Quote of the day: "It isn't progress if it's being shoved down your throat." - Herman McCray

Resisting development characterized Ocean Breeze

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 18, 2007

OCEAN BREEZE — The land that time and development has forgotten on the bank of the Indian River could be in for big changes soon.

But for Ocean Breeze Park, pressure to sell to developers is nothing new.

"Mrs. (Ruth) Hoke would always receive letters from people who wanted to buy it," Town Clerk Sharon Chicky said. "She always said, 'No way.' She was very firm."

Ruth Hoke owned the mobile home park and served as the town mayor from 1989 until her death in 2001.

The current owners of the park - Gary Hendry, Cathie Teal and Marcia Coker, who want to sell it - inherited a place that was founded in 1938 by an Ohio couple, Harry and Queena Hoke.

The Hokes visited the area, then came back and founded the park, historian Sandy Thurlow wrote in her book about the Jensen Beach area.

Fearing that the area around them would incorporate and annex them, the Hokes incorporated their park in 1960. The town has since added the Ocean Breeze Plaza shopping center, which generates most of its tax revenue.

But Chicky said little else has changed over the years.

"It's a quaint little village," she said. "That's the way the Hokes ran it."

In 1989, utility company owner Claude Malley proposed building 500 townhouses on 45 undeveloped acres in the town.

"I was young and crazy back then, I guess," Malley said last week.

Because the park is a municipality, Martin County does not have final say over what is built there. But county officials at the time were incensed by the idea.

"It was the fact that the park had its own town that interested me," Malley said.

The Ocean Breeze Town Council later cut in half the number of units that could be allowed for the proposal, and Malley said he decided not to build it because it wouldn't have been profitable.

Two of the current owners, Hendry and Teal, did not return calls seeking comment this week.

Jim Morgan, the real estate agent for the three owners, said Gene and Ruth Hoke rejected numerous offers from developers and other people who wanted to buy the park. Gene was mayor from 1972 until his death in 1989.

In the 1'1/2 years that Morgan has been working for the owners, he said, they have received 11 offers.

"A lot of them are worthless, but some are very legitimate offers," Morgan said. "We're talking about tens of millions of dollars."

County Commissioner Doug Smith said that after two hurricanes in 2004 battered the park and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, he heard rumors of developers wanting to buy the land.

Fort Lauderdale-based developer Wayne Huizenga Jr., the son of the owner of the Miami Dolphins, looked at buying the park at one time but would not be interested in paying the current $40 million price, according to one of Huizenga's officials.

Morgan said that the damage and repair costs of the hurricanes played a factor in the owners' decision to sell.

"A lot of the mobile homes still have blue tarpaulins on them," he said.

Through all of the offers and development pressure, Smith said, both the full- and part-time residents looked at the little town and its 55-and-older mobile home park as their respite from the world.

"It's a remarkable bond that a lot of the residents have in there," Smith said. "The snowbirds that leave there can't wait to get back."

Although their predecessors refused to part with the park their family founded, Morgan said, the current owners do not live there and have their own jobs and lives.

"They all have careers," Morgan said. "They're just not mobile home park operators."

Smith said that whatever becomes of Ocean Breeze Park, its place in the history of Martin County and the place of the Hoke family will always remain.

"It all goes back to the family," he said. "They have definitely left a legacy on Martin County with what they have created."

Ocean Breeze history
1938: Harry and Queena Hoke found Ocean Breeze Camp, which later became Ocean Breeze Park, with 48 mobile home units on 22 acres of what had been a pineapple plantation on the bank of the Indian River. The park eventually grows to 675 mobile homes at its peak and now houses 564 mobile homes.
1960: Fearing that the nearby community of Jensen Beach would incorporate and annex the park, Ocean Breeze Park incorporates as a town, calling itself Ocean Breeze. The incorporation of Jensen Beach did not occur. Three years later the Hokes bought more land, bringing the town to 91 acres.
1972: Harry and Queena Hoke die, and their son, Gene,and his wife, Ruth, takeover the running of the park. Gene Hoke is elected mayor.
1985: A shopping center that is now the Ocean Breeze Plaza is built onJensen Beach Boulevard inside the town limits.
1989: Gene Hoke dies. Ruth Hoke takes ownership and is elected mayor.
1989: Utility company owner Claude Malley proposes building 500 townhouses on 45 undeveloped acres at the back of Ocean Breeze, causing conflict between the town and Martin County. The town council later reduces the density allowed for the proposal, and Malley never builds it.
2001: Ruth Hoke dies. Longtime resident Dorothy Geeben takes over as mayor. Geeben, who will turn 99 this month, is believed to be the oldest active mayor in the United States.
2004: Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne batter Ocean Breeze Park, destroying mobile homes and leaving residents without power for nearly two weeks. At the time, county officials estimated that Frances caused $480,000 in damage to the park.
2007: The owners of the park, descendants of Gene and Ruth Hoke, offer to sell the park to its residents for $40 million.

