County's residents to vote on growth controls

By PATRICK WHITTLE

patrick.whittle@heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA COUNTY -- A referendum question that could curb developers' ability to build dense residential projects here is headed for the November election ballot.

Slow-growth advocates are framing the question as a referendum on the county's population growth, urban planning and environmental stewardship. But builders say the changes would hurt affordable housing efforts and the local economy.

It works like this: If approved by voters, a new law would require four of five county commissioners to approve any comprehensive plan amendment allowing projects with increased density in Sarasota County . The comprehensive plan prescribes the density of projects developers can build on lands around the county. Currently, only three of five commissioners are needed to change the plan.

Sarasota Citizens for Sensible Growth, a local advocacy group, placed the measure on the ballot by collecting the necessary 12,525 signatures from residents. Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent has certified the signatures. The County Commission will likely hold a public hearing in August or September to approve the ballot language.

The Sarasota citizens group is close to collecting enough signatures to push another referendum issue onto the ballot early next year. That measure would require voter approval, in special elections, of any projects that increase the size of the county's urban service area. The service area is an invisible line that straddles Interstate 75 and represents a boundary for dense building projects.

Citizens for Sensible Growth has collected more than 10,500 signatures for that initiative and hopes to get it placed on the ballot in January or March, said Bill Earl, chairman of the group.

Earl said the group's strategy is to aggressively campaign for the supermajority item until November. The group will then try to obtain the remaining signatures for the urban service boundary item.

The success of the two petitions illustrates the premium voters place on growth management, Earl said. He said the group got numerous signatures from Venice and North Port residents who feel those cities are growing out of control.

"We want to set a higher standard for the major growth management decisions," Earl said. "The supermajority requires more discussion and agreement."

Other Florida governments, including Collier and Hillsborough counties, require 4-1 votes on major growth decisions.

The supermajority vote will make it more difficult for some projects to get approved. For example, a $130 million bayfront condo and commercial development near U.S. 41 and Beneva Road that won approval in October by a 3-2 County Commission vote would have been defeated under the supermajority requirement.

County Commissioners Joe Barbetta and Jon Thaxton are ardent opponents of urban sprawl, making it even more difficult to attain the four votes necessary to approve denser growth if the referendum issue passes.

Barbetta and Thaxton have also said the county needs to hold the line on its urban service boundary.

Jay Brady, spokesman for the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange, said adding more restrictions to development could add costs to building in Sarasota County . Developers will pass that cost on to buyers, he said.

Brady said the plan to require a supermajority vote for comprehensive plan amendments could hurt the development of public buildings and amenities. Comprehensive plan amendments are often needed to build large public structures such as school, jails and sewer plants.

He also said many residents will not understand the nuances of the urban service boundary and could be overwhelmed with information before going to the polls.

"Those issues are better handled by the processes we have in place, which are already very cumbersome and involve lots of community input," Brady said.

Citizens for Sensible Growth has spent most of the year passing out petitions for the two growth initiatives. Earl said the group has had more trouble getting signatures for the urban service boundary initiative because many residents do not see how it affects their lives.

County commissioners appear split on the supermajority and urban service boundary measures.

Commissioner Paul Mercier said allowing residents to vote on every urban service boundary change would "fragment the construction industry."

Barbetta said the new laws would raise the bar for builders. "I think it will definitely show we want quality development, quality projects brought before us," he said.

Commissioners promise hefty penalty for violator

Terry Witt

A landowner who clear cut half of the trees on his vacant 40-acre parcel in south Citrus County without permits should pay at least $53,000 in penalties, Citrus County commissioners said Tuesday.

It would be the largest tree cutting fine in county history if it wins final board approval. Commissioners asked the county attorney’s office to work with the landowner’s attorney on a final agreement spelling out the size of the fine.

The board rejected a compromise settlement that would have allowed Nacham Kalka of Oak Village LLC to fund $30,000 in landscaping at the new Homosassa Public Library as punishment for the violation.

Although the library has no connection to the land he illegally cleared, the library construction project is over budget and the $30,000 fine would have offset landscaping costs, said Development Services Director Gary Maidhof.

The settlement had been scheduled for consideration as part of a package of routine business items known as the consent agenda, but Commissioner Vicki Phillips pulled the settlement for discussion, saying the board would be sending the wrong message to other developers by giving Kalka a break on his fines.

Board members agreed informally that Kalka should pay the $30,000, plus $21,384 in recorded liens against his property and $2,500 in administrative fees. Commissioner Gary Bartell and Phillips said they think at least some of the $30,000 should fund code enforcement.

Funding for code enforcement is likely to be one of many financial issues discussed at today’s 9 a.m. budget hearing in commission chambers at the courthouse in Inverness .

Kalka needed a permit from the Citrus County Community Development section to develop his property. He also needed a tree removal permit. He had neither. He also had no particular plan for developing the property, which has no water well, no electricity and no road access in Citrus County .

The property borders Oak Village in Sugarmill Woods, but the only entry point is from Hernando County on the south.

Kalka had been found guilty of tree cutting code violations by the county code enforcement board.

His attorney, Clark Stillwell, pointed out that his client was not the first person in Citrus County to clear-cut a vacant lot. Without naming names, he cited one case in Beverly Hills where a development sprouted from a defoliated parcel of property.

Stillwell has been asked to negotiate the final settlement agreement with the county attorney. The settlement will come back for commission approval at a later meeting.

Existing home sales in Florida drop 30 percent in June

Decrease is nearly three times worse than the national rate of decline, a pair of reports showed today.

Jerry W. Jackson

Sentinel Staff Writer

1:59 PM EDT, July 25, 2007

 Existing home sales in Florida during June fell 30 percent from the same month a year ago, nearly three times worse than the national rate of decline, a pair of reports showed today.

The Florida Association of Realtors said members sold 12,954 single-family homes during the month, down from 18,607 sold a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors calculates sales a little differently but reported this morning that resales nationwide dropped by 11.4 percent from the same month in 2006 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million.

That was down 3.8 percent from May, the slowest sales pace in more than 4 years.

The state report is not seasonally adjusted or annualized, and, unlike the national report, does not lump condominium sales in with single-family home sales.

Florida condo sales in June fell 28 percent to 4,004, and the median sales price edged down 3 percent to $206,100.

The median sales price of a single-family home sold by Realtors in Florida slipped 5 percent to $243,200.

Orlando Realtors already reported their June sales earlier this month, with single-family sales falling 43 percent year-over-year.

Nationally, sales of existing homes fell for a fourth straight month in June as all regions of the United States showed weakness.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes dropped by 3.8 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units, the slowest sales pace in 4 1/2 years.

The median price of an existing home edged up slightly to $230,300 in June, a small 0.1 percent increase from the sales price a year ago. That was the first year-over-year price increase in 11 months, but analysts cautioned that it would take more months to determine whether the downward trend in prices has finally stabilized.

The decline in home sales was larger than had been expected and served to underscore the problems in housing, which is currently in the worst slump in 16 years.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

County readies for fight over river

St. Johns District: 'It is not your water'

BY FRED HIERS

STAR-BANNER

OCALA - Marion County commissioners threatened during a Tuesday workshop to fight the St. Johns Water Management District and as many as 25 central Florida utilities intending to siphon water out of the Ocklawaha River .

During a heated meeting with water district officials, commissioners said they might have no choice but to start a political brawl to save the county's resource.

"This is the line in the sand," Commissioner Andy Kesselring said. "As long as [other municipalities] have cheap water, they're going to sprawl over central Florida ."

"At least I'm not going to roll over," he said.

But water district official Barbara Vergara warned commissioners that even though the Ocklawaha flowed through the county, it didn't belong to the commission.

"It is not your water," she said. Rather, it belongs to Florida .

Vergara is the water district's director of water supply management. And while Florida "local sources first" laws give some protection to communities relying on local groundwater, those laws do not apply to surface waters.

Vergara's warning came after commission Chairman Stan McClain said that while Marion County was working hard to regulate its growth and conserve water, Central Florida continued to use its water to fuel uncontrolled growth. Now that region wants Marion County 's water.

The workshop was meant to update Marion County about the water district's meeting in Orlando last week with nearly 40 Central Florida utilities. At that meeting, they discussed potential plans targeting the St. Johns River, the Withlacoochee River , the Ocklawaha and desalination as potential sources of drinking water.

No single source is enough to meet the district's water needs by 2025, district officials predict. One of the most popular plans for getting water, though, is tapping the Ocklawaha.

During Tuesday's meeting, Vergara and water district assistant executive director David Fisk invited Marion County to host future meetings with utilities wanting some of the Ocklawaha water.

Commissioners agreed to hammer out a formal response letter to the water district's invitation during next Tuesday's commission meeting.

Commissioner Jim Payton said he was ready to fight.

"I'm not going to sit idly by and let you ruin two of the premier springs," Payton said, referring to Silver Springs and the Rainbow River springs. "It's not going to happen."

But commissioners' threats may amount to little more than saber-rattling.

That is because Florida law allows counties to draw river water from outside their borders once they have shown a need for it.

Vergara warned that Marion County should be part of the utilities' meetings involving the Ocklawaha, saying it would be a "critical mistake not to involve yourself."

After the meeting, Vergara said Central Florida was under great pressure to find alternative water sources fast.

"They're very much against the wall," she said. "Maybe the commission doesn't understand what that's like."

She said Central Florida utilities and the water district would continue discussing the Ocklawaha as a water source regardless of whether Marion County joins the talks.

There is a growing frenzy when it comes to finding alternative water sources. That is because last year area water districts decided water allocation levels would not increase after 2013 for central Florida . And while Marion County isn't included on the list, its above-ground water is fair game.

"I feel a little bit like the constituency coming and standing before us and saying, 'I know I can't fight city hall,'" McClain said. "And here we are city hall and we're trying to fight something bigger than we are."

Water district consultant Jerry Salsano asked commissioners what the county's political relationship with Central Florida would be if it managed to block use of the Ocklawaha. He asked them what Marion County will do when one day it has exhausted its own water supply and needed outside water.

But if Marion County joined in using Ocklawaha water and helped with piping it elsewhere, "Your future is going to be a lot easier," he said.

The water district predicts that between 2013 and 2025, Central Florida will be short 120 million gallons of water per day unless alternative sources are used.

During that same time period, Marion County will likely have its own water problems.

Marion currently uses about 85 million gallons per day, or mgd, of groundwater. A recent water study predicted there was only another 25 mgd left to withdraw before negatively affecting the Rainbow and Silver River springs. The county will need an estimated 203 mgd by 2055.

The water district predicts it could safely siphon as much as 107 mgd from the Ocklawaha near State Road 40. During times of drought when the river was low, pumping would stop. The median flow of the Ocklawaha is about 850 million gallons per day.

McClain said he would consider meeting with other utilities only if they first agreed to discuss their own plans to curtail growth and conserve what water they already had.

Commissioner Barbara Fitos said barring the door and damming the river was not the answer.

"I do not believe isolating ourselves is prudent," Fitos said after the meeting, adding that the county should encourage desalination instead. "But the only way to get the message out is to be part of the dialogue."

Fred Hiers may be reached at fred.hiers@starbanner.com and (352) 867-4157.

Report: Man responsible for warmer Florida
By Jim Ash
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU CHIEF

Global warming has come to Florida and the nation and Congress should heed Gov. Charlie Crist's mandate to dramatically reduce greenhouse gasses.

