Sorry, I have had to take a mental health
break for a couple of days. The same issues are raised and debated all over
this state but nobody seems to learn anything. I hope Tom Pelham means what he
says and does what he says he is going to do.
will add more news tonight 08/01/07
Developing a middle ground
By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published August 1, 2007
Before Hometown Democracy becomes the next full-assault ballot-box war in
Florida, the state's development watchdog deserves to be heard. Tom Pelham,
secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, is calling for a
reasonable middle ground on managing growth, and he brings undeniable
credibility to the debate.
The pitch by Pelham is that somewhere between the extremes of
development-by-referendum and development-by-bureaucratic-wink-and-nod lies
a solution that may help guide Florida's growth. He's on the right track as
he recognizes the complaints without embracing the extreme response.
"If you follow the movement, you see that the heart of their
complaint is that local governments amend their comprehensive plans too
frequently," Pelham told the Times editorial board last week. "In
my view, their solution is an extreme, draconian approach that would create
very real problems. But we cannot ignore what's driving this. Plan
amendments should be rare, not willy-nilly."
Pelham's credentials are relevant here. He served as DCA secretary in the
late 1980s, at a time when growth-management laws were first being enacted.
He was so vigorous in rejecting overly permissive city and county growth
plans that he achieved folk-hero status among environmentalists and land
planners.
Upon returning to the DCA in January as an appointee of Gov. Charlie
Crist, Pelham has shown no signs of letting up. Already, he is challenging
rural "stewardship" plans that could create new cities,
questioning transportation formulas that lead to more urban sprawl and
restoring a sense of professionalism to an agency that had become the
developers' lapdog.
Pelham: "Saying no is not easy, but we think it's important for the
credibility of the agency for it to begin to assert itself again."
The lack of such state oversight, arguably, has helped stoke the Hometown
Democracy movement. But the group's solution is to require voter approval
for any change to a local growth plan, which is simply unworkable.
Predictably, business and development interests are fighting back, with one
recent plea for donations invoking the specter of "utter
devastation." Consultants are predicting a war chest in the order of
$65-million if the initiative makes it to the ballot.
The problem, politically, is that no one is venturing to step into the
cross-fire. Few in government have been willing to even acknowledge the
problem.
Now, each city and county is required to guide development through a
"comprehensive plan." Those plans, which were subjected to
exhaustive local and state review, were designed to serve as a blue-print
but have been treated like a rough draft. If a contractor wants to build a
high-rise condo in a place reserved for small farms, no problem. The city
council or county commission just changes the plan.
Pelham says he wants to stop unwarranted plan amendments and require that
the blueprints be changed only sparingly. He also says he is willing to
consider whether certain types of amendments should be subjected to a local
referendum.
The question now is whether the combatants on the two sides of this
age-old development struggle are willing to lay down their arms.
The fight already has twisted the state Constitution, with business
interests having persuaded voters last year to increase the threshold for
approval of new constitutional amendments to 60 percent of the vote instead
of a simple majority. The builders may be able to defeat Hometown Democracy,
but the people who are fed up with overcrowded highways and overflowing
landfills will not quit trying.
Campaign combat only polarizes this debate, and Pelham is offering a
promising alternative. Restore the intent of growth laws so ballot fights
are no longer necessary.
Abuse of the rural preservation laws are a
problem, but I think the Times hit the nail on the head; If changes to
comprehensive plans were not commonplace, if they were fewer and father
between and required a compelling reason to achieve, growing numbers of
Floridians would not be so distrustful of the system that they feel like
they have to take matters into their own hands via the Florida Hometown
Democracy Amendment.
Abuse Of Rural-Preservation Law Pushes Voters To
Radical Remedy
The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 1, 2007
To understand the public frustration over how
Florida's developers have bent growth rules to their advantage, take a
look at the Rural Lands Stewardship Program.
Passed by the Legislature in 2001 as a limited pilot project to protect
farmland and wildlife areas, stewardship zones have become a shortcut for
savvy landowners to build new cities in remote areas while protecting
little or nothing.
Tom Pelham, secretary of the state Department of Community Affairs, is
right to crack down on applications under the new law. It's the state's
duty to make sure the Legislature's worthy objectives are realized: to
stop sprawl, preserve rural character, prevent development of
environmentally significant land, and promote commercial and residential
growth in appropriate areas.
If major landowners continue to get all they are asking for under the
program, they'll corner the market on dense development in some rural
counties, and leave tracts that the program was intended to protect
vulnerable to future sprawl.
Schemes such as this are why voters are signing a petition for a
referendum on a constitutional amendment called Hometown Democracy.
If passed, it would require local voter approval before any changes
could be made in a local growth plan. It could make development difficult
or impossible in many areas.
Supporters of the referendum accuse Florida's leaders of putting more
value on future residents than current ones, who often get stuck paying
the bills for growth. But holding elections on every land-use change
would, as Pelham understands, 'throw the state into chaos,' with
devastating consequences for the economy.
You don't have to be for Hometown Democracy to appreciate the
frustration of its advocates. The rural stewardship law is a case in
point. It was approved in 2001 to encourage a few pilot projects of at
least 50,000 acres each.
After no one applied, the law was modified to make it more appealing.
Its pilot status was dropped. The threshold was reduced to 10,000 acres.
Projects within the approved zone were exempted from the rigorous review
required of other large developments of regional impact.
Now the applications are pouring in from swamps and ranch lands. The
sudden interest may be because the rules were relaxed, but more likely
it's to get approval before the Hometown Democracy vote next year
virtually freezes growth.
Once a stewardship area is set up, growth can occur outside most local
and state restrictions. Under the change, selected environmentally
sensitive areas are designated 'sending' areas and are given development
credits far in excess of what is allowed elsewhere in the county. Areas
where new towns are to be built are called 'receiving' areas. Developers
buy and transfer credits from a sending area to a receiving area. How the
valuable credits are awarded is a complex process that typically requires
the assistance of expert consultants.
In theory, one landowner is given an incentive to preserve land while
another is encouraged to build houses. But until all the credits are used
up, which can take many years or might never happen, the owner of a
'sending' area can opt out of the program and develop the property at
whatever densities were originally allowed, typically one unit per five
acres.
So the community may well end up with a city in the middle of nowhere,
surrounded by sprawling developments and the loss of most of its natural
land - everything the law was designed to prevent. So much for
stewardship.
Pelham is trying to stop the abuse, but lawmakers need to reform a
planning effort that has gone off track.
Why the Chamber of
Commerce Wants to Kill Hometown Democracy
Battle
for the Soul of Florida
By ALAN
FARAGO
The
Florida Chamber of Commerce has announced plans to raise as much as $65
million to fight a constitutional amendment sought by citizens supporting
Florida Hometown Democracy.
The FHD
measure would require that changes to local zoning plansórequired by
Florida law of each and every municipality and countyóto first run the
gauntlet of local voters before being voted on by local legislatures.
This
moment in Florida history is framed by the biggest housing bust since the
1920's.
The soul
of Florida is at stake in the battle by Florida Hometown Democracy against
the Chamber of Commerce and the building and development lobby.
Floridaís
developed landscape did not become such a point of contention, by
coincidence.
But for a
mortgage industry that proliferated through the use of obscure financial
derivatives, multiplied from the lowly consumer or commercial mortgage,
there would be no incipient rebellion by citizens.
What is
visible on the ground are for-sale signs, rising taxes, tightening credit,
struggling production home builders and condo developers.
What is
less visible, is how the last stage of the building boom, now in cinders,
used financial engineering to sell distant investors on high returns pegged
to pools of underlying packages of mortgages.
The
trick, now being revealed in crashing financial markets--and not just
homebuilders--was in mis-marking risk by laying off low quality development
against higher credit quality debt.
What Wall
Street persuaded investors of financial derivatives, (too complex for all
but the most sophisticated analysts to understand), goes something like
this. Imagine a mutual fund (remember, this is an imaginary example)
comprised of many different mortgages. Now in this fund, there are a few
dogs -- strip malls in bad neighborhoods, cheap, platted subdivisions two
hours from any source of work-- but on balance, the risk of having some dogs
is minimized by ret urns the fund will generate on better quality malls and
higher priced subdivisions.
Now, more
than a trillion dollars of real estate investment--across the United
States--is based on this premise: that the value of the fund will not be
affected by the risk of default, if the dogs fail.
Put
another way: Florida's growth is shaped by financial engineering based on
the performance, not of better quality community design, but by the lowest
common denominator.
On the
ground you see strip malls and platted subdivisions by the thousands. What
you don't see is how the entire financial system that depends on
diversifying risk, fails to account for what people want and what people
need in terms of quality of life, the environment, and principles of
"sustainability".
Builders
complain about their critics: "we are only building what the market
wants." It's a fallacy. Builders build what bankers can finance.
And
bankers, in this case Wall Street, will finance whatever generates the most
commissions and bonuses for top shareholders, absent regulation.
What
Florida Hometown Democracy and its amendment says, in fact, is that
Floridians no longer trust either government or business to lead the way in
the design and plan for growth.
And with
good reason: what has government or the growth machine done to earn anything
but the anger and enmity of a majority of Floridians?
In the
1920's, Florida was a sleepy and relatively empty state. When real estate
markets cratered, for the most part Florida itself was intact.
80 years
later, Florida is a much different place. On the issue of water alone,
Florida's growth has manifestly failed to protect both public health and the
environment.
It is the
pressure for more growth, for instance, that is the root cause of government
agencies allowing benzene to contaminate the drinking water supply for
Miami-Dade.
The
pressure for growth is also what caused recommendat ions in the most
comprehensive watershed study undertaken anywhere, anytime, to be shelved by
Miami-Dade county commissioners who found the whole idea of restricting
growth to serve people to be distasteful in the extreme.
These
stories--how the unallocated costs of growth continue to pile up in
multi-billion dollar increments, even to the point of putting people in the
way of cancer--could be repeated anywhere in Florida: Tampa, Jacksonville,
Orlando, Pasco County, Collier or the Florida Keys.
This
time, as 'for sale' signs sprout like weedy species across the state, it is
manifestly clear that business interests, led by the growth machine and
building lobby, have no plan, no idea, and no interest in taming the costs
of growth imposed on citizens and ordinary people.
There is
little question that the Florida Hometown Democracy measure will pass the
test of state voters, if enough signatures and be gathered and enough money
raised to communicate with Floridians.
Alan
Farago writes about politics and the
environment. He lives in south Florida.
Who will buy the empty homes?
By Nadia Vanderhoof
Friday, July 27, 2007
A glut of new but vacant homes continues to dominate the landscape of the
central and northern portions of the Treasure Coast, a housing report released
Thursday suggested.
West Palm Beach-based Metrostudy, which tracks new-home starts, reported
2,391 homes were completed in St. Lucie and Indian River counties during the
past three months — and they still have no occupants. At the current pace of
people buying homes and moving in, it should take about nine months to fill
the St. Lucie County inventory and 13 months in Indian River County, according
to Metrostudy.
Martin County had 398 homes completed but remaining vacant during the
second quarter.
"Martin County has always had a reputation for being anti-growth,
anti-development, so at this point of the cycle, the market bodes well for
them," said Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting a real
estate consulting firm in Deerfield Beach.
Additionally, McCabe said subdivisions with an overabundance of vacant new
homes and "For Rent" signs may be deterring renters from becoming
home buyers — further pushing up local inventory levels.
"Some of the homes are sitting out there with weeds, without
air-conditioning, maybe even growing some mold," McCabe said. "If I
am buying a house, I want to buy in the community with swing sets and bicycles
on the street, not where it's empty and I'd be taking a risk."
A year ago, of the 5,405 homes built during the second quarter on the
Treasure Coast, 1,927 were considered part of a vacant supply. The estimated
timeline to fill those homes was estimated at that time at more than 19
months.
"Although record high inventories and reduced starts and homes under
construction are not something the construction community can jump for joy
over, it is a positive sign that the move-in differential is causing the
inventories to start a downward trend," said custom home builder Richard
Hope, president of Hope Co., a general contractor in Vero Beach. "Now is
a great time to buy, especially for the first time buyer or current renter,
since this is the market where a majority of these inventories exist."
Don Santos, past president of the Treasure Coast Builders Association and
president of Santos Construction, wasn't surprised at the statistics in the
report.
"Unfortunately these are a high count, which reinforces the fact that
builders overbuilt inventory," Santos said. "But there's never been
a better time to buy."