Sources: Historian Sandy Thurlow, the town of Ocean Breeze and Palm Beach Post archives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Towns crop up in plans along rural toll road

A surge in proposals worries state officials.

By MICHAEL VAN SICLER
Published March 18, 2007

LAKE PLACID - The same companies lobbying the state for a $7-billion toll road through Central Florida want permission to develop towns on agricultural land they own along the proposed route.

They are seeking approval for these towns through a little-used state program that allows landowners to build dense villages on clusters of land in exchange for preserving habitat and farms on large tracts.

Yet a surge in applicants has state officials worried the program will fail its two main goals: controlling sprawl and keeping the state's agricultural belt intact.

The state knows of eight applications filed or on the way, covering estates that taken together are the size of Broward County. Of those, six are in counties that would be crossed by the proposed 152-mile Heartland Parkway toll road.

"There's been a sudden explosion of these proposals," said Thomas Pelham, secretary of Florida's Department of Community Affairs, which oversees the program. "The department has to ask: How many towns of 30,000 can this area absorb?"

Advocates for major landowners say the program balances intense development by requiring large conservation areas that wouldn't otherwise be set aside.

"If you're looking at a whole string of properties, not just one, it sets up the opportunity to link the green spaces, and you end up with one huge continuous piece of conservation," said Rick Dantzler, attorney for a group of companies pushing for the Heartland Parkway. "The larger the geographical area, the more comprehensive planning you'll be able to do."

Though Dantzler vouches for the state program, he said neither he nor the group he represents are lobbying the state for permission to build the towns. Dantzler represents the Heartland Economic, Agricultural and Rural Taskforce, or HEART. Since 2005, HEART has lobbied for the Heartland Parkway.

"The towns don't have anything to do with HEART," Dantzler said. "But there's some synergy there, no doubt about that."

Strategically placed ranch

Much of that synergy swirls about state Sen. J.D. Alexander, who hired Dantzler and helped form HEART, which he said he is no longer involved with.

Alexander is the CEO of Atlantic Blue Group, which owns a 62,000-acre ranch in Highlands County that is almost entirely within the proposed road's corridor. Last month, his company announced it will apply for the state program that would permit major residential development on that property.

Alexander played a role in creating the program - something that, like the Heartland Parkway, could boost the development potential of land his company owns.

In 2000 Gov. Jeb Bush appointed then-Rep. Alexander to a growth management commission that ultimately recommended giving large landowners incentives for preservation. In exchange for credits that allow compact and more profitable developments, the landowners would leave some land untouched or continue using it for agriculture.

That report became the framework for the Rural Land Stewardship program. The program makes possible the kind of major residential development that Alexander's company now seeks.

Alexander said he didn't lead the charge for the rural land program. He said he supports it because it preserves the environment, not because his company's land holdings might benefit.

"When you get all these thousands of acres preserved without spending taxpayer money, isn't that a good idea?" Alexander said. "I'd support it no matter what. It's sound public policy."

Others who want to make use of the state program include Lykes Bros. - another member of HEART - which plans to file two applications covering 326,000 acres it owns. On one application, it's working closely with Alexander's Atlantic Blue Group.

Collier Enterprises, meanwhile, which also works with HEART, is seeking to build, over the next 25 to 30 years, one new town and perhaps six neighboring villages for a population of 60,000 in eastern Collier County. In exchange, the company will agree to preserve 25,000 acres.

In the first few years after the Rural Land Stewardship law was passed, however, there were no takers.

Recently, a proposal to make it tougher to develop rural lands has gained momentum. Backers of the plan, called Florida Hometown Democracy, want to put it on the 2008 ballot. If approved, voters would have ultimate authority over major developments.

That movement has coincided with a flood of applications to the stewardship program. If those landowners get approvals before the 2008 measure is passed, they wouldn't need the approval of voters to develop their lands.

"Hometown Democracy may be playing some role," said Al Reynolds, CEO of WilsonMiller, the planning firm for some of the applicants. "But I think folks are just beginning to understand how rural stewardship works. It really represents a tool that does things that no other comprehensive planning strategy can do."

