Road will ruin communities

By St. Petersburg times LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published March 18, 2007

Here is a simple solution for Pasco County to save money on road building. Just build roads where they are needed and where the people along the road want the improvement.

I live just east of the Suncoast Parkway on State Road 52. Last summer the county created and approved a plan to widen our road to six lanes with a 40-foot median and pedestrian path. Officials received almost no input from the communities along SR 52 because the meeting was advertised so poorly. Now the damage is done, and we who will suffer because of their decision have no options. The very nature of our gated community will be ruined by this monstrously oversized road that will run through 15 miles of mostly cow pastures and currently quiet residential communities on its way to Interstate 75.

Could the commissioners save money and still meet their need to widen the road by reducing the size to a more sensible four lanes with just a normal median? Could they possibly plan the path of the road on the south side of SR 52, which does not already have an established community, instead of disrupting the environment for which we moved here in the first place and actually going through the back yards of our neighbors? Who really wants this monstrosity anyway?

Joyce Smith, Spring Hill 

Residents plead: Stop the growth

uilders and developers may be enthusiastic about costly, wanton building, but most residents in Pasco are not and some are showing their dismay by moving out of the county.

Thousands of new homes, condos and apartments jamming what was once our beautiful countryside have meant countless traffic jams, loss of vital wetlands, burgeoning garbage, and destruction of farms and woodlands that made Pasco a bucolic place in which to live, raise children or retire.

If county commissioners think voters will stand by and allow the costs of raping the land to be thrown onto voting home- owners, they are out of their minds. We instead offer a simple answer to the problem: Stop the building. We aren't crazy about growth. We, the bulk of the residents, love peace and tranquility and native animals, birds, and foliage with skylines over pastures instead of townhouses or endless developments.

You want to build and develop willy-nilly? Go find another state that wants you.

It's simple. We grew up here or moved here 20 or more years ago. Roads were a couple of lanes and schools were small enough for administrators, students, teachers and parents to know one another. We had enough stores, malls, restaurants. The frenzy was born of the greed of developers, who are concerned only about lining their pockets, not about the well-being of residents.

Voters, stay alert. Watch how your commissioners vote. Turn out when commissioners speak to important issues. Watch out for homeowners' interests and only re-elect the commissioners who are watching out for the welfare of our wetlands, our natural resources and our homeowners.

Christine Nelson, Port Richey 

County Looking Down Road

By JULIA FERRANTE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 18, 2007

Any way you look at it, Pasco County needs more money to build and expand roads.

Just where that money should come from, however, remains very much in question.

A committee appointed to assess transportation impact fees and other funding mechanisms released its recommendations last week.

Their suggestions:

•Raise property taxes by $1 for every $1,000 of valuation - for an estimated $25 million per year in additional revenue. The proceeds would pay only for transportation needs.

•Boost the gasoline tax from 5 cents to 11 cents per gallon for an estimated $55 million during the next five years.

•Double and eventually triple one-time construction fees to pay for roads for an estimated $424 million over the next five years. Developers building in areas where roads are able to handle additional traffic could be given a discount.

Any of those options would have to be approved by the county commission, which in the past has been amenable to raising gas taxes and impact fees but reluctant to boost property taxes. The board is slated to consider the recommendations at a meeting in April.

"I haven't changed my position on property taxes," Commissioner Ted Schrader said during a recent interview. "I have told the development community, as far as I'm concerned, raising property taxes and/or using property taxes to pay for roads is absolutely out of the question. I'm not willing to even consider changing that policy."

Michele Baker, who oversees the transportation impact fee advisory committee, said the panel looked at needs for the next five years and tried to find ways to come up with revenue. The impact fee and gas tax increases would pay for a pared down building program. The property tax portion would help pay for additional projects the committee thought were needed.

County officials who attended a recent committee meeting warned the panel that residents and county commissioners are unlikely to support a property tax increase to pay for roads, Baker said.

Many improvements are needed because of explosive building and growth in the county.

Commissioners also have been reluctant to modify fees and taxes until the state Legislature decides what to do about property taxes. Gov. Charlie Crist has floated ideas for tax breaks ranging from a double homestead exemption for full-time residents - for a $50,000 reduction in assessed valuations - to a carried-over Save Our Homes exemption which limits yearly property tax increases to 3 percent or the cost of inflation. Currently, the exemption expires and the current market value is assessed when a home is sold.

Traditionally, the county has used proceeds from gas taxes, special assessments and impact fees to pay for new roads and road improvements.

Schrader said those methods put the onus on new development rather than residents who came in before the boom. He said he would consider raising gas taxes either by referendum or a super majority of four votes on the county commission. Schrader was among three commissioners who supported raising the gas tax three years ago.

Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand, who also supported raising the gas tax in 2004, said that idea is more palatable to her than raising property taxes.

"I think we would probably have a tax revolt in Pasco County," Hildebrand said, of a potential property tax increase.

Although she agreed impact fees should be raised, the commission chairwoman did not want to make the charges so high that desirable commercial developers and big employers will stay out of Pasco.

Creigh Bogart, a Tampa builder who helped organize opposition to proposed impact fee increases several months ago, said he agrees with most of the committee's recommendations. He worries, however, that developers will be asked to pay more than their fair share.

A county consultant has estimated that it will cost $6 million per lane mile to build roads. Bogart thinks that estimate is too high and that impact fees developers pay will build more roads than the consultant indicates.

He said everyone needs to contribute to building new roads, not just developers who fuel the Pasco economy.

"It's something we all have to look at because we all use the roads," Bogart said. "Right now, only the new people are paying for them &hellipWithout growth, the county will stagnate."

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

By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER

Jackson County Floridan

Sunday, March 18, 2007

By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER

Floridan Staff Writer

The Jackson County Commission board directed staff to help the Compass Lake in the Hills community better-manage its dirt road maintenance program.

The manager of the CLH homeowners association, Linda Brown originally asked the county to donate more than 20 loads of dirt per day to the program. The association has mined out its own dirt pit, Brown said. Commissioners declined that solution in favor of a different kind of help, saying they have their own troubles keeping up with the demand for dirt on county roads.

"I'd hate to get in a position to where we're mined out. Then everybody would be in a pickle," said Commissioner Jeremy Branch. "Our Compass Lake pit is also mined out, and what we do have is just sand, no road base."

Commissioner Milton Pittman echoed Branch's concern. "I'm afraid the county is going to be faced with the same thing in the next few years," he said.

In a consensus decision, board members told county engineer Larry Alvarez to work with the group on an assessment of management practices.

"Some of (the road material) may be being lost to the lake," Alvarez said in asking that he be allowed to advise the group.

There are 145 miles of dirt road and roughly 6,000 lots in the area. The land owners pay $125 each year into a Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU), a special tax that helps in the road maintenance effort.

As the Compass Lake in the Hills Homeowners Association struggles with its road issues, the Compass Lake community at large also has road-related troubles.

Some in the Compass Lake have expressed an interest in establishing an MSTU for the the Compass Lake community at large.

Property owner Dana Erbacher and others have been meeting with Commissioner Branch about that possibility for the past few weeks. One of the most urgent issues is that road material is finding its way into the lake, Erbacher said.

"If something isn't done to stop the runoff today, 20 years from now it will have destroyed the lake and I think that's the emphasis right now," he said. "Let's take steps now to protect it. It's under a lot of other pressure from usage, boating, yes, but more development; more homes and more septic tanks. (An MSTU) won't solve that, but we've got to deal with the runoff. The county has installed two culverts to alleviate drainage across private property from the road to the lake. An elevated culvert takes drainage from the road directly into the lake. If DEP saw it today, I think they would shut it down. We protested it at the time, but they did it anyway. It takes clay, dolomite, and everything else that flows down the pipe and dumps it into the lake. Not only the sediment, but trash as well; bottles, paper, et cetera."

Minneola may end KB Home agreement

The City Council is set to make a decision on the deal at a Tuesday meeting at City Hall.

Robert Sargent
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 18, 2007

MINNEOLA -- Builder KB Home is walking away from an agreement with the city in the latest vivid example that big growth in south Lake County is taking a sharp downward turn.

The two sides made the deal back in July, when city officials annexed a 206-acre site where KB Home planned to build a proposed community of 483 homes east of U.S. Highway 27.

Minneola granted preliminary development approvals. Representatives for KB Home pledged to provide the city 3 acres of land and about $2,000 per home -- close to $1 million altogether -- to help the city build and maintain public facilities and infrastructure.

The builder would have to build a two-lane road from U.S. 27 east along the southern boundary of the proposed site. KB Home also would give Minneola $130,000 to offset initial impacts to fire, law-enforcement, emergency-medical and parks-and-recreation services. Another $50,000 would help the city cover costs of reviewing the project.

City Attorney Scott Gerken said KB Home officials had signed the agreement but did not return it to Minneola despite numerous requests. He said the builder also had some concerns about payment terms in the agreement, although communication had been minimal.

So on Tuesday the City Council will vote whether to revoke the agreement with KB Home. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 800 N. U.S. Highway 27.

Losing the development is a concern in Minneola, where the city is building a $20 million wastewater-treatment plant to serve mostly new homes and businesses.

City officials planned to build its first sewer plant when Minneola was in the height of its hefty growth. The facility, which opens later this year, is expected to accommodate thousands of proposed homes in the area.

Only two neighborhoods in the 9,400-resident city have sewer lines. Most Minneola homes use septic tanks, and they will not use the sewer plant.

New growth is vital to pay for the plant or else city residents may have to foot at least part of the bill for something they won't use.

The KB Home project is only one indication of the area's residential slowdown in recent months.

Other projects approved years ago have been slow to develop. Homes have yet to go up in the 689-unit Reserve at Minneola and the 963-unit Founders Ridge.

Minneola's population exploded by 75 percent between 2000 and last year. But that is changing.

The city issued about 487 permits for new single-family homes in 2004, according to reports. Permit numbers dropped to 127 in 2005, and in 2006, Minneola issued only 35.

Despite the huge decrease, the city has approved major developments to try to fuel its growth for the next decade or so. Aside from the Reserve and Founders Ridge, Minneola has annexed and granted preliminary approval for the nearly 4,000-home Hills of Minneola.

City officials also aim to annex the 2,200-home Sugarloaf Mountain development.

Some city officials say it is too early to react to the cooling housing market. Ideas about KB Home's project vary.

Mayor David Yeager, who voted for the project, had hoped the builder would work out any concerns with the city.

"I don't believe it's in the best interest of the city to pull the plug," Yeager said.

Canceling the contract would not alter the city's annexation of the property although development approvals may be dropped. Minneola also would not get its road, land and money from the builder.

Yeager, a strong growth supporter, said he believes the housing slowdown will not last long enough to raise serious concerns about Minneola's sewer plant.

"I'm in no hurry," he said. "We'll be fine -- the market will come back."

Council member Shane Perreault, an ardent advocate for more controlled growth, voted against the KB Home project. He said it was "very rude" for the builder to drop the development agreement with little communication to the city.

Perreault is happy to see KB Home go: "I think it's fantastic."

He added: "This is how they were before they got the annexation -- when I had different questions to ask them they didn't return phone calls, they gave me wrong information."

Representatives for KB Home did not return requests for interviews.

Perreault said a sewer plant is a good idea but thinks Minneola never should have expected so much from new growth to pay for it.

"I don't know what we're going to do or what is going to happen," he said. "We should have never budgeted on growth because it is not always going to be there."

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

Six stores to open at Coastal Landing

By MICHAEL D. BATES
mbates@hernandotoday.com

It will be seven years ago this August when shoppers from around Hernando and the surrounding area attended the grand opening of the county’s first major outdoor mall: The 240,000-square-foot Coastal Way Shopping Center.

Located on 32 acres at the northeast corner of State Road 50 and Mariner Boulevard, Coastal Way opened with two major anchor stores: Sears and Belk.

Since then, Coastal Way expanded and debuted several other tenants, including Circuit City. With most of the 240,000 square feet now taken up with retailers, the property owner — Galileo America LLC — spent about $3.8 million to build out the 18 acres on the adjacent property to the east.

This companion retail center is known as Coastal Landing and is rapidly filling up with tenants eager to take advantage of the burgeoning growth along the S.R. 50 corridor and the proximity to the Suncoast Parkway.

Already six chains have signed on board, with more expected.

Josh Spooner, project engineer with Hawkins Construction, said Coastal Landing is meant to be a companion plaza to Coastal Way and will be connected via a service road.

So far, the owner has commitments from six tenants: Michael’s, Petco, Marshall’s, Old Navy, Panera Bread and Linens ‘n Things.

Panera Bread will be located on an outparcel closer to S.R. 50 and the others will be connected toward the back of the property.

There are several other buildings that have yet to be leased, Spooner said.

The stores will have staggered openings throughout June and July.

County Tourism Director Sue Rupe said the new Coastal Landing bodes well for the economy and for attracting more visitors to Hernando County.

“Domestic visitors who come to Florida — one of their top activities is shopping,” Rupe said. “Having those anchor stores and having more shops for them to look at may have an impact on making people stick around a bit longer or spending their money here rather than going down to Tampa.”

With so much construction and turning of dirt going on at the site, it’s difficult to tell the players without a scorecard.

For the benefit of our readers, Hernando Today decided to provide a thumbnail sketch of each new store at Coastal Landing.

Keep this guide handy and keep abreast of the latest updated opening dates.

Panera Bread

The company’s mission: “A Loaf of Bread in Every Arm,” says it all.

Panera Bread boasts that it makes more freshly baked bread each day than any bakery-café in the country. Based in Missouri, the chain offers made-to-order sandwiches, salads and soup served in (appropriately enough) bread bowls.

Linens 'n Things

Linens ‘n Things sells home textiles, housewares and decorative home accessories. The retailer operates more than 500 stores in 47 states and six Canadian provinces.

Its chief competitor is Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is scheduled to open a bit farther west of Coastal Landing, just past Mariner Boulevard on the southwest side.

The closest Linens ‘n Things is in the Gulf View Mall.

Old Navy

Old Navy sells clothes and accessories for men, women, boys, girls, and babies. The retailer is known for its trendy ad campaigns and brightly lit stores. The store is owned by Gap Inc., which also operates Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime apparel brands.

The closest location is in the Gulf View Mall.

PETCO

PETCO is a privately held specialty retailer that provides products and services to pet owners.

The San Diego-based retailer’s nonprofit organization, The PETCO Foundation, has raised more than $34 million since its inception in 1999 to help promote and improve the welfare of companion animals. Petco works with and supports more than 4,200 local animal welfare groups across the country to

help find homes for animals.

Michaels

Texas-based Michaels Stores, Inc. is an arts and crafts retailer. They have in-store events, classrooms, and instructional displays.

Found in 48 states and Canada, Michaels carries 40,000 items, has an average 18,200 square feet of selling space. The chain recently opened a store across from the Gulf View Mall.

Marshall's

Based in Framingham, Mass., Marshalls is an off-price

family apparel and home fashion retailer with more than 750 stores spanning 42 states and Puerto Rico.

The chain’s target demographic is women aged 25 to 54. It is also popular with college-educated people in the

middle- to upper-class.

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

Wakulla to meet on septic-tank issue
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

The Wakulla County Commission on Monday is scheduled to take up another proposed emergency ordinance delaying new septic-tank requirements.

State officials and Wakulla County have been wrangling recently over a requirement adopted last October that new septic tanks remove nitrogen to protect groundwater and Wakulla Springs.

But some residents in Wakulla County have balked because the systems could cost $4,000 to $5,000 more. Some septic installers also say state rules could require unnecessary testing and compliance for individual septic systems.

The County Commission adopted an emergency ordinance last month delaying implementation - a move that drew a warning from state officials that the county appeared to be violating state law.

The commission on March 5 voted to rescind that emergency ordinance. County Attorney Ronald Mowrey said last week the county would consider a new measure that delays implementation until Oct. 1 and complies with state law.

A Florida Department of Community Affairs spokesman said late Friday afternoon that state law spells out how such an emergency measure can be adopted.

"We would have to examine any ordinance they adopt to see if it fits within that statutory language, which obviously we would not be able to do this late on a Friday," Peck said.

Mowrey and other Wakulla County officials could not be reached for comment. The commission meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the Commission meeting room, 29 Arran Road in Crawfordville.

Recycling water helps quench rise in growth

The cleansed sewer water helps take the strain of development off the aquifer.

By DAVID HUNT , The Times-Union

The emerging Northeast Florida luxury home: Marble counters, high ceilings and recycled sewer water sprinkling the lawn.

Although reclaimed water isn't the household term here it is in other parts of Florida, expect to see it spurt from more and more home irrigation systems as the region develops. So say utility managers, developers and environmentalists recognizing metropolitan Jacksonville's growth won't stay quenched on groundwater alone.

"If you don't have water, you can't have anything else," said Don Brandes, senior project manager for water supply management with the St. Johns River Water Management District. "You can build roads. You can build schools. You can't create water. You've got to deal with the resources available."

Census estimates show the metro area has grown by almost 150,000 people in the first half of the decade, putting a greater strain on the aquifer system. Also, population gains indicate more running faucets and flushing toilets, leaving utility managers looking for ways to reuse wastewater.

The compromise is reclaimed water - a treated form of what goes down the drain made safe enough for lawn-watering, but it's not drinkable.

"Traditionally, we've thrown it away. Now it's a valuable resource," Brandes said.

Northeast Florida is lagging other parts of the state where sprawl has dictated water reuse, Brandes said, although the region has had infrastructure for reclaimed water in some areas for more than a decade. The water sprays from fountains in man-made ponds. Golf course groundskeepers use it to keep the fairways healthy.

Developers and utility managers say to expect growing use of reclaimed water for the lawns at new subdivisions.

At Silverleaf Plantation, a 7,500-acre development in St. Johns County, builders acting under a development order will install reclaimed water lines to each lot beside the lines that will put drinkable water in the homes, county utility director Bill Young said. The level of reclaimed water use makes the development a first in the county system.

"It's not mandated, but we're working toward mandating it," he said. "You only have so much pure, clean drinking water beneath us. Sure it's difficult to do, but it's the right thing to do."

A similar project is taking shape at the Nocatee development in St. Johns County. Residents there will be served with reclaimed water pumped in by JEA.

Greg Barbour, a partner with Nocatee's master developer, Parc Group, said he remembers water supply being a tense issue seven years ago when the 14,000-unit development was going through the approval phase. St. Johns County was experiencing a drought at the time, he said.

Baker County Manager Joe Cone said the commission there adopted a policy in December requiring developers to install water reuse systems among other infrastructure needs.

Planners are looking at potential developments that could mean 19,000 new houses - a significant boost in a county with a population of about 25,000 where everyone outside of Macclenny relies on septic systems and wells.

Clay County Utility Authority began using reclaimed water in the 1990s, piping it to the Eagle Harbor development outside Orange Park. Use has become so prevalent that some officials think demand could overpower supply in coming decades.

Authority Executive Director Ray Avery said a $21 million project is coming together to build roughly 5 miles of reclaimed water piping to OakLeaf Plantation, a development straddling the Clay and Duval county line. Doing so will irrigate the area while eliminating the need to dump up to 3.5 million gallons of treated wastewater into the river daily, Avery said.

Under a county development policy, reclaimed water lines are required in neighborhoods built in areas where infrastructure exists.

"Water may not be an issue for us right now, but we know it's going to be an issue in the future," Clay County Commissioner Doug Conkey said. "I would not be surprised to see more restrictions."

Over the next year, the water management district will be updating its water supply assessment, a plan that will identify needs and management strategies.

District spokeswoman Teresa Monson said mandates exist only for industrial use, such as golf course irrigation - when the infrastructure is available. She said no residential use mandates are on the horizon. "Part of the issue is reclaimed water is not overly available."

Reclaimed water systems are expected to grow. JEA to date has spent $50 million on treatment and distribution, spokeswoman Gerri Boyce said. Young said his system in St. Johns County treats about 7 million gallons of wastewater each day.

Brandes said Northeast Florida's situation is more palatable than what he's seeing in the Orlando region, where officials may have to use water from the St. Johns River.

The district is supporting that plan, but Brandes said consumer cost is a concern as utilities have to go to greater lengths to acquire and distribute water.

"If worst comes to worst, we have the ocean out there to desalinate. What you'd have is more expensive water," he said.

Vince Seibold, water facilities project administrator for the Northeast Florida branch of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said he agrees the region is behind in developing reclaimed water infrastructure. That's something he said environmental officials should work to change.

"We have not been deemed in a shortage or in jeopardy. In other parts of the state, it's a hot commodity," he said.

david.hunt@jacksonville.com,

(904) 359-4025

State colluded with developers in tax dodge

By Lauren Ritchie

Published March 18, 2007

Raise your hand if you ever licked the beaters after your mom dumped the batter into the cake pan.

That last bit always is the best, isn't it?

Just ask Nancy Rossman and her business partners. These are people who don't just slurp beaters. They devour the bowl, the mixer and the oven. And in this case, you had best get the kids out of the kitchen.