The report noted 521 homes still were under construction in Indian River
County during the second quarter, 205 in St. Lucie County and 39 in Martin
County.
Sally Daley, owner of Daley & Co. Real Estate in Vero Beach, agreed
this is a good sign of a buyer's market.
"After months of inventory outpacing buyer demand, inventory of vacant
homes — many offered by mom and pop investors unsuccessfully trying to flip
properties for profit — is finally reducing to meet buyer demand as
exuberant sellers and developers ratchet down their expectations and in many
cases seek to simply sell for little or no profit to simply unload the
properties," she said. "Such activity is typical of a buyers' market
and an essential, albeit painful, step toward more balanced market conditions
between supply and buyer demand."
In St. Lucie County, builders have reduced starts by 73.5 percent since the
peak of 775 units reported in the third quarter of 2006. There were only 205
starts in the second quarter, a level not seen since 2001. New home starts
have dropped 20.5 percent between the first and second quarters in Indian
River County. And Martin County's new construction is down 70 percent since
the peak in 2005.
Contaminated Water Reaches Florida's Offshore Keys
Science
Daily — A new University of Georgia study finds that
sewage-contaminated groundwater is reaching the offshore reefs of the Upper
Florida Keys, possibly threatening corals and human health.
“The widespread use of in-ground waste disposal through septic tanks and
injection wells appears to be leading to the contamination of submarine
groundwater even up to six miles offshore,” said study author Erin Lipp,
associate professor at the UGA College of Public Health. “When the
contaminated groundwater mixes with surface water and reaches the reef, the
corals as well as human health might be harmed.”
Lipp and doctoral student Carrie Futch, along with Dale Griffin of the U.S.
Geological Survey in Tallahassee, sampled surface water, groundwater and
corals from five sites from nearshore to offshore beginning outside of Port
Largo Canal and ending near Molasses Reef. Their three-year study revealed
common fecal indicator bacteria and human viruses.
The fecal indicator bacteria, which are not pathogens themselves but rather
serve as surrogates for other disease-causing microbes found in sewage,
declined with distance from shore but tended to be elevated in the surface
layers of coral mucus relative to the surrounding water. High levels of fecal
indicator bacteria from canals were also shown to move into the nearshore
environment on outgoing tides. Lipp said the detection of these bacteria in
predominantly nearshore stations suggests that land-based sources of sewage
pollution such as cesspits and septic systems may be a significant
contributor.
Genetic material from enteric viruses, which cause disease in humans but
are only found in infected human feces and urine, also were commonly found
throughout the sampled area, including ground water more than six miles
offshore. The frequency of detecting viruses increased with rainfall in the
summer months, when the viruses were most likely to be found in groundwater.
Lipp cautioned, however, that the test used to identify the enteric viruses
was not designed to determine whether the viruses were alive or dead.
“Until we actually know the level of risk, our findings are just an
indication that there could be some level of sewage contamination offshore,”
she said. “It doesn’t indicate that people need to change their behavior,
but does show that the appropriate treatment of water through centralized
sewage is needed.”
Bill Kruczynski, Florida Keys Program Scientist for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, said the installation of new wastewater management systems
such as centralized collection and advanced wastewater treatment facilities,
as recommended by the Water Quality Protection Program (WQPP) for the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary and required by Florida State Law 99-395, is
essential to restore and maintain water quality in the Florida Keys. In
addition, the WQPP recommended improved storm water treatment practices to
further reduce pollutant loading to nearshore waters.
“The Sanctuary and Monroe County are taking the right steps to improve
water quality by enacting no dumping ordinances and implementing centralized
sewage,” Lipp said. “The next step is to ensure that it’s working and
hopefully document an improvement in water quality.”
The findings were presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Protection Program Steering Committee
in Marathon, Florida. The study was funded by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Georgia.
Increased development will result in higher taxes
By TCPalm Staff
Friday, July 20, 2007
Where will it end? What will it lead to? In my opinion, development of
Martin County's rural land will lead to an end — an end to Martin County's
way of life as we know and love.
It already has grown to a point that has taken away our small-town
atmosphere, so why do we want to continue this so-called "controlled
growth" that will only result in higher taxes and more congestion? We
already have too many vacant homes, empty stores and crowded roads. Why do we
want more? Who wants more (other than the developers)?
If anybody thinks that more development is the answer to relieving tax
burdens, they are kidding themselves. The increased tax revenue will not cover
the cost of the required roads, schools, fire stations and such. We will all
face higher taxes as a result.
Martin County's comprehensive plan was an excellent plan, and is still a
good one despite several amendment that allowed unneeded growth. Let's fight
to preserve what we have. If someone owns or buys property zoned
"agricultural," they should put cows on it, not townhomes! The
comprehensive plan says "no," and probably the majority of residents
agree. So why does the commission keep allowing developers to rape our land?
Regarding the purchasing of land for enviromental preservation, I don't
understand why we have to keep buying land to protect it. The comprehensive
plan already does it.
Contact the commissioners and let them know what Martin County residents
really want!
Dana O. Bausch
Interesting commentary...
The Florida Chamber of Commerce has announced plans to raise as much as $65
million to fight a constitutional amendment sought by citizens supporting
Florida Hometown Democracy.
The FHD measure would require that changes to local zoning plans—required by
Florida law of each and every municipality and county—to first run the
gauntlet of local voters before being voted on by local legislatures.
This moment in Florida history is framed by the biggest housing bust since the
1920's.
The soul of Florida is at stake in the battle by Florida Hometown Democracy
against the Chamber of Commerce and the building and development lobby.
Florida’s developed landscape did not become such a point of contention, by
coincidence.
But for a mortgage industry that proliferated through the use of obscure
financial derivatives, multiplied from the lowly consumer or commercial
mortgage, there would be no incipient rebellion by citizens.
What is visible on the ground are for-sale signs, rising taxes, tightening
credit, struggling production home builders and condo developers.
What is less visible, is how the last stage of the building boom, now in
cinders, used financial engineering to sell distant investors on high returns
pegged to pools of underlying packages of mortgages.
The trick, now being revealed in crashing financial markets--and not just
homebuilders--was in mis-marking risk by laying off low quality development
against higher credit quality debt.
What Wall Street persuaded investors of financial derivatives, (too complex
for all but the most sophisticated analysts to understand), goes something
like this. Imagine a mutual fund (remember, this is an imaginary example)
comprised of many different mortgages. Now in this fund, there are a few dogs
-- strip malls in bad neighborhoods, cheap, platted subdivisions two hours
from any source of work-- but on balance, the risk of having some dogs is
minimized by returns the fund will generate on better quality malls and higher
priced subdivisions.
Now, more than a trillion dollars of real estate investment--across the United
States--is based on this premise: that the value of the fund will not be
affected by the risk of default, if the dogs fail.
Put another way: Florida's growth is shaped by financial engineering based on
the performance, not of better quality community design, but by the lowest
common denominator.
On the ground you see strip malls and platted subdivisions by the thousands.
What you don't see is how the entire financial system that depends on
diversifying risk, fails to account for what people want and what people need
in terms of quality of life, the environment, and principles of
"sustainability".
Builders complain about their critics: "we are only building what the
market wants." It's a fallacy. Builders build what bankers can finance.
And bankers, in this case Wall Street, will finance whatever generates the
most commissions and bonuses for top shareholders, absent regulation.
What Florida Hometown Democracy and its amendment says, in fact, is that
Floridians no longer trust either government or business to lead the way in
the design and plan for growth.
And with good reason: what has government or the growth machine done to earn
anything but the anger and enmity of a majority of Floridians?
In the 1920's, Florida was a sleepy and relatively empty state. When real
estate markets cratered, for the most part Florida itself was intact.
80 years later, Florida is a much different place. On the issue of water
alone, Florida's growth has manifestly failed to protect both public health
and the environment.
It is the pressure for more growth, for instance, that is the root cause of
government agencies allowing benzene to contaminate the drinking water supply
for Miami-Dade.
The pressure for growth is also what caused recommendations in the most
comprehensive watershed study undertaken anywhere, anytime, to be shelved by
Miami-Dade county commissioners who found the whole idea of restricting growth
to serve people to be distasteful in the extreme.
These stories--how the unallocated costs of growth continue to pile up in
multi-billion dollar increments, even to the point of putting people in the
way of cancer--could be repeated anywhere in Florida: Tampa, Jacksonville,
Orlando, Pasco County, Collier or the Florida Keys.
This time, as 'for sale' signs sprout like weedy species across the state, it
is manifestly clear that business interests, led by the growth machine and
building lobby, have no plan, no idea, and no interest in taming the costs of
growth imposed on citizens and ordinary people.
There is little question that the Florida Hometown Democracy measure will pass
the test of state voters, if enough signatures and be gathered and enough
money raised to communicate with Floridians.
Growth showdown bound for ballot?
By NICHOLAS AZZARA
MANATEE --
A major green-versus-growth battle is brewing across the state, and the showdown
may be coming soon to a ballot booth near you.
And like any other high-profile debate, millions of dollars are being spent
to sway your vote.
Tired of seeing paradise paved over for parking lots, Lesley Blackner and
278,000 like-minded Floridians are ready to rein in the booming development
industry that has dominated headlines in previous years. Their primary weapon is
a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters, rather than
elected officials, to approve changes to land-use designations.
Business and development leaders shudder at the prospect of slowing growth to
a snail's pace. They say providing more hurdles to development could be the
dagger in the heart of a sluggish Florida economy. That's why they're willing to
spend millions to fight the proposed ballot measure.
The vehicle driving the proposed amendment is Florida Hometown Democracy,
which Blackner, 46, co-founded four years ago. Opinionated and outspoken,
Blackner has lived in Florida for more than 40 years.
She's an environmental attorney who says she has seen Florida's natural
habitats "go down the drain."
"Florida has embraced the model that developers want: If you build it
they will come. But maybe if you don't build it they will go somewhere
else," Blackner said. "Government seems to think the next 30,000
people who live here are more important than those who already live here."
Florida Hometown Democracy has collected almost half of the 611,000-plus
voter signatures required to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the
November 2008 ballot. And Blackner says the total is actually closer to 500,000,
but many signatures have yet to be verified.
Either way, the group, with the backing of the Sierra Club and other
environmental organizations, is inching closer to putting the question to the
entire state.
"These things need to be put to voters because they determine the future
of a local community more than anything else," Blackner said. "The
current system has been stacked against the people."
To be adopted, the con- stitutional amendment would require the support of 60
percent of voters.
'Could kill growth'
Opposition to the amendment seems to be growing faster than the movement
itself. Chambers of commerce across the state are asking members to "Stop
the Scam." They say the cost and consequences of the amendment could be
"astronomical."
"We live in a representative democracy and this amendment really works
against that," said Neil Spirtas, a spokesman for the Manatee Chamber of
Commerce. "I don't think we have any idea how much this is going to cost
everyone in the time and effort involved."
If the amendment passes, developers could turn into stumping politicians,
pushing hard for their proposed amendments - that is, their developments - to
win voter approval. In addition, they say, longer ballots would further dampen
voter turnout.
"I think it's going to add to the cost of construction tremendously
because in order to get a comp plan amendment, we'll have to hold an election
and run a campaign that costs money," said Lee Wetherington, president of
Lee Wetherington Companies. "That's just cost added to any new house and
new development out there."
Mike Rahn, senior vice president of Florida Homebuilders Association added,
"It could affect private property rights and where hospitals, schools,
churches and fire stations go in a community, along with take away the
democratic process on what you want to do with your property. It could kill
growth in the state of Florida."
The Florida Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Homebuilders and
other business groups have formed and raised close to $1 million for Floridians
for Smarter Growth. The group is gathering signatures for a similar amendment
that would have voters approve comp plan amendments only if first, 10 percent of
registered voters sign a petition to hold an election on the change.
Brain surgery?
Changes to Manatee County's comprehensive plan usually occur twice a year in
the form of comp plan amend- ments, but they can happen more often. Since 2000,
Manatee has adopted 176 amendments, including seven so far this year. Many
times, the changes amend zoning and density categories. Other amendments are
designed to bring the local comp plan into compliance with state regu- lations.
Many times debates over future land categories can last hours at the county
level, as commissioners try to balance private development rights with public
safety concerns and objecting homeowners close to new projects. Throw in a few
dozen comments from county staffers and land-use attorneys and the debate
becomes downright dizzying.
There's little debate that the process is complicated and can be confusing.