Review of applications

WilsonMiller represents the program's first applicant, a St. Lucie County ranch that filed in 2006 for permission to build Cloud Grove, a town of 30,000 residents.

Alexander said Hometown Democracy has been discussed in relation to his company's plan to apply.

"(Hometown Democracy) clogs everything up," he said. "It gets more expensive and challenging to get everything done."

Pelham said he's concerned that the cumulative effect of the applications will make them harder to review. The Rural Land Stewardship program requires extensive analysis of data that determines where to build and where to preserve, he said. Many of those key designations will be made by local governments, but the state has the final say.

"The department will have to review these proposals very carefully," he said.

Michael Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com.

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 

Emotions stirred in Crystal Oaks about interchange

By Terry Witt

In Crystal Oaks, longtime residents have known for years that Suncoast Parkway II could be built right at their front doorstep, but they are beginning to worry again.

For years, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise looked at alternate routes for the parkway that might have moved it away from Crystal Oaks, but any hope of that vanished last year when the agency’s Project Development and Environment study was abandoned.

FTE chose instead to use a route approved in its 1998 PD&E study. The route would take the four-lane road past Crystal Oaks. One of the main toll road interchanges would be constructed near the intersection of Crystal Oaks Drive and State Road 44, the community’s main entrance.

Community leaders have fought the toll road for 12 years, and they are ready to do battle once again.

A meeting of the Crystal Oaks Civic Association on April 12 was held in part to give new residents in the community who knew nothing about the parkway or the proposed interchange a short course on what they are facing.

The loud buzz in the community clubhouse that day was the sound of about 120 residents upset about not being able to question a state official they thought would answer their questions about the parkway.

Joanne Hurley, a public information officer for FTE, had been invited to the meeting, but declined to attend. A Chronicle story said she would be there. In her absence, Gus Krayer, chairman of the Civic Concerns Committee, and Teddi Bierly, a Sugarmill Woods resident whose lawsuit stopped the parkway for two years, talked to residents.

Krayer, who had invited Hurley, produced a 1998 map showing the approved route for the parkway and the subdivisions it would pass through or come near.

The map shows a planned toll road interchange just east of the main entrance to Crystal Oaks. The map was by no means the centerpiece of the discussion. It is no longer completely accurate because much development has occurred along the route since 1998. But the map was there if anyone wanted to look.

Resident Hedda Smith said the interchange would take the community’s front entrance and she said many people living on North Tipton, a small road that intersects with Crystal Oaks Drive, would probably lose their homes. She shuddered at the thought.

“I mean, this is going to kill us,” she said.

Hurley said it’s too early to begin speaking to community groups. She said FTE is just now negotiating a contract with two consulting firms that will re-evaluate the parkway route. When the contract is signed, she said FTE will be in a better position to begin answering questions about the parkway. She said FTE would probably know more in June.

Dyer, Riddle, Mills & Precourt (DRMP) will be the prime contractor and URS Corporation a subcontractor for re-evaluation of the approved route. The two companies will determine what has changed since the route was selected in 1998. She said the route might have to be “tweaked,” depending on what has changed during the past nine years.

Hurley said law firms that specialize in eminent domain cases have begun contacting residents by letter offering to represent them in parkway lawsuits. She said the letters are premature because FTE doesn’t know which properties might be affected. She said many of the people who have contacted her office believe FTE sent them the letter until they look more closely at the letterhead.

“People are unnerved. They think we are making decision to purchase their property, and that’s not the case,” Hurley said.

She said FTE has begun a program to assist people who want to know if their property will be impacted. Hurley said residents can contact her office. Agency representatives will then travel to the property and determine whether it might be affected by the parkway. Residents will receive one of two letters. One letter will say FTE believes the property will be impacted. If they receive the other letter, it will say FTE doesn’t believe the property will be affected. But Hurley said no formal determination can be made until the re-evaluation is completed.

Philip Croel, president of the Crystal Oaks Civic Association, said he was contacted by one of the eminent domain law firms and plans to talk to its attorneys. If the parkway is constructed along the approved route, he said it would be a half mile from his home and he said it would be impacted by highway noise.

Croel said the Crystal Oaks clubhouse would be in the middle of the big interchange. He said the people closest to the toll road are probably going to fight.

“There’s going to be a very loud protest by folks in Crystal Oaks living close to it,” he said.