Apparently not satisfied with selling property to taxpayers for $74 million that they bought for a mere $7 million in 2001, Rossman and her crew -- investors Bill Cole and Allan Goldberg -- went a step further in an effort to snag a $6.2 million windfall.

Two government agencies said the sellers asked them to sign statements that weren't true, and they refused. A third, however, gave the Rossman partners what they sought, allowing them to avoid taxes and walk away with $3.4 million extra.

All in all, Rossman and her partners were liable for state and federal taxes on only $20 million of the $74 million sale. Watching them explain this hat trick to the Internal Revenue Service could be entertaining.

How the deal unfolded is intriguing but complicated, like most high finance. Here's what happened -- and how taxpayers ended up holding the bag.

When Rossman, Cole and Goldberg bought 1,584 acres sprawling south from Mount Plymouth into Orange County, they knew the state wanted it for conservation. The new owners quickly started trying to increase the value of the property, called Neighborhood Lakes, through a variety of maneuvers.

You may have read about this land in this column in January 2005, when its owners were trying to cajole two public boards into jacking up the value of the property so that taxpayers would make the property owners rich when the land finally was purchased for conservation.

Obviously, efforts to raise the price were breathtakingly successful. How many properties can you name that have appreciated 10-fold in the past six years?

In the option to buy, however, came a clue that the owners would not settle for tapping the public treasury with a ridiculously inflated price.

" . . . Seller believes the value of the Property exceeds the Total Consideration by a significant amount and that the Seller has agreed to sell the Property for the Total Consideration, a substantial discount, as an accommodation to the State based upon certain terms of this Agreement."

So, a sale that now ranks among the most costly environmental land purchases ever in Florida actually was Rossman, Cole and Goldberg doing an immense favor to us thickskulled taxpayers. Everybody clear on that?

A consortium of government agencies, including the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, the state Department of Environmental Protection through the Florida Forever program, the St. Johns River Water Management District, and Orange and Lake counties agreed to buy five parcels that made up the total. The parties started signing the 55-page option to purchase on Dec. 6, 2006.

However, if the agencies would threaten to take the land by eminent domain rather than simply buy it from willing sellers, the whole picture would change -- by more than $10.5 million for the sellers.

If the governments would sign statements or write letters threatening condemnation, the law would allow Rossman and her partners to avoid paying 15 percent federal capital-gains tax on the profits -- in this case, nearly $10 million -- along with $518,003 worth of state documentary stamps, which are required to transfer property. Throw in the cost of the sellers' legal fees, which then are required to be paid by the taxpayers, and it's easy to see why property owners really, really want to be threatened with eminent domain.

The assistant Orange County attorney who handled the transaction said he was "blindsided" when he opened the packet of closing documents and found that county officials were expected to sign a "threat-of-condemnation" statement.

Using the county's powers to take the land never had been discussed, said Tony Cotter, who shipped it back with a refusal. Good for Cotter. Lying so that rich people making unconscionable profits off the public can dodge taxes is a bad idea.

The water-management district, too, refused to sign. A spokesman said his agency doesn't take land from owners for the purpose of environmental preservation. Lake County, which partnered with the water district, didn't have to sign closing documents and so wasn't asked.

That leaves the expressway authority and DEP, the two contributing the most money.

Oil-Rich Nations Turning Attention To Alternative Fuels

By HASSAN M. FATTAH The New York Times

Published: Mar 18, 2007

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - On the outskirts of this Persian Gulf boomtown, past an oil refinery and a water desalination plant, the foundations are being poured for an ambitious project that will house a research facility and perhaps even a power plant, all intended to take this oil-producing giant into the next energy wave.

Oil, however, will have nothing to do with it. The sun, the wind and hydrogen will.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest OPEC producer with about 10 percent of the known oil reserves, is seeking to become a center for the development and implementation of clean-energy technology.

Last year, the emirate launched the Masdar Initiative (masdar is Arabic for source), which has signed up major oil and technology companies, universities around the world, and UAE ministries to help develop and commercialize renewable-energy technologies backed by hundreds of millions of dollars of Abu Dhabi's money.

At first, the Masdar effort drew skepticism and a few snickers.

The UAE has especially high energy demand to maintain a luxurious life of air-conditioning, chilled swimming pools, and even an indoor ski slope in the emirate of Dubai, a neighbor of Abu Dhabi. UAE officials say that the Masdar project is one way to reduce demand for fossil fuels internally.

The UAE is only the most serious among Persian Gulf oil-producing countries whose thirst for electrical power has spawned efforts to find other sources of energy to save high-value fossil fuels for export. Most Persian Gulf states get their water from desalinating gulf waters, an energy-intensive process. With their populations growing rapidly, domestic consumption of oil is commanding a greater share of production.

Late last year, Saudi Arabia and other gulf states began a research program looking into nuclear power; Iran, which has faced off with the United States and other international powers, insists that its nuclear program is intended to serve mounting energy demands domestically.

Some other Arab countries have dabbled with renewable energy. The Bahrain World Trade Center project in Bahrain includes wind turbines that, developers say, will meet up to 35 percent of the project's power needs. In North Africa and in countries like Jordan, residents have been encouraged to adopt solar heating to save energy costs.

The Masdar Initiative, however, is the most far-reaching program.

"They've seen the writing on the wall: Where will all these places be, post-oil?" said Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien, managing director of BASE, a center in Basel, Switzerland, that promotes investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy. "It's their message that they are an oil-producing nation taking the energy and climate issue seriously and developing their own economy, which is important."

Antarctic Glaciers' Sloughing Of Ice Has Scientists at a Loss

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A02

Some of the largest glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are moving in unusual ways and are losing increased amounts of ice to the sea, researchers said yesterday.

Although the changes in Greenland appear to be related to global warming, it remains unclear what is causing the glaciers of frigid Antarctica and their "ice streams" to lose ice to the ocean in recent years, the researchers said.

"In Greenland we know there is melting associated with the ice loss, but in Antarctica we don't really know why it's happening," said Duncan Wingham, an author of the review released today in Science magazine. "With so much of the world's ice captured in Antarctica, just the fact that we don't know why this is happening is a cause of some concern."

The Antarctic ice loss, which Wingham said is not caused by melting but rather by the pushing of ice streams into the ocean by several glaciers in the west of the continent, has picked up speed in recent years. But Wingham said that because researchers did not have good measures of the depth of the Antarctic ice shelf until about 10 years ago, scientists do not know whether this is a natural variation or a result of human activity.

Complicating the situation for those studying Antarctica, some parts of the continent are gaining ice depth through snowfall while temperatures on the tip of the Antarctic peninsula, the continent's closest point to South America, are rising faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. The surprisingly fast-moving glaciers are largely on the West Antarctic ice sheet.

Wingham, of University College London, and Andrew Shepherd of the University of Edinburgh said satellite radar readings show that overall, each year the ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica amounts to about 10 percent of the rise in the global sea level, which totals about one-tenth of an inch per year. The net loss of Antarctic ice is estimated to be 25 billion metric tons a year, despite the growth of the ice sheet in East Antarctica.

Because such a large percentage of the world's ice is found in those two locations, scientists are carefully watching for signs of increased ice loss. If that process accelerates, researchers say, it could result in a substantial, and highly disruptive, increase in sea levels worldwide.

In Greenland, glaciers appear to be moving more quickly to sea because melting ice has allowed the sheet to slide more easily over the rock and dirt below. In Antarctica, the loss is believed to be associated with the breaking off into seawater of ice deep under the ice sheet with little-understood internal dynamics that put increased pressure on the massive ice streams.

Wingham said he thinks the final paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will say much the same about the Antarctic. "I believe it will be along the lines of 'Something is happening beneath the ice sheets, but we don't really know what it is yet.' "

The panel, sponsored by the United Nations, concluded last month with more than 90 percent certainty that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities are causing the planet to warm significantly.

In the same issue of Science, other researchers report that air pollution from industrialized areas is collecting over the Arctic and creating "Arctic haze." The pollution comes from industrial and natural sources -- aerosols, chemicals that can form into ozone and black carbon, which is produced by incomplete burning of fossil fuels. The gradual warming of the large forests below the Arctic has resulted in an increase in forest fires, which produce air pollutants that can increase warming further.

An Encouraging Stand On Growth

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Mar 17, 2007

The state's denial of a destructive development planned in North Florida indicates Gov. Charlie Crist means business when it comes to enforcing growth management laws.

The state Department of Community Affairs rightly objected to a developer's plan to blast a two-mile-long channel through the Big Bend Seagrass Aquatic Preserve. Biologists say such a channel would destroy habitat, disrupt natural water flows and dump polluted stormwater into the sanctuary. Yet Taylor County officials gave the plan the go-ahead.

Fortunately, DCA showed more regard for the public and the state's natural beauty. The agency found the land-use agreement violated state growth laws and had shut the public out of the process.

One of the agency's concerns was that the county intended to use a number of small amendments to approve the project in phases, precluding the need for public hearings and state review.

Under Gov. Jeb Bush, DCA seemed reluctant to counter local decisions, however short-sighted.

Crist, however, has shown his commitment to smart growth management by appointing attorney Tom Pelham to head the agency. Pelham did an impressive job in that role under Gov. Bob Martinez.

The Taylor County decision signals that under Crist, the state is not going to sit idly by and allow local governments to approve developments without regard to the long-term consequences for the community, the environment and taxpayers.

Fines Needed To Save Seagrass Beds

Tampa Tribune Editorial Published: Mar 17, 2007

Without seagrass, Florida's estuaries would be barren. Grass provides refuge for marine life, particularly juvenile fish. Manatees and turtles feed on it. Smaller creatures eat the algae that grow on it.

But Florida is rapidly losing its seagrass beds. A recent study shows the state has lost 300,000 acres since 1995, down to 2.3 million acres.

Degrading water quality is the primary culprit, and remedies are costly and complicated.

But another problem is careless boaters who blast through the grass, causing long-term damage. It can take five to 10 years for seagrass to regrow. If cut repeatedly, it won't come back.

This is why a bill sponsored by state Rep. Will Kendrick, R-Carrabelle, is necessary. It would fine boaters who carelessly plow through grass beds. Violators would pay $50 for a first offense and up to $1,000 for a fourth offense or more.

Most boaters are careful and conscientious. But penalties are needed to slow down showboaters.

Florida should do everything possible to save its dwindling seagrass beds. The legislation deserves adoption.

Taylor resort plan draws agency critics

NATHAN CRABBE

Sun staff writer

The state's growth-planning agency is threatening to sue Taylor County over a massive marina and resort project, joining a chorus of high-level voices opposing the proposal.

In a letter sent to the county this month, the Florida Department of Community Affairs said the approval process for the Magnolia Bay marina and resort violates state law. The letter said the department would sue if county commissioners proceeded with the process.

Taylor County Commission Chairman Malcolm Page said the county was unaware of the issues raised in the letter and will follow the law. But agencies that must also permit the project are hearing other complaints, leading Page to believe the development is a "long shot" to receive final approval.

State and federal agencies are raising questions about the environmental impact of the project, which would fill 100 acres of wetlands and cut a 36-acre channel though a state seagrass preserve. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said the project might violate the Clean Water Act and shouldn't be approved.

Project developer Chuck Olson said he hopes the agencies take into consideration the project's economic benefit to Taylor County. Most of the county's coastline is owned by government entities, he said, so development should be allowed on the remainder.

"Taylor County has basically been robbed of all of its development rights by the state," he said.

Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt, a retired St. Petersburg heart surgeon, is behind the $700 million project. It would bring a marina complex with six condominium and hotel towers as high as 25 stories to remote coastal land he owns near Dekle Beach.

Taylor County's land-use plan currently designates the property as agricultural. The county had planned to cobble together several small-scale amendments to change the designation, avoiding the more stringent approval process for a large-scale amendment.

But the Department of Community Affairs, which must approve such changes, said the process violates the law and fails to allow proper review of the project.

"It is very clear on the surface that the proposed Resort will present extraordinary issue in regards to the protection of natural resources and exposure of life and property to natural hazards," wrote Charles Gauthier, the department's community planning director.

The letter was addressed to Page, who said the county will now decide the best way to proceed.

"We're working with Magnolia Bay and getting it right," he said.

The county and department are just part of the approval process. The Suwannee River Water Management District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida Cabinet must all decide on additional permits.

The project would mean digging a two-mile-long channel through the Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve and filling coastal wetlands. As mitigation, developers propose planting seagrass in propeller-damaged areas and restoring wetlands on surrounding timber land.

By the end of the month, the water district will either make a decision or ask for more information from developers, said the district's Megan Wetherington. The decision will take into consideration environmental issues as well as whether the project benefits residents, she said.

"Any work has to be clearly in the public benefit," she said.

Developers are simultaneously seeking permits from the Army Corps of Engineers for filling wetlands and dredging the channel. The corps is reviewing public comments and will come out with its position in the next few weeks, said Ed Sarfert, senior project manager for the corps.

The corps received 1,100 comments, he said, all of which opposed the project. The EPA, National Marine Fisheries and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection also sent letters questioning the plan.

Sarfert said the comments will weigh heavily in the corps' decision.

"These are serious comments to receive," he said. "We don't receive these very often."

But Olson is undaunted. He said the agencies have a duty to raise questions about the project, but he believes the concerns will be alleviated and development approved.

"I think there's always a way to accommodate a development," he said.Nathan Crabbe can be reached at 352-338-3176 or crabben@gville sun.com.

Public opinion turning on coal plant
Crist's global-warming concerns, new cost numbers affect views
By Julian Pecquet
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Gov. Charlie Crist's concerns about global warming, along with recent increases in the cost of the proposed Taylor County coal plant, have some people wondering whether the plant is the best deal for Tallahassee.

With the cost increases, the energy plan that includes the coal plant would cost about $78 million more than one that relies more on natural gas. That's less than 2 percent of the plan's total cost of $4.5 billion over 30 years, including construction and fuel, but city officials have said in the past that the coal plant option was the cheapest one.

The new numbers have some people thinking the city should leave the coal plant partnership now.

"It should be an even easier choice to not do it," said Rebecca Martin of Tallahassee, who fought the coal plant during the 2005 referendum. "I'm hoping when all of this comes together that (state regulators) and Crist, all of them say, 'moratorium on old-fashioned coal plants.' ”

City officials point out that cost isn't the only factor and that commissioners have said they want to diversify their fuel mix, which is heavily reliant on natural gas. They said the recently revealed cost increases are due to rising construction costs and a modeling error by a city consultant, Black & Veatch.

That prompted City Commissioner Allan Katz, a coal plant opponent, to question why the consulting firm was working for both the city and the coal plant project partnership, which includes Tallahassee, the Jacksonville Utilities, the DisneyWorld jurisdiction and a group of small Florida municipalities. He has called for an independent analysis of the city's energy needs.

But Gary Brinkworth, the manager of strategic planning for the Tallahassee electric utility, said it made sense to use Black & Veatch because it has worked for three of the partners and knew their needs. (The consulting firm has been working for Tallahassee since 2002; it was paid $356,000 between Oct. 2004 and Feb. 2007, according to Brinkworth.)

"There's nothing sinister about this," Brinkworth said.

He added that Black & Veatch, which was hired by the coal plant partners in Aug. 2005, is only helping them file their application with state regulators and will get paid regardless of the outcome, so it has no incentive to tell Tallahassee to go with the coal plant.

Katz also pointed out that the governor's staff had met with city utilities employees and attorneys from the coal plant partnership on March 7, the day after he mentioned the fight against global warming in his State of the State address. According to Kevin Wailes, the general manager of the city's electric utility, the governor's staff asked questions about the plant's environmental impact.

It's not known what, if any, measures Crist might take to tax coal plant pollutants such as carbon dioxide, as other states have done.

"The governor's staff is now doing research across the board on alternative energy, environmental issues and global warming topics," said Kathy Torian, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Tampa transport board would include Citrus County under bill

Mike Wright

Citrus County is included in legislation to create a Tampa Bay transportation authority, though county officials weren’t told of the bill beforehand and few know anything about it.

S.B. 506, introduced by Sen. Mike Fasano, establishes a seven-county Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority that may issue government bonds to build or expand mass transit, rail service and toll roads.

A 15-member authority board would oversee it. Citrus County would have one representative.

Fasano, R-New Port Richey, discussed the legislation during brief remarks Thursday to business and political leaders who visited Tallahassee with chambers of commerce in Citrus and Hernando counties.

Fasano, whose Senate district includes Citrus west of U.S. 19, said a similar bill is pending in the House of Representatives.

He told chamber representatives that the authority is needed to help solve Tampa Bay’s growing transportation problems. He noted the difficulty of traveling from his Pasco County home to Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

The authority’s boundaries would stretch from Citrus to Manatee counties. Fasano told a reporter that Citrus County benefits by becoming part of a regional transportation planning board.

“You’re going to be in on the decisions in building roads and alternate transportation,” he said.

Citrus County Commissioner John Thrumston, who attended the chamber trip, said he wondered why it hadn’t been presented to the county commission first.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard about it,” he later said. “What’s the advantage to Citrus County?”

Hernando County Commissioner Christopher Kingsley said he also was caught off guard.

“They did not ask us,” he said. “We’ll have no input. It will be controlled by Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee counties.”

Citrus County Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said Friday that similar legislation passed last year, but Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed it. He said he didn’t know that Fasano had filed the bill again this year.

He said regional transportation planning makes sense and is better available to attract federal and state funding.

Maidhof, however, also said that a regional transportation authority could siphon state and federal dollars from Citrus County projects closer to the Tampa area.

“We’re not the only ones with concerns about this,” he said. “Those proposed to receive more votes have a better comfort level than those that don’t. It’s an unfortunate fact that we’re in competition with each other.”

County Unlikely To Join Authority

By Bill Rufty
The Ledger

LAKELAND - The decision to include Polk County in the Tampa Bay Transportation Authority is solely up to the Polk County Commission, and the legislative delegation will take no action unless commissioners decide Wednesday to join, delegation chairman Frank Attkisson said.

And that decision more likely will be "no," according to a majority of the five commission members. It probably is too late to get the county into the authority this year, even in the unlikely event commissioners agreed to join.

Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, who grew up in Winter Haven and graduated from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, spent the past week canvassing delegation members over what has become a controversy threatening to split the eight members since Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, kept the county out of a bill creating the authority.

Legislators from the east side of the county, including Alexander and Rep. Marty Bowen, R-Haines City, argue that their area has nothing in common with the other counties in the proposed authority - all coastal counties.

Legislators from the west side of the county, including Rep. Dennis Ross and Sen. Paula Dockery, both R-Lakeland, said it was well known that the county would be in the authority and Ross said he had even attended meetings to that effect.

Meanwhile some county commissioners seem reluctant to join and say they never discussed the issue at the January legislative delegation meeting.

Without Polk County, the bill creating the transportation authority now includes Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Alexander said they are all coastal counties running north and south in the state and have nothing in common with Polk.

County Commission Chairman Bob English called the meeting for Wednesday to hear about the proposed transportation authority. Long-range planning director Tom Deardorff will give the briefing.

English said he will wait until he hears the presentation.

"I see four choices: join, not join, form our own transportation authority or wait (a year) and see," English said. "I think the better solution might be some sort of interlocal agreement with the Hillsborough group on the west and Orange County on the east, where we would not have any representation, but would work in concert on any plans coming into Polk County or traveling through Polk County."

English said that when the commissioners agreed to support a letter from the local Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) sent to the legislative delegation in support of being included in the Tampa Bay Transportation Authority, they all thought that the authority was only for light rail and other mass transit.

County Commissioner Jack Myers agreed that commissioners had always thought that the authority was solely for mass transit, but said that the bills now in the Legislature are for road construction as well.

"It was always just transit," Myers said. "I think we need to wait and maybe do our own authority."

County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson said it is not necessary for Polk to join any outside authority.

"We are going to be a key whether we are in a transportation authority or not," Wilkinson said. "We are between Hillsborough and Orange and we are not in either county's DOT (Department of Transportation) district. They have to work with us because of our location, but I don't know how it would help us to be in one of their transportation authorities."

Commissioner Sam Johnson, chairman of the Transportation Planning Organization serving Polk County, had said earlier that he, too, had thought that the Tampa Bay authority was for light rail and a region-wide bus system.

Developers fined as trees fall

By ROBIN STEIN
Published March 17, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - In the first major crackdown under a new tree ordinance, city officials have fined two developers a total of nearly $340,000 for allegedly destroying 100 trees without permits.

The developers of Calista Cay, a gated townhome community on Meres Boulevard just west of Alt. U.S. 19, are facing $92,110 for allegedly slashing 45 trees without a permit.

A few miles to the west, at 727 Bayshore Drive, a city inspector responded to a resident's complaint. He said he discovered 55 trees had been razed illegally. In this case, property owner Daniel J. Comeau's tab for reports of violating city rules is $245,000.