That's the conclusion of a report, ''Feeling the Heat: Global Warming and Rising Temperatures in the United States ,'' released Tuesday by the nonprofit, Environment Florida.

The report concludes that on average, Florida was half a degree warmer in 2006, and human activity is to blame.

''Throw out the record books, because global warming is raising temperatures in Florida and across the country,'' said field director Holly Binns. ''The long-term forecast is for more of the same unless we quickly and significantly reduce global-warming pollution from power plants and passenger vehicles.''

The group studied National Climatic Data Center temperature records from 255 weather stations nationwide, including 12 in Florida .

The group looked at temperatures from 2000-06 and compared them with the historical average between 1971 and 2000.

Meteorologist Robert Henson, a writer and editor at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said the comparisons the group used for the past 30 years are a standard approach for establishing modern climate trends.

''It looks like a reasonable approach,'' he said. ''There is every reason to believe that the Earth is continuing to get warmer.''

The report found that in 2006, Pensacola sweated through 84 days where the mercury climbed to 90 degrees or higher, 26 more than normal. Tallahassee had 114, 23 more than normal. Fort Myers , with 113 days, equaled its historical average.

Orlando topped the charts with 136 days, 31 more than normal.

But the report also shows that the heating was uneven.

Key West had 15 fewer 90-plus days last year. Vero Beach had three fewer and Tampa had six fewer.

The report found that average nighttime lows were 0.09 degrees warmer in Pensacola last year and 0.1 degrees warmer in Fort Myers . But they were 0.1 degrees colder in Tallahassee .

In 2006, the average temperature was 0.8 degrees above normal in Tallahassee , according to the report.

It also showed that last year, the average maximum temperature, or daily high, was 1.4 degrees above normal in Tallahassee .

Florida State University oceanographer Jeff Chanton acknowledged that establishing a verifiable trend is always difficult when looking at long-term weather patterns.

''There's been a lot of variability, and that's why it takes so long to separate the signal from the noise. That's why this whole global-warming thing has been so controversial,'' he said. ''But the trend has been to get warmer.''

Chanton warned that the long-term consequences of global warming could be disastrous for the state as polar ice sheets melt and sea levels rise.

''One foot per century translates to tens of feet in shoreline retreat,'' he said. '' Florida has a very flat coastline.''

Sweetbay development irks neighbor

Farmer thinks Swiftmud is playing matchmaker with developer and wetlands.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published July 25, 2007

ODESSA - Sweetbay Supermarket is coming to Odessa , but its closest neighbor isn't celebrating.

Octavio Blanco has a 100-acre farm on State Road 54, just east of the Suncoast Parkway , a lonely outpost slowly besieged by the onset of development.

Next door to his property, where his family has lived for 50 years, the Paradise Development Group wants to put a Sweetbay-anchored mall on 37 acres it bought in 2003 for $4.25-million.

"It is Sweetbay's intention to build a new store there," said Valerie Panou, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.

The mall, tentatively called Shoppes of Suncoast in Paradise broker brochures, also hopes to have three restaurants, two banks, a gas station and two other retail stores. None are named, apart from the proposed 50,000-square-foot Sweetbay.

The development is still jumping through the permitting hoops. Paradise brochures say they hope to open the mall in 2008.

Here's what irks Blanco.

When he went scouring through public records on the neighboring property, he found that Paradise 's representative had written to thank the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

The district, also called Swiftmud, had apparently suggested a 66-acre tract in Hernando County that Paradise could use to compensate for potential damage to wetlands on the Suncoast Commercial property, Blanco said.

It is unclear how large the wetlands are on the Paradise property, but county maps indicate they take about a fifth of the 37 acres.

Blanco is sensitive about his swamp.

He believes development has drained it. He has warned of droughts. He has twice sued homebuilder Standard Pacific because they planned to dig a large pit next to his property.

Even with the recent rain, his water level is still 5 feet below the ground, he said.

"It's never been that low in 50 years," he said.

But never mind the swamp.

This time, he's also fed up with what he feels is Swiftmud's unnecessary matchmaking of developer and wetlands.

"You have somebody that has the power to grant permits, and for them to come in and say, 'I can make this easy for all of you,' " is akin to a referee tilting the field in favor of one team, he said.

The 66 acres on Zebrafinch Avenue in northwestern Hernando belong to Tod Marr.

Paradise , a 19-year-old real estate firm that specializes in grocery-anchored projects, did not reply to a call for comment.

But Swiftmud disagreed with Blanco.

"We keep a list, and if somebody asks for mitigation ideas, we will provide suggestions," said Robyn Hanke, the agency's spokeswoman. "It's standard practice."

Marr's properties, totaling 370 acres, have been used for other mitigation purposes, Hanke said. Swiftmud owns adjoining tracts.

In suggesting this sort of mitigation, Swiftmud wants the swaps to be for properties within the same drainage basin, which means an area drained by the same river system.

In this case, both the Paradise property and the Marr tract are in the same upper coastal drainage basin, Hanke said.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

Study: Gainesville , state hotter in '06

By NATHAN CRABBE

Sun staff writer

If you thought Gainesville felt especially hot last year, it wasn't your imagination.

And according to one environmental group, it's a sign of things to come.

The average temperature in Gainesville and other cities across Florida increased more than 0.5 degrees above average in 2006, according to a report released Tuesday by Environment Florida.

The advocacy group connects the increase with global warming, which members say can cause potentially catastrophic changes in the state.

"Even a small increase in temperature can have pretty profound impacts," said Holly Binns, the group's field director.

In 2006, Gainesville 's average daily high temperature was 1.3 degrees above normal, according to the group's study. The city experienced 103 days during which the temperature hit at least 90 degrees.

The number of 90-degree days was 23 more than the historical average and the third-highest number of any city studied in Florida , according to the study.

Binns said global warming can increase droughts and wildfires, stress limited water resources and cause more frequent and intense hurricanes. The group points to this year's active wildfire season and low water levels as the kind of changes that could occur more often as a result of even slightly higher temperatures.

" Florida is at ground zero when it comes to the most harmful impacts of global warming," said Mark Ferrulo, group director. "We, more than any other state, are going to see the impacts sooner and to a more serious degree than much of the rest of the nation."

The group supports reducing heat-trapping emissions through energy conservation and the development of renewable energy sources.

Ferrulo lauded Gov. Charlie Crist's push to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but said more must be done on the federal level.

"We've got a governor that's doing great things, but Florida does not live in a vacuum," he said. "We need Congress to take this issue as seriously as our governor."

The report compared temperature data for the years 2000-2006 from 255 weather stations across the country with temperatures averaged over the years 1971-2000. Between 2000 and 2006, the average temperature was 0.5 degrees above normal at 87 percent of the locations studied.

Ferrulo said Florida may feel the brunt of climate change, but the entire country needs to address the issue.

"We could clean up every tailpipe and every smokestack in Florida , but if the rest of the nation isn't tackling this issue, then we are still going to bear the brunt of the harm," he said.

Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.

Reservoir holes cost $5.6M

The county approves the third round of massive grouting work to repair a reservoir in construction.

By DAVID DECAMP
Published July 25, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - The sinking earth has caused costs to jump $5.6-million for a Pasco County reservoir demanded by Florida regulators.

The county has to build a 20-acre reservoir southeast of U.S. 41 and Ehren Cutoff to store reclaimed water. The treated wastewater is used to irrigate yards and golf courses, reducing the draw on drinking water supplies. In times of abundant rain, however, officials need a place to store the unused reclaimed water.

But as workers began building the earthen walls for the Land O'Lakes reservoir, small holes broke open on the reservoir bottom. To fix them, the County Commission on Tuesday approved a third round of massive grouting work, commonly done for sinkholes.

The $5.6-million for all three rounds of grouting work raises the cost of the reservoir to about $18-million, said Bruce Kennedy, assistant county administrator for utilities. That's a hike of more than 40 percent.

The $5.6-million will come from money that would otherwise be used for other county utilities projects.

"If we don't have this problem, we'd have more money to do things," County Administrator John Gallagher said, although it was too early Tuesday for officials to say which projects might be delayed as a result.

The reservoir grew out of a consent order with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which found Pasco County Utilities had committed a series of wastewater treatment violations. The county agreed to pay a $359,000 fine and make improvements, including the reservoir.

But Commissioner Ted Schrader raised larger fears that a breach in the reservoir could open sinkholes that would drain the treated wastewater into the Floridan Aquifer - or that settling earth could split the reservoir wall, causing treated wastewater to spill into neighborhoods nearby.

Kennedy said the grouting repairs should remove the risk and noted the reuse is treated to meet drinking water standards.

"You drink it first," Commissioner Michael Cox replied.

Kennedy said afterward that he considered the holes not sinkholes but smaller "dropouts," each about a foot in diameter. But Larry Maron, senior consultant with geotechnical engineer QORE Property Sciences, said the distinction is "probably semantics."

Schrader, Cox and Commissioner Jack Mariano peppered Kennedy and Maron about the homework done to pick and prepare the site for the reservoir.

"When we evaluated the site, did we not do subsurface testing or some tests to determine any problems like this?" Schrader asked.

Kennedy and Maron said ground-penetrating radar and other soil tests were done and continue to be done. And Kennedy defended the choice of the location on county-owned land near the Land O'Lakes wastewater treatment plant. The site, he said, is "strategically located."

Just not the holes.

After an initial review showed sinkhole problems, the county approved nearly $1.7-million in sinkhole grouting in January. Then $796,000 more in May. Then Tuesday's $3.2-million whopper, bringing the total to $5.6-million.

Kennedy and Maron said detecting sinkholes was tough because the pressures on the soil changed, and the gaps can occur as far as 50 feet below the surface.

"As you know," Maron told the board, "it's not unusual for sinkholes to form in Pasco County ."

David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6232.

County attorney's job at risk over deal

Meanwhile, a grand jury may look into the county purchase of the property appraiser's land.

By WILL VAN SANT, JONATHAN ABEL and THERESA BLACKWELL
Published July 25, 2007

Pinellas County Attorney Susan Churuti's job of 20 years appeared in jeopardy Tuesday as the controversy intensified over the county's purchase of land owned by Property Appraiser Jim Smith.

In a separate development, State Attorney Bernie McCabe said he would ask a grand jury Thursday whether it wished to investigate the purchase of Smith's vacant lot on Brooker Creek. McCabe said he had no evidence of a specific law being broken, but that "a broad examination of every aspect" of the deal was under way.

Churuti, 52, told the St. Petersburg Times late Tuesday that she was considering resigning. And two of her bosses questioned if she could repair the damage done to her credibility.

The Times reported Tuesday that Churuti had agreed to represent both Pinellas and Smith in talks that led the county to buy Smith's property last month for $225,000. The appraiser owned the parcel as a private citizen and not in his capacity as an elected official. Smith said county work crews had damaged his property during flood control work.

The revelation of Churuti's dual role was the latest example of county leaders failing to disclose key details of the deal to the public.

Churuti said her motivation was to resolve the matter quickly to avoid costly litigation.

"I wish I hadn't taken the hard way," Churuti said with a touch of anger. "I wish I had not tried to save the county money."

County Commissioner Ken Welch said Tuesday that there will have to be consequences.

"The only question in my mind is the severity of the consequences," he said.

Commission Chairman Ronnie Duncan, whose own role in the county's negotiations has come under scrutiny, went further, confirming that he would weigh whether to seek Churuti's firing. "That's one option," Duncan said. "And I'm going to seriously consider that."