The Civic Concerns Committee passed out a survey form at the April 12 meeting asking residents whether they want the parkway extended through Citrus County, whether the interchange should be built at Crystal Oaks Drive, whether they want the interchange built farther east or if they would like more information about the parkway.

It also asked people to rate their degree of concern on a scale of 1 to 5 on the issues of increased traffic on Crystal Oaks Drive, on Crystal Oaks Drive becoming four lanes, on decreasing property values, noise pollution, air pollution, crime or other issues.

Krayer said the community has long wanted the main interchange on State Road 44 to be moved farther east so it won’t impact Crystal Oaks or Cinnamon Ridge.

Brooker Creek issues go beyond ballfields

By DIANE STEINLE North Pinellas Times Editor of Editorials
Published March 18, 2007

The rows of white plastic chairs in the courthouse lobby were empty and the closed-circuit TV wasn't needed to relay the action from the Pinellas County Commission meeting upstairs. Even in the meeting room, there were lots of empty seats.

County Commissioner Robert Stewart said he was surprised by the low turnout. Fewer than two dozen people showed up to address commissioners on an issue for which an overflow crowd had been anticipated: what to do with Brooker Creek Preserve and the county's other environmentally sensitive lands.

The schedule for Thursday's meeting discouraged public participation: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a workday, with staff presentations of undetermined length first, to be followed by a public-comment period of undetermined length and start time.

Commissioners hopefully will not take the low turnout as a gauge of the public's interest, because the discussion that began Thursday is an extremely important public-policy debate. The decisions that commissioners make at the conclusion of their discussions will affect generations of Pinellas residents.

There are many questions to consider.

Should the 8,500-acre Brooker Creek Preserve in North Pinellas and the county's other preserves, including Weedon Island in South Pinellas, be protected from all development in the future? Or is it okay to use preserves for beneficial public projects such as water treatment plants, ballfields, fire stations and the like?

What about in an emergency? In a water shortage, is it okay to pump water out of the preserves if doing so could permanently damage the wetlands?

What should be done with the portions of preserves that have been developed with such uses as well fields, education centers and an alcohol-treatment facility?

If officials conclude county preserves should be better protected, what is the best way to do that? Rezone them to a designation that prevents all development? Create a county preservation ordinance?

Or is it best, as some environmental activists suggested Thursday, to amend the county charter to require voter approval for any projects in the preserves?

Public interest in these questions grew after the county approved or began discussing utilizing preserve land for ballfields, two water-treatment facilities, an equestrian center and as a source of wellwater to irrigate private golf courses.

Yet as Thursday's meeting began, county officials said they valued the preserve for its ecology.

"Brooker Creek Preserve and all its 8,500 acres is the prize of our highly valued environmental lands. It deserves the tag line we have given it as 'Our Wildest Place,' " said Will Davis, the county's director of Environmental Management. "In our urban county of almost a million people ... it is incredible that a property this large has been set aside."

Several commissioners said Thursday the county should look harder for other places to build such projects as ballfields.

However, it was drinking water, not recreation, that emerged as the most important consideration for commissioners Thursday.

Thanks to new drinking water sources, the average amount of water being pumped from well fields in Brooker Creek Preserve is declining and the likelihood that the county will need to drill many more wells there is not as great. Yet commissioners wondered if it is risky to give up the opportunity to drill wells and build water-treatment facilities in the preserve. What if that water is desperately needed some day?

The County Commission will have two more workshops on these issues in April and May, and hopefully at times more convenient to the working public, because whether to put tougher restrictions on use of publicly owned open land is a topic worthy of everyone's input.

Diane Steinle can be reached at steinle@sptimes.com.

At stake in Riviera: Progress but how, and for whose gain?

By John Lantigua

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 18, 2007

RIVIERA BEACH — Did a revolution occur here last week? Or was it a counterrevolution?

When voters dumped Mayor Michael Brown and three incumbent council members Tuesday, did they vote out a fractious, divisive administration with the hope of speeding up progress?

Or were they trying to slow and harness change? Were they derailing an ambitious $2.4 billion redevelopment plan and an administration that was trying to make it happen too quickly?

"What happened Tuesday was a debacle," said former City Councilman Donald Wilson, a supporter of Brown and his ambitious waterfront reclamation project. "We are at a crucial point in Riviera Beach history, a point where we can move to another level, and the people didn't come out to support it. I'm absolutely shocked."

Tony Gigliotti, chairman of the Singer Island Civic Association, a force against Brown, sees it differently.