County Administrator Ed Hunzeker put it this way: "I could do brain
surgery, but it's going to take a while to train me. It takes a great deal of
understanding on how the development process works. It's a very rigorous
process."
But Blackner and her supporters say the intelligence of the electorate
shouldn't be underestimated. Coincidentally, she said, comprehensive plan
amendments are not brain surgery.
"I'm tired of being told voters aren't smart enough to know what they're
voting for," said Betsy Roberts, chair of the Florida Chapter Sierra Club.
"If most people know both sides of the story, they'll make a good decision.
Voters are intelligent people."
Cost of elections
The Florida Supreme Court on July 12 interjected itself into the debate,
striking down part of the financial impact statement that would go on the ballot
with the proposed am- endment.
The Supreme Court objected to the second of five sentences in the original
statement: "Over each two-year election cycle, local governments
cumulatively will incur significant costs (millions of dollars statewide)."
The statement, drafted by the state's Financial Impact Estimating Conference,
failed to indicate the estimate depends on how many times local governments have
to hold special elections to adopt or amend land-use plans, the majority wrote
in the unsigned opinion.
On Friday, the conference, made up of legislative and executive branch
economists, revised the offending sentence to highlight that costs "cannot
be determined precisely." It also reworked a following sentence to indicate
the potential costs include such expenses as ballot preparation and election
administration.
The commission has separately said the minimum cost of holding special
elections within a two-year period would be $2.4 million assuming elections are
held by mail - the cheapest method - and ballots are sent to 25 percent of
Florida's 10.5 million-plus vo- ters.
In a letter to the commission earlier this week, a lawyer for Hometown
Democracy argued local governments could pass election costs on to developers
and other parties that request planning amendments and piggyback referenda on
other special or regular elec- tions.
The attorney general's office next will submit the new financial statement to
the Supreme Court.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.• Florida
Hometown Democracy must gather 611,000 verified voter signatures by Jan. 31,
2008, in order to have the amendment on the November 2008 ballot. The group now
has 278,000 verified signatures, including 1,800 from Manatee County and more
than 7,000 from Sarasota County.
• Local, state and national business
interests have formed Floridians for Smarter Growth to oppose Florida Hometown
Democracy. The new group is proposing a similar amendment that would require
voter referenda on comp plan amendments when 10 percent of registered voters
want to hold one.
House Rejects Farm Bill Overhaul
Effort to Revamp Traditional Subsidies Is Defeated, 309 to 117
By Dan Morgan
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 27, 2007; A04
Farm state lawmakers, allied with House Democratic leaders, last night easily
defeated a proposal for a major overhaul of traditional farm programs that would
have pared subsidies to big growers and spread benefits more broadly.
The 309 to 117 vote came on the first day of debate on a multiyear farm bill
that was heading for final action today.
Republican support for the bill was in doubt last night because of a dispute
over a provision that would tighten rules on the use of tax havens by U.S.
subsidiaries of foreign companies.
But key farm state Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the amendment,
sponsored by Rep. Ron
Kind (D-Wis.). "It rips out the safety net for American farmers and
ranchers," said Rep.
Robert W. Goodlatte (Va.), ranking Republican on the House
Agriculture Committee.
The amendment was billed as this year's major challenge to an entrenched
farm-subsidy system. The defeat was a setback for a coalition of environmental
organizations, anti-hunger groups and religious leaders who favor shifting more
funds to conservation, nutrition and other priorities while creating a more
level playing field in world markets for unsubsidized poor farmers abroad.
"Change is tough in this place," Kind said. The current subsidies
to farmers, he said, raise farmland prices to the disadvantage of young farmers
trying to rent or buy land, while making big farmers dependent on "a
government paycheck, not the marketplace."
Environmental
Defense, an advocacy group, produced a study showing that more than 300
congressional districts would be eligible for increased funding under Kind's
bill, but to no avail.
Kind's vision in recent months came into conflict with the pragmatic politics
of Democratic leaders seeking to rebuild the party's rural-urban bonds. House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Democrats to support the farm bill.
Recalling that a similar Kind amendment garnered 200 votes in 2001, the
Agriculture Committee loaded the bill with billions of dollars for nutrition
programs, conservation, black farmers, and the Florida
and California
fruit and vegetable industries, in an effort to attract broad support. As late
as 1 a.m. yesterday, Democratic leaders were adding money for nutrition
programs.
About $840 million in mandatory spending was added for the McGovern-Dole food
aid program, after nearly $1 billion was shifted out of government payments to
private crop insurance companies to offset the cost.
The new funding was sought by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a key member of
the House Rules Committee. McGovern said it was "a good thing" that
the crop insurance industry would be contributing to feeding hungry children
abroad.
The program is named for two former senators, not for the congressman.
The revamp effort by Kind, whose western Wisconsin
farm grows corn and soybeans on 60 acres, made him few friends on the
agriculture panel.
Committee Chairman Collin
C. Peterson (D-Minn.) said last week that Kind and his allies are "out
on a limb, and I'm trying to cut if off."
Peterson suggested that Kind "was being used by the Bush
administration," which favors some of the same changes.
"There was no collusion," Kind responded. "I've been working
on this for six years."
Morgan is a contract writer for the newspaper and a fellow with the German
Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan public policy institution
Neighborhoods, dirt mining proposed for Mecca Farms in Palm Beach County
County administrator calls for a mix of homes, agriculture and waterways
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 28, 2007
Taxpayer-owned land once intended to house a high-tech science
"village" featuring The Scripps Research Institute could instead
become a mix of homes, agriculture, dirt mining and waterways, according to a
proposal for Mecca Farms released Friday.
Palm Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman on Friday called for jump-starting
stalled discussions on uses for the 1,919 acres of former orange groves north
of Northlake Boulevard, which cost taxpayers $60 million to buy and another
$60 million to get ready for Scripps.
Environmental concerns last year moved Scripps' planned research labs and
headquarters to Jupiter. Since then commissioners have had on-again, off-again
discussions about what to do with the property.
Weisman's proposal calls for:
•Offering up to 750 acres of Mecca Farms for sale to developers by early
next year. He suggested allowing as many as 1,500 homes but said proposed
changes to development guidelines for western areas could push that to 2,400
homes.
•Selling 100 acres to the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County.
Storing hurricane debris, recycling yard waste and excavating dirt to cover
mounds of trash at the county landfill are among proposed uses for the
property.
•Set aside land for the "flow way," a man-made filter marsh,
envisioned in the Scripps plan. The flow way would help clean and deliver
water that could replenish the Loxahatchee River. County officials on Friday
met with representatives from the South Florida Water Management District to
discuss the flow way and other water cleaning features that could be included
on Mecca Farms.
•Keep at least 750 acres to use for agriculture, environmental improvements,
water treatment or other needs.
The idea was to offer commissioners "max flexibility" but also to
start taking action on what to do with Mecca Farms, Weisman said.
"I'm just laying out a plan to start talking," he said. "It
depends where the board wants to go."
Commissioner Burt Aaronson welcomed Weisman's proposal. Aaronson has called
for allowing about 2,400 homes and commercial development on Mecca Farms in
order to boost its sales value.
In addition to the money spent to acquire Mecca Farms and plan for Scripps'
construction, paying the debt service on the deal costs the county between $5
million and $8 million a year.
"We should get the taxpayers' money back." Aaronson said.
Commissioner Jeff Koons said he was "intrigued" by Weisman's
proposal to reserve land for agriculture.
Koons said he supports carving out a portion of Mecca Farms for the Solid
Waste Authority. Pits left from digging out dirt for the landfill could become
water storage areas that help with Everglades restoration efforts, he said.
"We have been kind of ducking on it," Koons said about deciding
Mecca Farms' future. "I think we need to take a look at it."
No price has been set for the 100 acres Weisman proposed selling to the Solid
Waste Authority, but the agency would be ready to "move quickly,"
the authority's chief administrative officer, Marc Bruner, said. Opponents to
developing Mecca Farms have argued that allowing thousands of homes there
would cost too much for the roads and community services required when
suburbia spreads to rural land.
They have called for returning Mecca Farms to its natural state and leaving it
as open space. The county could sell its development rights to builders
elsewhere who are willing to pay for the chance to build more homes than
otherwise allowed.
"Why are they so gung-ho to develop it right now?" asked Joanne
Davis, spokeswoman for the growth watchdog group 1,000 Friends of Florida,
which opposed building Scripps on Mecca Farms. "They have got all these
grandiose ideas. ... They have jumped way ahead of themselves."
Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com
or 561-228-5504.
Rediscovered documents 'flush out' history of Estero Bay preserve
By Julio Ochoa
Saturday, July 28, 2007
There is no mystery to what makes Estero Bay a fisherman’s paradise.
Take away the jagged, mangrove-lined shore and the seagrass beds and the fish
will follow.
The bay is a massive seawall and dredging project away from looking like, and
fishing like, many of Florida’s once productive estuaries.
With the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve in place, the area is safe from the
scenario that made so many bays in Florida barren.
But the protection didn’t come without a fight.
A developer had purchased waterfront property along the bay and drew up plans
to develop it. Then, locals took a stand.
The documentation of exactly how local fishermen and residents saved Estero
Bay from dredging and a concrete lip was recently uncovered.
Searching for material for a video for the preserve’s 40th anniversary, a
researcher uncovered 21 nearly forgotten boxes of records stored in the
Southwest Florida Museum of History.
“If this stuff were lost, it would be a loss of local history,” said Neil
Ayers, a resource management specialist for the Estero Bay Aquatic and State
Buffer Preserve who created the video based on much of the information.
An archivist is working to index and catalog the information so it one day
may be put on display or digitized and placed on a Web site.
The files document in full detail the history, the lawsuit and the personal
struggles to save Estero Bay by creating the state’s first aquatic preserve.
It all started in 1958 when Barry C. Williams and Investors purchased 5,500
acres along the northern and eastern coast of Estero Bay for $1.6 million.
Robert Troutman, an Atlanta attorney representing investors, drew up a plan
to expand a seawall deep into Estero Bay along 18 miles of coastline.
The seawall, called a bulkhead, would straighten out the jagged coastline by
using 17 million cubic yards of fill. Along the way it would swallow up
submerged lands and islands, creating 1,100 acres that previously was under
water. For fill, Troutman proposed dredging a 12-foot channel through the
seagrass beds around his bulkhead.
The same technique had been employed along the east coast and in areas to the
north, such as Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota.
The results were well-documented. Some of the most productive estuaries in
the state turned barren when developers removed the mangroves and seagrass beds
that served as a nursery for fish, shrimp, mammals and birds.
Determined to keep Estero Bay from the same fate, local residents and
fishermen formed the Lee County Conservation Association.
“This was a homegrown effort by local citizens interested in
preservation,” said Matt Johnson, general manager of the Southwest Florida
Museum of History. “They battled some pretty large developers and corporations
interested in development and won.”
At one point during the 1960s, it’s estimated that about 50 percent of the
registered voters in Lee belonged to the association.
Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann was a state legislator when the
association still was active.
“That group lived in my office for two years,” Mann said. “That little
committee was very active and very loud and they single-handedly beat
Troutman.”
Up until the creation of the Lee County Conservation Association, residents
had quietly tolerated local developers mowing down mangroves to create small
communities along the waterfront, said Wayne Daltry, director of Smart Growth
for Lee County.
But Williams’ plan was destruction on a much larger scale.
“There was a casual tolerance of the little things,” Daltry said. “But
there became an awareness, a realization that if they didn’t have protection,
it was going to be toast.”
The members of the association wrote letters, engaged politicians and used
their voting bloc to change leadership in Lee County.
They argued that submerged lands belonged to the state and tried to create
the Estero Bay State Park.
The law clearly states that any land above the high tide mark can be owned
privately but property below it belongs to the state.
Their efforts led to the creation of the first aquatic preserve in Florida.
The state eventually would use the preserve as a model to create 41 others
along Florida’s coastal waters.
“We now have over 2 million acres in the program protected from dredging
and habitat loss and damage to resources,” said Larry Nall, environmental
administrator for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office
of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas.
Johnson is working with members of the Estero Bay Aquatic and State Buffer
Preserve to find grants so the historical data can be preserved and archived.
Knowing about Southwest Florida’s history is important as the environmental
battle rages on, Johnson said.
“This is the cornerstone of a success story in preserving our environment,
which down here is a major issue,” he said. “The battle between development
and preservation is not something that’s gone away.”