The steep fines are the result of the city's newly enhanced tree ordinance, approved by the Board of Commissioners in July after lengthy and contentious debate.

The penalties charged by the city still fell short of those imposed by surrounding cities, according to city staff. But it requires owners who skirt the permitting process altogether to pay fines four times the cost of the permit and replacement fees.

Richard W. Hague, the city's engineering inspector, calculated the $245,500 penalty for the Bayshore property by adding the replacement cost for the 55 trees - $61,375 - and multiplying the sum by four.

The owner, Comeau of Dunedin, could not be reached for comment. City records show that Comeau told inspectors that the site constructor had cleared the trees without his authorization. Hague wrote that this "does not relieve you of responsibility." He cited Comeau for failing to get permits for tree removal and skipping several other steps required by the city's site and building code.

Meanwhile on Meres Boulevard, Frank Burkett, a partner with Wright Land Development, which is building Calista Cay, contends the city made a mistake and that his company will fight the penalties.

"It's really a big mess," Burkett said, calling the fines "ridiculous." The city dispatched an inspector at the request of City Commissioner Peter Dalacos, who noticed the treeless expanse.

"We have a multiple stage project and the site worker accidently cleared a part that wasn't permitted yet," Burkett said. "Ninety-eight percent was permitted already."

Burkett conceded a small slice of the six-acre site had yet to be permitted, but he said a city inspector had been on site and had seen the area marked to be razed and didn't catch the error.

Burkett said development will ultimately exceed landscaping code requirements: Construction will remove 140 trees but ultimately plant 148 .

However, the developer has been forced to cease all work on the project because of the city's citation.

The city will resume processing their permits only when the violation case is resolved. It is not clear when that will happen.

Whether the landowners will actually have to dole out the fines remains to be seen. Both cases were scheduled to go before the code enforcement board in early February. But the hearings were postponed until the city hires a legal adviser - independent of the city's regular law firm, Frazer, Hubbard, Brandt, Trask & Yacavone - for the code enforcement board.

Burkett says the process was not nearly as costly or complicated in Dunedin, where he recently completed another development.

"Tarpon Springs is a bit more eccentric," he said.

The new tree ordinance was the result of months of revisions and fine-tuning to find middle ground between the positions of City Commissioners Peter Nehr and Robin Saenger.

Nehr, who is now serving in the state Legislature, was hesitant to raise fines that would limit property owners' right to use their land. Nehr said the pricey requirement would simply add to the costs and drive up selling prices.

Driving the push to give the ordinance more teeth was Saenger, who argued that the city's tree canopy is a vital part of the community infrastructure. The sweeping live oaks are a distinctive part of the historic landscape that draws residents and tourists to Tarpon Springs, she said. Saenger also pointed out the direct economic benefits provided by the shade and root systems, which cut down costs on energy costs, erosion and flood mitigation.

Reservoir to help provide more water

By TIMES STAFF
Published March 17, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL

By May 2008, Pasco can expect to slake more of its demand for reclaimed water. The Southwest Florida Water Management District and county officials are working together to pay for and build an $18.6-million reservoir on an old 140-acre mine at Overpass and Elam roads. It will store up to 400-million gallons of reclaimed water and supply up to 5,500 more residential customers with an average of 3.3-million gallons per day.

Public opinion turning on coal plant
Crist's global-warming concerns, new cost numbers affect views
By Julian Pecquet
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Gov. Charlie Crist's concerns about global warming, along with recent increases in the cost of the proposed Taylor County coal plant, have some people wondering whether the plant is the best deal for Tallahassee.

With the cost increases, the energy plan that includes the coal plant would cost about $78 million more than one that relies more on natural gas. That's less than 2 percent of the plan's total cost of $4.5 billion over 30 years, including construction and fuel, but city officials have said in the past that the coal plant option was the cheapest one.

The new numbers have some people thinking the city should leave the coal plant partnership now.

"It should be an even easier choice to not do it," said Rebecca Martin of Tallahassee, who fought the coal plant during the 2005 referendum. "I'm hoping when all of this comes together that (state regulators) and Crist, all of them say, 'moratorium on old-fashioned coal plants.' ”

City officials point out that cost isn't the only factor and that commissioners have said they want to diversify their fuel mix, which is heavily reliant on natural gas. They said the recently revealed cost increases are due to rising construction costs and a modeling error by a city consultant, Black & Veatch.

That prompted City Commissioner Allan Katz, a coal plant opponent, to question why the consulting firm was working for both the city and the coal plant project partnership, which includes Tallahassee, the Jacksonville Utilities, the DisneyWorld jurisdiction and a group of small Florida municipalities. He has called for an independent analysis of the city's energy needs.

But Gary Brinkworth, the manager of strategic planning for the Tallahassee electric utility, said it made sense to use Black & Veatch because it has worked for three of the partners and knew their needs. (The consulting firm has been working for Tallahassee since 2002; it was paid $356,000 between Oct. 2004 and Feb. 2007, according to Brinkworth.)

"There's nothing sinister about this," Brinkworth said.

He added that Black & Veatch, which was hired by the coal plant partners in Aug. 2005, is only helping them file their application with state regulators and will get paid regardless of the outcome, so it has no incentive to tell Tallahassee to go with the coal plant.

Katz also pointed out that the governor's staff had met with city utilities employees and attorneys from the coal plant partnership on March 7, the day after he mentioned the fight against global warming in his State of the State address. According to Kevin Wailes, the general manager of the city's electric utility, the governor's staff asked questions about the plant's environmental impact.

It's not known what, if any, measures Crist might take to tax coal plant pollutants such as carbon dioxide, as other states have done.

"The governor's staff is now doing research across the board on alternative energy, environmental issues and global warming topics," said Kathy Torian, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Stuart explores swapping water

By Rachel Simmonsen

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, March 17, 2007

STUART — City staff say they might have found a new source of drinking water: Jupiter Island. But the city could end up getting more than just the sipping kind of H20.

In recent talks with town officials, Stuart staffers have considered the idea of laying a pipe that would carry about 1.4 million gallons of drinking water a day from Jupiter Island's South Martin Regional Utilities.

At the same time, another pipe would carry the same amount of raw sewage from the Jupiter Island wastewater treatment plant to the city's plant downtown.

"Both of us have something the other wants," Stuart's Assistant Public Works Director Dave Peters said.

Stuart officials need to find another source of drinking water, as water managers worry the city's population soon will outpace the supply in the surficial aquifer. Jupiter Island, meanwhile, is nearing capacity at its wastewater treatment plant, Peters said.

The Jupiter Island town manager and assistant town manager did not return phone calls Thursday or Friday. Town Commissioner Jane Davis Doggett said she hadn't committed to the idea, which is still in a preliminary stage, but she said, "I do think it's very smart to exchange."

The town has "plenty of water," Doggett said, mainly because Jupiter Island taps into the deep Floridan Aquifer and uses reverse osmosis to treat the salt-laden water for drinking.

Stuart officials insist they also have plenty of water left in the surficial aquifer, which is not as deep as the Floridan. But the South Florida Water Management District, which issues water-use permits, isn't so sure.

"Most predictions of population are all falling short of actual growth numbers," said Bob Moresi, director of water-use regulation at the water management district. "Our basic interest is we know there are limits on resources."

Besides, Moresi said, the cost of finding new sources of water will only grow, so it's wise for local governments to find solutions sooner rather than later. Wells that once cost $300,000 to drill now cost closer to $1 million.

The city, which uses about 3.5 million gallons of drinking water a day, will need to find another source of water sometime between 2011 and 2013, Peters said. Drilling a well to the Floridan Aquifer and building a small reverse-osmosis facility would cost an estimated $13 million.

By contrast, building the pipeline to take water from Jupiter Island's facility would cost about $6.7 million, according to a city consultant. Construction to move Jupiter Island's sewage to the city's treatment plant would cost about $10.7 million.

The city's wastewater treatment plant has the capacity to treat 4 million gallons a day, but it currently treats about 1.8 million gallons, Peters said.

The discussion of exchanging services someday might expand to include Martin County officials, who have said they'd like to see the city move its sewage treatment plant in downtown Stuart should the county expand the courthouse complex, which sits nearby. Some ideas already being discussed include having the county absorb the city's sewage treatment services or moving the city's plant farther south, which, if anything, might lower the cost of linking Jupiter Island's sewage to the city's system, Peters said.

The city also is looking at water conservation measures. In 2005, the city adopted restrictions on lawn watering. Last month, Stuart commissioners agreed to pay a consultant $23,500 to develop a five-year water conservation plan for the city.

Support for water authority drying up

In a vote Wednesday, members of WAV will determine the Volusia group's fate.

Ludmilla Lelis
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 17, 2007

The Water Authority of Volusia, created four years ago with the ambitious goal of unifying the county's disparate water suppliers, appears likely to either weaken or die.

The 14 county and city officials who make up the authority's board will vote Wednesday on whether to dramatically change the authority by weakening its structure and confining its mission to planning.

If that proposal fails, some predict a renewed call to end the group altogether.

In either case, the authority -- as it exists today -- may soon be history.

The group appeared to have lost its most-loyal backer Thursday night when the Volusia County Council agreed with County Chairman Frank Bruno's suggestion that it was time to "pull the plug."

Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach already have asked to get out.

"We tried something that was pretty avant-garde: Take all these cities and a large swatch of geographical property and tried to give it a one-size-fits-all approach for water," Holly Hill Mayor Roland Via said.

"But there's a danger of it becoming a huge layer of bureaucracy that was going to cost more money and not benefit everybody on an even basis."

Volusia County and 13 of its 16 cities decided in 2003 to form WAV, a unique authority that would provide the future water supply, which eventually may be drawn from the St. Johns River, the Intracoastal Waterway or even the Atlantic Ocean.

Nearly everyone in Florida gets drinking water pumped from the aquifer, but water experts have warned that supply won't be enough for future development, which puts utilities in the position of finding alternative resources.

Born out of Volusia's long history of water-planning groups, the new agency was meant to be more powerful -- with the ability to require members to pay for approved projects, to set a single rate for water and even oversee water allocations for each utility. During the past year, the group faltered as it became clear that WAV was too powerful for some of its members.

In particular, some east Volusia officials balked at the idea of having everyone pay for a $120 million water plant on the St. Johns River to serve west Volusia cities.

"You look at the plan, and it would have required Daytona Beach to pay for water we didn't need and that we wouldn't have for 19 years," said Daytona Beach Commissioner Rick Shiver. "We wouldn't have gotten a drop of water."

Via also didn't want to get saddled with a bill to supply water for southwest Volusia's growth. "Why should a citizen in my city of Holly Hill pay for the development of another city?"

Other authority members said it would only be fair that everyone share the cost of the new water supplies, since all Volusia cities tap into the same aquifer and should be equally responsible when there isn't enough aquifer water for everyone.

"We're all using the same water," said Daytona Beach Shores Vice Mayor Paul deMange.

Nearly everyone agrees that something has to change.

"We've spent a lot of time on how we should govern ourselves instead of doing things," DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar said. "If we can get past Wednesday, at least we can put this period of uncertainly behind us and begin to work together on water-related issues."

Wednesday's proposal would maintain the authority as a planning group, one that could lobby for state money, collect data and promote water conservation.

However, any future construction projects would require separate agreements and would be paid for only by those who wanted to participate and who would need the water.

These changes would free the member cities to work together as smaller regional groups, such as the Eastern Volusia Regional Water Authority, which Daytona Beach, South Daytona and Holly Hill have formed.

A similar west Volusia group could soon be formed -- several west Volusia cities and the county have started informal talks about how to build a water plant on the St. Johns.

It will require 11 votes to approve this transformation, but deMange is lobbying to keep the organization intact.

"I believe it's wrong for the residents of Volusia," deMange said. "It'll allow some cities to have an advantage while the rest will have to scrounge for water later."

Ormond Beach Commissioner Ed Kelley said he would rather see the authority transform itself, rather than lose the countywide group.

"I was very supportive of WAV as it was conceived," he said. "It was the right idea; we shouldn't throw it all away.

"Something would be better than nothing," Kelley said. "Water is important, and working together to solve the water problems is very important."

Ludmilla Lelis can be reached at llelis@orlandosentinel.com or 386-253-0964.

Polk tightens enforcement of water restrictions

News Chief staff report

BARTOW - Effective immediately, the Polk County Utilities Department, in cooperation with the county's Code Enforcement Division and the Polk County Sheriff's Office will strictly enforce mandated water restrictions.

The announcement from the Utilities Department came Friday.

As part of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (Swiftmud), Polk County has been under severe water shortage (Phase II) restrictions since Jan. 16, limiting irrigation for most property owners to one day per week.

These restrictions apply to the use of water from public and private water utilities as well as the use of all wells and surface water sources, such as lakes, ponds and rivers. Pending a reassessment by Swiftmud officials, these restrictions will expire July 31.

Except where cities have more strict schedules in place, residents should water using the following guidelines:

Properties less than 2 acres in size may water only before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Properties 2 acres or larger in size may water only before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.

 Some variances and exemptions are available.

Residents who alreadyfollow a once-per week schedule will maintain the same watering day. All others should follow this schedule: Addresses with street numbers ending in 0 or 1, Monday; numbers ending in 2 or 3, Tuesday; numbers ending in 4 or 5, Wednesday; numbers ending in 6 or 7, Thursday; numbers ending in 8 or 9, Friday.

The tighter restrictions do not apply to those who irrigate with reclaimed water. Residents with reclaimed water irrigation systems may continue to water two days per week.

County ends fight to stop sale of development rights in Reserve

By Hector Florin

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Citing a lack of legal standing, Palm Beach County has grudgingly agreed to bite the bullet on the South Florida Water Management District's sale of development rights to home builder GL Homes in the county's Agricultural Reserve.

The county in recent months sought ways to challenge the sale, citing policy that development rights could not be transferred within the Reserve and that it flew against a voter-approved referendum to preserve agricultural land in the area.

GL Homes will be allowed to build almost 1,300 more homes at the northwest corner of Boynton Beach Boulevard and Lyons Road. The company purchased the development rights available from land owned by the water district for $10 million, a decision the district approved in November.

The district will use the money for Lake Okeechobee projects.

The county's planning, zoning and building department signed off on the first several hundred units of the development this week.

"This is a painful decision," County Administrator Bob Weisman said.

The county and district have discussed the potential of such transfers for nearly 10 years, even prior to the voter-approved $100 million bond issue in 1999 to buy land in the Agricultural Reserve. The county bought 2,356 acres with the bond money and leases much of the land back to farmers.

The Ag Reserve program calls for 60 percent of land in a proposed development to be preserved.

In a 1998 memo regarding a similar sale of water district development rights to GL Homes, Weisman wrote "that such a decision would impact on the public perception of the Ag Reserve program."

County officials are pressing forward to avoid a similar deal from happening again.

Official advises against Mecca plan

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, March 17, 2007

A developer's idea to preserve Mecca Farms with tax money from nearby development has hit a wall.

Palm Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman on Friday recommended that the county commission not consider EB Developers' proposal, three days after the concept came up unexpectedly at a commission meeting.

"It's radically different" from the board's current policies, Weisman said. Plus, it probably would require state legislative action.

Finally, the builder didn't convince him that the plan's use of tax dollars to purchase Mecca Farms makes sense, Weisman said.

EB Developers' concept calls for the county to set up something similar to a community redevelopment area, a state-approved special district that provides financial incentives for blighted, often urban, areas to rebuild.

In this case, the area would encompass several citrus groves and rural land - not typical candidates for special districts of this sort. Owners of the main properties would be EB Developers, GL Homes, Callery-Judge Grove and Lion Country Safari, who through individual projects on 10,775 acres want to build at least 24,000 homes and millions of square feet of business space over the next couple decades.

"The board would need to determine that there was an overall public interest in spending county funds to assist a large undeveloped area of the county develop," Weisman's recommendation said.

Under the so-called sector plan, a county growth blueprint that the state still hasn't approved, about 8,600 homes could go on all that land. Right now, only about 1,100 homes can be built there.

Development arrangements that use public money should provide important public amenities and allow for desired development that would not otherwise occur, said Michael Allan Wolf, University of Florida's Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law.

"I'm not sure either of those factors is operating in this case," Wolf said. That's because the county already owns Mecca Farms, and the county doesn't necessarily want the development the property owners want.

"Sounds like a Ponzi scheme," Wolf said. "They don't have the right to develop the property now. They're using this as a way to say, 'If we do this, then you'll give us permission to do what we want.' Usually it's like, 'If we do this with our money, we can do what we want to do.' "

EB Developers Chief Operating Officer John Markey had pitched the idea as a way to leave Mecca Farms free from development while the county recouped the $120 million it spent on the land to house the Scripps Research Institute. It also could encourage affordable housing, Markey said.

The proposal calls for 40 percent of the multiple proposed projects' tax revenue to go toward things such as roads and drainage in the area, along with purchasing Mecca, Weisman's recommendation said. The county would take the other 60 percent.

Proposals similar to Markey's can be effective in improving areas in decline. CityPlace in West Palm Beach is good example.

Commissioners on Tuesday asked Weisman to meet with EB Developers. They could still consider the proposal if they dismiss Weisman's recommendation.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved returning Mecca Farms - a onetime orange grove known by the name of its former owner, a vegetable grower - to its rural status of one unit per 10 acres, stripping the property's more dense approvals in place for the Scripps project.

Preservation vs. place to play

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published March 17, 2007

Should Pinellas County's charter require voters to approve projects like ballfields before they are built in the Brooker Creek Preserve?

That's what environmental activist Lorraine Margeson suggested Thursday at a County Commission workshop on policy issues with the Brooker Creek Preserve.

At least some commissioners were open to exploring the idea.

On the other hand, another group came with this message: We need ballfields.

About two dozen people - officials, parents and children who participate in sports at the East Lake Youth Sports Complex - asked commissioners to stay the course and allow them to expand their complex onto 38.5 acres in the preserve that they leased for $1 per year.

And balancing those needs and promises - preserving Pinellas' last undeveloped acres vs. providing space for children to play - is just one Brooker Creek Preserve issue commissioners will tackle in the coming months.

So Thursday, county staff members got together a lengthy presentation summarizing projects proposed in the preserve, the issues, their history and the policy decisions that the commission will need to make.

"Our goal and objective here is not to have to revisit these issues again and again," County Commission Chairman Ronnie Duncan said.

Commissioners did not intend to vote on any issue, just to go over all the projects and the issues they raise concerning the preserve. Two additional work sessions are planned in April and May.

As he started Thursday's presentation, County Administrator Steve Spratt said county staffers would like the commissioners to give them some guidance on policies related to the preserve.

"There are various strategies and policies that, frankly, will conflict with each other," he said.

A workshop to address those conflicts was predestined, said Will Davis, the county's director of environmental management, when the county decided to add to the preserve the acres that the Utilities Department bought in the 1980s.

Residents who spoke said they took that as a promise.

Quoting something she had read, Barbara Hoffman told commissioners: "We have less environment now than we ever had in the past - and we have more environment now than we will ever have in the future."

She couldn't stop thinking about how it applies here.

"Please don't let one more inch go," said Hoffman, a Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve board member and a member of the county's Environmental Science Forum, an advisory group that has recommended against several projects the preserve.

Issues discussed during the daylong workshop included changing land use designations in the preserve and considering water facilities such as the water-blending plant proposed for the northern part of the preserve.

When audience members were allowed to speak, Bryan Kutchins, legal counsel to the East Lake Youth Sports Association, gave commissioners the news that the Southwest Florida Water Management District had just told his group it would have to reduce the number of proposed fields at the new site from four to three to better protect the wetlands.

"Three fields will not meet our needs," he said, "and we probably will be back to the well for future needs."

After public comment, several commissioners suggested taking one more look to find another site for the ballfields. Commissioner Calvin Harris took it a step further and said the county should be providing an active recreation program, not just handing out checks to groups like the East Lake group.

"We ought to have a program," he said. "The concern about ballfields ought to be ours, not the parents.' "

In closing comments, Duncan said it had been one of the most stimulating sessions in his two years on the board: two passionate groups concerned about two major quality-of-life issues.

And they hit close to home.

The night before, Duncan said he was thinking about Brooker Creek and preparing for the work session as he pulled into his garage. His 4-year-old son met him at his car and said:

"Daddy, I want to join a soccer league."

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or 727 445-4170.

Residents weigh in on waterfront master plan

BY JESSICA RAYNOR
FLORIDA TODAY

They want public access, ecotourism, kayaking areas, interpretive signs with the history of the area, shaded pathways, a fishing pier and parking.

But they also want to make sure none of these additions damage the fragile waterfront and can be ecologically sustainable.

Residents voiced their opinions at a public hearing earlier this month on what shape the city's waterfront master plan should take.

Now Kurt Easton with the RMPK Group, the consulting firm the city hired to develop the plan, will try to integrate these ideas into the plan, which will be finalized within the next two to four weeks.