Churuti said she knew it was "a slippery slope" when she sat down with Smith and Duncan and had both men sign conflict of interest waivers in March. Duncan said he thought the waiver would just allow Churuti to talk with Smith and his private attorney but did not know a purchase was in the works.

Churuti said Smith and the county shared a goal: The appraiser wanted to sell his land and the county wanted to buy the property for flood control work. In such cases, she said, the Florida Bar does not prohibit dual representation.

But Churuti agreed to her unique role only after an angry Smith had contacted several senior county officials, including Duncan , and Smith's private attorney wrote the county encouraging it to buy the land to settle Smith's damage claim. And her representation of Smith as a private citizen may conflict with a state law prohibiting local government attorneys from representing adversaries of the governments that employ them.

Mark Herron, a Tallahassee lawyer who deals with ethics law would not comment specifically on Churuti's actions but said some situations are so fraught with conflict of interest that a waiver is not enough.

"Look at their job descriptions," Herron said. "Is it the duty of this employee of the county or of this local government attorney to represent private citizens? I think it is not."

County Administrator Steve Spratt, who said he learned just last week of Churuti's activities, said the conflict waivers were signed at a time when he was still investigating whether the county could repair the property, not buy it. "I told her that I was troubled," Spratt said Tuesday, "that I have major problems with that."

Yet Spratt's actions are also under scrutiny. A report Spratt filed to the County Commission July 13 suggests that the letter written by Smith's attorney in March asking the county to buy the property sparked the county's interest in the land. In fact, an irate Smith had paid a visit to Spratt five days earlier.

Questions also surround Smith's actions.

The county said it last worked on Smith's property in early 2005, when crews operated throughout the Tarpon Woods area to remove debris from the 2004 hurricanes.

Smith, 67, the elected appraiser for 19 years, complained in September 2005 about damage from the work but never followed up on his claim until March of this year.

He told county leaders his land had been "devastated." But for the previous nine months the property was for sale for $400,000, pitched as a "Beautiful Custom Home Site." Smith has acknowledged he was hoping to use the check from the county toward the purchase of a $497,000 private home in Countryside.

At a County Commission meeting Tuesday, a resolution endorsing McCabe's inquiry passed unanimously. That puts the commission in the bizarre situation of backing an inquiry into a land purchase it approved unanimously -- without any public discussion -- on June 5. The commission also agreed to consider hiring an outside attorney to represent members in McCabe's inquiry.

County Commissioner Bob Stewart said the board supported the sale because it did not know then what it knows now. Churuti has acknowledged not disclosing her role to the commissioners.

"What's happened since June 5th," Stewart said, "has been revelations about facts and relationships we were not aware of. We didn't have the background that we are entitled to and should expect."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.

Kirkland Ranch Suit Dismissed

By TODD LESKANIC The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 25, 2007

DADE CITY - A long-running family dispute about the sprawling Kirkland Ranch is out of the courts, paving the way for the hot development property's sale.

A judge quietly dismissed a lawsuit July 11 following months of inactivity. The dismissal, agreed to by both parties, removes a legal barrier to the sale of the 1,700-acre ranch, worth millions to developers because of its prime location.

No one associated with the case would talk about the dismissal or what it means for the property, which continues to operate as a cattle and citrus ranch.

Dade City Realtor Pat German said dismissing the lawsuit is a smart move if the family is serious about selling.

"A big developer is not going to tie himself up waiting for the case to work its way through the courts," German said. "At least if someone comes along and wants it, they can talk to them in good faith. They couldn't if it was tied up in the courts."

The Kirkland Ranch has been part of Pasco County lore for decades. In 1949, Raymond Kirkland and his father, Cicero, began carving the ranch from property just south of San Antonio . Property was added over the decades, and Raymond Kirkland became a player in the citrus and cattle industries.

By 2004, Raymond Kirkland was in poor health, and his three children - Richard Kirkland, Laura Kirkland and Elizabeth Denney - were running the ranch. In November 2004, they sued to prevent their father's siblings - Jack Kirkland, Elizabeth Holloway and Anna Kirkland - from selling the ranch to a developer.

Developers were offering more than $30 million for the property, according to court documents.

At the time, attorneys for Kirkland 's children said they wanted to delay the sale, so they could make sure they accepted the right offer. The older Kirklands believed they could sell without consulting their nephew and nieces.

Although attorneys in the case insisted the dispute wasn't personal, letters between the parties showed a measure of frustration between the sides. In May 2005, ranch president Jack Kirkland fired his nieces and nephew from their jobs at the ranch and evicted one of them from a house on the land.

Despite the testy start, the case stalled later in 2005. Now, with the legalities seemingly done, the land seems primed for sale.

The ranch -10 adjoining parcels bound by Curley, Kiefer and Handcart roads - lies right in the middle of what figures to be the county's next growth area. Centex Homes and CKB Development LLC already own large parcels adjoining the Kirklands' property.

The county's Pasadena Hills Area Plan is an effort to determine how best to develop the 22,000 acres between Dade City and Zephyrhills, including the ranch.

Only the recent crash in the real estate market could deter a seller from moving a property, German said. "The housing market is so down and the cost of infrastructure is so high that I don't think they'll get anywhere near the price they had when they had it under contract," she said.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (352) 521-3156 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

Today's Letters: Wiregrass deal no bargain for us

By St. Pete Times LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published July 25, 2007

While the state attempts to reduce taxes for Florida residents to alleviate some of the pressure on personal budgets, Pasco County commissioners decide to forgive Wiregrass Ranch developers $42-million in impact fees for a 5,100-acre development here.

Local news reports state that Pasco County is whittling away at the $16-million budget deficit resulting from new state tax legislation and at the same time are making county property owners obligated for the $42-million in infrastructure cost for more sprawl here.

Is the government here in Pasco based on a Republic, as our founders intended, or a democracy, as so many of the founding fathers feared it would become, or an empire, which they all abhorred? For those that might have forgotten, "a republic is a form of government maintained by a state or country whose sovereignty is based on popular consent and whose governance is based on popular representation and control."

The people of this county are being abused by the decisions made by our public officials. I believe that it is high time for new leadership. Good deals for Wal-Mart, Wiregrass Ranch, commercial developers and big box retailers are jeopardizing our financial future.

Just so that you are aware, Commissioners Ted Schrader, Jack Mariano and Pat Mulieri voted to make us obligated for the $42-million. Commissioners Michael Cox and Ann Hildebrand dissented.

Please take the time to be an informed voter for the next election.

Carl Spoeth, Bayonet Point

Weekend Workshop To Focus On Indoor Water Conservation

By MEGAN HUSSEY Tribune correspondent

Published: Jul 25, 2007

PORT RICHEY - The importance of conservation will be the subject of the Water Conservation, Recycling and Rain Barrel Workshop, set for this weekend in Port Richey.

Jeannie Hayes and Betsy Crisp of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension in Pasco County will team up with Monica Dear of Recycling and Education to Save Our Resources for a Clean Environment to present this 1 1/2 hour workshop.

The workshop will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at Home Depot, U.S. 19 and Fox Hollow Avenue in Port Richey.

"Even in the rainy season, we're not getting enough water to replenish what we're using," Crisp said. "Especially with the growth we have going on in Pasco , we need to conserve every day, all the time. And water conservation should have the same priority as recycling in our daily lives."

At the workshop, Crisp will review indoor water conservation tips and retrofit gadgets, according to a statement.

Hayes will cover the outdoors, explaining the nine Florida Yards and Neighborhoods principles. Dear will talk about recycling opportunities in Pasco County .

These three short lectures will be followed by a hands-on session on the proper method of making a rain barrel.

Advance registration is required. A $30 admission fee will cover the cost of the rain barrels. Each family attending will have a two-barrel limit. The fee also will include a discounted membership to R.E.S.O.R.C.E. recycling club.

For information and to register, call the extension office at (727) 847-8177, Ext. 4288. Registration forms can be downloaded and printed off the extension's Web site: pasco.ifas.ufl.edu/.

Registration papers should be filed by Thursday. Those who don't make the deadline are encouraged to call and express their interest in future conservation workshops.

"We can schedule workshops in their area," Crisp said.

Crisp encourages Pasco residents to take a great interest in conservation and preserving the environment.

"It makes sense not to be wasteful," she said. "We need to conserve."

County girds for development suit

By HECTOR FLORIN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — Sometimes, there is a price for saying no to development.

County attorneys need as much as $350,000 to hire expert witnesses, appraisers, accountants and land planners to defend a February 2006 county commission vote denying the development of more than 200 homes on the Mizner Trail Golf Course west of Boca Raton .

The company that owns the course, Mizner Trail Golf Club Ltd., responded to the commission's unanimous decision - two commissioners were absent - by filing a lawsuit against the county. It contends the county infringed on property rights, violated the state and U.S. constitutions' right to due process and equal protection, and has unconstitutionally vague language in portions of its development code. The suit includes claims that the commissioners' decision cost the owners $38.5 million - the amount they may seek.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved shifting money from a reserve account to pay for the legal battle. A trial date has not been set.

Three county attorneys are working on the case, County Attorney Denise Nieman said.

"We need these experts to defend the case," Nieman said. "It's a big one."

The golf course in the Boca Del Mar community has been closed because of a lack of use.

"Using the property as a golf course is no longer an economically viable use or an economically reasonable use, and has not been for several years," the suit reads.

The county has so far hired four experts, with more expected to come on board.

"There are so many claims, we've got to be prepared to defend them," Assistant County Attorney Philip Mugavero said.

Vet clinic gets green light

Court ruling paves way for O'Brien facility

By Robert Bridges, Editor

O'Brien may get a veterinary clinic after all. A court ruling Thursday upheld the zoning board's approval of the facility, over the objections of a neighboring landowner who claimed that a vet's office might lower area property values and that sick livestock could infect her animals.

"I'm relieved," veterinarian Tracie Daniels said Monday. "It's been going on so long. I hope it will end with this ruling." The zoning board unanimously approved Daniels' plans at a Jan. 26, 2006 hearing. Barring further legal challenges, she will have 12 months to complete construction. Neither Roxanne Tice, the landowner who sought to stop the project, nor her attorney could be reached for comment. It is not clear if additional legal action by Tice will follow.

The clinic will be built on an 18-acre tract off US 129. The problem now, said Daniels, is funding. "This whole fight has been very expensive," she said. "A lot of that money would've been spent funding the clinic." Daniels said she is considering other options to generate revenue, including a riding area for disabled children.

Daniels said community support for the clinic has been unwavering. About 70 local residents attended the July 16 hearing on her behalf. "I'm so grateful for all the support I've gotten," Daniels said. "That's the reason I've kept going."

In his ruling, Third Circuit Judge David Fina said the zoning board's decision "was supported by competent, substantial evidence and complies with the essential elements of law."

OPA-LOCKA

Lobbyist, former Opa-locka official arrested

BY DAVID OVALLE

dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

Dante Starks has been charged with illegally lobbying for construction companies while paying kickbacks to former Opa-locka Vice Mayor Terence Pinder.Dante Starks wielded unusual power in Opa-locka.

A City Hall regular, he dubbed himself ''an unpaid, unofficial chief of staff'' for Vice Mayor Terence Pinder, according to an arrest warrant released Tuesday after Starks was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail.

Starks often met behind closed doors with City Manager Jannie Beverly. He helped the city negotiate a $3.2 million water meter contract. He even promised a befuddled city administrator a raise, the warrant said.