As deadline looms, Lee eyes Weeks property
County is interested, but can't make promises, in a last-minute deal for land
that includes one of the few boat ramps on eastern Estero Bay
By Charlie Whitehead
Friday, July 27, 2007
Lee County and state officials are looking hard at Weeks Fish Camp, and the
historic home of one of the area’s oldest families may yet become a
county-owned boat ramp.
Current owner Michele Pessin of the 131 Group is staring at a Tuesday
deadline to get a deal done — or at least started. A bankruptcy court judge
has held off creditors that long.
Pessin bought the waterfront portion of the old fish camp in 2003. Many
members of the Weeks family, who carved the little community they called Coconut
out of the scrub in the 1940s, still live there on streets named for pioneer
couple Draine and Mamie Weeks.
Some of them welcomed Pessin as a savior when she bought the land, but it
hasn’t worked out that way. Legal, land-use and financial hurdles drove her
into Chapter 11 early in 2006.
Part of her plan was always to keep the marina open to the public, and she
and bankruptcy receiver Gerald McHale have been talking to the county about a
sale or at least an easement agreement.
Commissioner Ray Judah said he’s interested.
“I’ve indicated I can’t make any promises,” Judah said. “It takes a
whole board and a vote.”
Judah said he has met with McHale and with Tom Gilhooley. Gilhooley isn’t
invested in the property, but he and Pessin live together and have children. The
county’s Conservation 2020 environmental lands program is negotiating to buy
another Pessin property, but the same program balked at the asking price for the
marina property.
Judah said there are concerns about water depth and what an increase in boat
traffic could mean to the shallow bay.
“There is a channel,” Judah said, “but it’s a very shallow channel.
Obviously, the state and the county would be very concerned about the amount and
the type of boat traffic.”
Estero Bay is the first Aquatic Preserve in Florida, so designated in 1960.
Preserve Director Heather Stafford has also been involved in discussions, but
she couldn’t be reached for comment.
Steve Boutelle, marine science director for the county, said the state’s
most recent check found about 3½ feet of water in the channel.
“As far as the site goes, the channel now severely limits the use,” he
said. “That’s the main part of why we recommended to commissioners it
wasn’t a good opportunity for a public boat ramp.”
That was several months ago, when Pessin and Gilhooley first approached the
county. Boutelle said the state found deeper water than he expected, however,
and the last complete engineering assessment was done in 1999.
“My opinion is there will clearly be boating impact from any facility,”
Boutelle said. “But there are boating impacts from the use now.”
Judah and other commissioners are hearing from boaters, hundreds of whom have
signed petitions urging the county — or someone — to keep the ramp open. One
of them is Capt. Ron Kowalyk, who’s been fishing Estero Bay since 1978.
“Sure, there’s more use,” he said. “But there’s a demand for it.”
Kowalyk said the county would have to balance the increased boat traffic with
the prospect of boaters hauling their trailers down 41 and out Bonita Beach Road
and Hickory Boulevard to reach the Lovers Key/Carl E. Johnson State Park boat
ramp, the next closest public ramp on the bay. He said the channel is shallow,
but good local knowledge is always the key to boating back bays.
“There’s plenty of water to get in and out of there, usually,” he said.
“You can get a boat drafting 24 to 30 inches in there. Like with any boat
ramp, you have to know what you’re doing.”
Kowalyk described Weeks as unique, situated as it is on the eastern shore of
the bay. There’s a ramp on the Imperial River a few miles down 41, but
launching there means a long slow ride down the river to reach the bay.
There’s also a ramp at the Koreshan State Historic Site, but it’s also
designed for smaller boats like canoes and kayaks.
“It’s the only area that’s reasonable on the entire east coast of
Estero Bay,” he said. “I really think it’d be a disaster if it disappeared
and we didn’t have access.”
North Collier development deal reached, fight moves to federal level
By Eric Staats
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A deal between a developer and a local environmental group has put a
controversial development in northern Collier County a step closer to breaking
ground, but opponents are vowing to keep up the fight.
Saturnia Falls is one of three projects — the others being Parklands and
Mirasol — that environmental advocates are working to defeat to save what is
left of a natural flowway that is being choked off by development southwest of
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
A series of legal challenges to the projects have focused on their effects on
wood stork habitat and wetlands north of Immokalee Road and west of Collier
Boulevard. Now, one of the challenges has run its course.
Earlier this month, the South Florida Water Management District approved a
deal between Saturnia Falls developer G.L. Homes and the Conservancy of
Southwest Florida by which the district would issue the Saturnia Falls permit
when the developer transfers 154 acres to the district as mitigation.
G.L. Homes vice president Rick Elsner said Friday that the company is working
to close on the purchase of three parcels to satisfy the requirement. The
parcels could be in district hands within weeks, he said.
The developer is paying some $3 million for the acreage in Lee and Collier
counties within the boundaries of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed
preservation project.
G.L. Homes then would sell the land to the district for $713,000, the amount
of money the developer paid the district as mitigation for a 2004 permit for an
earlier version of the Saturnia Falls project.
The district was supposed to use the money to buy land for mitigation for
Saturnia Falls, but the district never spent the money. G.L. Homes paid another
$547,000 to the district for restoration and management of the land.
In 2006, the district issued a modified permit for Saturnia Falls to reflect
changes to the project’s water management system, and the Conservancy
challenged the permit.
In May, an administrative law judge issued a recommended order siding with
G.L. Homes on issues of water quality and wood storks but found that the $1.26
million payment for the 2004 permit was inadequate “as a result of the passage
of time and market forces” and that the district shouldn’t issue the
Saturnia Falls permit.
Conservancy President Andrew MacElwaine said the deal with G.L. Homes
resolves the issues with the district permit and sets up the next legal fight in
federal court over a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for Saturnia Falls.
“That’s the next battle,” he said.
The Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation, the Florida Wildlife
Federation, the Collier County Audubon Society and the National Audubon Society
filed the federal lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the corps
and the Interior Department in April. The case has been on hold awaiting the
outcome of the challenge to the district permit.
Elsner called it “unfortunate” that environmental groups are continuing
to challenge the Saturnia Falls project in light of the Conservancy’s failure
to stop the project from getting the district permit.
“We feel very confident we’ll be successful (in federal court),” he
said.
Environmental groups lost a second administrative challenge this past week,
when a different administrative law judge issued an order recommending that the
water management district issue a permit for Mirasol.
The corps rejected an earlier version of the Mirasol project, citing worries
that a manmade flowway proposed to wrap around the golf course community would
damage the environment. The corps has said it will issue a permit for a new
version of the project, without the flowway. The environmental groups have
pledged a federal lawsuit if that happens.
The corps settled a federal lawsuit over the Parklands project by agreeing to
take another look at its permit for Parklands. That review is ongoing.
Parklands, Mirasol and Saturnia Falls would destroy some 1,100 acres of
wetlands in the Cocohatchee Slough, but developers say the wetlands are degraded
and their projects will help the environment.
© 2007 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida,
USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
Old, old Florida: Academics trace Florida's geography over eons
By LONA O'CONNOR
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Even though their offices are just down the hall in the geography department
at Florida Atlantic University, it's a wonder that Edward Petuch and Charles
Roberts ever found each other, let alone collaborated on a book.
Petuch, a geology professor whose specialty is ancient oceans, is happiest
digging fossils out of phosphate quarries and canals.
"I'm really a field person," says Petuch, who has been at FAU since
1987. "That's me with the hard hat and the hammer and work boots."
He shuns answering machines, e-mail and writes his first drafts on lined
paper in a meticulous hand.
He gazes at his cellphone.
"Fifteen missed messages, and I don't know how to listen to them,"
he says.
By contrast, Roberts, a geography professor, spends his days studying
satellite maps and teaching his students to morph them for a variety of
practical uses, from land management to spycraft.
His huge map collection makes the FAU computer servers groan like rusty
locomotives.
"My world is digital," Roberts declares. "I haven't used a pen
since the 1980s."
But Roberts knew that Petuch had 30 years of fossil study in Florida, making
him perhaps the most knowledgeable person on the state's geology.
Their book, The Geology of the Everglades and Adjacent Areas,
published this month, combines Petuch's knowledge of the past and Roberts'
ability to translate that knowledge into vivid and accurate visualizations.
Their target audience is students and teachers of geology and other
environmental sciences. The book includes a DVD that can be used in classrooms.
"This book gets the discussion going," Roberts says. "Anyone
looking at this, their view of Florida will be changed."
Collaboration and synergy
The first two people whose views were changed were Petuch and Roberts.
As soon as he looked at Roberts' first digital map, Petuch adjusted some of
his calculations about land and sea formations.
Roberts always wondered why certain Florida plants were located in isolated
pockets, half the state away from one another. The computer reconstructions
clearly showed that those pockets formed when the ocean inundated all of the
state except those spots.
Roberts, who arrived at FAU in 1990, specializes in "geovisualization,"
which can turn old-fashioned one-view maps into dynamic three-dimensional
computer scenes. Roberts' students have used geovisualizations to make practical
animations of flood patterns and potential terrorist footpaths across the
Mexico-Texas border.
For the 13 geovisualizations they collaborated on, Roberts started with
Petuch's verbal descriptions of ancient Florida terrain.
"I would take a space shuttle image of South Florida and use it as a
base map," Roberts says. "Then, when he told me that the Immokalee
Rise used to look like Andros Island, I would draft (a geovisualized map),
reconstructing past environments."
Petuch would suggest a few corrections, and Roberts would adjust his map.
Each map took 20 to 40 hours to produce, often with another 20 hours each for
changes and additions.
On the DVD, Roberts created an animation showing 30 million years of Florida
ebbing and flowing beneath the sea until it emerges in its modern-day shape.
The geovisualizations include seas and subseas that existed for a few hundred
thousand years and then disappeared.
At one point, Florida was 300 miles wide, more like a square than the sinuous
peninsula it is now.
In Roberts' geovisualizations, the varying depths of the primordial sea are
rendered in shades of green and blue. He carefully sampled colors from satellite
photos of similar formations and pieced them together.
Fossils chart changes
Roberts has an almost photographic recall for where to find just the right
scrap of land shelf or inlet to portray the ancient landscapes.
Petuch, who lives in Lake Worth, has such encyclopedic knowledge of the
Florida fossil record that he could tell Roberts exactly how deep the water was
in a certain area, based on which mollusks lived there a million years ago.
Every flat surface in Petuch's FAU office is covered with shallow boxes
holding neatly sorted conchs, cowries and clamshells that look new but are as
old as time.
"Every one of them has a story to tell about water temperature, depth
and salinity," Petuch says.
He could tell Roberts to digitally sketch a coral reef near what is now
Sarasota, based on the fossil corals he collected from that area.
Or he could show Roberts a piece of shell that indicated an ancient mangrove,
estuary or bed of turtle grass, and Roberts would add those to his maps.
"It was an interesting synergy," Roberts says. "He would
change his definition of what the past was, and I would change my image of what
the past was. Geovisualization is moving beyond the static paper map, which is a
series of frozen thoughts."
Thirty million years ago, the Florida peninsula was a mere stub of land, a
geological afterthought poking into the vast primordial sea. A few hundred
thousand years later, if someone were looking down from the heavens, he could
see what would eventually become Florida's southern tip, delicately outlined as
a barely visible shadowy curve of islands.
In the intervening eons, a delta of sand began to fill in the central and
southern parts of the state. The animation ends with a 1985 real-life satellite
photo, one of the first to be widely used outside the space community.
Roberts long ago explained to his 5-year-old son, Sean, that their home in
Royal Palm Beach had once been under 50 feet of salt water, near where Petuch
and his students found fossil evidence of sea turtles and whales.
The boy already knew that the seashells in their back yard may have come from
that ancient ocean, "but it didn't really click until he saw the sea come
in and go out" on the animation, Roberts says.
So their collaboration has a potential new partner.
This week, Petuch presented Sean with a collection of fossils, including 3
million-year-old giant scallops and the mold of a prehistoric turtle from
Nebraska, preserved in volcanic ash.
"His eyes were bulging out of his head," says Petuch, who got his
own first fossil as a gift when he was 4. "That'll always mean something to
him."
Planning
amendment statement revised after justices rejected it
By
BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - State economists on Friday revised a financial impact
statement that would go on the ballot with a citizens initiative designed to
give voters a say in local planning and development decisions.
sponsored links
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The Florida Supreme Court ruled the initial statement was misleading in a 5-2
opinion July 12.
