $17 million over a 10-year period and take care of the stormwater shortfall. By jumping it to $6, stormwater would get its funds and an additional $17 million could go toward the $37 million roads shortfall.

No decisions were made Friday.

But commissioners were clear it would not be the last time they would be looking at the problems.

"People want services and they've got to be paid for one way or another," said Commissioner Gow Fields. "Or you cut the services back and you don't pay for it." The city of Lakeland lacks funds for many future projects. Among the areas of concern and the expected shortfall are:
Parks and recreation
$54 million
Transportation
$37 million
Stormwater
$17 million
Diane Lacey Allen can be reached at diane.allen@theledger.com or 863-802-7514.

Orange City's lack of protections for historic homes decried

By BOB KOSLOW
Staff Writer

The homes -- one of just 16 in the city built before 1900 -- are on five acres of commercially zoned property. Any buyer could bulldoze the structures and replace them with a fast-food restaurant, drugstore or bar.

Real estate broker Jaqueline Pray said owners Lewis and Nancy Dienes would prefer to sell to someone who will preserve the homes.

"This could really make Orange City if we can get the right person to come in here. The possibilities are endless," Pray said. "But someone could actually come here, and it's a horrible, horrible thing, and just remove these houses and build whatever commercial project. But that's not what the owners want. They would really like to see someone do something nice. They have their hearts in here too."

Preservationists fear the houses could be lost forever.

"I am so distressed. Speechless," said Joan LaFleur, editor of the 2000 edition of "Our Story the History of Orange City" published by the Village Improvement Association. "I would hate to see a commercial development tear down those homes. This is the reason we wanted a historical preservation code. The stricter the better."

The battle between historical preservation and modern development is common in Florida, even though most cities only date back to the late 1800s. Unsuccessful efforts to save doomed homes were mounted recently in Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. A few years ago, DeBary lost a 1924-built Sears kit home. Around the corner from the latest for-sale signs in Orange City, a 100-year-old home on Rose Avenue was razed last year.

Orange City residents and city officials have debated details of a proposed historic preservation ordinance for more than five years without adopting one. A proposed ordinance that would have required a board's approval of any change or demolition of historic buildings was tabled after some residents said it would interfere with property rights and resale values.

"I am disappointed. The historical preservation board and the City Council have done little to nothing with the ordinance," said Gary Blair, a former councilman who led an effort to preserve one of the city's original structures, Albertus Cottage, on the corner of Rose and Holly avenues in 2002. "They talked at one point of putting the ordinance to the voters. Do it and let the people decide."

The three houses were built between 1885 and 1890, according to historian Sydney Johnston. Melissa Dickinson owned the largest house on the south end of the property. She and her older brother Albert ran a large seed company in Chicago before moving to Orange City.

Melissa helped found the Village Improvement Association in 1894. She purchased an old hotel in 1887 on East Graves Avenue and donated it for a library and improvement association meetings.

Their sister Frances lived in the single-story middle home for a while. Frances was an eye doctor, surgeon and aviator, two male-dominated professions at the time. Frances created Volusia County's first airfield on 100 acres on the city's southwest corner.

A few years after Melissa died in 1910 at age 70, Albert donated land at Graves Avenue and U.S. 17-92 for a park and built the city's existing library in his sister's honor.

The homes are key pieces within the city's historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The property, across from Rose Avenue and less than a quarter-mile southwest of historic Town Hall on Graves Avenue, also contains three 1940s-era cottages and a carriage house with an upstairs apartment.

The Dienes, who ran an antique village on the site, are asking $1.7 million for the properties that feature 325 feet of highway frontage. The commercial zoning allows for restaurants, bars, wedding chapels, retail stores, hotels, bed-and-breakfast inns, garden centers and offices.

The buildings have previously housed a beauty shop, attorney's office, real estate office and workshops for artisans.

Pray acknowledges "some rough edges" but says the buildings are solid and don't leak.

"I've been in real estate for 25 years and I am just fascinated with these places and how well they were constructed and in good condition after all these years," Pray said.

Local Realtor Bernie Senez says the size and location of the tract gives it significant commercial value. As a result, saving the houses might not be economically feasible, he said.

"I love historic homes and have looked for one for my business for years. An office park or village would be great, but I think the houses have lived their life span," he said.

Blair disagrees.

"That's what they said about the Albertus Cottage, but now it's on the front of every city brochure," he said. "They are worth saving."

bob.koslow@news-jrnl.com

Did You Know?

In what must have been one of Florida's first difficulties with voting, Orange City got its name when the man responsible for petitioning for the town post office ignored voting results designating the town name as Blue Spring.