And most galling, authorities allege:

Starks earned nearly $1 million illegally lobbying for two companies holding city contracts, all while giving Pinder envelopes stuffed with cash, stays at a hotel and diapers for his girlfriend's children. Pinder, in turn, used his influence to help the companies.

Starks was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail at 8:23 a.m. Tuesday. He is charged with three counts of illegal compensation, two of arranging an illegal contingency fee and two of illegal lobbying.

Pinder, 34, was also arrested Tuesday. He is awaiting trial on loosely related charges filed last year.

His attorney, Ben Kuehne, said the arrest warrant isn't accurate.

''Mr. Pinder was not involved in any misconduct or mischief with Dante Starks and did not obtain any funds to which he was not authorized,'' Kuehne said.

Miami-Dade's top prosecutor called their conduct ``blatant and arrogant.''

''Opa-locka is one of the most economically challenged communities. Of all places, do you know what $1 million means in a city like this?'' State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said.

Starks, 44, is a polarizing figure in Northwest Miami-Dade.

Business Lobby Aims at Amendment

By Tom Palmer

tom.palmer@theledger.com

I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but one of Florida 's largest business lobbies has hatched a plan to derail the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is openly opposing the amendment and is speaking against it because it thinks it's a bad idea.

But the chamber has taken another step. It has launched a front group called Floridians for Smarter Growth, which has created a competing petition drive.

The petition drives sound deceptively similar.

Here's what Florida Hometown Democracy's proposal says:

"Establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to vote of the electors of the local government by referendum, following preparation by the local planning agency, consideration by the governing body and notice. Provides definitions."

Here's what Floridians for Smarter Growth's proposal says:

"Allows Floridians to call for voter approval of changes to local growth management plans through a citizen petition. Voter approval of growth management plan changes will be required if 10 percent of the voters in the city or county sign a petition calling for such a referendum. Defines terms and establishes petition requirements."

The obvious difference between the two petitions is that while Florida Hometown Democracy's amendment would apply statewide automatically, the Floridians for Smarter Growth amendment would require a second petition drive whose signatures would have to be certified by local election officials before the request could be considered. By the time residents accomplished that, the issue could be moot because the measure may have already been passed.

I'm not surprised that the business interests are nervous about the amendment's prospects.

I base that on the results of the recent Polk County Citizens Opinion Survey.

If there's anything that upsets people more than higher taxes, it's what they perceive as out-of-control growth.

Here are some highlights:

Eighteen percent said growth management has not improved in the past year. Only 8 percent said taxes were worse.

Growth was considered the most important issue facing Polk County , outpacing taxes by at least 2-to-1 and often more over the past four years in the same poll.

I think you could argue that if the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment passes, it would be somewhat similar to the passage of the tax cuts by the Florida Legislature in one way.

It will be something local government brought upon itself.

For years, in many parts of Florida it appeared as though development interests had an inordinate amount of influence on government decision-making.

That was certainly true here in Polk County .

Developers and their allies delayed adoption of growth planning and then easily persuaded county commissioners to form a committee composed primarily of people from the development community to look for "glitches," which meant in some cases to add provisions they forgot to put in the original document.

The ordinance was filled with provisions that allowed developers to get credits for things people outside the development community thought they should have to do as a matter of course.

Add to that the catastrophic failure of planning in the Four Corners area that created a gigantic gap between supply and demand of public infrastructure.

County officials, after fighting state planners for years to allow dense development along the U.S. 27 corridor at the eastern edge of the Green Swamp , feigned surprise at the sudden development demand. They issued building permits hand over fist, but somehow never got around to making sure there was enough water or parks and recreation.

It's not just us.

Next door in Hillsborough County, the development community has been pressuring the County Commission there to get rid of local wetlands regulations, claiming - well-documented evidence to the contrary - that state and federal regulators will do an adequate job of protecting wetlands.

In Highlands County , planning officials actually solicited landowners to apply for growth plan amendments prematurely to avoid any of the effects of the Hometown Democracy Amendment. Now the county's growth map has too much urban growth planned in rural areas where it has no business occurring.

This is not meant to be an endorsement of the Hometown Democracy Amendment. I leave endorsements to our editorial board.

What I am saying is that it is clear that many people have had enough and it may take more than a sly political gambit by the Florida Chamber of Commerce to divert that rage.

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

Planning Board Will Be Replacing 2 of Its Members

By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

BARTOW - The composition of the Polk County panel that decides every month where new subdivisions and shopping centers will be located and how the county's growth plan should be revised will change soon.

Term limits will end the tenures of Jim Urick and John Webb, two of the original appointees to the seven-member Polk County Planning Commission, on Aug. 31.

The selection of their successors could send a message on how growth decisions will be handled as the seven-member board grapples with issues such as school concurrency, water shortages, traffic and other quality-of-life issues.

So far, 15 people have applied for the vacancies. The application period will end Friday.

Planning commissioners serve three-year terms. They receive no pay.

County Commission Chairman Bob English and Commissioner Randy Wilkinson will nominate the Planning Board replacements under a procedure commissioners adopted in 2005.

English said he is hoping to find someone from Northeast Polk.

"I think I have to consider geography," he said.

English said he also is looking for diversity of backgrounds, though he said he wants to make sure whomever he nominates has experience with planning and development issues.

Wilkinson said he is leaning toward appointing Cliff Daniels, a Bartow civic leader and an executive at a Bartow lumber company, but hasn't made up his mind. Daniels was recently appointed to the planning panel as an alternate.

Wilkinson said one of the applicants, Davenport resident William Goaziau, met with him over lunch to lobby for the position.

If Wilkinson picks Daniels and his alternate seat becomes vacant, it will be up to County Commissioner Sam Johnson to appoint a replacement, according to the procedure adopted by the commissioners.

Many of the applicants have ties to the development or real estate industries.

Critics of the county's planning and zoning review have long complained about the predominance of development interests in key decision-making positions.

The departing commissioners both have ties to development. Urick works for a Kissimmee planning consultant. Webb owns a Davenport real estate business.

The Polk County Planning Commission reviews requests for various kinds of development approvals as well as changes in the county's growth plan and development regulations. In many cases - unless someone appeals - its decision is final.

County Commissioner Jean Reed, who ran for election last year on a platform of reforming Polk's growth-management process, said parts of the procedure are frustrating.

"We have to change the process so the real estate and development industry doesn't dominate the process," she said.

Al Whittle, a Lakeland activist who has been critical of Polk's development policies, said he was concerned that the county's development procedures are one-sided.

He said the current process pushes aside the property rights claims of homeowners in favor of the seemingly superior property rights claims of developers.

During a work session earlier this year, Wilkinson said he was interested in knowing the views of prospective candidates, though other commissioners did not agree that should enter into the decision-making.

Wilkinson said his proposal was based on the fact that the Planning Commission is different from other committees to which commissioners make appointments.

"This is the most important board in the county," he said. "I want some advice and consent on which way it's headed; it's not like any other appointment."
POLK PLANNING COMMISSION

The application period for an appointment to the Polk County Planning Commission closes Friday. These people have applied so far:

Russell "Rusty" Boedicker, a Lakeland real estate agent.

Brian Brogen, a Mulberry construction supervisor.

James Burt, a Lakeland building contractor.

Jeffrey Clyne, a Lakeland business consultant with a background in building supplies.

Pamela Crain, co-owner of a Lakeland construction business

Joshua Douglas, a Lakeland claims adjuster.

Jere Gault, a Lakeland real estate broker.

William Goaziau of Davenport is involved in financial management and land consulting in the housing industry and is a former county manager from Osceola County .

Bryan Hunter, a Lakeland engineer.

Larry Jackson, an Auburndale horticultural consultant.

John Johnson, a retired Auburndale businessman.

Alice Kersey, a Davenport teacher.

Joseph Patti, a Winter Haven construction superintendent.

Jacquelyn Smith, a Lakeland real estate broker.

Dennis Young, Auburndale, a manager at Walt Disney World. 

Revamped Oversight Of Wetlands Could Get Board Out Of Hot Water

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 24, 2007

Make no mistake. If Hillsborough County commissioners vote to eliminate local wetlands protections, the community will lose critical natural resources.

Proponents claim wetlands protection can be left to the state, particularly in these tough budget times.

But the county's rule is tougher than the state's and local regulators take a more comprehensive approach, working with landowners so development plans avoid wetlands altogether if possible.

The local program makes a big difference. After the state approved a phosphate mining plan for southeast Hillsborough, the EPC review resulted in the preservation of an additional 200 acres of wetlands. Last year the county reviewed 446 wetlands permits. The Southwest Florida Water District handled only 166 permits in Hillsborough.

So the community is going to lose a lot of marshes if Commissioners Brian Blair, Jim Norman, Ken Hagan and Kevin White plow ahead with their plan to kill EPC's wetlands division.

And the cost involved for protecting a natural resource that stores water, prevents flooding, reduces erosion and sustains wildlife is small - less than $1 million a year.

Don't be misled by proponents' talk of unnecessary costs or duplication. The goal of those attacking EPC's wetlands jurisdiction is to make it easier to bulldoze marshes. Indeed, a driving force behind the effort is a developer who has long sought to dismantle EPC's wetlands protections that have been in place 22 years.

So the public should watch closely when commissioners meet as the EPC board Thursday. EPC Executive Director Richard Garrity is scheduled to present a revised wetlands protection plan that he hopes will keep commission from killing local protections.

Disgraceful Episode

Last month, in a disgraceful episode, Blair, Norman, Hagan and White voted to eliminate the EPC's wetlands' division without listening to Garrity or the public. Another vote will be needed for the move to be official.

EPC Chairman Blair, who has led the charge against EPC, now says he wants to hear the proposal and that he may change his mind.

He says no final vote will be taken until next month, but the board majority has been known to move abruptly when pushing developers' agenda.

Garrity, under assault by development interests, now finds himself also being attacked by environmentalists for offering some concessions. That's unfair.

The changes he's offering, for the most part, seem sensible and will make the process more efficient and flexible. He'll also eliminate a few positions.

The agency would rank wetlands, focusing its energy and its regulators on the most important tracts. Protections would be eliminated for some 'marginal' wetlands, such as cow ponds, but Garrity stresses that the agency historically has approved the destruction of such degraded wetlands anyway.

Under the plan, EPC would coordinate with other state and federal agencies to further streamline the review process. One-stop permitting would be possible in many cases.

The county and the water district would still conduct separate reviews of certain projects, but would better coordinate their efforts.

The EPC staff would consult with a committee of 'stakeholders' when revising wetlands rules. An ombudsman would be named to assist landowners, especially small farmers, who need a permit to destroy wetlands.

Less Cumbersome

Yes, some protections might be weakened. The changes would need to be monitored. But environmentalists should not mistake bureaucratic process with resource protection. No one should object if EPC can make things less cumbersome.

And Garrity's proposal would preserve the key parts of the wetlands' rule - including the authority to protect wetlands under a half-acre, which the state does not cover.

It's important to remember that Blair, Norman, Hagan and White have signaled they want to jettison wetlands protections altogether. This plan offers them a legitimate reason to reverse their votes - if their concern is duplication and efficiency.

If Garrity's changes are adopted, local marshlands protections will remain intact. A later, more enlightened board could always strengthen the rule.

But if the wetlands program is killed, reviving it is going to be far more difficult and Hillsborough's resources are going to be lost for years to come.