The
proposed Hometown Democracy Amendment to the Florida Constitution would require
local governments to hold elections so voters can decide whether to adopt new
comprehensive land use plans or make changes in those designs. The impact
statement is required to give voters an idea of how much an amendment may cost.
The
Supreme Court objected to the second of five sentences in the original
statement: "Over each two-year election cycle, local governments
cumulatively will incur significant costs (millions of dollars statewide)."
The
statement, drafted by the state's Financial Impact Estimating Conference, failed
to indicate the estimate is dependent upon how many times local governments have
to hold special elections to adopt or amend land use plans, the majority wrote
in the unsigned opinion.
The
conference, made up of legislative and executive branch economists, revised the
offending sentence to include a statement that "probable" costs will
depend on the frequency and method of the elections. It also reworked a
following sentence to indicate the potential costs include such expenses as
ballot preparation and election administration.
Portions
of the statement saying local costs cannot be precisely determined and state
expenses would be negligible were left unchanged.
The
commission has separately said the minimum cost of holding special elections
within a two-year period would be $2.4 million assuming elections are held by
mail - the cheapest method - and ballots are sent to 25 percent of Florida's
10.5 million-plus voters.
The
attorney general's office next will submit the new financial statement to the
Supreme Court.
Florida
Hometown Democracy so far has collected about 45 percent of the about 611,000
signatures from registered voters that it will need to get the amendment on the
November 2008 ballot.
Neither
the group nor its lawyer, Ross Burnaman, immediately returned calls seeking
comment on the language change.
In
a letter to the commission earlier this week, Burnaman argued local governments
could pass election costs on to developers and other parties that request
planning amendments and piggyback referenda on other special or regular
elections.
___
On
the Net:
Office
of Economic and Demographic Research: http://edr.state.fl.us
Report:
More than 5,600 new homes still sit unsold in the
Orlando
area
Jerry
W. Jackson
Sentinel
Staff Writer
July
27, 2007
The
number of individuals and families moving into new homes in Orlando-area
subdivisions plunged 26 percent during the second quarter, and home builders
continued to slam on the brakes.
Starts,
or new homes getting under way in the region, fell more than 41 percent in the
period ending June 30 compared with the same time a year ago, a report by
Metrostudy showed Thursday.
And
despite efforts by builders to entice buyers with discounts and deals, more than
5,600 new homes still sit empty in the
Orlando
area, a number that's virtually unchanged from a year ago, the Houston-based
research company reported.
Unsold
inventory did fall overall, a helpful sign for the health of the industry, but
it was mostly in the under-construction category, said Anthony Crocco, director
of Metrostudy's Central and
Northeast Florida
divisions.
"The
Orlando MSA [metropolitan statistical area] is experiencing the same problems
many
Florida
markets are experiencing -- large new- and existing-home inventories,"
Crocco said in his quarterly report, which goes out to builders, researchers,
academics and other professionals in the housing industry.
"The
high percentage of finished, vacant inventory remains a major concern,"
Crocco said. "On the upside, the Orlando MSA continues to add jobs and
housing demand remains strong relative to most other markets in the state."
In
the four-county Orlando metro area -- Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola
counties -- 3,299 single-family homes were started in subdivisions during the
April-through-June time frame. That was down 41.4 percent from the same period a
year ago when 5,631 units were started. On an annual basis, local housing starts
are down 38 percent.
Closings,
or the number of homes sold and physically occupied in the
Orlando
area, totaled 4,004, or 25.9 percent lower than a year ago, Metrostudy found in
its survey. On an annual basis through the second quarter, closings were down
8.2 percent.
The
survey data are considered valuable to the industry because Metrostudy, which
charges fees for its reports, physically drives through subdivisions to verify
whether new homes remain vacant or are occupied, a more reliable third-party
measure of closings.
One
of the
Orlando
area's top retail-property brokers said Thursday that the slowdown in home
construction in the suburbs means retail construction also will slow,
particularly in outlying areas.
"Retail
follows rooftops," and the trend now toward urban in-fill development means
that retail construction will shift from suburbs to downtown, said Martin
Forster, a director with Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc., and a partner
in his own firm of Pocklington, Pocklington & Forster Retail Investment
Group.
Forster
spoke during a monthly meeting for the Central Florida Chapter of the National
Association of Industrial and Office Properties.
With
residential construction slowing nationwide, commercial construction has been
taking up the slack, absorbing unemployed residential construction employees in
many cases and generating ongoing economic impact.
Forster
and other local experts who spoke, including top brokers Ron Rogg of CB Richard
Ellis and Bo Bradford of GVA Advantis, said that strong global capital flows and
low interest rates have kept commercial properties in hot demand and
construction in high gear.
"Money
drives the juggernaut," Forster said, and financing has shifted from
residential construction to commercial.
Jerry
W. Jackson can be reached at 407-420-5721 or jwjackson@orlandosentinel.com.
County
bottled up over water plants
By TONY BRITT tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:15 PM EDT
Columbia
County
officials have sent letters of concern to local and state representatives
regarding several applications which have been filed to draw water from the
Santa Fe
River
for use by bottled water plants.
Copies of the letter were sent to Gov. Charlie Crist (R), State Sen. Debbie Boyd
(D-Dist. 11), State Rep. Will Kendrick (R-Dist. 10), State Sen. Steve Oelrich
(R-Dist. 14), State Sen. and Charles Dean (R-Dist. 3).
Lisa Roberts, assistant county manager, said the letter was sent to state
officials July 18.
“They usually respond in writing,” Roberts said of the letters.
The letter, which was signed by all five county commissioners, indicates that
the commission has concerns regarding the issuance of new and renewal permits
for the extraction of water for bottling plants from the aquifer underlying the
Santa Fe
River
.
“The bulk removal of water will prove to be detrimental to this fragile
ecosystem and sustainability of
Florida
's groundwater and springs is essential,” it says.
According to the letter, new applications for water withdrawal at July and
Santa Fe
, LLC Springs in
Columbia
County
and at
Lily
Springs
in
Gilchrist
County
were submitted in early 2007.
“This means that five applications for water withdrawal on the
Santa Fe
River
have been applied for or approved by the Suwannee River Water Management
District,” it states. “If these permits are granted, the amount of water
approved for extraction from a three-mile area would total over one billion
three hundred and fifty million gallons (1.35 billion) per year. This is in
addition to water that is removed for existing residential and agricultural
purposes, which would eventually be returned to the aquifer; water removed by
bottling plants is not.”
Jon Dinges, Suwannee River Water Management District Director of the department
of resource management, confirmed that several applicants have applied for
permits to draw water from the
Santa Fe
River
. He said the Suwannee River Water Management District has received at least
five permit applications for water bottling facilities on the
Santa Fe
River
.
The applications and their status:
n Lilly Springs - Permit applied for;
n July Springs (in
Columbia
County
) - Permit applied for;
n Ginny Springs - Active; (owned by Coca Cola); withdrawing an estimated 350,000
gallons of water per day.
n
Blue Springs
(in
Gilchrist
County
) - Not active; permit issued in 2003;
n Santa Fe Springs “Saw Dust Springs” (in
Columbia
County
) - Permitted to withdraw 150,000 gallons per day, but currently not in
operation.
Dinges said the proposal from the permits are to drill a well,
or wells, and access ground water for bottling purposes.
“The water would normally flow through the spring into the river,” he said.
Water Management District officials have scheduled Minimum Flows and Levels
testing on the
Santa Fe
for 2008. Minimum Flows and Levels testing are scientific studies used to
determine the minimum amount of water necessary for the optimal health of the
river.
The Water Management District has budgeted more than $250,000 in its 2007-08
tentative fiscal year budget for minimum flows and levels testing on the lower
Santa Fe
River
and its springs as well as the upper area of the river.
“We urge you to take the necessary action to preserve our valuable water
resources until such time as there is a completed scientific study essential to
determining the minimum amount of water necessary for the optimal health of the
river and springs,” Commissioners urged in the letter. “Without establishing
this scientific basis for our future water use,
Florida
's valuable resource, it's aquifer, will be permanently depleted.”
High
Springs decides what areas of the city will remain rural
By
Rachael Anne Ryals
Herald
Staff Writer
HIGH
SPRINGS -- The line in High Springs designating what area in the city can be
developed to a higher density and what area in the city will remain rural has
been drawn.
The
High Springs Plan Board and the High Springs City Commission approved a long
awaited Urban Service Area boundary that will guide the city as it approves
development in the future.
The
Urban Service Area approval from the joint meeting of the Board and the
Commission on July 24 separates the city into two areas.
The
Urban Service Area is the area in the city that will be served by utilities and
be more highly developed, while the Rural Fringe will only be allowed to have a
maximum of one unit per five acres.
To
view the map and zoom in to see street names, click here: http://www.highspringsherald.com/content/current/multimedia/pdf_072607/urbanservicearea.pdf
The
approval of the Urban Service Area is not a final designation; rather, the
approval allows the planning staff to move forward with an amendment to the
Comprehensive Plan, a guide that the city will use to plan projected development
for the next 20 years.
The
approval comes after more than a year of meetings and workshops that allowed the
public to voice their opinions on what area in the city should be included in
the Urban Service Area, City Manager Jim Drumm said.
The
Urban Service Area and the final Comprehensive Plan Amendment will not change
any of the zoning designations that city currently has -- the amendment will
simply designate what area in the city can be more highly developed and what
will remain a rural area.
The
Rural Fringe does have two clauses that allows subdivisions in the rural area.
A
"conservation subdivision" may be developed in the Rural Fringe, with
a minimum of one-acre lots and 50 percent of the land must be protected
conservation land.
A
"cluster subdivision" may be developed in the Rural Fringe, with a
minimum of one-half acre lots and 20 percent of the land must be protected
conservation land.
The
plan also designates protection of open spaces and primary and secondary
conservation lands, meaning that land with sinkholes, wetlands or otherwise
environmentally sensitive land will be protected from development.
The
boundary was drawn with consideration of residents who gave input at public
meetings, as well as the consideration of future traffic patterns, future
annexations and protection of environmentally sensitive land near the
Santa Fe
River
.
The
meeting lasted for more than two hours with both the Plan Board and the City
Commission making changes to include pieces of land not on the initial map.
And
that was the point of the meeting, to get the input of the Board and the
Commission on the map that the planning staff designed.
"The
outcome of this meeting is a consensus from the group to see what they like or
don't like," High Springs City Planner Christian Popoli said.
The
members were given markers to draw changes on the map.
Two
changes that were approved included one area proposed by Plan Board Member James
Forrester concerning a tract of land in the northeast area of the city.
The
area included several large tracts of land that Forrester said the owners may
one day want to annex into the city and develop the land with city utilities and
a higher density than the Rural Fringe designation would allow.
The
other change was brought forth by Commissioner Jim Gabriel, who said that a
large tract of land in the southwest corner of the city, near the railroad
tracks and the sewer plant, could have the potential to be a good industrial
area.
"Are
we providing an adequate place for industry in this core zone?" Gabriel
asked. "We can't just say we are going to have a community of little
cottages with white picket fences. That is not going to sustain itself."
Commissioner
Larry Travis and City Planner Gene Boles agreed that the area should be
included.
The
two additions were all that the Board and the Commission chose to change because
the plan has to start somewhere, members said.
"We
could sit here all night changing lines, but we have to start somewhere,"
Forrester said.
The
planning staff said they were happy that the Urban Service Area was approved so
that they can move forward with the Comprehensive Plan Amendment that may
include up to eight new zoning designations that will be added to the current
zoning designations.
These
new zoning designations may include conservation, rural residential, residential
subdivision, residential mixed, mixed use, commercial, business industrial and
public.
The
staff will spend the next few months working with the state Department of
Community Affairs to get its approval of the plan.
Boles
said he is happy with the plan.
"People
may have different ideas of where the boundaries should be," he said.
"But we took many peoples' ideas into consideration as well as professional
expertise."
Coal-fired
plants among nation's dirtiest
Big
Bend, Crystal River on non-profit report's hit list for pollution, lack of
efficiency
By
NINA KIM
Published
July 27, 2007
Tampa
Electric Co.'s coal-fired Big Bend power plant in southern
Hillsborough
County
is one of nine
U.S.
plants to rank in the top 50 for carbon dioxide emissions both in sheer tonnage
and in amount per megawatt of electricity, says a new report.
From
the movie An Inconvenient Truth to Gov. Charlie Crist's recent Climate Change
Summit in
Miami
, greenhouse emissions, such as carbon dioxide, and global warming have received
unprecedented publicity - and pressure for change.