"What we have are several elements we can work with," Easton said at the close of the workshop.

The waterfront master plan is part of the implementation of another master plan, this one for the U.S. 1 corridor. It aims to redevelop a stretch of U.S. 1 in Titusville from the Holiday Inn to Grace Street with mixed-use development and aesthetic upgrades.

Easton began the meeting by outlining the issues engineers have to contend with in redeveloping the waterfront, including stormwater management and limited right-of-ways that may require getting easements from businesses along the U.S. 1 corridor to have an uninterrupted pathway.

Proposed design elements for the waterfront include boardwalks, trails and greenways, public art and amenities, including restrooms.

Residents suggested ideas ranging from ridding the waterfront of stinky seaweed to creating environmentally friendly public access points.

"We need to focus in on sustainable ecological benchmarks for each phase (of the project)," said Michael Sayre of Titusville, the developer of a so-called green hotel.

Other ideas included possibly privatizing the strip of waterfront, making it low-maintenance, creating a place where people can learn the extensive history of the area, and focusing attention on beautifying the area, which is now marked by cracked pavement and overgrown lots.

"I'm tired of people telling me that Titusville looks like the ghetto," said resident Reva Harris.

Contact Raynor at 360-1016 or jraynor@floridatoday.com.

Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is about more than raising animals and growing plants

BY HARRIET DANIELS
STAR-BANNER

OCALA - Paper and clothes come from things planted in the ground."

"Food and veggies come from plants, too."

"And things from seeds can make you feel well when you are sick."

The list of things that grow from seeds were just a few examples of what hundreds of Marion County elementary students learned from the book "Oh Say You Can Seed? All About Flowering Plants" on Thursday during the fourth annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day.

The book, by Bonnie Worth, is a part of the Dr. Seuss's Cat In the Hat Learning Library.

Volunteers, including Charlie Hofer, a consultant with Cargill Animal Nutrition and president of the Marion County Farm Bureau, and Chris Reese of Briar Patch Nursery in Ocala and vice president of the Marion County Farm Bureau, read the book to students at Greenway Elementary.

The group of fourth graders giggled at several parts and seemed curious about others as Hofer and Reese read the humorous tale about the process of how seeds grow.

Reese asked how many of the group has ever planted a seed. One student had grown watermelons, while another had raised tomatoes.

He fielded a variety of questions from the students about his job at the nursery, ranging from how many types of soil exist to how much sunlight plants need.

"How long does it take for a plant to be full grown?" asked 9-year-old Cody Jordan.

"Well it really depends on the type of plant it is," Reese said.

Emily Alonso, 10, wanted to know, "How come plants have to go into a nursery if they can feed and grow by themselves?"

Her question was related to the book, which explains that, "Plants are the only living things on earth that can make their own food. To do this it just needs water, minerals and the sun. That's why daytime is when food making is done."

Reese, impressed with the level of questions from the students, hopes to invite them for a field trip to his nursery so they can see the greenhouse and other aspects up close.

Karen Bird, a fourth-grade teacher at Greenway Elementary, spearheaded the school's participation in the literacy program. Bird, who grew up on a farm in Levy County, said she values the overall agriculture industry, especially the life skills and responsibilities learned while living on a farm.

"I wanted my students to be exposed to that. I have done agriculture units during agriculture week in the past," she said. "Agriculture is not just about cows, sows and plows; there is so much more to it, and it enhances what we are doing in the classroom."

Kelli Hofer, chairwoman of the Marion County Farm Bureau Women's Committee, worked to coordinate the agriculture literacy day in public and private schools throughout Marion County. The literacy program, intended to increase awareness about the agriculture industry, is geared for students in kindergarten to fifth grade, and the books will be donated to the library at each school.

"The state is focusing on gardening this year," Hofer said. "So each teacher will get a packet of seeds and hopefully the students will get to plant them and see them grow before the end of the year."

Students at Greenway also learned about cows from Lindy Batten, the reigning Marion County Cattlemen's Sweetheart and an intern at the school. She told them about the many byproducts of cows, such as bubble gum, which came as a shock to students and teachers alike.

"One of the ingredients in bubble gum comes from the gelatins in a cow's body," Batten said. "So do marshmallows, Jell-O and crayons. Other byproducts, of course, are ice cream from milk, and the horns make piano keys."

Harriet Daniels can be reached at harriet.daniels@starbanner.

Historic mansion for sale on eBay

BY RICK NEALE
FLORIDA TODAY

For sale on eBay: a pink Victorian mansion nestled in downtown Melbourne.

Asking price: $3.75 million.

In an atypical advertisement, the Strawberry Mansion restaurant awaits bidders on the Internet auction block. Also included in the 1.34-acre package is the adjacent Mr. Beaujean's Bar-Grill & Breakfast courtyard eatery, two Spanish-style apartment buildings and the long-abandoned OK Tire store, all between New Haven and Strawbridge avenues near the Melbourne Causeway.

Will some overseas millionaire buy the mansion online, sight unseen? Could be.

"I actually have had e-mails from Canada, the U.S. I've had one from the Netherlands," said Bob Brown, the owner. "I've had a lot of brokers e-mail me. I had one from Germany, an American officer there."

So far, though, no buyers have entered bids.

Touted on eBay as a "universally known landmark and urban oasis," the three-story Strawberry Mansion is described as a fine purchase for "the experienced restaurateur looking for an exceptional and unique opportunity in Florida."

"It's interesting marketing, because it's such a big piece of property. I've seen it used before, (but) not for properties this expensive," said Dennis Basile, a commercial Realtor with Pruitt Real Estate, which is also listing the mansion. "It's just a very unique way to do it."

Nannie Lee and her husband, John, built the Strawberry Mansion in 1905 on the Indian River Lagoon bluffs.

Decades later, the mansion was abandoned. Brown bought and restored the vacant structure and opened a restaurant in 1980. The venture closed in October.

Last fall, Brown struck a purchase agreement with Dr. Richard Hynes' development partner, Towne Realty. But the deal fell through in mid-November, Brown said. He placed the building on eBay Jan. 2.

Friday afternoon, an eBay search for "strawberry mansion" produced the Melbourne building and 16 other assorted items, ranging in price from a $35 book to a $2.75 postcard. These depicted or described a different historic Strawberry Mansion in Philadelphia's Fairmont Park.

Contact Neale at 242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com

The woman -- and trend -- developers fear

Lauren Ritchie
COMMENTARY

March 16, 2007

That blonde in the classy lime green suit with pale pink lipstick has developers on the run.

They hate her. Lesley Blackner is anathema to them. And it's pretty amusing how their last frayed nerve is starting to show.

Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer and mother of two, found herself on the cover of Florida Trend magazine and the subject of a catty profile in the March issue.

A headline on the cover asked, "Who's Lesley Blackner?" Another answered: "The woman behind 'Hometown Democracy' -- and why every business group in Florida hates it."

The magazine needn't have bothered. Its readers already know. For most of the rest of us, however, Blackner's life work is a mystery, and her name is unfamiliar.

Here's the short answer: She's the woman making a liar of every developer who ever repeated the mantra, "Growth is coming -- there's nothing you can do about it."

Blackner runs the organization collecting signatures for a ballot question on a constitutional amendment that would require a change in every local government's blueprint for growth: It would force elected officials to ask you, the voter, each time a developer wants to change land use to build a big subdivision.

Imagine being able to take control of the destiny of your community. What a delightful switch -- no longer would residents be condemned to life at the mercy of sprawl junkies.

Imagine what would happen to developers. Instead of treating residents with contempt or throwing condescending "town meetings," developers would be forced into building decent communities that voters would like to live next door to.

Oh, no! The party is up! Au revoir to the easy money!

Rather than spending a limited amount of cash on getting three elected officials -- or a majority -- to vote for the change, they would have to convince the whole county that their development is worthy.

No wonder they're coming apart.

Florida Trend quotes critics as saying that Blackner uses shallow sound bites to get support.

One of her favorite sayings is "We have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer."

Certainly, it's clever, but is she wrong? I think not. And neither do they.

The magazine says Blackner appeals to emotion rather than deliberation. I guess that criticism doesn't apply to a Florida Chamber of Commerce executive who said that the Hometown Democracy initiative is "environmentalists using our Constitution to shut down jobs."

Oh, boy. They're scared. How scared?

Consider that Blackner's group has not yet come close to success. They have 250,000 signatures and need 611,000 by the end of the year. Yet, a consortium of folks -- made up largely of building and development interests -- successfully spent about $3.4 million last year to make it harder to pass a constitutional amendment like Blackner's. Now, approval of a constitutional amendment requires a 60 percent vote rather than a simple majority.

And yet, the development community remains clueless. Trend quotes a professor as saying that there is an "undercurrent" of anti-growth sentiment. Undercurrent? On which planet? People have been screaming at the top of their lungs about the degradation of their roads, schools, water supplies and way of life because of out-of-control sprawl. They're just not listening.

Want to help?

Go to FloridaHometownDemocracy.com for instructions and a petition. If you're not hooked to the Internet, write Florida Hometown Democracy Inc., P.O. Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170 or make a toll-free call to the 1-866-779-5513, and the staff will send you a stack.

What seems to bother developers most is that this one-woman threat has their checkbook in her hands.

They've attacked her -- in the press, in private and just about anywhere else.

They are in denial.

Blackner isn't their problem.

People are -- huge hordes of residents, many of whom live in the impersonal, scorched-earth subdivisions that developers created. She simply has tapped into the emotion.

If developers had three brain cells to rub together, they'd forget about Blackner and her nifty suit and start playing to the crowd. Regardless of whether Blackner and her group succeed, people have realized that they DO have power and that a better way of life is possible.

If they don't get a more reasonable growth rate, they're going to use that power, one way or another.

Lauren Ritchie can be reached at Lritchie@orlandosentinel.comor 352-742-5918.

Lawyer: Proposed Parkway Could Help Save Environment

By Bill Rufty
The Ledger

LAKELAND - The proposed Heartland Parkway, a toll road straight up the center of Florida from Fort Myers to Interstate 4, if done right, could result in greater protection of the environment than if the land was left to develop on its own, a lawyer for 10 large landowners pushing for the 140-mile highway said Thursday.

In a meeting with The Ledger editorial board, former state Sen. Rick Dantzler, lawyer for the group, and Adam Goodman, representing the owners' nonprofit organization to push for the road, Heart Inc., defended the plan against opponents' charges that the toll road was simply a plan to allow development in the center of the state, one of the last largely rural areas.

"If I could be king for a day, I'd stop much of the growth, but you can't,'' said Dantzler, who chaired the Natural Resources Committee while in the Florida Senate in the 1990s.

"Growth is coming; it is here,'' Dantzler said. "In the next 25 years another 6 million people will be living south of Intestate 4; 1.5 million will be in the heartland … The best approach is a (road) plan that can protect against rural sprawl, which would fragment environmental areas and disrupt wildlife corridors.''

Heart Inc. wants local and state agencies to study a plan that would allow concentrated development at limited points along the road in exchange for large areas of the land remaining in agriculture and conservation, especially in creating a large wildlife travel way through the entire region.

Dantzler, a former Democratic candidate for governor, and Goodman, who was consultant to Katherine Harris' Senate campaign last year, sought to allay fears that the road's backers are land owners who see the road as a way to develop their property.

There were hints by both that the big landowners along the route might be willing to a trade right-of-way for the toll road in exchange for concentrated development rights on portions of their properties - lowering the cost of the road even further. The land among the owners in the group totals about 1 million acres. Dantzler said the vast majority would be kept undeveloped or in light use.

"If we do nothing, we are going to see sprawl anyway,'' Dantzler said. "If we take the proper planning and create this agreement, it will protect a major portion of the land (from development) and allow connected wildlife corridors, while still aiding (counties south of Polk) which are areas of critical economic concern,'' he said.

So far 10 large landowners have signed on to Heart Inc. They are Alico, A. Duda & Sons, Lykes Bros, Atlantic Blue Group, Highlands Cassidy, Bonita Bay, Brian Paul, Latt Maxcy Inc. and Mosaic Co.

One of the major players pushing for the road is state Sen. J. D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, whose family runs Alico Inc., a LaBelle agribusiness with citrus groves and ranchland. Alexander asked Dantzler, who represents Alico, to become the lawyer for Heart Inc. in December of 2005.

But Dantzler said he did not accept the assignment blindly.

"I would not be in this room if it were just to punch a road through the heartland,'' Dantzler said. "I will be the first to concede that the history of road building in this country has not been good to the environment. But this plan is not just about cars and freight traffic or commuter rail. It is about an overall plan for a region. This is a chance to try something never attempted before.''

The toll road is a long-range plan over several decades. Dantzler said the first phase would have to be the Polk County section because of the increased development and growing selloff of large tracts of land. And that first project is 10 to 15 years away from completion, he said. The road would connect to the Polk Parkway and Interstate 4 at ChampionsGate at the Polk/Osceola line.

Bill Rufty can be reached at 802-7523 or bill.rufty@theledger.com

To Revive Hillsborough River, Listen To Scientists, Increase Flow

Published: Mar 16, 2007

A scientific report should put an end to the debate over how much fresh water is needed to revive the much-degraded lower Hillsborough River.

City of Tampa officials and river activists who have been warring over proposed flow levels should accept the findings and focus on achieving the recommended increases.

The dispute is centered on the Southwest Florida Water Management District's proposal to increase the fresh water flow from the dam located about 10 miles north of the river's mouth at Rowlett Park. The dam creates a billion-gallon reservoir that provides most of Tampa's drinking water.

The water agency wants to double the release from 10 to 20 cubic feet per second, or from 6.5 million gallons to 13 millions gallons a day.

Environmental advocates believe the proposed increase will do little to revive an ecosystem desperately in need of fresh water. Officials at the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission also have raised concerns.

But city officials fear the release of more water would reduce the city's drinking water supply, force it to buy more water from the regional water utility and increase consumers' costs.

A new study of the district's proposal clarifies matters and identifies the best solution.

The three scientists who scrutinized the proposal say increasing water flow to 20 cubic feet per second would restore the river, but "just barely and not in all seasons." A maximum of 24 cubic feet - especially during the spring, when juvenile fish migrate into the river - would be safer. They found no biological benefits to increasing the flow beyond 24 cubic feet.

Water agency director David Moore says that when his board meets on March 27, his staff will likely propose approving 24 cubic feet for spring months, and 20 cubic feet the rest of the year - a thoughtful response.

The city may find those levels a challenge, but Moore says the city could increase the water piped from Sulphur Springs to the bottom of the dam. He also suggests the city build a pipeline that would carry water from the Tampa Bypass Canal to the river. The district would share the costs of the estimated $25 million project.

The costs to the consumers would be slight, probably no more than a few dollars more a month.

The city has provided the cheapest water in the region largely by ignoring the river's health. It's time officials accept that protecting the river is a necessary expense, just as their predecessors realized decades ago that wastewater should be treated, even though dumping sewage into Tampa Bay was a lot cheaper.

At the same time, conservationists should accept the reality that the lower Hillsborough's health is going to be dependent on engineering projects, not a return of a natural flow. And they should at least consider the possibility of using treated wastewater to augment flow. It would provide an abundant source of fresh water and is cleaner than what now flows into the river.

The scientists' report shows that restoring the lower Hillsborough River is a realistic goal. It's time to make the river's ecosystem a priority.

Panel mulls special water use district

By Terry Witt

Citrus County can lay claim to abundant water resources, except in times of drought, but are the current government protections strong enough to preserve the resource well into the future?

The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board has asked its staff to begin a public process of taking input on whether all or part of Citrus and Hernando counties should be declared a Water Use Caution Area (WUCA).

A WUCA is an area where water withdrawals may have negative impacts to the water resource, related land resources or the public.

The WUCA designation has thus far been reserved for areas south of Hernando County where water withdrawals from the aquifer have either damaged natural systems like wetlands, lakes and swamps, or threaten to damage them.

In Citrus and Hernando, the primary emphasis would be on preventing such adverse effects from occurring in the future.

If the two counties were declared a WUCA, the district could use regulations, fines, education or some combination of the three to encourage water conservation.

“WUCA tries to get people to use the water more efficiently,” said H. Robert “Bob” Lue, Brooksville regulation manager.

District staff members are in the process of consulting officials on the Coastal Rivers and Withlacoochee River Basin Boards about what they think about a possible WUCA designation.

District advisory committees, including the Green Industry, Agricultural, Environmental, Industrial and Public Supply will also be consulted.

Meetings will also be scheduled to take input for stakeholders in the area, including local governments, the business community, environmental organizations, major water users and others.

One of the tools the district can use in a WUCA is utility conservation rates. In central water systems, households that use more water pay higher prices per gallon. The idea is to encourage less water use.

Stricter enforcement of watering restrictions can also be a tool. Tampa is in the WUCA program and tightly enforces its lawn watering restrictions, according to district officials.

The district would expect Citrus County to enforce lawn watering restrictions, realizing it takes greater resources.

The Citrus County Commission’s current policy regarding lawn watering violations is for people to call 911. If the sheriff’s office has an officer available to investigate, someone will be sent, according to Robert Knight, water resources department director.

Knight said he doubts the county commission would entertain the idea of adding positions to enforce watering restrictions this year, given the anticipated budget reductions.

The district governing board said it will base its decision on whether to designate Citrus and Hernando counties a WUCA by considering the following:

* The quantity of water available for use from groundwater sources, surface water sources, or both;

* The quality of water available for use from groundwater sources, surface water sources, or both, including impacts such as saltwater intrusion, or pollution;

* Environmental systems, such as wetlands, lakes, streams, estuaries, fish and wildlife or other natural resources;

* Lake stages or surface water rates of flow;

* Offsite land uses; and

* Other resources as deemed appropriate by the governing board.

Water managers OK golf course

By Robert P. King

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, March 16, 2007

A golf course that will suck a million gallons a day from South Florida's dwindling water supply won approval Thursday from the same agency that wants homeowners to limit their lawn irrigation because of drought.

The board of the South Florida Water Management District unanimously approved Palm Beach County's plans for the 190-acre golf course, at the edge of the Everglades west of Boca Raton, despite criticism from environmentalists who called it a waste of natural resources.

"It blows me away when you're talking water restrictions for the rest of the state," said Cynthia Plockelman, vice president of the Audubon Society of the Everglades, just before the board's 9-0 vote. "I don't see how you all can justify this."

But Edwin Goldwasser, a board member of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, welcomed the permit on behalf of the group's 65,000 members, saying residents in unincorporated south county have only limited access to golf courses owned by Boca Raton and Delray Beach. "We are second-class citizens," he said.

The decision came about two hours before the board imposed three-day-a-week limits on lawn sprinkling from Tequesta to the Keys, plus a 30 percent cut in irrigation by farmers relying on Lake Okeechobee.

Water managers said the golf course will fall under the same restrictions as everyone else, and board member Lennart Lindahl said the county should consider whether it's a wise time to begin planting grass. "But that's their business decision."

The approval for the golf course came exactly a month after the board announced it would no longer allow cities and counties to rely on the Everglades for their increasing water needs. Communities would have to turn to costlier sources, such as irrigating with treated sewage.

But Palm Beach County's new golf course will draw 30 million gallons of fresh water per month from on-site lakes and the shallow Biscayne Aquifer - all part of the same overstretched water system that draws from the Everglades. The course is under construction in the South County Regional Park at the west end of Glades Road.

The golf course will have to switch to recycled sewage if it becomes available, district Deputy Executive Director Chip Merriam said.

The course will be next to the northernmost remnant of the Everglades, the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, further angering the environmentalists.

Water managers said their studies show the project won't harm the refuge or groundwater supplies.

The project's champions include County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who wants to house the Palm Beach International Film Festival in an amphitheater planned for the park.

Audubon conservation director Rosa Durando questioned why the district rushed to approve the permit, noting that legally it didn't have to act until May 10.

But Thursday might have been the last meeting for four of the district's lame-duck board members, whom Gov. Charlie Crist could replace as early as this week.

Three members, including Chairman Kevin McCarty of Delray Beach, are serving terms that expire this month. A fourth, Miya Burt-Stewart of Hollywood, has been in limbo since January, when Crist rescinded ex-Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to appoint her.

John Chesher, director of the county's capital improvements division, said this week that workers will begin planting sprigs of grass in the soil in four to six weeks.

It will take about three months to cover the entire course. The sprigs will get "almost daily" watering for the first month after being planted, he said.

If all goes as planned, the course will open this fall, about a year later than promised. It carries a price tag of more than $40 million, including debt service.

State's a tinderbox, forestry officials say

TALLAHASSEE -- Get ready for another hot wildfire season.

Florida forestry officials on Thursday told Gov. Charlie Crist the state is dry. And it's going to get worse.

And while the most-severe drought conditions are in South Florida, the officials warned the problems are expected to spread up the east coast to the Jacksonville area.

That means Volusia and Flagler residents might have to brace for a repeat of last year, when wildfires charred thousands of acres in Southeast Volusia County.