Wetlands proposal opens door to trouble

A Times Editorial
Published July 24, 2007

Rick Garrity, Hillsborough's environmental chief, has proposed a risky compromise in an attempt to save the county's wetlands protection program. He would preserve rules that guard against drought, pollution and flooding, but would open the door for developers and the politicians whose campaigns they fund to manipulate the office behind the scenes. This arrangement is better than no program at all, but it is a loaded gun in the hands of his bosses. We are at this point, after all, because Commissioners Brian Blair, Kevin White, Ken Hagan and Jim Norman want it easier for developers to destroy sensitive and valuable habitat.

It is tempting to wish that Garrity force an up-or-down vote for the program, which would make the gimme to developers an issue in the next election. But such political indulgence would be reckless for this growing county. His plan keeps intact one of the program's two major distinctions. Hillsborough, unlike the state of Florida , protects wetlands of a half acre or less. That is critical for controlling flood waters and pollution in developed areas. He also would clarify and speed the permitting process for developers and property owners. Those changes are reasonable and address legitimate concerns about the program's bureaucracy and cost.

The biggest change is that the county would relax its rule that wetlands can be destroyed only as a last resort. Garrity's office would be more open to "mitigation," under which wetlands destroyed may be replaced elsewhere. He also would classify wetlands by "ecological value," which would in part determine whether they could be destroyed. This discretion, in the right hands, could reasonably marry science and judgment. But coming as a counter-offer to killing the program outright, it invites the same political meddling down the road as what inspired it in the first place.

At best, what emerges from the plan is a leaner, not meaner, agency, where fewer lands are protected, more is demanded from fewer people and in shorter periods of time and where developers have a role in policymaking. That amounts to a huge environmental gamble, one driven entirely by this foursome's fealty to the development industry. The commission, which will discuss the matter Thursday, sitting as the Environmental Protection Commission, should realize the public sees the motivations at play and the risks this course, especially with this board, poses to our quality of life.  

Future of toll roads cuts into Osceola

A $2.8B plan for S.R. 417 could include private or even foreign ownership.

Jay Hamburg and Dan Tracy  

Sentinel Staff Writers  

July 22, 2007  

Even though the area's toll-road agency is essentially tapped out, it is looking at a $2.8 billion extension of State Road 417 that would open huge portions of Osceola County for development.  

The proposed highway also could create vast changes in the way roads get built in Central Florida , opening the possibility of private or foreign ownership of tollways.  

The estimated price tag is more than either the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority or Osceola County can afford with cash or could raise through selling bonds.  

But with several large developments and about 30,000 new housing units hinged in part on the new road, there already is speculation that outside investment groups could end up building the 47-mile road. It would extend the Central Florida GreeneWay south, and then swing westward to loop around Lake Tohopekaliga before connecting with both Florida 's Turnpike and Interstate 4.  

Earlier this year, the state Legislature made it easier for private firms to build new toll roads. Investment firms now can maintain long-term control of a road for up to 75 years, sell it to others or take a cut of the tolls, which they could raise depending on the terms of their agreement.  

Expressway spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges said the agency's $1.2 million study of the potential expressway is still 10 months from completion. It will analyze several factors, including expected traffic and growth, the effect on environmentally sensitive land and the effect on homeowners.  

Further studies could take several years. The extension would be the largest single undertaking ever attempted by the Expressway Authority, increasing its 100-mile network of roads by nearly 50 percent.  

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, the agency chairman, said he would not want to stress the current system to fund any roads outside Orange County . He also said he did not want to build a road for development with toll plazas for every subdivision.  

But he added: "I'm willing to partner. That seems to be the wave of the future. I wouldn't rule it out."  

Board member Harvey Massey said he has no problem with building a road in a neighboring county. "We've got tons of people who live in Osceola County and who work in Orange County . . . . They don't distinguish between political boundaries."  

But Massey said he is leery of selling or leasing toll roads to investors. He fears such a deal could lead to ever-increasing tolls.  

Privatizing toll roads is an idea that is growing across the nation and the globe.

Osceola County Chairman Ken Shipley sees outside investors as a practical solution if no one else can find the money to help Osceola, the nation's 17th-fastest-growing county from 2000 to 2006.  

"I would never rule out any investment group that was good for this community," Shipley said.  

Indeed, the county has already approved the building of a four-mile private toll road by developer Avatar Holdings Inc. with the understanding that the home builder would likely sell it to other parties after completion.  

"We've got to have all of that," Shipley said of future road plans. "We've got to look 20, 30, 40 years out right now."

Growing trend  

Investment in infrastructure such as roads is a fast-growing market, said Robert Poole, a director of transportation studies at the Reason Foundation, a free-market research group headquartered in Los Angeles .  

"The capacity to do $2 billion projects is not a question these days," Poole said. "There are probably a dozen $1 billion or more toll projects already done or under way around the world."  

Heavy private investment is likely the only way the expressway authority can finance the venture, said Peter Samuel, editor of Toll Road News, a Web site that follows the industry.  

"I suspect they would have to cobble together a scheme," said Samuel, who tracks toll-road operations worldwide.  

He said the authority would have to get free land for the road and money for interchanges from area developers, plus secure a major cash infusion from investors.  

To attract the money needed, the authority likely would have to offer a long-term lease where the toll proceeds would go to the investors, he said.  

Private interests from Spain , Australia , France and the Middle East are getting into the toll-road business in two ways: Buying existing systems and operating them on long-term leases, as in Indiana , or by providing the funding up front for a long-term lease. The latter is being considered for a tunnel that would link the Port of Miami with the MacArthur Causeway and another road in Tampa .  

Private toll road in Osceola  

Avatar, a prime developer of the immense Poinciana community in southwest Osceola, already has an agreement with the county to widen Marigold Avenue and extend it into Polk County to U.S. Highway 17-92.  

The nearly 10-mile segment would include four miles of toll road, which would cost $1.50 to use.  

The undertaking could cost $120 million, said Jeffrey Pashley, an Avatar vice president. Avatar, in a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, reported it could sell the road for at least as much as it pays in construction costs.  

The planned road could ease congestion, conceivably leading to improved sales. Avatar, like many home builders, has struggled to sell houses during the past year.  

The potential extension of S.R. 417 could hook up with Avatar's road, a map of possible routes indicates. Several large developments need the loop road for a full build-out.  

Osceola's Deputy Transportation director, Robert Zaitooni, said the county needs to act quickly.  

Growth is driving up land prices, so officials don't want to wait long to find a route and acquire land.  

"Development is occurring," he said, "and the window to get the needed land is closing."  

Jay Hamburg can be reached at 407-420-5673 or jhamburg@orlandosentinel.com. Dan Tracy can be reached at 407-420-5444 or dtracy@orlandosentinel.com.

Road plans worry enviromentalists

The possible extension through southern Osceola and the planned toll road by a private developer in the western part of the county could damage environmentally sensitive land, ecologists fear.

At risk are wetlands near Lake Tohopekaliga in the south and a wetlands preserve in Reedy Creek in the west.

The private road, to be built and paid for by home builder Avatar, has a final route approved by the county but has to clear state and federal hurdles. It could slice a 3,500-acre wetlands area, potentially damaging the land and threatening future protection of similar preserves nationally.

The effect of the State Road 417 extension through an area that's largely wetlands, scrub and pastures is less certain because the authority is considering a wide corridor and has not picked a route.

Charles Lee, an Audubon of Florida vice president, said chances are high that sensitive lands would be harmed if the toll road is built.
-- Dan Tracy  

Land-use change rejected  

By MITRA MALEK  

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer  

Tuesday, July 24, 2007  

WEST PALM BEACH — The proposal was in line with a larger plan for Palm Beach County 's central-western communities, but it got shot down anyway.  

County commissioners on Monday voted 4-1 against a requested land-use change to build a major commercial complex at Southern Boulevard and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road . 

The 65-acre "Sluggett" site is tagged as a commercial node under the sector plan, a growth blueprint for about 52,000 acres. The sector plan, adopted by county commissioners almost two years ago, has not been found it in compliance by the state. The county has been trying to settle differences ever since, and a late August mediation is expected.  

"My family has been very patient," said Geoff Sluggett, a lobbyist. His parents still live on the land.  

Sluggett said his family decided to move ahead with its application because they're worried sector plan negotiations will languish for several more years.  

But Commissioner Jess Santamaria, who represents the district that includes the Sluggett property, said approving the request would be premature. He'd prefer to see the sector plan settled first.  

"I am, in fact, confident that this will move forward," Santamaria said of negotiations.  

As it stands, the 250,000-square-foot project would not meet traffic requirements - although the sector plan would mitigate them. The land is designated for one unit per 10 acres.  

Residents of the neighboring Fox Trail community said the project isn't needed because there are plenty of plazas nearby.  

Commissioner Mary McCarty said she considers the Sluggett site a good work location for the county's far western communities.  

"My thinking here is as much about the Glades," McCarty said. "There is a lot west of here."  

McCarty cast the lone dissenting vote Monday, saying she would have preferred to postpone it for nine months or so when the sector plan might be resolved. Commissioner Jeff Koons was absent.  

The county's growth advisory board last month recommended approval of the requested change. County planners had recommended denial of the change.

The Origins of Crist's Climate Crusade

By CRAIG PITTMAN & DAVID ADAMS
St. Petersburg Time

Just six months after taking office, Gov. Charlie Crist has leaped to the forefront of an issue his predecessors rarely mentioned: global warming.

His two-day summit on the issue last week drew 600 participants. He was written up in Time and interviewed on the CBS Early Show. Environmental groups sang his praises, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called him "another great action hero."

How did the Republican governor suddenly become the Climate Change Crusader? He credits three people with spurring his involvement: St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, Florida Wildlife Federation president Manley Fuller and former California Environmental Protection Agency chief Terry Tamminen.

They educated Crist on the issue and galvanized him to launch far-reaching changes in the state's energy policies: cutting power plant emissions, requiring the use of alternate fuels and rewriting the building code to require more energy efficiency. He also signed agreements with the United Kingdom and Germany to work together.

"It's really borne fruit," Fuller said. "He really took to this."

Crist's initiative is more sweeping than those of the dozen or so other governors who have tackled the issue.

"What is it different here in Florida is the level of action the governor has announced right off the bat," said Tom Peterson, executive director of the Center for Climate Strategies, a nonprofit group that works with states on warming.

Crist's participation in cutting greenhouse gases is crucial to saving the planet, Peterson said, because American states produce more greenhouse gases than many nations. They are "the big kids on the block," he said.

"And Florida ," he said, "is one of the biggest.".

power-hungry florida

Last year, while Crist was still attorney general, Fuller visited him and other state officials to talk about Florida 's vulnerability to global warming. Crist, a candidate to succeed Jeb Bush as governor, paid close attention.

"It's hard to be a Floridian and not be sensitive to it," said Crist, noting that the state's 1,350 miles of coastline could be inundated by rising sea levels.

Despite its vulnerability, Florida is the third-largest consumer of power in the country and ranks among the top 25 producers of greenhouse gases in the world.

Nearly half those gases come from the state's power plants. Crist has never been a fan of the utility industry. Ten years ago he sided with environmental groups in opposing Florida Power & Light's plans to burn a tar-based fuel called Orimulsion in its Manatee County power plant.

While he didn't bring up global warming during his campaign, Crist said he had already noticed the headlines coming out of California . Schwarzenegger, the movie star-turned-politician, had pushed through legislation that called for a 25 percent reduction in California 's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. He also signed an agreement with Britain 's then-prime minister, Tony Blair, to work together on combating climate change.