The
nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project report - Dirty Kilowatts:
America
's Most Polluting Power Plants - issued Thursday ranked 378
U.S.
plants based on their total output of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxide and mercury. The ranking was based on data reported to federal agencies by
the utilities. Nationwide, power plants produce 40 percent of carbon dioxide,
about two thirds of sulfur dioxide, 22 percent of nitrogen oxides and about a
third of mercury, according to the report.
"We
do not need to take this dirty route for our energy needs," said Valerie
True, spokesperson for the
Southern Alliance
for Clean Energy. "Most southern states have a lot of energy-efficiency
potential, some even up to 40 percent."
While
high in the carbon dioxide ranks, Tampa Electric's
Big Bend
plant overall ranked 45th out of the nation's 50 dirtiest power plants.
Progress
Energy's
Crystal
River
coal-fired plant ranked 21st as the only other
Florida
plant on the list. But it ranked 3rd in tons of nitrogen oxide emitted -
35,412.
The
Big Bend
plant generated 30,714 tons of nitrogen oxides and produced 11.7-million tons
of carbon dioxide.
"The
global warming debate is over," said Dean Hulse of the Clean Electricity
Committee of the Dakota Resource Council. "We are heating up the earth, and
the burning of coal is one of the biggest contributors of global warming
pollution."
Carbon
dioxide pollution could rise 34 percent by 2030 if large, old and inefficient
power plants continue operating unchecked, according to the report.
To
address some of the concerns over traditional coal-fired power plants, Tampa
Electric recently proposed to the Florida Public Service Commission building a
so-called "clean coal" or IGCC baseload plant in
Polk
County
, said Rick Morera, Tampa Electric spokesman. IGCC, or integrated gasification
combined cycle, technology gasifies coal before it's burned to cut the amount of
pollutants.
"The
current technology to deal with carbon is just in the developmental stages and
is not ready for application in a coal-fired plant," Morera said. "If
the requirements are that we have to capture a certain amount of carbon, this
new technology will allow us to be able to do that."
The
Big Bend plant, which sits on the
shore
of
Tampa
Bay, already has scrubbers to manage pollutants and has installed one of four
catalytic-reduction technology units, which control nitrogen oxide emissions.
The company will install one a year until 2010.
"After
all four have been installed, we should come off this dirty plants list
completely," Morera said. "By 2010, just
Big Bend
alone will have reduced sulfur dioxide by 84 percent, nitrogen oxide by 85
percent and particulate matter by 61 percent."
In
the ranking of dirty plants based on the emission rate of the pollutant sulfur
dioxide, Progress Energy's Anclote power plant in
Holiday
was No. 41. And in the rankings for nitrogen oxide,
Florida
plants of Progress Energy, Tampa Electric, the Seminole Electric Cooperative
and the Jacksonville Electric Authority were cited.
Nina
Kim can be reached at nkim@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8913.
Angry
crowd defends wetlands
By
BILL VARIAN
Published
July 27, 2007
TAMPA
- They came wearing green and seeing red.
An
overflow crowd filled the commission chambers at
Hillsborough
County
Center
on Thursday to blast the board's tentative vote to eliminate its Environmental
Protection Commission's wetlands protection program.
They
placed a tip jar on the lectern, with speaker after speaker depositing 60 cents
- the cost, they said, of the wetlands program per resident. And they voiced
outrage at the 45 minutes set aside for public comment - one minute per speaker.
"You're
a mockery," said Roger Stewart, former head of the EPC, as his time
expired. "If your time is so valuable, get the hell out and do something
else."
The
crowd dispersed not knowing the fate of the wetlands office. That decision, plus
another public hearing, is scheduled for Aug. 16.
The
audience was left to interpret the general silence of the commissioners it's
dubbed the "gang of four" - Republicans Brian Blair, Jim Norman and
Ken Hagan, and Democrat Kevin White.
The
three other commissioners -Republicans Rose Ferlita, Al Higginbotham and Mark
Sharpe - did most of the speaking from the dais, voicing support for what the
EPC dubs a "hybrid plan" to streamline its $2.2-million wetlands
permitting program.
In
a preliminary vote, county commissioners voted 4-3 last month to kill the
wetlands division. The majority said the county can no longer afford the
division, given budget cuts being mandated by the state.
"We're
getting the same vibrations we got in the 1980s, when three commissioners were
taken away in handcuffs" for selling land-use votes, said Cam Oberting, a
longtime activist and president of the Taylor Road Civic Association.
Grand
jury hears Sunshine testimony
By
BETH KORMANIK,
The
Times-Union
The
Jacksonville City Council auditor and a top official in the city's planning
department testified Thursday before the grand jury investigating the council's
compliance with the state's open meetings law.
Council
Auditor Kirk Sherman and John Crofts, deputy director of the Planning and
Development Department, were accompanied by Cindy Laquidara, the city's chief
deputy general counsel.
They
refused to discuss their testimony. The oath they took prohibited them from
doing so.
State
Attorney Harry Shorstein described the proceedings as "an introductory
session" for the grand jury, which decided at its last meeting two weeks
ago to investigate the council.
"It's
important to educate the grand jury on issues of government in the sunshine and
issues related to the operation of government," including the
responsibilities of the planning department, Shorstein said.
Land
use and rezoning decisions often draw controversy and have been the subject of
several lawsuits, some of which allege Sunshine Law violations.
A
Times-Union investigation published last month uncovered a deeply flawed system
of public notification, dozens of meetings about public business held without
public notice or written minutes and several meetings in private places, a
violation of the city's ethics code.
Shorstein
said the grand jury will meet again on the issue Aug. 23.
beth.kormanik@jacksonville.com
(904) 359-4619
Water
worries: When and where is it safe to go in for a dip?
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Mary
Ann Lee says if there's an advisory against swimming at
St.
George
Island
because of bacteria, she won't go.
But
that doesn't mean she doesn't have questions about the advisories.
The
state this week reissued an advisory against swimming at the island's
Franklin Boulevard
test site. Other beaches in Franklin, Wakulla and Taylor counties also remain
under advisories.
The
swimming area at
Ochlockonee
River
State Park
was reopened on Wednesday after being closed for the first time because of
bacteria, park manager Kevin Patton said.
With
the recurring beach advisories, Lee said she wonders: What's causing the
bacteria? How far away is it safe to swim? And why don't they test inside St.
George Island State Park?
"I
like to go to the park - it's beautiful," she said. "But I haven't
gone swimming when they said there is an advisory against it."
State
health officials say they don't have all the answers.
But
the Franklin County Health Department in August does plan to begin sampling at
St. George Island State Park, said Bart Bibler, bureau chief for water programs
at the Florida Department of Health.
While
the
Franklin Boulevard
site on
St.
George
Island
had continued high bacteria levels, that wasn't the case at two other test
sites at
11th Street East
and
11th Street West
.
The
advisories only apply to the test sites, Bibler said. So there is no scientific
way to determine whether it's safe to swim a block away or a mile away or to go
snorkeling offshore.
"We
only have the information at the sample stations that we are sampling
from," he said.
The
bacteria - enterococci and fecal coliform - are indicators of human or animal
waste, Bibler said. Scientists say it's impractical to test water for all of the
harmful bacteria and viruses found in waste.
There
is no obvious source of the bacteria near most test sites - such as a sewage
treatment plant, Bibler said. Other possible sources include septic tanks,
livestock farms, wildlife and dirty stormwater runoff.
But
a new
University of South
Florida
study found data that "strongly indicates" human waste in the
Ochlockonee
River
is the source of bacteria at Mashes Sands park in
Wakulla
County
. The report points to septic tanks upstream along the river and malfunctioning
toilets at the beach and boat ramp at Mashes Sands as possible sources.
Other
studies are underway to examine nearshore and offshore currents in the
Gulf of Mexico
. They could show whether currents prevent bacteria from being carried away from
beaches, Bibler said.
"We
are hopeful that will start to help us understand things much better in this
region," he said.
It
should be safe to eat fish and shellfish caught near beaches with advisories as
long as it is cooked, Bibler said. Other advisories are in place for limiting
fish consumption because of mercury.
Lee
said she hasn't always known about the beach advisories. She wonders whether she
suffered health problems as a result.
"Do
you get the flu?" she said. "If you have an open cut do you get a
sore?"
Infections
or stomach upset and more serious ailments are possible from swimming in the
water, Bibler said
Carrabelle
Mayor Mel Kelly said people may not know about the advisories. She points out
that other states use more visible signs or flags to notify the public.
"There
is a high percentage of people who use that beach who come from a
distance," she said. "Warnings are not as obviously placed as public
interest might demand."
Bibler
said he has no way of knowing how many people heed the warnings or whether beach
visitors actually are aware of them.
The
minimum requirement for local health departments is posting a sign at the beach
sampling location.
The
Florida Department of Health also posts the advisories on its Web site. The
department encourages also encourages local health officials to publicize
advisories through the news media.
"We
are doing it to protect public health at the beaches," Bibler said.
Scientists
puzzled over catfish dying in Santa Fe River
By Jennifer Keil
For The Herald
Several
of the meandering, tea-colored rivers of North Central Florida have recently
been marred by the unsightly, and currently unexplained, appearance of dead fish
floating in the water.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is investigating a
recent rash of reports of dead fish in the Suwannee, Withlacoochee and
Santa Fe
rivers.
The commission has been receiving reports of dead catfish for the past five to
six weeks, according to Gary Byerley, fishery biologist for the FWC. Reports
have spanned from northern
Florida
, where the Withlacoochee meets the Suwannee, down to the intersection of the
Suwannee and the
Santa Fe
rivers.
"I've never seen fish dying for an extended time like this," said
Byerley, who has worked for the FWC for 28 years.
Byerley has been out to the rivers several times to sample fish. Some of the
dead fish have been sent to a lab for analysis, but the results are not all in
yet.
Although channel catfish make up the vast majority of affected fish, he said six
mullets and two largemouth bass have also been found dead. The sick and dying
fish had lesions and patches of fungus growing on them.
The cause of the fish kill remains a mystery.
Originally,
Byerley said he thought it was because of algae. With the overall lack of rain
the past few years, the rivers are shallower than usual, and that allows
sunlight to penetrate deeper into the water.
This encourages the rapid growth of blue-green algae, which releases toxins that
are harmful to fish. The toxins do not affect humans. The algae tests, however,
came back negative.
Now the FWC is looking into the possibility that the fish might be suffering
from Channel Catfish Virus Disease, an illness usually connected with commercial
catfish farms.
With
little rain and shallower water, the catfish have been crowded together, an
environmental stressor that could aid in the contraction and spread of the
disease.
"It's like having a group of people in a room where one of them is sick.
Everyone gets it," Byerley said.
He said the North Central FWC office has never tested for the disease before, so
the samples are being sent to an out-of-state lab where the samples will be
compared to samples of fish from the
St. John's
River
.
A similar outbreak is happening there. Even if the tests come back positive,
there isn't a way to treat the virus, Byerley said.
There is also a possibility, though slim, of it affecting humans.
"I don't foresee, at this point, that happening," he said.
Jim Wood, owner of Santa Fe Canoe Outpost in High Springs, said he hasn't seen
or heard anything about dead fish in the local portion of the
Santa Fe
River
yet, but he wouldn't be surprised if the low water levels had something to do
with it.
He said with little rain, the water flows slower and is thus much clearer than
its normal tea color. Similar to shallow water, the clear water allows plants to
grow thickly, which depletes much of the dissolved oxygen needed by fish to
survive.
The recent rains that broke the drought from earlier this year didn't help very
much, Wood said.
"It's like spitting in the ocean," he said. "We really need a
three to five day tropical storm to start getting water levels up in the
aquifer."
Annette
Long, president of the environmental activist group Save Our Suwannee (SOS),
echoes Woods concerns on the lack of rain.
"This is one of the worst droughts we've had," she said. "The
river being low stresses everything in it."
Long said members of SOS have been performing their own tests on the water to
determine why the fish have been dying, but have not been successful.
"It's kind of baffling," she said. "I hope the FWC and the
Suwannee River Water Management District manage to figure it out."
Despite the mysteriously sick and dying fish, Byerley said he doesn't expect the
event to be catastrophic.
He said that as a part of natural selection, the stronger fish will survive and
spawn, creating a more resilient species for the future.
"There's still a good number of catfish out there that are healthy,"
he said.