"Coming into the peak fire season, we're already dry," said Deborah Hanley, meteorologist for the Florida Division of Forestry.

Hanley was one of the officials who briefed Crist and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. She also offered other bad news: Weather conditions contributing to the drought likely will increase the chances of hurricanes later this year.

As of March 12, Florida had 608 wildfires this year, burning more than 57,000 acres. Locally, fires have popped up recently in the Samsula and Pierson areas.

-- Jim Saunders

Drought or just a 'rainfall deficit'?

By Terry Witt

Water levels are dropping on the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes in response to more than a year of below-normal rainfall, robbing docks and boat ramps of water.

In its northern region of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, rainfall last year was 15 inches below the historic average. The outlook is just as bleak this year in the northern region, which includes Citrus.

“It’s very dry and it’s going to get worse,” said Michael Molligan, spokesman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

The annual dry period for the area typically begins in about two weeks and lasts until June.

District officials are limiting lawn watering to conserve water.

The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday closed the Withlapopka Isles Boat Ramp near Floral City due to lack of water.

County Grounds Maintenance Manager Bob Glancy said eight county boat ramps on the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes are close to being shut down.

Without a major rainstorm or series of storms, he said lake levels would continue to drop.

“If we could get feet of rain — and it would have to be countywide — that’s what we would need,” he said.

Rain is forecast for today, but the storm is unlikely to bring about a recovery of the lakes unless rainfall amounts are extremely heavy.

Glancy said boat ramps on the west side of the county, which are influenced by tidal changes, are not being affected by the unusually dry weather.

Weather conditions are similar to those seen in the drought of 2000-01 when the northern region of the district received 32.88 inches of rain. Last year, the northern region got 38.73 inches of rain.

On Monday, the level of the Floral City pool had dropped almost 6 feet below what the district considers the “maximum desirable level.” The Inverness pool was 4.4 feet below the desired level and the Hernando Pool was 3.4 feet lower than that desired level.

Groundwater in the Floridan aquifer is also dropping. As of March 8 this year, the aquifer in the northern region of the district was three-quarters of a foot below normal. It dropped to more than 2.3 feet below normal in 2001.

On Citrus County’s east side, the 19,000-acre lake chain is directly linked to the aquifer below it, according to district officials. When rainfall is low and the aquifer drops, the lakes respond by losing water. Evaporation also claims some of the water.

The district doesn’t use the term drought to describe the current weather conditions, according to Molligan. He said the district calls it a severe water shortage and a rainfall deficit. He said the word drought is used by other agencies to describe soils, agriculture and fire conditions. The federal government also has a drought index.

Molligan said the district has declared a severe water shortage. The district is in the second phase of the shortage, which limits lawn watering.

The goal of the district is to encourage all public and private water systems to reduce daily water usage to 150 gallons per person. One of the tools the district uses to decrease water use is conservation rates for public and private central water systems. Conservation rates impose higher prices per gallon on the households that use the most water.

The old Citrus County Utilities system owned by the county has reduced daily consumption levels from 256 gallons per person in 2003 to 205 gallons this year using conservation rates, according to Robert Knight, director of the new county water resources department.

However, he said three communities that now fall under his department are pumping more than their district water permits allow. He said Sugarmill Woods, Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge are also overpumping. Knight said he anticipates the district will impose conservation rates on all three communities to bring consumption levels down.

Drought spurs order to shackle sprinklers

By Robert P. King

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, March 16, 2007

Turn off those sprinklers. Water restrictions are returning to South Florida.

This time, they might be here to stay.

Water managers voted Thursday to impose three-day-a-week limits for sprinklers from Tequesta to the Keys, saying it's time for residents and businesses to share the pain of a drought that threatens the region's wells and wildlife.

"Water conservation is everybody's responsibility," Kevin McCarty, chairman of the South Florida Water Management District, said after his board approved the limits in a 9-0 vote.

Even after the drought ends, board members said, they will consider enacting mandatory limits year-round to send the message that water is finite. Such limits are in effect in the Tampa Bay area and other parts of the state.

The new restrictions take effect in six days. Violators could face warnings, fines or - in extreme cases - misdemeanor charges punishable by 60 days in jail.

The board also imposed 30 percent cuts in the water supply for growers around Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie Canal and the Caloosahatchee River.

Separately, the district declared a shortage that will limit the water available to farms in rural Martin and St. Lucie counties that rely on the C-23, C-24 and C-25 canals. The small number of households that draw from those canals will fall under the same restrictions as people in Palm Beach County.

The three-day-a-week limits also will apply to Martin County residents served by Tequesta's water utility.

Farmers around the lake said the restrictions will cost them on the fields and in the wallet. Those growers have been under 15 percent cuts since November.

"Now that we will be cut back even further and it has not rained in six weeks, our fields are suffering," said John Hundley, vice president of production for Hundley Farms east of Belle Glade, who estimated crop losses of up to 15 percent in sweet corn alone. "It will all hurt. It's hurting right now."

Barbara Miedema, spokeswoman for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, said farmers around the lake lost an estimated $100 million in sugar cane, citrus, vegetables and other crops in the last drought, which ended in 2001.

Since then, the farmers have continued to suffer from the region's feast-or-famine climate, said Tom MacVicar, a West Palm Beach water consultant. "These are the same growers who got hammered in 2001 by the drought with significant financial harm, then got hit by two years of hurricanes."

In contrast, district leaders described the coast's new lawn-sprinkling limits as "moderate," saying they will allow more than enough water to keep grass green.

One of the most public symbols of the region's water profligacy, the spurting fountain in front of West Palm Beach's city library, will continue to squirt amid crowds of swimsuit-wearing youngsters. Under the district's rules, fountains that recirculate water can keep operating as long as they don't leak or overflow.

Even so, the limits will affect millions of coastal residents, along with plant nurseries, landscaping operations, carwashes and every other business that depends on water. And the details will make life trickier. For instance, a home's allowed watering days will depend on whether its address is odd or even, and nobody will be allowed to water on Fridays.

Even harsher restrictions are inevitable unless the skies reverse the near-record dry spell that has lingered since last spring, district Executive Director Carol Wehle warned. Those could limit watering to two days a week, or even one.

Wehle said last year was the region's sixth-driest since 1932, and the district's rain gauges have recorded no rain so far during March in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. During the past 30 days, rain in those counties has been 85 percent to 90 percent below normal.

The dearth of drops has plunged Lake Okeechobee to less than 11 feet above sea level, more than 4 feet below where it was a year ago.

Within two months, the lake could be too low to drain into the canals that send water to farms, the coast and the Everglades. The district would have to move the water using temporary pumps it began installing this month.

Water levels also have begun dropping in the Everglades, which supplies the bulk of South Florida's water.

District board members Mike Collins and Malcolm "Bubba" Wade said some of the blame for the shortage should be directed at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which dumped nearly a foot of water from the lake last year to restore the health of its waterlogged interior marshes. The corps wouldn't stop even after the district requested it, Collins said.

"We wouldn't be in the position we're in today with cutbacks if we still had that water in the lake," said Wade, an executive vice president of United States Sugar Corp.

But the corps says it also had to lower the lake to protect the leak-prone Herbert Hoover Dike, which a panel of district-hired engineering consultants had labeled a "grave and imminent danger" to human life. Acting on that finding, then-Gov. Jeb Bush last year urged the corps to find ways to keep the lake lower year-round.

"Our primary focus was the Herbert Hoover Dike, and that's still our focus today," said Dennis Duke, a corps leader from Jacksonville. "It's easy to talk about the wrong thing you did yesterday."

One thing that has changed since then: A year ago, meteorologists were predicting a rollicking hurricane season, but it proved to be a dud.

While it's not yet a crisis for the coast, the drought eventually could allow salt water from the Atlantic to contaminate the coastal wells that supply millions of residents' faucets. Wildfires could rage. Even the district might not have enough water to save the thousands of acres of underwater plants in the filter marshes that make up its $1.1 billion Everglades cleanup.

Local governments are still gearing up to enforce the rules.

Manalapan may not exhibit the extreme customer-friendliness it showed in 2001, when the town sent employees to reset residents' sprinklers. Instead, Town Manager Greg Dunham said, residents would be notified by phone, newsletter, e-mail and door hangers.

West Palm Beach water customers will likely get reminders with their monthly bills. "We want to encourage our customers to be as conservative as they can and save water," said Marjorie Craig, the city's utilities director.

The city's water supply comes from Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake, by way of the Grassy Waters Preserve and, ultimately, Lake Okeechobee.

"When we reach the real dry season, we'll be very limited in the amount of water we can take from Lake Okeechobee," Craig said.

A dirty business at the bottom of Happy Hill

By Times editorial
Published March 16, 2007

A private developer is turning a mountain into a mole hill. Unfortunately, the picturesque vista along Happy Hill Road in east Pasco is the victim in a convoluted blame game that allowed developers to skirt appropriate scrutiny from Pasco County and Dade City.

At issue is the JES Properties Inc. work site for Summit View, a planned 406-home project east of Happy Hill and south of St. Joe Road. The property is within Dade City limits, but access to and from the property is along a county road.

Dade City does not have a local ordinance governing dirt mining. Pasco County does, but its requirements can be circumvented because of the site's location within the city.

Huge dirt mounds are on the property now and dirt-hauling trucks had been coming and going from the property at the rate of one every two minutes, according to county observations. The developer agreed recently to stop. Developers have said the site work is required to bring the planned home roofs in line with treetops because of complaints the houses would rise above the hill's peak. Karla Owens, city attorney for Dade City, also said the developer is meeting its Southwest Florida Water Management District permit requirements.

Here's a more pertinent point of view: By hauling 2.2-million cubic yards of dirt from the property, the developer stands to gross roughly $25-million, Commissioner Ted Schrader estimated. That's some site work. Too bad the neighbors and motorists will have to tolerate hundreds of trucks a day leaving the property for the next two years and the end result will be a hill 25 feet shorter than when development started.

The cost to the developer? A measly $400,000 to Pasco County to cover road improvements. No wonder some commissioners want to yank permission for the developer to use county roads. Pasco issued a right of way use permit believing the access was for the eventual residents of Summit View, not for a for-profit dirt-mining operation. The little detail of excavating 2.2-million cubic yards of dirt was not included on the paperwork submitted to the county.

"We issued a permit under false pretenses," said Commissioner Michael Cox. It's hard to disagree with his logic.

"It's arguable that maybe we made a mistake," Owens said. No kidding.

Dade City does not have a local ordinance governing dirt mining operations. The city doesn't want to regulate mines because it doesn't want to encourage their existence within the city. That may have made sense years ago, but as Dade City's municipal boundaries grow through annexation, the city should adopt rules similar to Pasco County's or ban dirt-mining altogether as an improper land use within the city limits.

Pasco County, meanwhile, needs to improve its communication with the municipal governments attempting to grow via annexations. Future right of way use permit applications should include all documentation that has been submitted to the city governments.

JES and Pasco are now negotiating new conditions for the company's permit to use county roads. The county can't prohibit dirt mining outside its jurisdiction, but it shouldn't hesitate to be aggressive in its demands for this amended permit. The private sector's bottom line is an appropriate place to seek mitigation for the top of Happy Hill.

Board backs mining setback

By Terry Witt

County planning board members voted unanimously Thursday to recommend a 3,000-foot mining setback from residential areas, saying the county has no other rules in place to protect neighbors.

The change in land use regulations would prohibit new or expanding mines from operating within 3,000 feet of the nearest existing home, a move applauded by neighbors of the Inglis Quarry.

Planning and Development Review Board members said the county lacks any other regulations to address the hours or number of days that mines can operate, and until that happens the 3,000-foot separation is all they have to work with.

“I guess what everyone is saying is no one is ready to change 3,000 feet unless we have something more,” said board member Raymond Hughes.

Much of the support for the 3,000-foot setback came from neighbors of the Inglis Quarry in northwest Citrus County. They complained of being disturbed at night by equipment and machinery noise at the limestone mine. The mine operates 24 hours a day, four days a week.

Dave Berkley, president of Withlacoochee Area Residents (WAR), said he was happy with the board’s decision but wasn’t ready to celebrate.

“I’ll be satisfied when the county commission says yes to the 3,000 feet,” he said.

County commissioners will have a workshop and public hearing before deciding whether the 3,000-foot mining setback should be adopted.

Frank Colitz, who operates two mines in the Lecanto area, said the regulation would be unfair to him.

He said the recently approved Allen Plantation subdivision can build homes within 25 feet of his Malen limestone mine, but the new rule would not give him the same rights.

“As long as mines can’t encroach on anybody, people shouldn’t encroach on mines,” he said.

Jennifer H. Borgen, spokeswoman for Cemex, said the Inglis Quarry is a valuable economic asset to the community, producing millions of dollars in revenue and providing jobs for the community. She said those facts should be considered in the decision on whether to restrict limestone mining.

Don Kelly, director of aggregate operations in the Southeast United States, said more than 1 million tons of crushed limestone are produced in Citrus County each year and more than 6 million tons are produced in Citrus and surrounding counties. He said the average home requires 400 tons of aggregate to construct, an indication of its value to the local building industry.

Borgen noted, as did attorney Clark Stillwell, that noise has become the issue with the Inglis Quarry, but she said the mine complies with the county’s noise regulations. If the 3,000-foot setback were reduced, she said the mine would still have to comply with the noise limitations.

“Just because you hear noise doesn’t mean it’s a violation,” Stillwell said.

Borgen said the company is carefully reviewing all the issues related to the mine, including how to respond to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation’s concerns about water quality issues. The agency is recommending Cemex perform additional studies of the hydrology and soils around the mine.

“I think we will continue to examine the issue internally before we decide what the next step will be,” she said.

Citrus Mining and Timber, which owns the Inglis Quarry, has 750 acres of land at the site currently zoned for limestone mining. The owner, Dixie Hollins, has proposed a development plan that would allow Cemex to excavate high-grade rock on the northern boundary. Hollins would do commercial development along the southern border of his property, which is the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

Noise was a big issue for neighbors of the quarry.

Dan Bowman, who lives in Yankeetown north of the mine, said he can hear the mine’s operations clearly in his elevated home north of the Withlacoochee River. He said the loud bangs, sharp cracks and other noises of short duration are the most bothersome to neighbors. He said they are not like continuous background noise.

He said Hollins’ offer to build a 35-foot high earthen berm between the mine and neighboring homes as a buffer would not deaden the noise. He questioned Cemex’s claims that it has complied with the county’s noise regulations.

Bowman worked for International Minerals and Chemicals Corporation in Polk County in the 1970s and said he was one of the original creators of the “roving dragline repair” crews and processing plants repair crews. He said the mining operation at the Inglis Quarry was similar to the one he worked for in Polk County.

He said he was also a maintenance consultant for 14 years, including serving as vice president of Precision Mechanical Analysis and office manager for the Orlando Law Engineering Industrial Services Group. He joined Florida Power (now Progress Energy) in 1992 working at the Crystal River nuclear power plant in the engineering group. One of his jobs was sound analysis, he said.

Attorney Clark Bertoch painted a mental picture of what he said life is like for neighbors of the quarry.

“Picture yourself living with noise pollution 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Bertoch, who represents Bowman and others.

Charles Miko, who lives north of the Inglis Quarry along the Withlacoochee River, said the 3,000-foot separation is nothing new. He said the rule has been in effect for more than 20 years but was mistakenly moved out of the land development code into a section of county law governing noise and vibration. He said the county is now moving it back where it belongs into the land development code.

If the county commission approves the 3,000-foot setback, Cemex could apply for a variance that would allow it to operate closer to residences, said Development Services Director Gary Maidhof. He said the planning board could then attach conditions to the variance such as controlling the hours of operation and days of operation.

In other business:

* The planning board voted not to recommend limitations on the density of residential developments known as planning development overlays in the Coastal High Hazard Area. PDOs are developments that require a master plan and provide flexibility for the developer.

The county commission proposed limiting development densities in PDOs to protect the environmentally sensitive coastal area. If the land use was low-density residential, commissioners said there would be no flexibility in the master plan to increase the density through creative land-use planning.

But planning board members agreed with Stillwell that it would create inequities in the county’s land-use regulations and comprehensive plan and wasn’t needed.

City could face fine over Cecil wetlands violations

About 9 acres on city-owned property were destroyed without proper permits.

Jacksonville is facing a possible fine after about 9 acres of wetlands were destroyed, without proper permitting, in 2004 on city-owned property at Cecil Commerce Center.

ARCADIS US Inc., the city's program manager for the development of the commerce center, took responsibility for the destruction, saying its staffers didn't see the wetlands in aerial photographs and failed to walk the site to double check before construction, said Stephen Stewart, the Jacksonville office manager.

The company will pay any fine or perform any mitigation as a result of the incident, Stewart said.

Wetlands are legally protected areas that enhance water quality, fish and wildlife and assist with flood protection.

The destruction was discovered in late December or early January during initial site preparations for the Bridgestone @ Cecil Commerce Center warehouse and office project, said Dale Lovell, compliance manager for the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Bridgestone has since been issued permits to dredge or fill about 34 acres of wetlands on the site of its future building.

Lovell said workers noticed fill on about 6 acres of wetlands on the site and another 3 acres off the site. The city was notified in a letter from the district on Feb. 14.

Lovell said water management district officials don't believe it was done intentionally and the district may seek a penalty of $10,000 per violation. The district will negotiate a consent order with the city, which will include the amount of the penalty.

Despite the incident, ARCADIS remains the program manager for the commerce center, said Paul Crawford, deputy director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. "They have a vast knowledge that it would take another firm a long to catch up on," he said.

mary.palka@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4104

Sarasota might have trimmed mangroves illegally

SARASOTA -- The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has warned the city that it may have violated state law while trimming 5,500 square feet of mangroves near Marina Jack.

A letter, received by the city Thursday, informed the city that it might have illegally trimmed mangroves on the edge of environmentally protected Sarasota Bay, which requires a DEP permit.

"They didn't have authorization from the department to do the work," said Pamela Vazquez, a spokeswoman for DEP's Southwest District.

The city's public works department legally trimmed mangroves in an area on the south side of Marina Jack, said Bill Hallisey, director of public works.

"The mangroves that were trimmed were trimmed under the supervision of one of our arborists, and we believe everything was done under appropriate procedures," Hallisey said.

There are special guidelines for trimming mangroves that permit it only in certain areas and with a limited scope.

The DEP conducted several inspections of the area after receiving a complaint last April, Vazquez said.

Hallisey said the issue came up last summer, and he thought it had been resolved.

He plans to consult his staff and respond to the DEP within the 15 days it has given them to schedule a meeting to discuss the matter.

The DEP's next step is to get the city under a consent order, which means officials acknowledge that there was a violation of state rules, Vazquez said.

The city could eventually be fined, although Vazquez did not know how much.

Mining buffer space retained

At least, for now. Mine officials wanted fewer feet between mines and homes.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published March 16, 2007

Residents of northwest Citrus who oppose expansion of mining near their property won the first round of a contentious battle Thursday.

In a 6-0 vote, the Planning and Development Review Board recommended preserving countywide rules that require at least 3,000 feet between mines and homes.

County commissioners will have the final say. A meeting date has not yet been set, but they will likely consider the issue next month.

Representatives of local mines, including Cemex and Crystal River Quarries, said the 3,000-foot requirement is unfair and unfounded and suggested a new 200-foot rule.

They presented statistics that they said showed mines were already operating well within county noise requirements. And they urged officials to consider the importance of mining for construction projects in Citrus and around the state.

"Simply because you hear noise doesn't mean it's a violation," said Inverness attorney Clark Stillwell, who represents Cemex and Citrus Mining and Timber.

But a group of residents from northwest Citrus and southwest Levy said the setback preserves their rights to enjoy their property.

They claimed the sounds of clangs, bangs and blasts already disrupt their lives. And they said Cemex had presented biased data.

"There are serious and convenient voids ... . It seems something is missing: credibility," Inglis resident Dan Hilliard said.

Several residents said they were worried expanded mining would harm the local water supply.

"It's going to get worse, and it will spread," Yankeetown resident Ron Armstrong said.

But Cemex representatives who spoke at the meeting, including several scientists, said mining had not diminished local water quality. And they said state regulations would ensure safeguards to protect water.

"All you heard today from residents supporting the 3,000-foot setback was conjecture," said Don Kelly, Cemex director of aggregate operations.

Ultimately the planning board unanimously supported the 3,000-foot setback, which county staffers had recommended.

But several board members expressed reservations about their vote.

"All mines are not the same. We need to regulate it," board member Raymond Hughes said. "I think we need some more data, some more regulations."

Board chairman J.J. Bard said the county should require construction of berms to protect mine neighbors from noise.

"I think 3,000 feet is too much," he said.

Battles between residents and mining interests are nothing new in Citrus.

Stillwell sparked the latest dispute last April, when he said a 2001 state law that charged the fire marshal with regulating blasting trumped the county's existing 3,000-foot setback rule.