· Shortly before petitioning for the post office, the town originally known as the Wisconsin Settlement voted on a name. One of the original settlers, J.E. Stillman, lobbied for the name Orange City because he observed the marketing appeal of Orange County. Most opposed the name because there were neither oranges nor a city there at the time.

· Blue Spring won out. However, Stillman was in charge of petitioning for the post office and, apparently determined to exercise his influence, submitted the name as Orange City.

SOURCE(S): Compiled by News Researcher Janice Cahill from "Our Story of Orange City, Florida" and Volusia County Postcards

Dade City to dust off a dated charter

GINA PACE
Published January 27, 2007

DADE CITY - Dade City is so charming in the eyes of many visitors because its old-fashioned downtown is from another time.

So are the salaries of city commissioners.

The last time they got a raise, Gerald R. Ford was president. Apple was a brand-new computer company.

The rate of $100 a month for commissioners and $150 for the mayor was locked into the city's charter, last revised in 1976. To change it, commissioners would have to put it to voters, something they have been reluctant to do, said City Clerk James Class, who has worked for the city for nearly 20 years.

The charter has a few other dated items, said City Attorney Karla Owens. There's still a provision from 1929 allowing for the creation of a city board of health - even though there is now a state health department in every Florida county.

"There is stuff in there, that is like, you've got to be kidding me," Owens said. "Why is it in the charter?"

A special committee started reviewing the charter in January and will be taking it apart piece-by-piece in meetings through April. The group will make recommendations to the city commissioners, who will have public hearing on the new charter before it goes to voters.

On charter changes that commissioners believe might be particularly contentious - such as the possible establishment of single-member districts - voters would get a chance to approve them individually.

At Thursday's meeting, the group tackled commissioners' salaries. The group decided that they would recommend the commission pass an ordinance regarding their salary and tie it in some way to the Consumer Price Index, a government indicator that measures how prices in goods and services change over time. According to the consumer price index, $100 in 1976 would be the equivalent of $354.31 in 2006.

Marilyn Crotty, the director of the Florida Institute of Government at the University of Central Florida, was brought on to help the committee craft a new charter. She said Tuesday that very low salaries can price a candidate out of running, since commissioners could incur costs such as hiring a baby sitter during meetings.

The Zephyrhills City Council voted this week to give themselves a $100-a-month raise, bringing their salary to $500 a month.

Bill Dennis, who served as a Dade City commissioner from 1982 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2006 and is on the charter review committee, said that he thinks commissioners should earn more, he just doesn't know how much.

"It is not a permanent, primary job," Dennis said Friday. "No one expects to make a living being on the City Commission."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Gina Pace can be reached at 352 521-6518 or gpace@sptimes.com

No charges in resort controversy

TImes staff writer
Published January 27, 2007

YANKEETOWN - Now it's official: This town's top prosecutor has announced that his office will not file criminal charges in the Yankeetown municipal scandal.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement began investigating in May. It had received numerous letters and phone calls from residents who accused town leaders of Sunshine Law violations and conspiring with developers who want to build a resort hotel on the Withlacoochee River.

The agency finished its work in mid December. A prosecutor based in Bronson said he didn't find sufficient probable cause that would warrant prosecution.

But the final decision rested with Bill Cervone, the state attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit, which includes Levy County. (Citrus County is in the 5th Judicial Circuit.)

In a letter dated Monday and addressed to an FDLE official, Cervone wrote that he had reviewed the FDLE's report and determined that "there is nothing to substantiate or warrant a criminal prosecution."

Alleged Sunshine Law violations: The evidence shows that town officials "were properly advised and did their best to follow the advice of counsel in avoiding inappropriate discussion of the matters at issue," Cervone wrote.

Anything that "might arguably be a violation" was "technical and inadvertent and lacked any criminal intent," he wrote.

FDLE agents determined that former Mayor Jimmie Wall and former Town Attorney Clark Stillwell had held preliminary discussions with the developers regarding the legal format for the submission of their proposal to the town.

"At the advice of Attorney Stillwell, this information was not discussed with other Town Council members," the summary reads.

Alleged misuse of office: "I see no evidence establishing that any town official has engaged in such, either from town records or records privately held and obtained during" the FDLE investigation, Cervone wrote.

Though Helen Ciallella sat on the Town Council and planning board while she had her property under contract to the developers, investigators determined that this had not led to any direct conflicts of interest.

Cervone further noted that he found no evidence that original official records from the town had been destroyed.

FDLE agents conducted interviews with more than 50 people. Thirty-one incident reports were generated and hundreds of pages of documents reviewed. Three special agents and one analyst logged more than 400 hours of investigative time.