When Crist was sworn in as governor Jan. 2, his 20-minute inaugural address made no mention of global warming. The next day, though, an old friend drew him into the fray.

CRIST AND BAKER

Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker attended Florida State University together. As fellow Seminoles and Republicans, they are longtime allies and friends.

Last year Baker was tapped to chair a committee called the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida, assigned by the Legislature to come up with a vision for the state's future in 50 years.

The day after Crist took office, Baker met with him to tell him what would be in the commission's first report. The commissioners had agreed that the state's top priority should be tackling global warming and would recommend that the state reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks and power plants.

Crist said that meeting with Baker put global warming on his radar screen.

"His leadership of the Century Commission was excellent," Crist said.

Then, on Feb. 6, Fuller came back to see Crist again to talk about global warming. This time he brought an important ally, the cherub-faced Tamminen, who was there at Schwarzenegger's behest.

Tamminen grew up in Australia , where his family ran a tropical fish breeding business. An avid flier and a licensed boat captain, he studied conch depletion in the Bahamas and manatee populations in Florida before founding the Santa Monica Bay Waterkeeper organization in California .

Tamminen helped Schwarzenegger win his first campaign, and became his top environmental adviser, helping him tackle global warming. Although Tamminen left his state job in 2006, he continued working with Schwarzenegger on climate issues.

When Schwarzenegger and Blair signed their agreement in July 2006, they did so out of a mutual frustration with the White House. Because the Bush administration would not act on global warming, Blair's staff focused on enlisting the states.

The Northeast and Western states had launched programs to deal with greenhouse gas reductions. That left the South, where Florida was seen as the key player.

So when Tamminen visited Crist, he brought along a map showing all the states taking action, and pointed out that the South was blank. Florida could be first. Crist was sold.

Last week in Miami , someone rattled off a list of scientists who still question global warming and asked Crist what scientist he relied on for proof it exists. The governor's one-word reply: "Terry."

A month after meeting Tamminen, Crist delivered his first State of the State speech to the Legislature. He talked about property taxes and education, then said: "I am persuaded that global climate change is one of the most important issues that we will face this century."

That March 6 speech signaled the genesis of his Miami summit. It also prompted the state Department of Environmental Protection to start crafting the orders that Crist would sign decreeing changes in the state's energy policy, said DEP Secretary Mike Sole.

A month later, Crist and his Cabinet spent half a day discussing global warming, and afterward talked for the first time to a representative from the United Kingdom about a partnership like California 's.

Then he showed up at a Sheryl Crow concert in Gainesville where the singer was promoting global warming awareness. Crist promised the crowd he would take action.

Now that Crist has kept his promise, Schwarzenegger predicted, "he will build tremendous momentum here with the neighboring states … and the rest of the world will follow."

Home Insurers Head for Higher Ground

By TOM ZUCCO
& JENNIFER LIBERTO

Property insurance companies in Florida are increasingly picking and choosing the kind of risk they want to insure - and it's all inland and safe.

That means Florida taxpayers are left on the hook for hurricanes, as the state's risky coastal properties get stuck with the state-run insurer.

It's called cherry-picking.

And it's different from the cherry-picking that Gov. Charlie Crist campaigned against last summer. He meant insurers who choose to write other types of insurance, like auto, without writing homeowner's.

This cherry-picking has pushed record numbers of policies into Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the ever-expanding state-backed insurer whose policies are also growing inland and could hit the 2 million mark early next year. That figure represents nearly 40 percent of Florida 's homeowner insurance market, a saturation level by a government-run company that is unprecedented in state history.

State Farm Florida became the latest to announce such a move last week when the company said it will drop 50,000 coastal policies in favor of writing an equal number farther inland.

"Obviously it means increased numbers and increased risk for Citizens, and really all citizens with a small C," said Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, who also used "cherry-picking" to describe State Farm's move.

An analysis of how Citizens policies are concentrated shows that the state-backed insurer rules the coastline, especially in the most vulnerable hurricane areas of southeast and southwest Florida . And it means Citizens has become, in effect, a statewide hurricane buffer of sorts, protecting private insurers concentrating more in Florida 's interior.

"We are the main writer along the coast," said Paul Palumbo, Citizens vice president for underwriting.

That's happening, Palumbo explained, because private insurers have the ability to manage their risk exposure and create underwriting guidelines that earn the companies a profit.

"But those are things we can't do," Palumbo said. "We can't not write older or lower value homes, homes on the coast or mobile homes. That's why we end up highly concentrated on the coast and with the older, lower value homes.

"That's the risk the voluntary carriers tend to stay away from."

Not only does Citizens now insure most of the homes along the coast, but the company is also seeping into the interior of the state, for largely the same reason. No one wants to write the policies.

More than 80 percent of Citizens' new business is away from the coast.

Put another way, in July 2005, Citizens insured about 412,000 policies in its coastal account, and about 331,000 policies further inland. Today, Citizens has roughly the same number of policies in its coastal account (418,000), but nearly three times as many policies (878,000) outside of it.

"Our business outside the coast is by far the biggest revenue producer, and that's never happened in the past," said Citizens spokesman Rocky Scott. "And we don't see any indication that trend will change."

The vast majority of those new inland policies coming to Citizens, Scott said, are not coming because rates are cheaper. "It's because no one else is writing."

Crist, when asked last week if he was concerned about the rampant growth of the state's insurer of last resort, replied, "No, I'm delighted. That's exactly the point.

"We wanted Citizens to be more competitive. It wasn't competitive before. It was the dumping ground for insurance policies in the state of Florida . It was the most expensive; it was the highest risk."

Some think Florida is in a better position than private companies to take on the greatest risk, at least in the short term.

" Florida can do two things the private market can't - raise a lot of money quickly, and defer the risk until after an event such as a hurricane," said George Grawe, general counsel for Allstate Floridian Insurance and chairman of the Florida Insurance Council's executive committee.

"The greater issue is where are we going to come up with the capital to insure the exposure that exists in Florida ?"

Snorkeling offers a view of the Rainbow River 's fragile world

BY SUSAN SMILEY-HEIGHT
STAR-BANNER

RAINBOW RIVER - This is surreal. It seems primal. I feel like one of the fishes in a giant aquarium.

I am floating facedown in the Rainbow River on a beautiful Florida morning, one of a clutch of snorkelers following our leader, Edda Ross, like so many goslings paddling along behind a mama goose.

The water, Edda says, is not as clear as it has been in the past, although to me it's crystalline. Beneath me, vallisneria and saggitaria wave in the current, stippled with glimmering gold and greens ranging from deep jade to sage. A variety of fish dart about, and some lurk in dark stands of eel grass that shoot up straight and tall from the sandy bottom into the wilting sunlight above.

The Rainbow Springs Aquatic Preserve includes the headwaters area. It is here, inside the Rainbow Springs State Park , that volunteers lead snorkeling tours the first and third Wednesday of each month from May through October. And just for the price of admission: $1.

The volunteers do much more than lead the tours, however. They educate their students before any toe touches the water, and all along the way throughout the tour. Art and Edda Ross said they started doing the tours nearly six years ago, along with Jim Clark and John Wynne.

A FRAGILE BEAUTY
"We used to dive and snorkel when we lived in Puerto Rico and on Big Pine Key," said Edda. "We were volunteers with Team Ocean and used to help take care of the reef. Big money was moving in; there was no concern for the environment, so we moved up here.

"But now it's the same thing here. It's been discovered."

And that, said Edda, is why the water quality is diminished.

Volunteer Dave Samek said Rainbow Springs is a first-magnitude spring, but that the volume of water erupting from deep below the aquifer is much less now than it used to be.

"We will never recover to the 600,000-plus gallons per day it used to be, and that's because of development. That's water that will never come back," he said.

According to Samek, the aquatic preserve was started in 1986. In 1987, the Rainbow River was named an Outstanding Florida Waterway. In 1989, the state and county purchased the former Rainbow Springs Attraction, in part with money from the Pennies For Parks program.

One of Samek's passions is protecting the preserve's fragile ecosystem, especially the plants and wildlife below the shimmering surface.

During the snorkel tours, Edda Ross takes the lead while Samek brings up the rear.

"I'm here to keep you level so you don't disturb the bottom, the fish nests and plants," he tells our group. "You want to stay level so those fins don't dig up plants, including invasives, which can easily break and start new plants."

The invasive plants include hydrilla and a blue-green algae known as lyngbya. The concentration of nitrates in the water flowing from the headspring has increased more than 50 times what it was prior to development around the springs basin. Commercial and residential development leads to runoff of nutrient and waste materials, which in turn leads to the growth of exotic aquatic plants and algae that can negatively impact native species.

And, we are told, it is the plants along the spring run and river bottom that provide critical protection for fish and wildlife.

UNDERWATER WORLD
The species of fish that can be seen on the snorkel tour include longnose gar, pickerel, a variety of sunfish and bass, carp, needlefish and the very elusive bowfin. There are a number of birds, such as elegant egrets, deep diving cormorants and the goofy anhinga, also called the snake bird. Native flora, such as the dinner-plate size swamp hibiscus, provide a vibrant splash of color against the thick green backdrop.

Beneath the water, the bottom, in places, bubbles like oatmeal on simmer. That's where water beneath the sand is pushing up, causing little circles of activity. In some places, the bottom drops away, disappearing into "fractures," from which cold water flows. This water, like that gushing from the headspring, was rainwater five to 10 years ago.

Through my snorkel mask, the moving fish seem iridescent. Their colorings are more pronounced when seen this way.

While swimming over a stand of vegetation, a large turtle suddenly lifts upwards, causing me to burst into a speedy swim in alarm. Of course he only wants to avoid me and the other swimmers, not harm us in any way. There are several species of turtles in the river, some quite small, while others, like my friend, measure at least 2 feet or more across their hard backs.

The dominator in size on this tour is one of the gar. Surely he, or she, must measure at least 6 or 7 feet from a sharp toothed mouth to a dark, flashing tail.

A school of minnows fly by in formation, darting in unison. From high above, the sudden appearance below of a cormorant delights us. We watch as the bird pursues the fish, changing direction suddenly, swooping and diving in wild abandon.

ALWAYS CHANGING
After exploring the river and all its splendor, including the cove where rock was dynamited away and used to create the man-made waterfalls in the park, and the sunken glass-bottom boat that used to be part of the attraction, we exit the water and work to get our land legs back.

"I loved the cormorant!" exclaimed Carrie Christman, who snorkeled along with her husband, Dan.

Jessica Goltsche, a high school biology teacher visiting here from Germany , said she would share her experience with her students, giving them some insight into the "real Florida ."

"It all changes every two weeks," said Edda Ross. "I'm always amazed at how different it will be."

And perhaps "amazing" is the best word to describe all this beauty. For beneath the surface waters, an awe-inspiring, fragile, endangered world is waiting to be seen and appreciated. And protected.

Assistant City Editor Susan Smiley-Height may be reached at susan.smiley-height@starbanner.com or 867-4121.

More mobile homes are not being insured

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PETERSBURG -- More than half of Florida 's 800,000 mobile homes are no longer covered by homeowners insurance -- another sign of the state's soaring insurance costs.

The number of insured Florida mobile homes dropped from more than 500,000 in 2004 to less than 400,000 last year, according to the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

Insurance costs have soared across Florida , but the situation is worse for mobile home owners, who often find the cost of insurance is out of scale with the value of their home.

Insurers are exceptionally wary of older mobile homes that lack some of the wind protection required after 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which scattered mobile home debris up to three miles.