County attorneys said the county could impose new mining setbacks in its land development code.

Thursday's planning board hearing was the first step.

The meeting came on the heels of a County Commission discussion of mining regulation earlier this week.

Commissioners said they were concerned about a legislator's proposal to pre-empt local mining regulations with state rules. They unanimously voted to pass a resolution supporting local regulation of mines.

In other news at Thursday's planning board meeting, board members unanimously voted against another proposed change to the county's land development code. County commissioners had proposed preventing planned development overlays of increased densities in coastal high hazard areas.

But planning board members agreed the change was unnecessary. And several suggested commissioners were trying to avoid dealing with controversial issues, like past proposals from RealtiCorp for property in west Citrus.

"It really flies in the face of what they're supposed to be up there doing," board member Dwight Hooper said.

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

S. Florida to feel heat from water limits

The Associated Press

IAMI — Thirsty crops, flower beds and golf courses will be some of the results of water restrictions imposed Thursday on South East Florida, an area that encompasses about a third of the state’s population.
The measures are aimed at cutting the region’s water consumption by 15 percent and more in some areas. They come after more than a year of below-normal rainfall in South Florida, water officials said.
Weather and the success of the restrictions will determine how long they last or whether water managers take additional and tougher measures.
‘‘We are getting some rain. The bad news is it isn’t enough to make a difference,’’ said Susan Sylvester, of the South Florida Water Management District. ‘‘This is really about making people concerned, making them aware.’’
The mandatory limits come as Florida growers are heading into a part of the year where they need the most water. They also come as the state heads into two months that are traditionally the driest of the year.
Four counties on the lower Atlantic Coast of the state will be affected by the restrictions: Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach. About 5.5 million of the state’s roughly 18 million residents live in those areas. The Gulf Coast of Florida is already under year-round water conservation measures.
The restrictions will be most severe in the area of Lake Okeechobee. The lake is the main water supply for farmers in the area and the backup water supply for South Florida.
Some growers around the lake will experience cutbacks of 45 percent or more in their water consumption, according to officials. The restrictions being imposed around the lake are considered modified ‘‘phase two’’ or ‘‘severe.’’
Tom MacVicar represents a number agricultural businesses that use water from the lake, including those that grow sugarcane, vegetables, rice and citrus.
‘‘It’s hard to grow a crop with half the water,’’ he said, adding that growers he works with are apprehensive.
Restrictions in the four counties are ‘‘phase one’’ or ‘‘moderate.’’
Phase three restrictions are the harshest. Water restrictions were also placed on agricultural areas in St. Lucie County.
As part of the phase one restrictions, water managers are limiting residential lawn sprinkling to three days a week during early morning hours. In addition, golf courses, nurseries and utilities are being asked to make cutbacks.
Local governments will oversee the restrictions. Violations are punishable by up to a $500 fine or six months in jail. There may be some leniency where officials issue warnings while residents learn about the new rules.
The mandatory cutbacks are the first since a drought in 2000-2001 that left the state strapped for water. At that time, water levels in Lake Okeechobee ultimately fell to around 9 feet above sea level.
Currently the lake’s water level is hovering around 11 feet, about 4 feet short of average levels during this time of year from 1992 to 2000, said Randy Smith, a spokesman for the water district.
Sylvester said the current numbers should not be taken lightly.
‘‘I think everybody knew how bad it got in 2001,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s not too early to start conserving.’’

Housing Unlikely To Recover Quickly, Pulte CFO Says

By BRIAN LOUIS Bloomberg News

Published: Mar 16, 2007

LONDON - A top executive for Pulte Homes, the nation's fourth-largest home builder, said Thursday that the housing market is unlikely to have a quick recovery as buyers wait out the drop in prices.

"We're not projecting anything to bounce off the bottom at this point," Chief Financial Officer Roger Cregg said at a UBS conference in London. "There's been a lot of buyers that have moved to the sidelines."

Profit at home builders has plunged since the five-year housing boom ended a year ago. Rising inventories of unsold homes and hesitation by potential buyers on concern that the price of their house will drop has sent the housing market tumbling.

"We don't think it's repeatable," Cregg said of the high profit and sales of 2004 and 2005 for builders.

Home building executives have turned bearish on the prospects for a recovery this year after previously forecasting that buyers would return in 2007.

Donald Tomnitz, the chief executive officer of D.R. Horton, said March 7 at a Citigroup conference that his company would miss its projections for closings this year and that "2007 is going to suck, all 12 months of the calendar year." Horton is the nation's second-largest home-builder by revenue.

Toll Bros. CEO Robert Toll said at the same conference that the market "is still beset by speculation" and that it may take longer in some areas to cut the number of unsold properties.

The forecasts, along with a crisis in the subprime lending market, have sparked a decline in home builder shares this year. The stocks had gained from July to February on expectations of a housing recovery this year and comments from some industry executives that the market was stabilizing.

Part of the fuel for the housing boom was the availability of mortgage loans to buyers with poor credit histories. Investors now are concerned that tightening lending standards will reduce the number of buyers for houses and keep the housing market weak.

A Standard & Poor's measure of home construction companies tumbled 16 percent from Jan. 1 through Wednesday, erasing all gains achieved after rebounding late in 2006 from a July low.

Nine of the 16 stocks in the index have lost at least 15 percent of their value this year. The worst performer is Meritage Homes Corp., which has fallen 33 percent this year through Wednesday.

Pulte, like other builders, has tried to prevent investors from buying houses by making prospective buyers attest they are not speculators, and that is helping the market, Cregg said.

"We think we have taken a majority of them out," Cregg said of the investors.

Increasing numbers of speculators expecting to make a quick profit by flipping houses helped fuel the housing boom. When demand started to ebb and house price appreciation slowed, many investors put their houses on the market, increasing inventory.

Rural counties not in property tax reform

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE — Rural counties with exceptionally low property values, hospital districts and children’s services councils will be exempted from a key property tax relief bill, House Republican leaders said Thursday.
That bill (HB 7001) would roll property taxes back to their 2000-01 levels with allowances for inflation and population growth. It already exempts school districts.
The chairman of the House Policy and Budget Council, Ray Sansom, R-Destin, said his panel will be asked to include the three additional exemptions before it votes on the bill Friday.
About 30 small counties that are classified as ‘‘fiscally constrained’’ under existing law would be covered by the exemption.
It is being offered in response to pleas from rural county officials who say they already are having difficulty making ends meet. Property taxes are their main sources of revenue and bring in $5 million or less each year in most of the constrained counties. Many of them have large amounts of government-owned and agricultural lands that are exempt or taxed at low rates.

The House council also will be asked to to limit the assessment of properties according to the ‘‘highest and best,’’ or potential, use instead of how they actually are utilized.
It would require income-producing properties to be assessed only on the basis of that income and limit other highest and best assessments to potential uses that can be achieved without zoning or ordinance changes.
The council will also discuss the second part of the House GOP plan, a proposed state constitutional amendment, but will not vote on it until next week, Sansom said.
The amendment would abolish property taxes on primary homes, known as homesteads, but make up part of the revenue losses by increasing the statewide sales tax from 6 percent to 8.5 percent. It also has a rollback provision similar to the one in the bill for other properties.
In related action, the full House unanimously passed an implementing legislation (HB 333) for a constitutional amendment voters approved last year to increase the state’s homestead property tax exemption for low-income senior citizens from $25,000 to $50,000.
It would become obsolete, though, if the House Republicans’ tax reform amendment is put on the ballot and passed.

St. Augustine map made in 1580s is auctioned off

The Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE — A map of St. Augustine believed to be the earliest printed plan of a U.S. city and four other charts dating to the 16th century were sold Thursday for $1.29 million at an auction.
The maps were sold to an anonymous bidder on the telephone during a Sotheby’s auction in London, a record price for the bound ‘‘Atlas of England and Wales’’ containing the charts. Sotheby’s officials had predicted the sale could bring between $990,000 and $1.38 million.
The St. Augustine map shows Sir Francis Drake’s raid there in 1586 and was drawn by Italian draftsman and cartographer Giovanni Battista Boazio, who was aboard one of the Englishman’s ships.
A privateer and favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world. She knighted him after his successful voyage and dined with him aboard the Golden Hind in the Thames River.
The St. Augustine map clearly shows the English fleet at anchor in the Atlantic Ocean and others in the inlet into the bay; a lighthouse on Anastasia Island; cannon fire from Anastasia Island; and a large fort across the river. It also depicts infantry troops attacking the Spanish settlement.
The fort was one of a series of wooden strongholds that guarded St. Augustine before construction of the coquina Castillo de San Marcos, built in the late 17th century and still standing today.
The maps were bound together in a copy of the first printed ‘‘Atlas of England and Wales’’ by Christopher Saxon, the father of English cartography. The maps come from the library of the Earls of Macclesfield and were the last known to exist in private hands.
The maps also contain the first printed appearance of any American natural history subjects. Among the drawings are a lizard and crocodile. They are based on drawings of John White, the official artist and governor of the first English colony on Roanoke Island, N.C.
Printed between 1579 and 1590, the hand-colored volume has remained almost untouched for more than two centuries. Adding to the rarity of the atlas is the fact that it includes an engraved portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.

City panel OKs ban on electronic signs

By JEFF ADELSON

Sun staff writer|

Electronic signs would be banned in Gainesville, and businesses that now use them could be forced to take them down within a decade under a plan that received unanimous support from members of Gainesville's City Plan Board on Thursday night.
The plan, which will now go to the City Commission for consideration, is a departure from proposals offered by city staff and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce. Both those recommendations restricted but did not ban the signs.
"There are just a few of these now, but there will be more, and each one will compete with the next in competing for attention. As a result of this I am absolutely, completely against electronic signs," said board member Jack Walls, who proposed the ban and time restrictions.
The recommendation was approved by the five voting members in attendance, who argued that the signs constituted visual blight and warned that allowing some could encourage other businesses to buy similar signs to compete.
They were joined in their opposition to the signs, which use lighted bulbs or LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to display messages, by almost a dozen residents who spoke against the signs on aesthetic grounds.
"I really do not support the LED signs at all," resident Sandy Greenwood said. "I agree they are an eyesore and they're ugly, personally.
“When I'm driving I feel attacked."
Board member Adam Tecler, who has spoken against restrictions on electronic signs at earlier meetings, was absent from the meeting.
Laura High, attending her first meeting as a board member, spoke in favor of a ban on electronic signs but is prevented from voting on measures until her third meeting.
The measure recommended by the board would prevent any new signs using LEDs or other lights from being erected.
In addition, it would require existing signs be taken down after an "amortization period," which city officials said could be about eight years.
The ban would include all signs using LEDs, the small lights found on signs like the one in front of Alarion Bank on Newberry Road, as well as others that use lights to display a message.
The ban would prohibit signs that display the time and temperature. as well.
Gainesville's Community Development Department and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce both recommended restrictions that would have limited the size of signs without banning them, though the city staff recommendation was for smaller signs than the chamber's.
Chamber of Commerce President Brent Christensen argued that the signs were one of the most cost-effective ways for businesses, particularly small businesses, to advertise their presence to potential customers driving by.
But High, a small business owner, said she opposed the signs and argued that businesses should use good service to win customers.
Board member David Gold, the first to recommend banning the signs Thursday, said the safest course for the board was to halt the proliferation of signs, saying it would be easier to lift restrictions than eliminate signs once they were in place.
"I think that if we are to ban these electronic signs now, it doesn't mean they're banned forever," board member David Gold said.
"If we are to allow these signs, that means we're opening the door and that scares me," Gold said.

Developer shuts Marina course

Outraged Burnt Store residents gather to hear about project

BURNT STORE -- First, developer Will Stout wanted to build condos around the fringes and keep most of Burnt Store Marina's golf course open.

When Lee County balked, Stout's Realmark development company asked for single-family homes across the entire property. Realmark lost again and is appealing.

In the meantime, Stout abruptly closed the golf course Thursday, sparking outrage among residents and bringing them out in force at a meeting called by Stout the same day.

"We're in somewhat of a zoning limbo, but one thing is certain -- we can't keep losing money on the golf course," Realmark Chief Operating Officer Craig Dearden said.

An estimated 750 people showed up to hear Stout explain his plans for the golf course and a $750 million redevelopment project in one of the oldest and most exclusive communities in this booming region south of Punta Gorda.

Stout told residents gathered at Burnt Store Presbyterian Church that he's losing $1.1 million annually on the 27-hole golf course.

"People are very interested in what's happening -- it was standing room only," said Jo Lapinski, a member of the Marina homeowners association board of directors.

Only 159 people who live in the gated community of 1,900 homes along Charlotte Harbor are members of the golf club, which also was open to the public.

Instead of golf, Stout said he will focus on the community's boating amenities.

Stout's redevelopment plans include hotels, a new boathouse, dry storage, restaurants and retail shops designed to create a "downtown" center adjacent to the community's 525 wet slips along Charlotte Harbor.

But no formal proposal has been pitched to Lee County for the property that sits just south of the Charlotte County line.

"We're finishing up on the planning stages now," Dearden said.

While he waits to hear from Lee County about the golf course, Stout told the crowd Thursday that he would rent the property for $1 to anyone who wanted to keep it running as a business.

Wal-Mart debuts massive facility, 600-plus jobs

By Ronald Dupont Jr.
Herald Editor

ALACHUA -- When Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, wanted companies to deliver goods to some of his very first stores, many companies said no.

Back then, in the early 1960s, Waltons stores often were in areas so rural that companies did not want to send trucks there. So Walton started his own distribution system.

And then it grew -- a lot.

Tuesday, Alachua officials and dignitaries got to see just how much the distribution system has expanded.

In a loud ceremony peppered by cheering from more than 600 jubilant employees, the new Wal-Mart Distribution Center celebrated its grand opening Tuesday in a facility in which the buildings alone add up to 27 acres.

"Today is a celebration," said Melissa Williams, the general manager for the distribution center. "...This chapter starts with the relationships that have started in the community. It also starts with a story of people dedicated to success."

The throngs of employees, called associates, filled one side of the cavernous hall, lining walls, stairs and even catwalks. They cheered everytime a speaker said the word "Wal-Mart" or "associate." They chanted, they hooted and they even sang the Wal-Mart "Cheer Song."

Give me a W!
Give me an A!
Give me an L!
Give me a squiggly!
Give me an M!
Give me an A!
Give me an R!
Give me a T!
What's that spell?
Wal-Mart!
Whose Wal-Mart is it?
It's my Wal-Mart!
Who's number one?
The customer! Always!

Amidst the enthusiasm, a speaker would occassionally talk about the controversy that faced the distribution center.

In many public meetings, residents said they felt that the center was built on land too ecologically sensitive, peppered by sinkholes and acting as an area where the underground water supply gets recharged.

Others were not happy that Wal-Mart worked with the city of Alachua to get $700,000 in a state grant paid for by tax money to have a public road built to Wal-Mart's property.

And yet others are still afraid of possible traffic problems, as the hundreds of Wal-Mart trucks combine with the neighboring Dollar General Distribution Center trucks to merge daily onto U.S. 441 by Santa Fe High School and head toward Interstate 75.

"This has been a long and rocky road," Mayor Jean Calderwood said during the grand opening ceremonies. "It has not been without trial and tribulations."

She said that "malicious rumors" were circulating that Wal-Mart was going to pay minimum wage when, in fact, employees get paid well over $10 an hour. Then she pointed out how the very land on which the distribution center has been constructed was supposed to be home for an IBM plant and hundreds of jobs.

That never happened, but Wal-Mart has, she said.

Vince Biondo, a regional vice president for Wal-Mart, added levity to the ceremonies when he complained that he was seeing a lot of orange and blue and felt the colors were "ugly." Then he took off his coat to reveal that he was wearing a University of Arkansas shirt, causing the several hundred associates to playfully "boo" him.

After the noise died down, he smiled and said, "This is one heck of a building, one nice community. Are you ready to serve your customer?"

Johnnie Dobbs, an executive vice president, echoed similar comments.

"This facility looks fantastic," he said. "The facility and your enthusiasm are not surpassed."

After a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony, hundreds of balloons were dropped from the ceiling, and the throngs of hundreds made their way to tables for an afternoon, celebratory lunch.

As the festivities quieted down, Williams stood in a far room and talked about how getting the center from the drawing board to reality took lots of pre-planning and organization. She said even the salaries that employees will receive was arrived at after much study and surveys of pay in the North Florida region.

On that aspect, Williams said, she is particularly happy.

"Many have told me that their lives have been changed because of the pay," she said.

A Crescent Communities first: hundreds of apartments come available

ALACHUA -- Hundreds of new apartments, with more on the way, were shown off to the public and dignitaries last week in what is the first massive influx of apartments in the Crescent Communities in decades.

Called One 51 Place, the apartment complex sits on rolling land behind Hitchcock's Foodway in Alachua and features 312 apartments, including 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom units.

The lack of rental units in the Crescent Communities has been a problem that Realtors and city officials have complained about for years. Those wanting to move to the area into a rental unit were being forced to rent in Gainesville because there are few apartment complexes in the outlying communities, and when a unit comes open, it's usually taken immediately.

Spring Hill Village Apartments in High Springs debuted its modest expansion recently and saw the new units being snapped up. Such is the case with One 51 Place. With virtually no advertising, more than 50 apartments have been rented already.

"The location is great," said Fred Rath II, one of the owners. "You can't get any better."

Rath said he was alerted to the property and its potential by the man who owned the land.

"We recognized this as a possibility instantly because there are no rentals in the area," Rath said.

Located on 23 acres, the new complex features an indoor basketball court, a pool, a gym, a children's room, a computer room and even a small "theater" room featuring a large, flat-screen television tied in to a sound system.

House postpones when amendment sponsor cancels
By Jim Ash
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU CHIEF

Lawmakers want voters to enshrine an oil-drilling ban in the Florida Constitution, but the largely symbolic effort got off to a rocky start on Wednesday.

The House Energy Committee put off a discussion of the measure at a morning meeting when the sponsor couldn't attend because of a family emergency.

Rep. Mary Brandenburg, a West Palm Beach Democrat, is sponsoring the amendment, which would ban drilling within 250 miles of the Florida coast.

However, the measure (HJR 631) would be trumped by U.S. laws and couldn't take effect until June 2022, the expiration date of a congressional drilling ban compromise reached last year.

Brandburg's proposed amendment calls for a drilling ban within 250 miles of the Florida coast, ''or the fullest extent allowed by the laws of the United States.''

Mark Ferrulo, director of Environment Florida, said legislators could be more effective urging the Florida congressional delegation to stave off renewed efforts to open up Florida's coastlines to drilling.

A bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate is expected to be unveiled today that would shatter last year's compromise that kept oil drilling 125 miles from Pensacola and 234 miles from Tampa Bay.

Sponsored by U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat and Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, the federal legislation would allow drilling within 45 miles of Florida's Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys.

''I think a resolution to our congressional delegation expressing opposition to the bills that are being filed in Congress now would have the most impact,'' Ferrulo said.

Ferrulo said the new Democratic leadership in Congress is not likely to give states more authority to ban drilling for at least the next couple of years. Congressional leaders are focused on promoting energy conservation, he said.

''They're focusing on stopping our addiction to oil, not finding a fatter needle to feed it,'' he said.''I think a resolution to our congressional delegation expressing opposition to the bills that are being filed in Congress now would have the most impact. ... They're focusing on stopping our addiction to oil, not finding a fatter needle to feed it.''

Today's Letters: Few places are left for creatures

St. Pete Times LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published March 15, 2007

My early morning walk takes me by an area that is being excavated for a new school. Recently, on the bucket of a parked end loader, sat a pair of cardinals wondering very likely where all the trees and shrubbery that used to cover the landscape has gone.

Over the years, I have observed three types of woodpeckers, flickers, morning doves, whip-poor-will, mockingbirds, owls and other small ground birds. There were always a couple of bald eagles and an osprey perched in one of the trees looking for a meal along with any number of wild animals that could be seen that called the wooded area home. For example, one turtle was so large it was almost impossible to lift it over the curb so it could crawl back to its home in the woods.

It's very clear we human beings have destroyed the habitat that once belonged to these creatures. Sure, those that didn't die during the course of excavation will move on to some other location; but at some point in time at the rate our society is expanding, there will not be any wildlife left to be seen and land without trees become a desert.

Dave Meyers, Holiday

House tax bill passes committee
Burden of proof on assessments would switch from homeowners to appraisers
By Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU

Chad and Frances Taylor got a rude September surprise last year. The tiny cinder-block cottage in Mexico Beach that had been in the family since 1967 had rocketed up in value five-fold thanks to condos built down the street.

The Sept. 5 letter from the Bay County property appraiser's office raised their assessment from $250,908 to $1.25 million, and arrived seven days before the deadline to petition the adjustment board.

When he called and asked for another letter, it arrived too late to appeal.