To report dead, dying or sick fish, call the Fish Kill Hotline at 1-800-636-0511
or visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at http://myfwc.com
Muck
removal to begin
by Terry Witt
A state agency has selected a contractor to
remove tons of muck from the
Duval
Island
Board Ramp near
Floral
City
,
County
Commissioner
John Thrumston said Thursday.
Pospiech Contracting Inc., will meet with officials of the
Florida
Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Monday at the boat ramp to discuss
the $73,800 project, Thrumston said.
The muck removal project comes at a time when water levels in the Floral City
Pool are low and heavy equipment travel in areas where water once stood. The
plan is to scrape the thick black muck from the bottom and haul it away to a
pre-approved disposal site.
Thrumston lobbied for the project after giving officials from several agencies a
helicopter ride over the Floral City Pool on May 5 to show them how accumulated
sediment and the growth of small hardwood trees has filled areas where water
once flowed.
In the case of the boat ramp, sediment has added several feet of muck to the
boat ramp floor.
Thrumston said the removal project will improve navigation and the local
fishery.
“This is a baby step toward improving the health of the lake system,”
Thrumston said.
Thrumston said FWC scientists are also looking at the intrusion of hardwood
trees into marshy areas at the edge of the Floral City Pool in the area of
Moccasin Slough and the
Dead
River
areas.
Buried
trash could taint water in
Forest
BY
FRED HIERS
STAR-BANNER
OCALA
NATIONAL FOREST
- The water that comes from Debra Thompson's well is as good as any that
bubbles out of
Marion
County
's springs.
The
50-year-old restaurant worker has enjoyed that water from her home - just a
block away from the
Ocala
National Forest
in
Shockley
Heights
- for the past 10 years.
But
for the same period, the
Forest
has served as some people's dumping ground for garbage, abandoned cars, boats
and sometimes even hazardous materials such as used motor oil.
Two
months ago, U.S. Forest Service rangers found a dump site abutting Thompson's
subdivision, which is just over the border into
Lake
County
.
The
site, just a stone's throw from Thompson's house, is 3 acres of vehicles, engine
parts and even a makeshift hog kennel with a dilapidated septic system.
Most
of the trash has been removed. What scares Thompson is the waste that rangers
and Environmental Protection Agency officials suspect is underneath the ground,
potentially affecting the groundwater.
There
is evidence that people dug several pits many feet wide and deep and buried
additional waste, including petroleum-based chemicals, before covering them
again.
"You
can actually dig around a little bit and smell it," said District Ranger
Rick Lint, who oversees the 384,000-acre
Ocala
National Forest
.
"Usually
the dumping is on the surface and not buried. It's definitely unique and
potentially very big," he said of the site. "I've never had anything
this extensive."
U.S.
Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Rains said the investigation was still in its
early stages.
"Until
more testing is done, all we know is it's on the surface soil. Whether it's
permeated into the drinking water, we don't know yet," she said.
The
area off Lake County Road 445 is cordoned off with yellow tape. Mostly trailers
line the National Forest property. Old cars, boats, motor parts and broken
household appliances are scattered in backyards and up to the
Forest
.
Authorities
have made no arrests. They said it's too early to estimate the cost of cleaning
the area if, as they suspect, oil and other chemicals were buried there.
They
still do not know if only one person was responsible for the dump site or if
more families participated.
Meanwhile,
Thompson continues to wait and suspiciously examine her water to see if its
taste changes for the worse.
"They're
ruining nature and everybody's way of life out here," an angry Thompson
said of the dumpers.
"You
can't repair the damage they're doing," she said. "Eventually it's
going to seep down into our well and drinking water. But it's also going to seep
down into their drinking water, too."
Misty
Miller, 29, has lived two years in her home only two blocks from the dump site.
Like all her neighbors, she gets her water from a well.
Miller
said she didn't understand why people, probably many of whom lived in the area
or knew people who did, would throw garbage in the
Forest
when the subdivision already had waste pickup service.
In
addition, there is also a county waste transfer station just a 10-minute drive
away, she said. Miller also wants to know what will become of her groundwater.
"It
would concern anybody," she said.
"We
like it here," Miller said. "I moved here because it's quiet and they
can't over develop it because of the national forest right here. Now we find out
they dump their trash in it."
Fred
Hiers may be reached at fred.hiers@starbanner.com and 352-867-4157.
State
utilities:
Florida
no
California
By
Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA
CAPITAL BUREAU
When
it comes to harnessing the sun or wind for powering homes and offices,
Florida
is no
California
.
But
it does have lots of crops.
That
was the overwhelming theme from
Florida
's utilities and growers, who urged regulators Thursday to tread carefully in
deciding how to respond to Gov. Charlie Crist's renewable energy goals.
The
Public Service Commission gave its first public airing to Crist's executive
order asking it mandate that utilities draw 20 percent of their energy from
renewable sources ''with a strong focus on wind and solar energy.''
Crist's
directives signed at his Miami climate change summit don't set a date for when
utilities should meet that goal, but does set targets for cutting carbon
emissions from utilities to 2000 levels within a decade.
But
any leap into the world of renewables will be financed on the backs of
consumers, utility officials warned.
''At
the end of the day, it's the consumers that are going to pay the price for
electricity,'' said Vincent Dolan, a vice president with Progress Energy.
Solar
and wind power could help, but with 27 million acres of forest, farm and pasture
lands that could be used partially for energy production,
Florida
should keep its renewable strategies grounded on the crops.
Gus
Cepero, with sugar giant Florida Crystals, told PSC members that using sugarcane
and other crops would keep more money paid for energy within the state instead
of shelling it out to outside companies.
''You
pay for transportation, or you pay to the company in
Texas
,'' he said. ''Biomass in
Florida
is local.''
Even
Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson's office distanced itself from
mandating any level of renewable energy sources.
''Generally
speaking, Commissioner Bronson prefers reasonable goals for incentives over
mandates,'' said Deputy Commissioner Jay Levenstein.
''We
need to insure our ability to produce and deliver this energy is not out paced
by our desire to meet this goal.''
The
meeting coincided with Crist's announcement that St. Petersburg-based Progress
Energy was building a wood waste power plant in
Liberty
County
. Crist used the news to brush aside skepticism of his greenhouse goals coming
from conservatives in his own party like House Speaker Marco Rubio, who called
it ''European-style big government mandates.''
''I
love a healthy debate,'' Crist told reporters. ''I think it's important for
Florida
and I'm encouraged ... that he realizes what a big, bold, important issue this
is.
''It's
innovative and we have to continue to look for ways for
Florida
to do better.''
Rubio
said Thursday he wasn't opposed to the goals of carbon reduction.
''The
only question is how do you get there, with a mandate or with incentives that
create technological innovations?'' Rubio said.
''If
you get there with a mandate, it is going to raise utility rates.''
Utilities
and energy experts testified that
California
was already halfway toward its goal of drawing 20 percent of its energy needs
from renewable sources when it inked the requirement, and can draw renewable
energy from surrounding states.
''
Florida
doesn't have that capacity,'' said Paul Barber, a consultant with Salt lake
City-based Energy Strategies, which works with Florida Crystals.
''We
have a better chance of having electricity beamed down from the Starship
Enterprise than from some of the technologies we see today.''
Concern
for patriarch oak tree moves couple to avoid demolition
By Jennifer Jefferson
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Soon
after Marty and Angie Sipple moved into their home on
Woodside Drive
, the family noticed that the beautiful yellow house was not as perfect as they
thought.
The
house, which has a large patriarch oak tree in the front yard, was falling down.
They decided against tearing down the house and rebuilding because it might have
harmed the old and beloved tree.
“Our
concern was always the oak tree,” said Angie Sipple.
They
decided to gut the house and renovate it instead. They've gotten advice from
arborists and taken other steps to protect the tree, including pruning the tree
by hand.
The
time and money spent trying to protect it is adding up. And the renovation is
expected to stretch to August, more than a year after it began.
"It's
been a project that's about to give us a nervous breakdown," she said.
Neighbors
are concerned, too. Sandler Dickson, president of the Waverly Hills Neighborhood
Association, remembers when the tree was named a patriarch oak. It was 1974, the
same year the city turned 150.
“I
love this tree,” Dickson said. “It's my favorite tree.”
Oaks
in Tallahassee are are called patriarchs if they were around when the city was
founded in 1824, said Stan Rosenthal, an extension agent with the University of
Florida IFAS Extension in Leon County. They have a diameter of six feet or more.
Some
91 patriarch oaks are located in the county, Rosenthal said. The trees can live
for 400 years. The tree in the Sipples' yard is believed to be at least 183
years old.
Construction
Is Halted At The Grove
By
LISA A. DAVIS The
Tampa
Tribune
Published:
Jul 27, 2007
WESLEY
CHAPEL - The classic quote "If you build it, they will come," from the
1989 film "Field of Dreams," took on a new meaning Thursday at The
Grove at Wesley Chapel when the fire marshal issued a stop-work order.
Construction
was continuing on the 736,500-square-foot retail and restaurant complex despite
numerous warnings that the project lacked the proper emergency vehicle access
road, county officials said.
"They
had been forewarned several times before," lead fire investigator Mary Jo
Short said. "We don't like to do that and put people out of work, but our
primary concern is safety."
Fire
Marshal Larry Whitten stopped by the massive construction site off
Oakley Boulevard
near Interstate 75 and saw that the road still didn't make the grade, Short
said. As Whitten was about to red tag the project, he saw crews pouring a
concrete slab for a building.
If
construction workers other than a road crew are found on the site before getting
the proper clearance, fines could be imposed.
Once
the slab was finished, the workers were ordered off the site until a road that
can carry up to a 32-ton vehicle is completed, Short said.
"They
have a dirt road now and it's a total puddle," she said. "The water is
about ankle deep."
Whitten's
inspection determined no emergency vehicle could use the road without trouble,
she said.
"If
one of their workers fell from steel or something, we wouldn't be able to get to
them," Short said.
Elizabeth
Vocke, spokeswoman for The Grove, said Thursday evening the problems should be
smoothed out by today.
"They've
corrected the situation and they expect to be up and running by 9 a.m.,"
she said, though she couldn't provide details about how the problem was
resolved.
Pittsburgh-based
Echo Real Estate Development began construction on the plaza in the spring and
it is supposed to open in the fall. Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods and a
16-screen Cobb Theatre are signed as tenants.
Reporter
Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.
Legacy
Development Wins Approval For 860 Homes
By
KEVIN WIATROWSKI The
Tampa
Tribune
Published:
Jul 27, 2007
ODESSA
- County officials on Thursday approved the newest development in the shadow of
the
Suncoast Parkway
.
The
Development Review Committee signed off on a residential project proposed by the
Behnke family for land it owns about a mile west of the toll road.
The
534-acre project, known as Legacy, will build 860 single-family homes and town
houses. Committee members approved the proposal despite a still-unresolved
lawsuit filed landowner Carl Behnke filed against the county over the rezoning
of a neighbor's property.
The
property includes a 1,100-foot-wide wildlife corridor and 178 acres of wetlands.
Legacy
is bounded on the north by a 142-foot-wide corridor the county plans to use to
build a four-lane western extension of
Tower Road
. Long-range plans call for using an overpass above the Suncoast to carry
Tower Road
from
Starkey Boulevard
to U.S. 41, making the road an east-west alternative to State Road 54.
Legacy's
developers will have to pay $3.1 million to build their part of
Tower Road
, a sum attorney David Smolker said "breaks the camel's back."
Also
on Thursday, committee members:
•Approved
construction plans for Wilderness Commons South, a shopping plaza on the south
side of the entrance to Wilderness Lake Preserve in central
Pasco
County
. The plaza will include two retail buildings and a bank, totaling about 27,000
square feet.
•Approved
a six-building medical office complex in the
Trinity
Oaks
Professional
Center
at
Welbilt Boulevard
and
Photonics Drive
.
Reporter
Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at kwiatrowski @tampatrib.com or (813) 948-4201.
North
Port
finds no strength in numbers
By
JEREMY WALLACE
H-T
POLITICAL WRITER
jeremy.wallace@heraldtribune.com
NORTH
PORT
-- At 103 square miles, this sprawling city is hard to miss on a map. It is also
near the top of the census charts for
Florida
's fastest-growing cities, with a population that recently passed 50,000.
North
Port
's
leaders predicted that such growth would make their city a political powerhouse.
It
has not.
It
has been more than 10 years since a
North
Port
resident was elected to an office outside the city limits.