Pinellas County has Florida 's highest number of older mobile homes -- 46,000. There are more than 100,000 mobile homes in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

James Ayotte, executive director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, said the newer homes fared far better than older models in the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.

"Older homes have a bad rap. Is it deserved? Yeah," he said. "Past history is evidence of that. But there was not one catastrophic failure of a new manufactured home."

But emergency managers said mobile homes still have parts that can break loose.

"Year of construction is not a major concern," said Holley Wade, spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Emergency Management. "Anything that's a mobile home is considered debris."

Groups: Mulch Threatens Cypress

MELBOURNE - Cypress mulch is loved by gardeners for its weed-blocking powers, but environmentalists are urging consumers not to buy it because they think cypress trees are more beneficial as natural barriers for hurricane storm surge and filters of polluted storm-water runoff.

Cypress grew on about 2.8 million acres in Florida in 2005 compared to 3.6 million acres a decade earlier. But Florida forestry officials said the drop is because of new mapping procedures and that the trees are still being harvested at a sustainable rate.

Environmental groups have launched national ad campaigns and protests urging consumers not to buy cypress mulch and criticizing retailers such as Wal-Mart and Lowe's for marketing it.

"They are developing the market for it by distributing it," said Dave Favre, an organizer with Gulf Restoration Network."

Meanwhile, the logging industry argues that the cypress mulch is made from tree tops, which would be wasted after the tree was made into lumber. They said environmentalists have a broader agenda.

"They won't stop with mulch," said Bill Bell, part owner of Kempfer's Sawmill in St. Cloud , which harvests cypress in Brevard and Osceola counties. "When they get through with the cypress issue, they'll go to pine or whatever else. They just don't want to cut trees, period."

To protect tortoises, club to build fence, not wall

By RACHEL SIMMONSEN

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sometimes in life, as in fables, the tortoise wins in the end.

The Yacht & Country Club near Stuart can move ahead with plans to complete a wall around its boundaries, Martin County officials decided last week.Several gopher tortoises spotted nearby won't be uprooted in the process.

Charles Stracuzzi, president of the club's property owners association, had hoped to move the tortoises off site to make way for the heavy machinery needed to build the steel-reinforced concrete wall between the club and houses to the east.

According to the Martin County permit, however, the work can take place only if construction remains at least 25 feet away from each of eight tortoise burrows spotted in the county's right of way, which the club needs to access to build the wall.

That means the club will have to install an aluminum fence, not a wall, along the length of about three houses that sit close to the burrows, Stracuzzi said. The fence won't require the same heavy machinery.

"It's not going to have the look we wanted, but you take what you can get," he said of the wall, which the club started building about three years ago along other borders of the community.

All that remains to be built is a 3,700-foot L-shaped section parallel to Jefferson Street and the northeastern boundary of the community.

The latest phase of the wall construction was held up weeks ago when neighbors raised concerns about wildlife on the 40-foot-wide county right of way, which measures about 2.3 acres.

When the club hired the Stuart firm of E.W. Consultants to conduct an environmental survey, the company reported no tortoises or burrows.

E.W. revised its report when a state wildlife officer found eight burrows on the right of way. The company said the employee doing the survey was unclear about its boundaries.

Martin County 's engineering department, which issues permits for work on rights of way, has allowed the project's staging to begin. Work to clear vegetation and install the wall won't start until Tuesday, said Lisa Wichser, traffic administrator in the engineering department.

The club will have to remove exotic vegetation like Brazilian pepper trees on the county land and replant native grasses near the tortoise burrows, according to the county permit.

An environmental consultant must remain on site during the project.

Martin County environmental officials also will check to make sure the club complies with its permit, environmental planner Kathy Roberts said.

Maitland to play it safe with project

After Winter Park 's fiasco over The Carlisle , it will open an emergency exit downtown.

Christopher Sherman

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 22, 2007

Call it The Carlisle effect.

A city gives initial approval to a big project such as Winter Park 's Carlisle , a public furor follows, and officials spend the next year trying to unravel it without breaking the bank.

While Winter Park tries to raise the millions to buy out The Carlisle's developer, Maitland has taken note.

In what could start a trend in the increasingly hostile local-development arena, Maitland is preparing an emergency exit of sorts that would allow the city to buy its way out of a contract with developer The Brossier Co. if Maitland gets cold feet.

"We learn from these other situations," Maitland Mayor Doug Kinson said. "We didn't want to sign an agreement and be in an all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it situation."

Winter Park commissioners voted in June to pay $3.7 million and possibly as much as $2 million more in state grant money to the developer of The Carlisle, a four-story condo, retail and post office project planned for Central Park . It avoided the uncertainty of a court fight.

When Maitland officials vote later this summer on Brossier's plan to build two blocks of upscale shopping, apartments and offices in the heart of downtown, the contract likely will include an option for the city to buy the property. Brossier controls most of the land, with the exception of city facilities.

That sort of buyout is essentially the settlement Winter Park reached with The Carlisle's developer after years of polarizing debate and lawsuits.

Maitland will try to learn from that mistake by building it in on the front end.

Maitland City Attorney Cliff Shepard said he has seen contracts that include payouts if either side breaches the deal, but never what is being proposed here.

Lawyers are hammering out the details, but Brossier has agreed to the concept.

Bob Reese, Brossier's president, said it is basically a right of first refusal for the city to buy the property he assembled.

This is how it probably would work.

The City Council approves the project and signs a developer's agreement. If something unforeseen emerges -- the city notices a disagreeable aspect of the plan it missed before, or public opinion blows strongly in another direction -- the council can vote, within a certain period of time, to buy out Brossier.

The price could be set in the contract to include the land value and Brossier's planning investment, or it could be formula-based.

A citywide referendum then would be held to raise property taxes enough to fund the buyout.

Voters essentially would be asked to choose between the private sector's ability to build a successful downtown and the city's. If residents think the city could do it better, they show they are willing to pay for the chance with higher property taxes.

If the referendum passes, the city would become the new owner of two entire downtown blocks. If it fails, Brossier moves ahead as planned.

Christopher Sherman can be reached at csherman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6361. 

Trouble In Housing Market No Excuse For Bad Growth

Critics: Too often, developers get their way

A review shows that since '02, the County Commission has favored developers about 80 percent of the time.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published July 20, 2007

Since the 1990s, the Hillsborough County Commission has gotten a reputation for never seeing a development it didn't like.

Land-use decisions favor builders and developers much too frequently, say some residents and environmental activists.

So just how often do developers get their way?

More than 80 percent of the time, a St. Petersburg Times analysis of 727 land-use votes since 2002 has found.

In the first six months of this year, the current commission has voted to support developers' requests 81.4 percent of the time. So far, that's down from the 2004-2006 commission 85.5 percent and close to the voting record compiled by the 2002-2004 board (82.6 percent).

But it's the current commission that gutted the part of the county's comprehensive plan - the so-called "livable communities" element - meant to regulate growth. Commissioners also recently eliminated the county's Environmental Protection Commission, leaving wetlands protection to the state.

Both moves angered Mariella Smith of the Sierra Club in Hillsborough County.

"This is no doubt the most development-friendly board we've ever had," said Smith of Ruskin, who battled last year to get two riverfront developments totaling 348 units rejected. She prevailed when the cases were heard by land-use officials. But the developers appealed to the commission and won both times.

No relief

Complaints about the county's system abound:

There's too much red tape. Citizens who want to address the commission must have spoken about the same matter to a zoning hearing master.

There are frequent delays. Residents who opposed large projects such as the Riverton development in Ruskin and Lake Hutto in Lithia showed up in force to several County Commission meetings, only to have commissioners postpone a decision.

There is the relief hearing process, which gives developers who don't get the desired zoning another chance - a last stop before going to court. Commissioners have heard more than 20 such requests since the mid 1990s, when it became state law, and overturned about half of their original decisions, county Zoning Administrator Paula Harvey said.

"If the relief process seems weighted toward developers, it is," Harvey said. "But it was not created by Hillsborough County."

Ecologist Vivienne Handy of Wimauma sees it differently.

"The relief hearing process is ludicrous," said Handy, who watched SWW Inc. sail through one such proceeding after dropping four of its 25 proposed houses on a finger of land that juts into the Little Manatee River.

"It provides never-ending opportunities for the developers to whittle away at the commission and the community."

Noting that no similar redress for existed for residents, Tampa's City Council abolished relief hearings in late 2006.

An uncertain future

In the past year, residents have been reaching for solutions outside government. The United Citizens Action Network encourages people from across the county to attend each other's zoning hearings.

"We're all working very hard," said U-CAN's chairman Terry Flott of Seffner. "We hope to make a difference."

Richelle Salmon and her Riverview neighbors successfully fended off 200 townhouses on 90 acres near U.S. 301 and Riverview Drive by hiring land-use consultant Ethel Hammer, who normally works for developers.

Although residents often say they'll accept controlled growth, that can be a subjective idea.

"Each developer is a piece of the puzzle," said activist Melanie Hubbard of Ruskin, who teaches English at the University of Tampa. "But [commissioners] don't put the puzzle together. They cannot think macro."

Commissioner Al Higginbotham said that's not his job. Higginbotham, who this year has been the second-most supportive commissioner to developers, disputed that residents can't make a difference. He cited cases in which commissioners had rejected developers' requests based on input from residents.

As the same time, Higginbotham said, developers have the right to buy property and build on it. "If [a request] meets the criteria and has gotten its approvals, we're the rubber stamp," he said.

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

TECO Stresses Emission Statement For Planned Coal Plant: Cleaner Air

Iorio: Pasco Landfill Could Taint Local Water

Dead zone looks to be expanding in Gulf of Mexico

Lake O's muck too dirty for some uses

BY CURTIS MORGAN

cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

For the last two months, water managers have been scooping out polluted ooze that had strangled the shallow marshes of Lake Okeechobee.

Now, the question is what to do with a massive mound of muck that is, to no one's surprise, laced with nasty contaminants.

While most are at trace levels, arsenic spikes have eliminated the South Florida Water Management District's hope of selling the material as clean suburban fill to recoup some of the $11.4 million spent on the effort.

But Susan Gray, a district deputy director who oversees the lake, said the material poses no health or environmental threat if used properly. Water managers are weighing options -- putting it under a paved lakeside parking lot, capping an old landfill in Okeechobee County or even spreading it on farm fields.

''We've had a lot of interest,'' Gray said. ``A lot of people want that material.''

There's a lot of it to go around, nearly 2 million cubic yards of soft black stuff, enough to fill some 100,000 dump trucks.

The mix of fine clay, decayed plants and algae covers a huge swath of lake bottom and has been a festering source of pollution for decades. It is laced with pesticides, fertilizers and other pollutants from rain water running off farms, cattle pastures and lawns.

Hurricanes over the last few years churned it up and pushed several feet of muck and dark water into shoreline marshes.

The marshes, covering about a fifth of the lake, are the key to the entire ecosystem, providing critical habitat and food for everything from fowl to fish, including the lake's renowned large-mouth bass and popular panfish such as crappie and bream.

The drought that dropped the lake to a historic low last month also opened a window -- before recent rains halted work -- to scrape high and dry muck from some 800 acres, which should allow marsh and shallow-water plants to soak up sunlight and sprout green life.

''It's pretty exciting,'' said Gray, ``We're seeing a lot of bulrush coming back up, especially in the area of the Okeechobee pier.''