''This process is broken,'' says Chad Taylor, 55, a forester and peanut grower in Marianna. ''My use hasn't changed. Everything around me has changed. So why should I pay for some 50-unit condo down the street when I didn't want it there to begin with.''

Lawmakers took a step Wednesday toward upping the armament for homeowners squeezed in their annual re-assessment battles.

A House plan to force county appraisers to start assessing property based more closely on its current use instead of its future potential cleared its first committee stop.

Supporters said it addressed one of the biggest gripes Floridians have voiced as property taxes have exploded - the process that lets property appraisers recalculate value based on the redevelopment potential of property.

''This money should not have been in the local government coffers in the first place,'' said Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Miami Republican carrying the House plan.

The bill would also move the burden of proof from property owners to appraisers in value adjustment appeals.

The bill would also require appraisers to re-value income-generating property like apartments or rental homes based on the income they generate instead of a more lucrative use like converting them to condos.

But county appraisers complained the plan was unconstitutional. And a planned Senate vote on a similar bill was postponed until at least next week so the chamber can solicit input from all 67 county appraisers and research whether it would need to be passed as a bill or voted on as a constitutional amendment.

''Our goal is to get it right,'' said Senate Finance and Tax Chairman Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic. ''We want to make sure as we lay this out that we don't miss the obvious.''

Larry Levy, general counsel with the Property Appraisers Association of Florida, said appraisers' constitutional charge was to find the ''just value'' of land, and that usually means what it will be used for when it sells and the value the private market will place on that use.

For example, he said it wouldn't be fair to appraise one piece of land differently than another identical parcel nearby just because one had a money-losing lemonade stand on it.

''If comparable property is selling for one figure, that is the general criteria appraisers will look at. That's what just value is,'' Levy said. ''When you're getting away from that, you're getting away from what the Constitution says.''

Senators also are worried the House plan could drain too much from local government budgets as property is re-appraised at current, and presumably lower, values.

The concept is a change of direction for lawmakers desperate to deliver some relief to steamed homeowners this year. The last House committee hearing is set for Friday on sweeping plans to roll back property taxes to 2001 levels and replace homesteaders' taxes with a higher sales tax.

But that plan, resulting in a $5.8 billion tax cut, has sparked outrage from cities and counties over how to pay for it, and Senate Republicans have balked at the sales tax idea.

Lopez-Cantera said he had no idea how much money his assessment bill could drain from local government budgets.

''It could be huge. But it's an issue of fairness to the taxpayer,'' he said.''Our goal is to get it right. We want to make sure as we lay this out that we don't miss the obvious.''

Area residents speak their minds about property taxes

— Florida legislators visited Suwannee Elementary School March 12 to allow citizens to offer ideas on the property tax crisis. The event drew close to 300 people and numerous television news crews. Forty-two area citizens and elected officials spoke their minds.
The message to lawmakers was to keep citizens in mind and for them to take their time making a decision.
"It's very unfair to raise someone's taxes four times," said Christy Smith of Live Oak. "I had to pay almost $1,700 in taxes" this year.
Others wanted to know why their property taxes went up when a neighbor's did not.
Elected officials told the committee local governments would be hard pressed to operate without current property taxes.
"Demanding services have to come from someplace, and they come from ad valorem taxes," said Mayor Sonny Nobles. "Please don't let us become known as an area of critical economic ruin."
Lynn Rutherford of Live Oak voiced concerns about the lack of services.
"We still have dirt roads and we pay an increase in sales tax for gas and the roads haven't been improved," she said. "I think there's been too much taxation without representation."
Other residents echoed her concerns. Despite taxation the city doesn't provide services to them such as water, sewer or sidewalks, they said.
Lawmakers said they hope to come up with a solution this legislative session, which ends in June.
See Friday's Democrat for full coverage of the event.
Vanessa Fultz can be reached by calling 386-362-1734 ext. 130 or by e-mail at vanessa.fultz@gaflnews.com.

Mangrove cutting fines may be costly

Two face probe in removal effort on Tortoise Island

BY JIM WAYMER
FLORIDA TODAY

Two Satellite Beach men could face more than $330,000 in county fines -- nearly eight times the potential fines proposed by the state -- for allegedly cutting down 96 mangroves, some cabbage palms and other vegetation near Tortoise Island in November 2005.

Frank Pisciotta and his landscaper, Jeff Mueller, both of Satellite Beach, face a potential maximum fine of $331,600 from Brevard County, in addition to the combined $43,500 in state fines and restoration costs.

County officials say their fine likely won't reach that maximum amount. But under a 2004 ordinance, Brevard can fine violators up to $15,000 per tree, with the total fine capped at 35 percent of the homeowner's assessed property value. The Brevard property appraiser's Web site lists Pisciotta's Tortoise Island home at an assessed value of $947,440 in 2006.

State environmental investigators accuse Pisciotta of paying Mueller to have one of Mueller's employees cut down the trees. Some of the mangroves were more than 20 feet tall and 30 years old, investigators said.

Pisciotta and Mueller declined to comment to FLORIDA TODAY on Wednesday and throughout the investigation.

But in DEP documents and interviews, Pisciotta told an investigator he was "outraged" that someone would cut the trees on the island, and Mueller said he had no knowledge of who cut down the mangroves.

"The trees belong to the county, and if we have any damages, we're going to make sure the county is compensated," said Terri Jones, assistant county attorney.

First, though, Brevard officials must review documents recently sent from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's investigation of the incident. Then the county and the DEP will decide how to proceed.

Brevard's code enforcement ordinance adopted in 2004 increased fines from $5,000 to $15,000 per tree if the county can prove the trees are dead.

Jones said the fine and cap would be based on the assessed value of Pisciotta's property, because his property stood to benefit from a clearer view of the Banana River

It would be up to Pisciotta and Mueller to determine who pays what, she said.

"They would share the fine," Jones said. "How they split up the proportion would be up to them."

In determining the fine, a special magistrate considers the gravity of the violation, actions taken to correct it and previous violations, Jones said.

The magistrate earlier this year imposed Brevard's highest-ever code-enforcement fine, a $190,000 ruling against the previous owners of Manor House on Merritt Island. The 301-unit housing complex had an alarm system violation dating back to 2003.

Last month, an investment group was fined $15,000 for 11 mangroves cut on Bayshore Drive, just south of Cocoa Beach.

Pisciotta already faces a $1,500 fine and Mueller a $6,000 fine from the DEP. That includes $500 each to pay for the state's investigation.

Mueller faces the higher DEP penalty because the state inflicts stiffer fines on contractors hired to do the cutting. He got a $750 penalty in 2002 for another excessive mangrove trimming on neighboring Lansing Island.

The men also potentially would have to pay the estimated $36,000 cost to replant 96 three- to six-foot tall mangroves on the island, or about $375 a tree.

DEP has yet to make those penalties or the restoration plan final.

County officials have held off on pursuing a fine until DEP completed its investigation.

Pisciotta and Mueller can rebut the charges, if they have "substantial evidence" that they did not authorize the cutting, according to the Jan. 23 letter DEP sent both men.

Sprouts -- mostly invasive Brazilian pepper trees -- have cropped up along the remaining stumps, county officials said.

"It's never going to quite be the same, even if they do go out there and plant mangroves," said Troy Seiler, a county code enforcement officer who visited the island a few weeks ago. "It would take at least 30 to 40 years to revegetate what was there."

DEP says channels were dug illegally

Two East Manatee families must fix the cuts and may be fined.

MANATEE COUNTY -- As soon as they saw the backhoe dredging a channel into Evers Reservoir in East Manatee County, neighbors suspected that something illegal was happening.

After nearly a year of investigation, state officials reached the same conclusion and will order a pair of East Manatee property owners to fill in two channels they cut in May. The homeowners could also be fined for dredging without a permit.

"The department is going to require that both areas be restored to what they were before that dredging took place," said Pamala Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The two properties in the 5700 block of 63rd Street East are owned by Gary Adams and his wife, Diane Adams, and Kimberly and Steve Smith.

The channels were dug over Memorial Day weekend. Neighbors climbed ladders and used camcorders to record trees being ripped out of the ground. At the time, Gary Adams said he was clearing existing channels of weeds, concrete blocks and invasive species, not digging new channels.

Adams could not be reached for comment. Property owner Steve Smith would not comment on the DEP's ruling other than to say that he considers the matter still pending.

The families have a final chance to present evidence that the work did not require a permit at a meeting with DEP officials on April 3.

Unless officials change their minds, the families will be ordered to restore their properties and the reservoir shoreline within 90 days. A fine could follow if officials believe the families knowingly ignored permit requirements or are uncooperative.

"If people own up to a mistake they've made and they take responsibility it's different to someone who goes out in the middle of the night and illegally dredges a channel," Vazquez said. Recent violations have resulted in property owners facing severe fines.

Residents from the first phase of the Oak Ford subdivision in Sarasota County faced a repair bill of more than $160,000 for the 4.25-mile section of Howard Creek they widened without a permit in 2004. They also face fines that could reach up to $800,000.

That same year, two Terra Ceia residents were sued for $15,000 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for digging a channel to improve boat access from their Bayshore Road homes in North Manatee.

Mary Jane Coulter, who lives near Evers Reservoir, said she was pleased the shoreline of the reservoir, which supplies drinking water to the city of Bradenton, was going to be restored.

"I'm elated; they had no business touching that river," Coulter said. "If they had got away with this, there would be channels up and down this river, because there's a lot of people who have applied for permits."

Help Your Kids, Nature With Outdoor Education

By Tom Palmer
tom.palmer@theledger.com

The recent groundbreaking for Polk's Nature Discovery Center, the new environmental education center at Circle B Bar Reserve, certainly creates an opportunity for young people.

Polk County has rich natural resources in a diverse collection of habitats. It would be helpful if more people learned that and appreciated its significance.

The value of the center became even more evident to me after belatedly reading a copy of "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder" by Richard Louv, a journalist and child advocate. The book, which has been cited frequently in discussions about environmental education and park planning, came out in 2005.

Louv advocates creating opportunities for children to get out of doors, which he said will reduce problems ranging from obesity to ADHD.

He also highlights the importance of parents, teachers and other influential adults' encouragement of outdoor activities.

Louv is in good company in this sentiment, using more well-known personalities to buttress his argument.

For instance, he cites the late author and scientist Rachel Carson, who raised early concerns about the ecological damage of the pesticide DDT.

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he or she needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in," Carson wrote.

This is an important point because sometimes environmental issues are framed in abstract or hard-to-grasp terms of reference.

I don't have any reason to believe the Amazon rainforest is not worth saving. But I've never been there, so everything I know about it is second- or third-hand information from articles I've read or television shows I've seen.

However, if you want to talk about saving habitat in Central Florida, where I've lived for nearly 60 years, I can speak from firsthand experience.

Many of the rare and common plants and animals that populate the local ecosystems are familiar to me and, through environmental education, can become familiar to many others.

I can relate to the thrill of discovery and can tell you it's not reserved for children.

When I see a plant or an animal I've never seen before, or one that I have seen but didn't know its identity until that instant, it is an event.

But for Louv, spending time outdoors is about more than discovering the environment. It is also can be about discovering yourself, about gaining self-confidence that comes from walking through the woods or up a mountain for the first time. It is also about conquering ecophobia, which is defined as the overload of stories about environmental gloom and doom that could lead some young people to conclude environmental engagement or activism is futile.

"Lacking direct experience with nature, children begin to associate it with fire and apocalypse rather than joy and wonder," Louv writes.

If you've read previous comments in this space, I have consistently pointed out that decisions must be based on the facts. Facts come from education, whether it's formal or informal.

There are certainly problems facing the environment out there, but they will be solved only by science-based actions that result from a good educational foundation.

Even if students don't become environmental scientists - most of us pursue other careers - they should understand scientific principles. That will provide the basis to evaluate the soundness of any proposals that cite science as their justification or question science in rejecting a proposal.

In other words, is the scientist really spouting science or merely the views of whoever's paying him?

Polk's Nature Discovery Center will offer education to adults as well. In addition to the classrooms, there will be an exhibit hall that will contain a great amount of information about Polk County's natural environment.

The center also will offer opportunities for people in the community to share their knowledge with others.

The plan is to use volunteers to help staff the center. Watch for information on volunteer opportunities early next year as the center's opening approaches.

STATE PARK POPULAR

Colt Creek State Park has had no trouble attracting visitors.

Since the park opened in late January, park officials have counted more than 3,000 visitors, based on the number who sign in.

Fishing around the artificial lakes near the entrance appears to be the main draw at the moment, because only a small portion of the 5,067 acres is open to the public. The back areas, which eventually will include a trail network for hiking, horseback riding, nature study and other activities, will open when park officials get farther along in planning and develop a trail map.

I was in part of that section last weekend with some volunteers who are doing some survey work for the park. I can tell you that it will be a great experience for visitors when the rest of the park opens.

Birds that recently arrived from their wintering grounds to nest in the forests were singing, a few wildflowers were beginning to bloom and butterflies were becoming more visible. Spring is on the way.

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com.

County seeks water permit for golf course despite drought

By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Published on: 03/15/2007

Despite a worsening regional drought, Palm Beach County hopes to win permission today to take nearly 30 million gallons of water a month from South Florida's drinking-water supply so its planned public golf course next to the Everglades can be planted and irrigated.

On the same agenda, the South Florida Water Management District governing board is to consider forcing homeowners and growers to curtail their watering, under threat of fines. Rainfall has been 70 percent to 80 percent below normal, and the water level at Lake Okeechobee, water source for many growers and some cities, is about 4 feet lower than normal.

If the emergency water restrictions are approved, homeowners' sprinklers must stay off at least four days a week, and many growers' water supply will be cut by 30 percent. Details were being worked out late Tuesday in advance of the vote. But one detail not in question was the exemption for the golf course now under construction at South County Regional Park, at the western end of Glades Road.

The park is so close to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, the northern remnant of the Everglades, and will draw so much water, that environmentalists are crying foul.

"A golf course doesn't belong out there," said Rosa Durando, conservation director for the Audubon Society of the Everglades. "The whole thing is pretty outrageous because it's pure luxury at a time when everybody is complaining about taxation. I just think the whole thing is an abomination."

New plantings are not subject to water restrictions, so winning the permits will mean the golf course will go forward regardless of the drought, said John Chesher, director of the county's Capital Improvements division.

Assuming the permit is granted, Chesher said, the county's contractor will begin "sprigging" the course - inserting tiny shoots of turf into the dirt - in four to six weeks. It will take about three months to cover about 190 acres, he said.

"Sprigs are watered frequently, almost daily, for the first 30 days," Chesher said. "Shortly after that, depending on weather and soil conditions, watering would be on an as-needed basis."

The course will have sensors stationed in various zones, Chesher said, and a computer program will determine when and how much irrigation is required.

Assuming all goes as planned, the course will open this fall, about a year later than promised.

The project is to include a public amphitheater plus a picnic and festival area. Costs have escalated to more than $40 million, including debt service. Hurricanes bear part of the blame. But the challenge of winning permits to use drinking water for a golf course at the southwestern corner of the county, far from recycled water sources and next to Everglades restoration projects and wetlands, has proven difficult.

Original drawings for the project would have placed the golf course's main well next to a large lake made from an old shell-rock mine. But water managers feared that well would have been so close to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge that it could have drained the preserve's edge.

The refuge is confronting major development on every side, with a county landfill proposed to the west, a utility plant and high-voltage lines proposed to the north and east, and a fertilizer and pesticide chemical plant proposed at the entrance, said Mark Musaus, manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge.

"Even with all the efforts to restore the Everglades, it seems they want to develop right up to the edge," Musaus said.

He's concerned about the light and noise the amphitheater might cause, but said the golf course is at the bottom of a long list of his concerns for the future of the refuge.

The proximity to the Loxahatchee forced the county to bring in an engineering consultant, Bob Higgins, who proposed moving the park's well east, to a ski lake. Models showed that would protect the wildlife refuge but would put a wetlands mitigation area within South County Park at risk.

The ski lake wetlands were constructed in the 1970s to compensate for wetlands lost to a shopping center at State Road 7 and Glades Road. At today's meeting, water managers will be asked to sign off on a new mitigation plan to replace the ski lake wetlands.

To avoid adding to the golf course's already costly bill, Higgins proposed and has nearly won credit for a wetlands restoration project that already was under way.

Planned near Lantana at John Prince Park, the project will create 48 acres of wetlands and open water at Square Lake.

It had been planned as part of a county effort to improve the condition of the chain of freshwater lakes that runs through central Palm Beach County. It also has been tapped as a place to send runoff associated with an airport construction project and the widening of Congress Avenue.

The golf course concept was approved unanimously by commissioners in 1998 at the urging of the West Boca Community Council and its district commissioner, Burt Aaronson. It opposed a previous plan to put a campground on the property.

Environmentalist Durando said she was appalled.

"Mitigating mitigation is an outrageous thing. But this is really outrageous because of the location," she said.

Tinderbox conditions have firefighters fearing the worst

Drought-like conditions have turned many areas of Southwest Florida into a tinderbox, with firefighters bracing for what could be the worst wildfire season in a decade.

Already this year there have been more than 600 wildfires over more than 58,500 acres in Florida -- more than burned in all of 2005.

"It's dry below I-4 essentially everywhere," Deborah Hanley, a meteorologist with the state forestry division, said, referring to the east-west highway that bisects the state. "Now we're leaning toward La Niña, which is extremely dry through spring, and we're expecting things to get a lot worse before they get better."

With the rainy season still months away, public safety officials worry this year could rival the devastating fire season in 1998. That year, more than a half-million acres burned, with 330 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. All of Volusia County had to be evacuated for fires.

This year, Charlotte County and south Sarasota County are among the driest areas of the state -- and both present unique problems for firefighters.

In Charlotte County, underbrush left by Hurricane Charley is likely to help fires rage quickly out of control, and in unincorporated areas of Sarasota counties, where people live in heavily wooded areas away from city services, firefighters will have to protect homes with limited water sources.

Conditions are "among the worst we've seen this early in the year," said Michael Frantz, fire marshal for North Port. "Our concern is how dry it is and how early in the year it is."

As afternoon lightning strikes become common, the fire season will hit its peak. Still, North Port has already had several brushfires that have threatened homes. A patch of scorched palmettos just feet from a North Port home -- the result of a five-acre fire on Sunday -- are a foreboding sign of the season to come.

Many homes in North Port abut densely forested areas that are prone to wildfires. With its urban areas so close to wild lands, neighborhoods are vulnerable to fire. For that reason, all outdoor fires are illegal in that city.

Frantz is also urging residents to create a safety zone -- a minimum 30-foot break between homes and combustible plants and vegetation, which are fuel for fire.

Dianne Latona, who was trapped by fire inside her Woodland Estates neighborhood in 2001, said she and her neighbors have spent the past year preparing for the fire season.

The district forestry division cut fire breaks all around the neighborhood, while residents cut them around their homes. Latona's husband, Bill, has gone through a lot of lawn mower blades creating a fire break around their yard and mowing some of the underbrush in the woods nearby.

The 2001 fire "burned for days," Latona said. "We went in to gather some belongings at one point, by the time we grabbed stuff and tried to leave, we were trapped. We all stood and watched the flames and we shook."

Back then the wooded neighborhood had only one entrance. "The firefighters talked about bringing helicopters in to get us at one point," Latona said.

Now, they have an emergency exit gate into the Carlton Reserve in case of fire.

The forest floors of Charlotte County have the makings of a fire disaster, thanks to Hurricane Charley. The hurricane brought down trees, branches and other debris, making the forest floor a tinderbox for a fire that could quickly rage out of control.

"We weren't able to remove a lot of debris," Hanley said. "Problems with access to forest areas means a high level of fuel. We expect that to be a problem for a few years until all that debris rots away."

Officials with the state forestry division plan frequent patrols of Charlotte County that will be stepped up further after lightning storms.

"We can limit the burning activities, but we can't do anything about lightning," said Mike Keegan, district supervisor for the state forestry division. "We have to be vigilant after any lightning storms."

Firefighters are already fighting brushfires across the state. They tend to get to work later these days because brush fires typically start in the afternoon. Firefighters have also been driving through high-risk areas looking for signs of fire.

"What concerns us is if there is a front with a lot of lightning we could see a lot of fires," Hanley said. "The lightning activity will determine how bad it will be in the next few months. You guys are in an area where we get a lot of lightning."

Even so, it's people -- not lightning -- who are the main causes of wildfires, officials said. In such conditions, a single ember from an outdoor fire can travel a quarter of a mile and start a brush fire.

The heat from the undercarriage of a car can spark a fire in the grasses on the side of the road. ATVs emit sparks and with their open engines and hot mufflers, can easily start a brush fire in such dry conditions.

So just how bad do officials expect the season to get?

"A lot depends on people," Frantz said.

Agency to test Sherwood-area wells

Residents fear contamination making them ill

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Environment Writer

DELAND -- To calm residents' fears about contaminated drinking water, state officials said Wednesday they'll do a full review of 18 years of testing done around the contaminated former Sherwood plant.