Fewer
than half of the city's residents are registered to vote, and only half of them
turned out for the latest major election. In neighboring Venice, registered
voters cast ballots at nearly three times the rate that they do in North Port.
North
Port has also proven barren ground for political fund-raising, as well.
During
the 2006 governor's race, North Port residents gave $6,100 to the four major
candidates. Venice -- with less than half North Port's population -- gave six
times as much.
Even
residents in rural towns such as Wauchula and Arcadia, which combined have less
than 12,000 residents, were able to muster $16,000 in donations.
And
while North Port is not giving much to candidates, it is not getting much back,
either. A recent city study showed it will cost $6 billion to update North
Port's failing infrastructure -- a cost that dwarfs the city's annual $160
million budget.
City
leaders say the state and, particularly, Sarasota County has not offered enough
support.
"Nobody
cares about us," said retiree Ray Corbin.
But
political experts see it differently, saying North Port must become more engaged
in voting and campaigning.
"They've
taken themselves out of it," said Mac Stevenson, a Republican political
consultant based in Manatee County.
Most
politicians have found it easier to simply ignore North Port.
None
of the current presidential candidates have visited North Port. Charlie Crist,
who bills himself as "the people's governor," did not campaign once in
North Port.
When
White House senior adviser Karl Rove came to the region in May to stump for the
GOP, his motorcade traveled through North Port -- without stopping -- on the way
from Sarasota to a Port Charlotte fundraiser.
In
his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney has made
Florida a virtual second home. Over the past eight months, Romney has stopped in
Bradenton, Osprey, Venice and Sarasota. But not North Port, despite pleas from
local Republicans there.
"Nobody
comes here," said Levko Klos, president of the North Port Republican Club.
Lack
of identity
This
was not how it was supposed to be.
As
North Port annexed thousands of acres, leaders predicted, without a hint of
mirth, that the county seat would move south one day, to the city that is on
track to become the most populous municipality in Manatee, Sarasota and
Charlotte counties.
Now,
residents are frustrated that clout has not followed growth.
North
Port could certainly use some more influence. Hundreds of miles of roads need of
repair. Schools are crowded. Parks are few. Much of the city lacks sewers and
city water. Nort Port does not have a hospital, YMCA or movie theaters.
Political
influence will not solve all its problems. But in decisions made at the state
level, such as permitting a new hospital (North Port was rejected), influence is
important. Influence in county government is even more important, and North Port
leaders regularly complain that they are not getting the city's fair share of
county funds and services.
Undoubtedly,
North Port would get more political attention if more residents voted and
donated to political campaigns.
Sarasota
Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent said age is a big factor in North Port's low
electoral turnout. The city's median age, around 40, is more than 20 years
younger than it is in neighboring communities. Younger voters tend to
participate at a far lower rate than older voters.
At
the same time, few outside efforts have been made to engage North Port voters.
Dent's
office has no program aimed specifically at raising North Port's voter
registration and participation.
The
county's political parties have also been distant.
In
September, for the first time ever, the Sarasota County Democratic Party will
hold its countywide meeting in the city. Republicans have held their countywide
meeting in North Port once in the last two years.
While
political parties say they will try harder, North Port's sheer vastness makes it
hard.
Another
challenge is the city's large group of Ukrainian immigrants, now estimated at
3,000.
Klos,
of Ukrainian heritage, who has twice run for North Port City Commission and
lost, said many immigrants distrust government because of experiences back home.
Because
North Port does not have many high-paying jobs, many younger residents are
forced to commute to work, cutting down on time for civic involvement.
It
is hard to stay involved in politics or the community when you are always on the
road to get to work, said Evelyn Kivlen, who has lived in North Port for seven
years. Kivlen is in the medical profession and said, like a lot of others that
make up the city, she has to commute to other cities in the region to find work.
"They're
too busy raising their families," added Yvonne Marconi, a voter and mother
of two who has lived in North Port for three years.
With
more of a say in county and state politics, many North Port residents are
convinced they could get money for schools and parks.
But
the slighting of North Port by county, state and national leaders has gone on
for so long, residents say, that even older voters have become convinced their
votes do not matter.
Sarasota
County commissioner Jon Thaxton said he is baffled that North Port has not been
able to exert more power in politics. If the city's residents flexed their
political muscle by voting and getting involved in political campaigns, Thaxton
said, they would find the system very responsive to their needs.
"But
you have to vote," Thaxton said. "If you don't vote, you don't get
heard."
Joe
Fink, a former North Port city commissioner who now lives in Arcadia, said the
city's residents still think like a small town, despite the population
explosion. Instead of acting like a city that is close to the same size as
Sarasota and Bradenton, their political involvement is more similar to small
rural towns.
"They
don't realize how powerful they could be," he said.
Jeremy
Wallace can be reached at 361-4966 or jeremy.wallace@ heraldtribune.com
Plans
underscore long road to a green Florida
By
LLOYD DUNKELBERGER
TALLAHASSEE
-- Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday announced plans for the nation's largest
waste-wood biomass power plant, which will be built in rural Liberty County.
He
could not have picked a better symbol for his far-reaching energy plan -- or,
perhaps, one that better illustrates how far the state has yet to go.
As
a means of reducing greenhouse gases in Florida, Crist wants the state's utility
companies to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources,
like biomass or wind or solar power.
With
the Liberty County power plant, which should begin operating in 2011, Progress
Energy Florida president Jeff Lyash said his company will have added the
potential for 200 megawatts of renewable energy to its system in the last year.
But he also said Progress Energy only generates about 5 percent of its power
from renewable sources.
The
lack of renewable energy was highlighted in testimony before the Florida Public
Service Commission on Thursday, where experts said Florida only has about 1,000
megawatts of renewable energy generation. To reach the governor's goal, it would
have to increase renewable sources tenfold to account for 20 percent of the
roughly 50,000 megawatts of power generated in the state.
In
contrast, California, which has set a similar 20 percent goal, already generates
about 11 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.
Nonetheless,
Crist said the new biomass plant represents the "tremendous opportunities
in going green."
Progress
Energy, the state's second-largest private utility company, will buy enough
electricity from the 75-megawatt plant to power 46,000 homes. The plant, which
will burn waste wood, yard trimmings and paper mill byproducts, will be built by
Biomass Gas & Electric, an Atlanta-based company.
"Government
can't do it alone," Crist said. "These companies have stepped up to
the plate. They're doing the right thing."
But
later in the day, utility representatives were raising some cautions about the
governor's energy plans.
Bob
McGee, a representative for the Gulf Power Corp., said the state has to set
realistic goals and timetables.
"I
encourage us to be careful about how ambitious we are in setting that
goal," he said. "It would certainly be a disincentive to set it too
strongly."
The
utility representatives also urged the PSC to consider nuclear power as a
"carbon free" renewable energy source. Florida Power & Light, the
state's largest utility, and Progress Energy have advanced plans to build more
nuclear plants in the state. And Crist has said he sees nuclear power as a
"clean" energy source.
Tom
Hartman, an FPL representative, said wind, solar and energy efficiency
initiatives should "play prominent roles" in meeting the governor's
goal of reducing greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. But he said nuclear
power may be the key.
"Our
analysis showed that only by including large amounts of carbon-free electric
generation made possible by nuclear energy does Florida have a realistic
prospect of achieving the greenhouse gas emissions targets that we all want to
achieve," he told the PSC.
In
addition to nuclear, utility officials said the state should also consider
energy efficiency programs as another factor in meeting the greenhouse gas
reductions.
Over
the last 25 years, Lyash said, Progress Energy has initiated energy savings
programs -- such as encouraging the use of more energy-efficient appliances --
that have saved consumers $825 million and eliminated the potential for 7
million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
"None
of these solutions by themselves are adequate," Lyash said about the
renewable energy options. "But a combination of those solutions will get us
where we need to be."
Barry
Moline, representing the 34 public power companies in the state, said programs
that save a kilowatt of electricity should be considered as valuable as a
kilowatt generated by wind or solar energy.
"Why
not go after both?" he asked. "Why not go after every tool in the
box?"
Under
the governor's executive order, the PSC must begin developing a rule on
renewable energy sources by Sept. 1.
And
highlighting the governor's keen interest in the issue, Chris Kise, one of
Crist's top aides, appeared before the PSC.
Offering
a rebuttal to criticism launched earlier this week by House Speaker Marco Rubio,
who asserted Crist's energy initiatives could be bad for consumers and
businesses, Kise cited the newly announced biomass plant in Liberty County.
He
said it represents "an extraordinary opportunity economically and
environmentally" for the state.
Kise
also said Crist believes the goals outlined in his executive orders earlier this
month are achievable.
"It
can be done," he said. "All of it can be done."
And
some of the PSC members appear ready to act. Commission Nathan Skop dismissed a
suggestion that a study should be conducted on the renewable energy issue.
"Let's
stop the excuses and start putting some stuff in the ground," he
said.
Uproar
silences plan for kennel
Commissioners
turn down Sheldegren Pet Resort's request to add 30 more dog runs.
By
EILEEN SCHULTE
Published
July 27, 2007
They
are rich. They are organized. And they got what they wanted.
Several
residents of the swanky Signature Estates neighborhood helped persuade the
Pinellas County Commission on Tuesday to defeat plans to expand a dog kennel in
Safety Harbor.
In
a 6-1 vote, elected officials decided they would not permit Sheldegren Pet
Resort's owners to build 30 additional enclosed dog runs because the racket
would bother the neighbors.
"It
was like a reverse O.J. Simpson trial," said Mary Ann Engelmann, who owns
the kennel with her husband, Jes Engelmann. "The noise concerns they talked
about were unfounded."
She
was disappointed in the commission's decision because there is a great need for
facilities like hers in Pinellas County, she said.
Most
of the people who spoke against the project live next door to the pet resort in
the upscale Signature Estates community that comprises more than a dozen
million-dollar-plus homes.
"The
noise levels are insane," said Donna Carollo, a Signature Estates resident.
"You can't open your windows ... you can't enjoy your porch."
Said
her husband, Santo Carollo: "We have 5 feet between us and (the kennel). We
want quality of life ... we don't want (the kennel) intruding on our life."
Opponents
said the cacophony ruins neighborhood barbecues and parties, and that the
yipping and yapping can be heard even through closed windows.
Engelmann
said she plans to install soundproofing materials throughout the kennel.
Signature
Estates homeowner William Schumacher called the Engelmanns' expansion plans
"unneighborly."
The
pet resort was built in the 1960s; Signature Estates was built about a decade
ago.
The
Engelmanns bought the 1.7-acre property at 3440 Enterprise Road in 2003.
The
kennel averages about 35 guests a day; capacity is about 70 dogs. If the
Engelmanns had been allowed to expand, that would have increased to 120 animals.
Gary
Borland, who boards his pet at the resort, is one of their supporters. He said
people shouldn't "move next to an airport and then complain about the
planes flying overhead."
Likewise,
he said, they "shouldn't move next to a kennel and complain about"
dogs.
In
case you didn't have enough to worry about:
Killer
bees aren't here yet
Despite
news report which seems to suggest otherwise
By
Robert Bridges, Editor
Contrary
to what you may have heard, killer bees are not terrorizing the local landscape.
Some viewers came away from a TV news report on WJXT Channel 4 Monday believing
Africanized bees had killed a horse in Live Oak. However, the incident actually
occurred in
Hendry
County
in southwestern
Florida
.
According to an online transcript of the WJXT report, "experts to the west
of
Jacksonville
in Live Oak said killer bees killed a horse." The expert was
Jacksonville
entomologist Linda Prentice. Contacted Thursday by the Democrat, Prentice said
she told the WJXT reporter she "thought" the incident had occurred in
Live Oak, but wasn't sure. She said she told the reporter it may have happened
downstate. She was right. In 2004 a 900 lb. horse died in LaBelle after
swallowing the insects.
Nonetheless, Prentice said residents throughout
Florida
should be aware of the danger Africanized bees pose. She offered some pointers
on how to recognize killer bees and how to protect yourself from them.
"Unusually aggressive behavior in high numbers -- that's going to tell the
story," she said. She noted that small children, the disabled and the
elderly are most at risk.
As for how to escape a swarm of the bees? For one thing, Prentice said, do not
dive into the water. She said the bees hover overhead, and when their prey
surfaces and gasps for air they rush into the victim's mouth.
Killer bees have a well-established presence in
Texas
as well as in south and central
Florida
. They have also been spotted in
Jacksonville
. Prentice said the bees will eventually establish populations throughout
Florida.
|