The tradeoff is that the district must now dispose of thousands of tons of dirty dirt. Soil tests have detected an array of agri-chemicals, heavy metals, PCBs and other contaminants, including long-banned pesticides such as DDT.

ARSENIC ACCUMULATED

But it's arsenic, which measured as much as four times higher than state health regulations allow for residential fill, that poses the only disposal hurdle, water managers said.

Arsenic occurs naturally at low levels in many soils. But depending on the level and duration of exposure, it can cause a variety of health problems, from nervous system disorders to cancer to death.

The residential fill standard, said Gray, is set very low to protect children, who might play in soil or even eat it.

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel this month had an independent lab test the muck and found concentrations slightly too high for agricultural use as well, but Gray said district tests determined the soil is safe for industrial, commercial or farm use.

Mark Krauss, deputy state director of Audubon of Florida, which supported the muck removal, urged water managers to take ''utmost care'' in dealing with the muck.

''That's a chemical you don't want coming into contact with the environment,'' he said. ``It's a hazard.''

BURIED IN TRENCH

For now, much of the muck remains piled on land the district intends to eventually turn into a storage area to clean water before it flows into the lake. District workers last week began burying some in a 3,500-foot trench dug into the levee along the western bank of the lake.

That's located inside the Herbert Hoover Dike, but water managers said there is minimal risk the material will wind up back in the water. The district also buried muck in 2001 during a drought and some small amounts were washed into the lake during hurricanes several seasons later.

Gray said the lake would need to rise to 19 feet above sea level for the water line to approach the entrenched muck. The lake has hovered just above 9 feet over the past week, four feet below normal for this time of year.

The project removed an estimated 280 tons of phosphorus from one area alone, Fisheating Bay, but likely will make only a small dent in Lake Okeechobee's water quality problems, removing just 2 percent of the polluted ooze that lines the bottom of the vast lake.

Tallahassee Democrat Sunday editorial: 

Cancellation season
Coastal homes just got riskier

If you're a coastal property owner, the situation just got more risky regarding your homeowner's insurance. It should come as no surprise, since all the warning signs, threats, entreaties and political rhetoric have been in play for months, even years. A special session, in retrospect almost useless, was even called to try to tame the beast.

However, coming soon from Florida's largest private property insurer, State Farm Florida, will be cancellations of policies on homes and condominiums in "areas with a high propensity for hurricane losses." This reduced exposure for State Farm would affect about 50,000 policyholders - the exception being coastal residents who had an auto policy with State Farm as of July 12, 10 days ago. The cancellations will come between Aug. 15 and Jan. 1, depending on when the policy was purchased, and this round of cancellations follows those delivered to almost 9,000 homes in 25 counties at the first of this year.

State officials are expressing disappointment with State Farm, suggesting the company with more than 865,000 policyholders in the state hasn't been very direct about its business plans in Florida. Customers themselves are left to take the best advice the office of Gov. Charlie Crist had to offer: "Shop around."

Right now, that is likely to be Citizens Property Insurance, the government-run company that competes with private companies. It is now easier to get coverage through Citizens under a new state law, which also locked Citizens' rates into 2005 levels.

Florida is currently in a wait-and-see stance - that is, we'll wait until another hurricane comes along and see how bad things can get, given that Citizens couldn't possibly afford to provide for sweeping storm catastrophes and private companies are bowing out of the market whenever they can figure out a plausible way. As State Farm demonstrates.

Even the politically heralded bonus of consumer savings through the new Citizens legislation has an almost mirage-like quality about it, given that it almost certainly won't be able to perform adequately should consumers start making claims by the hundreds of thousands.

Private insurers need to be kept in the state, and they must be engaged in sharing the risk when disaster strikes.

Legislation passed this year is just barely a starting place. The Property Casualty Insurers Association is working on a 2008 legislative package that includes reining in Citizens, subsidizing coverage for the poor, and allowing hurricane deductibles as high as 20 percent.

Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber's recommendation that a rate-reduction team be convened by Mr. Crist would be an important next step before private insurers withdraw coverage of yet another group of property owners. Defaulting to an increasingly socialized insurance market isn't something any state can afford, and certainly not in Florida, where hurricanes are second nature and where our first lines of defense - building standards, land-use codes and rate regulations - aren't good enough.

State rejects Fla. Farm Bureau home insurance rate increase

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The state will deny a planned home insurance rate increase by Florida Farm Bureau's two property insurance companies, which have about 140,000 homeowners policies, the Office for Insurance Regulation said Friday.

Florida Farm Bureau said it likely will challenge the state's denial of its proposal to increase rates by as much as 30 percent on average for some customers, based on what the company said is its need to purchase additional backup coverage against the possibility of a catastrophic hurricane.

Insurance regulators held a rate hearing last week on the proposed increases by Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. and Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Co.

Legislators passed a new law in January that required companies to file for lower "presumed" rates based on what they would save by buying cheaper backup coverage through the state's Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Based on that requirement, Farm Bureau companies filed for a rate decrease of about 24 percent.

But later when the company calculated its actual expected costs after it had purchased reinsurance, it filed for a new higher rate, up about 30 percent from the lower "presumed" rate.

Company officials say the proposed rate is still about 1.6 percent lower on average than previous rates for most customers. The only customers seeing a huge increase are those who had already started paying the lower "presumed" rate because they renewed their coverage in between the two filings.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said regulators believe Farm Bureau is carrying too much private backup reinsurance.

"What we discovered from the testimony at the hearing was that the company made a business decision to reinvest $6 million in added reinsurance rather than passing the savings on to their policyholders," McCarty said. "The intent of the law that came out of the January special legislative session was to give companies less expensive reinsurance from the state and to pass on that savings to their policyholders."

Florida Farm Bureau officials said the organization was simply being prudent to make sure it would be able to pay claims in the event of a major storm.

"FFB has consistently tried to purchase reinsurance to (protect against) roughly a 1 in 250 year event," the Farm Bureau said in a statement. "Therefore, when the 2004 and 2005 storms hit we were able to keep our promises to our members and remain solvent.

Florida Farm Bureau CEO Bill Courtney said the company was doing everything it could to keep insurance affordable, and pointed to a new state insurance premium comparison Web site to show it.

"Of the 23 companies listed, our rates rank low, if not very low, in an overwhelming number of the 67 counties," Courtney said. "In Polk County our rates are over $900 lower than the company with the highest premiums, in Hillsborough we are over $2,300 less, and in Escambia we beat the highest rates by over $4,000."

Why insurance reform is falling short

BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA AND MARC CAPUTO

bgarcia@MiamiHerald.com

Seven months after Florida lawmakers expanded the government's role in the state's insurance market, rates should be lower and insurers should be willing to write more policies.

Just the opposite is happening. What went wrong?

Legislators themselves are stumped but are acknowledging they should never have pledged such big savings to homeowners. They say reforms need more time to work. But some wonder whether government should take even a bigger role in the insurance market -- possibly taking over all windstorm coverage, for example.

Sen. Bill Posey, the Rockledge Republican involved in negotiating the massive insurance reform, said lawmakers could move only so far so fast and that the ''culture of instant gratification'' made it difficult to meet expectations in the first place.

''You can't turn the Queen Mary around on a dime,'' Posey said. ``This is a big ship and it will take time.''

One emerging explanation for the higher rates is that new rules, expanding a state catastrophe fund to help insurers cover losses if a massive storm hits, may have backfired.

The expansion of the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund was the centerpiece of the reform plan to lower rates for Florida homeowners because it would allow insurers to buy cheaper backup insurance and pass the savings on to policyholders. The CAT Fund now can cover $28 billion in losses.

The big assumption was that insurers would buy more of their reinsurance from the CAT Fund.

Some have done just that. But instead of passing along the savings, they are buying additional ''reinsurance'' in the private market. The stated reason: They fear the CAT Fund won't have enough money to pay their claims. Besides covering private insurers, the CAT Fund also backs up the state-run Citizens Property Insurance, the state's largest insurer, with 1.3 million policies and growing.

INCREASE DENIED

In denying Florida Farm Bureau's request for a rate hike on Friday, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty noted the company's ''business decision'' to spend $6 million on more reinsurance ``rather than passing the savings on to their policyholders.''

The company, which plans to challenge the denial, told regulators it needed the additional backup coverage to protect against the possibility of a major storm this season.

Steve Geller, the Democrats' Senate leader from Cooper City, was the mastermind behind the reinsurance fix and said Friday it would work only as long as insurers followed through on passing along their savings.

''I'm very disappointed with what's happening,'' Geller said.

James Massie, lobbyist for the Reinsurance Association of America, said that if the state had not interfered, homeowners' premiums would in fact be lower. That's because, as it turns out, the price of private reinsurance has dropped as much as 20 percent from last July.

''If the state had done nothing this year, they would have seen the 10 percent reduction in homeowners insurance,'' Massie said.

This much is clear: Gov. Charlie Crist's January pledge that ''help is on the way'' has yet to materialize for thousands of people, few are seeing the average 24 percent rate reduction that state legislators touted, and politicians from both parties are looking for new ways to meet the expectations they raised.

Already, nearly two dozen companies have filed for rate hikes, ranging as high as 95 percent.

Rep. Jack Seiler, a Wilton Manors Democrat, said that in finalizing the reform bill, lawmakers relied on industry-supplied data they were unable to double-check given the time constraints of the 10-day January special session.

Given that, Seiler says, promising big savings to homeowners was a mistake. Still, he said, the reforms should work, but they need time.

Crist couldn't be reached. A spokeswoman pointed out the governor has repeatedly said the insurance plan in January was a big first step, and more changes are needed.

Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer, said she has asked Insurance Commissioner McCarty to come to the next Cabinet meeting in two weeks to explain why insurers aren't filing for lower rates. ''It's very disturbing. But we don't have the facts and figures to say it was a mistake yet,'' Sink said.

A bigger problem, some legislators say, is the effect of the plan's freezing rates for Citizens until 2009.

If Citizens doesn't collect enough premiums to cover its losses, insurers have to pay out the money up front and then make it back from policyholders over time.

Insurers also fear they can't compete with Citizens' lower rates. Before January, Citizens was required by law to charge some of the highest rates in the state.

LAST RESORT

Rep. Dennis Ross, a Lakeland Republican who cast one of the two votes in the 160-member Legislature against the plan, believes the state's plan was doomed from the start because the state can't tap banks or other sources of capital -- as private insurers can -- to replenish the CAT Fund if it runs dry. It has to assess Florida taxpayers.

Those assessments could be tacked onto all policies -- auto, homeowners, commercial -- for as long as 30 years.

Insurance agents such as Alex Soto, president of InSource, a Dadeland agency, also are worried about the additional risk the CAT Fund is taking on.

SPEED REQUIRED

The bill passed in January ''said insurers have to pay claims in 90 days. Then we create a hurricane fund that could be underfunded. You have to be careful what you wish for,'' he added.

To allay concerns about the CAT Fund's ability to pay claims quickly, officials approved plans this week to borrow $3 billion to $7 billion.

Those funds would be stashed in the bank, along with the $5.2 billion the CAT Fund expects to have by year's end from premiums collected from insurance companies and money borrowed last year. All would be available to cover claims.

While some lawmakers like Ross believe the state has no business being in the insurance business, others are considering moving in the opposite direction.

A proposal floating through Tallahassee would make Florida the windstorm insurer for the entire state. Bob Milligan, the state's insurance consumer advocate, has been studying this.

Said Sink: ``I have been open-minded about it. But I want to see more analysis. The very idea is pretty frightening to me.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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