The officials will review the results of soil testing, lake water sampling and tests on at least 60 drinking water wells. They'll also test another 60 private drinking water wells near the plant, the site of the biggest chemical cleanup in Volusia County.

About 40 residents of the nearby Daytona Park Estates and Cypress Lake Estates attended a meeting with state and local health officials Wednesday night to ask questions.

The officials said no tests of residential drinking wells in the area have ever shown contamination that exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for safe drinking water.

"We feel very confident that based on the testing we've done in the past no residents are subject to any kind of contamination in their wells," said Chuck Luther, an environmental manager with the Volusia County Health Department. "Hopefully, we can get the residents there to feel comfortable with the water they're drinking."

Some tests do reveal traces of two chemicals suspected to have seeped into the groundwater from the site, but the levels are well within a range the EPA considers safe. The levels would have to be 15 to 75 times higher to violate the EPA standard.

But fears persist that groundwater contamination from the medical manufacturing plant is making people sick.

Patricia Ryals can't stop wondering if her exposure to the water is to blame for years of unexplained stomach problems. When she moved into her home near the plant 10 years ago, her family installed a water softener.

"We couldn't even drink the water," Ryals said. "It was nasty."

Residents have always wondered if cases of cancer, asthma or heart problems in the community are linked to the plant.

State officials say they don't expect to find unsafe levels of contamination, but if they do, they'll try to see if the problems can be linked to residents' health concerns, said Randy Merchant with the Florida Department of Health.

The contamination at the plant, now owned and operated by Tyco Healthcare Kendall, occurred when cleaning solvents containing chromium were dumped into septic tanks and sludge ponds on the property prior to 1980. The cleanup began in 1989.

Monitoring wells installed around the property 15 years ago have not detected contamination and large wells on the property pull the groundwater toward the site, so it doesn't flow away, according to the EPA.

While the state review may prove whether a problem exists, resident Annmarie Massaro would rather see the money invested in something else. City water lines would permanently put her neighborhood's fears to rest.

dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

Urban growth dominates city races

SARASOTA -- The backlash against incumbent city commissioners in Tuesday's election was a clear indication that voters are nervous about downtown development trickling into surrounding neighborhoods.

And a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of voting patterns in the District 2 race -- in which Richard "Dick" Clapp got 252 more votes than incumbent Mary Anne Servian -- shows the pattern even more starkly.

Servian, who has championed several big downtown developments and condominium projects, carried precincts in the city's downtown and on and Lido Key.

Clapp, an outspoken critic of the city's growth, won in neighborhoods on the outskirts of downtown, including Towles Court, Hudson Bayou and the Indian Beach Sapphire Shores area where he lives.

"A number of people living downtown seems to like what's going on downtown," Clapp said. But, he said, voters on the outskirts often expressed concerns about development.

"When I started going out knocking on doors and calling people, that message came through loud and clear," he said. "That's the message that I came to the campaign with, and I'm going to stick with it."

Growth will again be the big issue over the next month as Clapp and Servian prepare for their April 10 runoff election, which is required because neither got more than 50 percent of the vote.

Clapp will work to solidify his base in neighborhoods.

Having won over downtown voters, Servian will turn to neighborhoods and highlight her voting record as a balanced one that shows she has supported their interests as well as downtown growth.

"I'm going to be connect with some of what I would consider very strategic neighborhood leaders. I'd like to find out why, in fact -- like the Hudson Bayou area, why is it they didn't support me," said Servian, who raised three times as much money as Clapp.

"I need to find out whether I can turn those votes."

Voters can expect some change in the city commission, regardless of who wins District 2. Kelly Kirschner, who capitalized on his ties to neighborhood groups, unseated incumbent District 3 commissioner Danny Bilyeu with 73 percent of the vote.

He beat Bilyeu in all eight of District 3's precincts. He did best -- 230 votes to Bilyeu's 42 -- in his home community of Alta Vista, where he is president of the neighborhood association. Residents there mobilized against a density increase for a condominium project on School Avenue that Bilyeu supported.

Kirschner and Clapp offered voters a timely alternative tapped into their unease about the rapid change to the city's landscape in the past few years.

But they also likely benefited from Tuesday's 14 percent voter turnout. A dearth of voters at the polls typically favors candidates who have touched a nerve with an issue like growth, said Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida.

"People who are really angry are the ones who go to vote," MacManus said. "It's an anti-incumbent vote a lot of times, and usually the anti-incumbent vote is about an issue they're angry about."

The political parties and Manatee-Sarasota Sierra Club endorsements that helped Clapp and Kirschner deliver their slow-growth messages will play an equally big role in the runoff election next month.

The Sierra Club, which urged its 300 members in districts 2 and 3 to vote for Clapp and Kirschner, saw a voter sentiment ripe for tapping this election, and the group's chairwoman said the organization will continue working for Clapp.

Clapp, who was the only Republican in the four-candidate District 2 race, got boosts from a party endorsement and get-out-the vote efforts from the GOP.

Kirschner had the local Democratic Party endorsement, while Bilyeu, a Republican, had asked the party to back off his race, after receiving donations from local Republicans and the party sent out an e-mail backing him.

But Eric Robinson, chairman of the Republican Party, doubts more help would have made a difference.

"His race was more of a neighborhood issue, not as much as a political issue," Robinson said. "People felt that they had the ability to cross party lines."

Trailer dwellers hit with eviction

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, March 15, 2007

HOBE SOUND — Myrtle Borodziuk and Carl Shriver thought they would live out their lives in the cluster of old pink-and-lime-green mobile homes called Bloomfield Meadows.

"I planned on dying in Florida, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen now," Borodziuk said Wednesday.She is among three dozen or so people in the mobile home park who are being evicted after developer Art Palma bought the 12-acre property last week and promptly sent notices to the remaining residents of the 55-and-older community.

Many residents, told they must leave by September, said they have no money to pay for the move and may wind up living with their children.

"We're old people. A lot of us can't drive. This is close to the store and close to the bank," said Shriver, a World War II veteran. "I don't want to live with my kids."

Palma, who bought the park on U.S. 1 for $3.8 million, said he cannot make a profit running a mobile home park and plans to develop townhouses.

"When was the last time anyone came into the (county) commission and said, 'Please rezone my property for mobile homes?''" he said.

Some residents own their homes while others lease them. Owners said it could cost as much as $12,000 to move their trailers.

Bloomfield Meadows has become the latest in a string of mobile home parks in Martin County that have closed or are facing closure because owners considered them unprofitable. The list includes the nearby Angle In park, Pitchford's Landing in Jensen Beach and Ocean Breeze Park, where owners this week offered to sell the property to residents, or to a developer if residents can't afford the $40 million price tag.

Bloomfield Meadows residents said they were stunned to get the eviction notices Friday.

They thought they were in the clear after Palma, while negotiating to buy the land three years ago, withdrew a request to rezone the property. Residents protested the redevelopment plan and filed suit against him. The suit was withdrawn after he dropped his request with the county.

"This morning I was sitting here crying, not so much for me but for the others. Some of them have nothing," said Borodziuk, who will probably have to move back to New Jersey to live with her children.

Palma said the sale was never off and that he told residents in 2004 this would eventually happen.

Karen Mentor, a Hobe Sound attorney who represented the residents when they sued Palma, said she thought he was trying to avoid having to pay to relocate them. She said she would consider helping the residents sue him again, even if the residents could not afford to hire her.

Palma denied avoiding to help the residents. He said he offered each of them $10,000 two years ago to relocate and they refused. Now, he said he is willing to meet with those who are truly needy to help them move, or offer an extension past September.

But Palma said some have asked for as much as $75,000 and some don't need the help. He won't deal with those who are being unreasonable.

"No one is going to be thrown out on the street. That's nonsense," Palma said. "I'm willing to talk to anybody, but don't ask me to deal with somebody who is extorting me."

Palma said a portion of his new project will contain "affordable housing. " He said he offered to build subsidized housing for the residents years ago but they refused.

Borodziuk said Palma's offer was homes that would cost $189,000.

"Do we look like we can afford that?" she said. "I'm on Social Security, and the only thing we can afford is low-income. Even 'affordable housing' is above us."

Jim Ford said he and his mother spent everything they had to move from nearby Angle In park to Bloomfield Meadows after the Angle In was bought out last year. Now, Ford said, he can do nothing but move elsewhere.

Palma said Wednesday he had an appointment to talk to Ford about his situation.

Residents are not the only ones upset at Palma over the eviction notices.

County Commissioner Lee Weberman said he was angry that Palma had not contacted the county before sending out the notices. He said he will remember that when Palma proposes a development.

"It casts a cloud over this project," Weberman said. "This Bloomfield Meadows thing just came out of the blue."

Palma, who said he wouldn't submit plans until the slumping real-estate market improves, said the county should consider tax breaks for developers to build permanent affordable housing.

Still, he said, mobile home parks are a dying breed of property:

"Trailer parks have outlived their ability to justify their own economic existence."

The fight for height is on

Developers are smarting from Sanford's high-rise smackdown

Robert Perez
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 15, 2007
SANFORD -- Score one for opponents of new downtown development guidelines.

The Sanford City Commission this week cut the maximum building heights on Marina Island by 20 feet, responding to complaints that high-rises would ruin the skyline on the peninsula that juts into Lake Monore.

But the developer who holds the lease on the property said the new rules would likely mean less public space on the property once it is developed.

Bob Horian, president of Suncor Properties, said his proposal to build three 12-story condominium towers and a public park on Marina Island will have to be scrapped because of the new height restrictions. With buildings limited to 90 feet, or about nine stories, a fourth tower will be necessary to make the project viable.

That means the project, called Avenues on Palmetto, won't include a park.

Commissioners established the 90-foot limit at a meeting Monday.

Horian and his partners, who first proposed the development in June, put it on hold while city officials commissioned a study on development guidelines for downtown and the waterfront.

The delay likely cost Horian and his partners, because the housing market has cooled considerably since last year. Still, Horian thinks he can make the project work if he can get 300 condominiums approved for Marina Island.

His worry is that there may be more changes to the rules.

"We didn't end up with anything definitive [Monday]," Horian said. "We don't think it amounted to much beyond giving opponents more time to push for smaller buildings."

Opponents of high-rise development on Marina Island and elsewhere downtown packed the City Commission meeting holding signs that read "Save Our Skyline," "No Disney Tower of Terror" and "Miami Beach in Sanford? I think not." Some in the audience were calling for three-story limits on new downtown buildings.

Commissioners said they were deluged with calls and e-mails opposing high-rise development on Marina Island.

Stephen Myers, one opponent who thinks the guidelines still are developer-friendly, said the additional time would allow residents to become educated about how other cities are dealing with downtown development.

Frank Cerasoli, one of Horian's funding partners, said cities and developers can work together constructively.

"We just want to know what the rules will be so we can work with city staff on a project that will work for us and not hurt downtown," he said. "We're not interested in creating Miami either."

Robert Perez can be reached at rperez@orandosentinel.com or 407-322-1298.

Neighbors delay Conway housing

Those opposed to the mixed-income apartments flood commissioners with complaints.

Rich Mckay
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 15, 2007

Conway residents have delayed a mixed-income apartment complex that a developer wants to build on a cow pasture off Conway Road.

Fears of crowded schools and roads and congregated low-wage renters spurred an uproar in Belle Isle and Orlando neighborhoods near the site at Cove Drive and Conway Road.

Community meetings, letters and numerous phone calls and e-mails to the Orange County Commission apparently worked, activist Ralph Winterhoff said.

"I do believe we caught their attention," he said.

Developer Scott Culp had planned to approach county commissioners on Tuesday to request government incentives designed to encourage the workforce housing he hopes to build there.

As of Wednesday, though, his request was not on the commission agenda.

Winterhoff and other neighbors had encouraged apartment opponents to show up Tuesday wearing red to demonstrate their objection to the project.

Winterhoff, a Conway resident, said it's not time to celebrate victory, but he thinks county leaders are feeling the heat.

Culp of Atlantic Housing Partners in Maitland said Wednesday that people have the wrong idea about what he wants to build.

The funding request for about $14.1 million in low-interest, tax-free government money would help him build 156 units on 9.5 acres called The Cove on Conway.

"If I was a renter, this is exactly where I'd like to live," he said. "This will have a pool, a gym, a computer lab and laundry. Atlantic Housing's track record is of high-quality housing."

The property that Culp wants to develop, owned by Richard Lee, the son of the late dairy baron T.G. Lee, has vested rights for multifamily housing to be built. Those can't be taken away.

"The property will be developed as multifamily," Culp said. "The question is whether or not it will have a workforce-housing component."

As land prices and construction costs escalate, developers are finding it harder to make the financial numbers work to offer lower rents.

A law passed in June that provides $50 million in incentives for affordable housing was touted by the Florida League of Cities as one of the major accomplishments of the 2006 legislative session.

Culp said he could go ahead and build apartments for market-rate rents without county approval, but he firmly believes in the workforce-housing concept.

"The community needs this," Culp said. "If a person is spending their whole paycheck on rent, they'll never save for a house, they can't buy a newer car, they don't have any miscellaneous income. None of that is good for the economy."

Culp also deflected complaints that his apartments would add to road and school crowding. He said Conway Road is slated for expansion soon, and the School Board is aware of the need for more classrooms.

Winterhoff said his group plans to keep up the pressure by meeting with each of the county commissioners and trying to sway them.

"We can't take our eyes off this," he said. "If we weren't watching, it would have slid through like hot grease."

Rich McKay can be reached at 407-420-5470 or rmckay@orlandosentinel.com.

Small trip, big toll: It's life on S.R. 417

City officials battle the 75 cents it costs to drive 2 1/2 miles -- without success.

Sandra Pedicini
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 15, 2007

Local leaders still aren't having much luck trying to get an expensive toll reduced for a short trip on State Road 417.

It costs 75 cents to travel 2 1/2 miles between State Road 434 and Red Bug Lake Road. Winter Springs and Oviedo officials have tried for years to get that amount reduced, and they hoped that plans to widen S.R. 417 might revive discussion about toll relief.

But Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, which operates the road, so far hasn't been receptive.

On Monday, Winter Springs city commissioners learned that turnpike-authority officials told city staffers the authority won't cover the cost of equipment that would figure out which drivers are making the shorter trips and charge them less. Now commissioners want to talk to the turnpike's director in person.

"We want some answers," Mayor John Bush said, noting that the city attorney was also asked to investigate whether the toll might be illegal.

Turnpike officials say local governments would have to cover the $1.2 million cost of equipment that would read transponders at non-tolled ramps to tell which drivers are making the shorter trips. The cities would also have to pay the annual costs of $100,000 in lost revenue and $75,000 in maintenance, turnpike officials told the staff.

Turnpike officials say the toll problem will eventually disappear when the state one day converts to an electronic system that will charge drivers by the number of miles driven.

But that's at least a decade away. Turnpike officials point out that they left alone plazas at Red Bug Lake Road and S.R. 434 when they raised tolls elsewhere in 2004.

They also tried a toll reduction a couple years ago that was deemed unsuccessful because it didn't divert enough traffic from downtown Oviedo.

Local officials said the program wasn't given enough of a chance.

Sandra Pedicini can be reached at spedicini@orlandosentinel.com or 407-322-7669.

Panel: Spread the cost of roads

By DAVID DECAMP
Published March 15, 2007

HUDSON - A fact-finding panel decided Wednesday that Pasco County shouldn't stop at doubling road impact fees on new homes next year.

Though state lawmakers are pressing counties to slash property taxes, the committee recommended a property tax hike to pay for roads.

And the panel said Pasco should raise the local gas tax from six cents to 11 cents a gallon.

The reaction?

"You could have a Pasco County tea revolt," clucked County Commission chair chairwoman Ann Hildebrand, who had left the meeting at the Hudson Public Library before it ended.

The 11-member panel is made up of builders, developers and other business people. Rather than stick the entire cost of new roads to the newcomers, the panel wants to spread the burden to everyone.

The suggestions will go to County Administrator John Gallagher, and the County Commission could get them in April.

"I'll tell you what, it doesn't make me feel all good and cozy," Hildebrand said in a phone interview from her car. "And I bet if my other four colleagues were in the car, they'd feel the same way."

Gallagher and county staffers hinted the panel was courting political peril. They joked that members should attend commission meetings to take criticism, too.

Engineering director Jim Widman offered advice.

"You need flak jackets," he told panel members. "You need miracle dust."

Lexington Homes executive Craig Gallagher no relation to the county administrator acknowledged they'd have to deal with commissioners who would not like the panel's ideas. But members said they want to spread the costs beyond new home buyers, who happen to be the lifeblood to some of their businesses.

"I don't think we can expect everybody who's new to pay for everything for a project," said committee member Mary Jane Stanley, president of the Pasco Economic Development Council.

Said John Gallagher: "If everybody here believes that, then why is there such a crisis in the state to go ahead and lower property taxes?"

The debate resulted from a $286-million shortfall to build Pasco roads.

The road impact fee for a single-family home is $3,900. The answer from a consultant last fall was raising impact fees.

The initial proposal was $13,000 per home, but builders and developers cringed. The county created the panel to find a compromise.

Its recommendation is to raise the road impact fee on homes to $8,100 in 2008 and to increase it annually to reach $12,900 in 2012. It would be among the highest in the state.

But impact fees, based on square footage, would decrease for retail, office and other business projects - based on the idea lower fees would attract more business and increase revenues. An economist reported fees for homes could go up without risk.

The panel thought otherwise, questioning projections showing home-building rapidly rising in Pasco. They went with a lower projection by one of their own, vice president Pat Gassaway of Heidt & Associates, a Tampa engineering firm.

Their ultimate impact fees, however, still leave the county $54-million short for road projects, even with some roads delayed. That's where the suggested gas tax increase came in.

It would add $10-million a year, according to county budget officials

Backed by other members, Gassaway pushed for adding a property tax dedicated to roads. The panel wants property owners in unincorporated areas - 90 percent of Pasco - to pay $1 per $1,000 of assessed property value. City residents would be exempt.

Such a tax would raise $25-million a year. For the owner of a $233,000 home, it could mean an extra $200 in property taxes.

It also could mean a trip to the County Commission meeting for residents, whom engineering program administrator Michele Baker suggested might be "shaking their heads at this deal."

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

Developers' Wrangling Still Ties Up 2 Projects

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 15, 2007

LAND - O' LAKES - With today's deadline looming, neighboring landowners James Scarpo and Hank King still are sorting out their differences regarding roadwork that must be done for their individual developments to move forward.

Scarpo and King own adjoining land on Cypress Creek Road and plan to build neighboring apartment complexes: Scarpo's with 488 units, King's with 548 units.

Both landowners want rezonings to let them build their projects. They have separate public hearings today before the county's Development Review Committee at 1:30 p.m. at the West Pasco Government Center in New Port Richey.

Scarpo fronts a consortium of three couples combining their properties for their project. Together, they have 27 acres between Cypress Creek Road and Cypress Creek.

King Ranch sits south of the Scarpo project, bounded on the south by County Line Road and on the east by Interstate 75.

Scarpo was close to winning DRC approval last month for his group's project. The approval hinged on Scarpo's ability to widen the southern end of Cypress Creek Road.

To do so, Scarpo has to get King's cooperation because the road's right of way falls on his land.

King has yet to give that help, despite weeks of county-ordered negotiations between him and Scarpo's group.

Aside from apartments, King plans to turn his 300-acre ranch into a mix of retail and office uses. Because of those job-related uses, the county wants King to factor the traffic they will create into his apartment project.

In an e-mail to Scarpo and his attorney last week, King's attorney, Clark Hobby, accused the county of imposing greater costs on King for its rezoning than Scarpo must pay.

That's to be expected since King Ranch is significantly larger than Scarpo's project and includes a more diverse mix of future land uses the Scarpo project, Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein said.

Hobby has threatened to stop dealing with Scarpo and the county entirely regarding the widening of Cypress Creek Road. Hobby hinted last week King might sue to block Scarpo's project because he feels he's being treated unfairly.

"The county is still playing games with King Ranch," Hobby wrote.

Scarpo declined to discuss the details of the situation regarding King Ranch on Tuesday.

"I think [we've] made some headway, but I can't be sure," Scarpo said.

If King remains uncooperative, Scarpo and the county have limited options for how to move forward, Goldstein said.

The county could condemn the land needed to widen Cypress Creek Road - something King's project requires as well - or the county could escrow money from Scarpo to improve the road when King Ranch comes in for development, Goldstein said.

Scarpo and King are being influenced by the coming development of the Cypress Creek Town Center regional mall complex, which sits east across Cypress Creek from the Scarpo project and north across the creek from King Ranch.

The mall's developer, Cleveland-based Richard E. Jacobs Group, may extend County Road 54 south across its property and across King Ranch to County Line Road. So far, though, King has declined to provide land for the extension.