"Brown was a very divisive figure, and we see progress as more possible now," he said. "As soon as the runoff election is over, we hope our officials roll up their sleeves and reengage the developers. Let's get the job done without the divisiveness."

The events of the past week were another chapter in the tumultuous saga of Riviera Beach, with its 400 acres of prime development land fronting the Intracoastal Waterway and a world-class beach, but its woeful history of stalled progress.

Since 1971, when the black majority was first able to take control of the city council, this city has dreamed of progress comparable to that of surrounding communities, only to see those dreams dissolve amid political strife.

This time, Singer Island voters went more than 4-to-1 for Brown's opponent, Thomas Masters, accounting for his margin of victory and altering the latest municipal plan of action. They also overwhelmingly voted down the 28-story Marriott condo/hotel project planned for public land on the island at the site of the Ocean Mall, which was championed by Brown.

Voters on the island and the mainland also turned against council candidates aligned with Brown. The mayor, who had feuded with incumbent council members, picked three fledgling council candidates to run on his ticket, and they also lost their races. But all drew enough votes to qualify for the runoff election March 27 against candidates backed by the Singer Island bloc.

The racial divide between Singer Island, which is overwhelmingly white and affluent, and the city as a whole, which is about 70 percent black and considerably less well-to-do, stoked feelings of stifled progress on the part of Brown and his supporters.

In an interview, Brown, who has embraced large-scale waterfront redevelopment as the primary answer to the city's social and economic woes, made a point of the racial makeup of Singer Island voters.

"There are three black families on the island. It's 99.3 percent white," he said. "But this is much closer to a class issue than a race issue. People need to understand the need to revitalize this city and not perpetuate the disparities in this city. The island has coalesced against candidates who want the whole city to advance.

"Those people are simply against change," he said of the island residents. "They like being the most affluent people in the city, and they don't want that to change."

Richard Giorgio, a political consultant who worked for the Masters campaign, said the numbers did not support Brown's claim that he was bushwhacked by the enemies of progress.

"This was a revolution rather than a counterrevolution because people on the island pulled together with many of the people on the mainland," he said. "They were on the same page."

Giorgio said apart from the Ocean Mall issue, Brown had been hurt by his heavy-handed past support of the use of eminent domain to take property for the redevelopment of the waterfront on the mainland. Although state statutes passed last year now prohibit governments from taking private property for commercial use, Giorgio said, Brown already had been damaged by the issue.

Nettie Dyke, 66, owner of Nettie's Alterations on lower Broadway, in the heart of the redevelopment area, said she had a favorable impression of Brown but agreed with Giorgio's assessment.

"Lots of people around here voted for Bishop Masters because they were afraid that with Mayor Brown they would have their homes taken away," she said.

The victorious Masters said the deciding issue was the fact that members of the community were not sufficiently consulted by Brown's administration on the projects that would affect their lives.

"You can't just tell people how it's going to be," Masters said. "This wasn't a white or black issue. Whether it's the Ocean Mall on the island or the projects on the mainland, you have to include people in the process, and the previous mayor didn't do that."

Gigliotti said he believes Masters' grass-roots campaign style will allow him to better connect to voters in the redevelopment area and smooth the acquisition of land for redevelopment.

First, the city must decide in the March 27 runoff on three of its five council members. Liz Wade, one of the defeated incumbent council members, said she and many other voters on the mainland would have a hard time choosing whom to vote for in the runoff.

"You're between a rock and a hard place," Wade said. "I'm not with the people on the island because they don't want to see anything done in this city. And on the Brown ticket, he's going to be running the city from behind the scenes if they win. That might even be better for him."

She and other political leaders said it would be very difficult for the Brown slate to overcome the Singer Island/Masters slate because of the difficulty in getting mainland voters to come out in the second round.

Brown said last week he was not throwing in the towel. He said he will challenge the election results based on what he alleges was improper handling of absentee ballots by Masters.

Regardless of the outcome of that challenge, Brown said, he was ready to campaign vigorously for his council candidates if they ask for his assistance and he thinks they still can win.

"There are lots of people angry about what happened in that first round," he said. "This has awakened a sleeping tiger."

All three of the candidates - Fercella Davis Panier, Elizabeth Pertee Robinson and Corey Smith - reached last week, said they had not asked Brown for support but added diplomatically that they were not refusing his support.

Brown also said he would help the candidates raise money, but calls to developers and other business leaders who had contributed to the mayor's campaign drew no responses.

"I think if they're smart, they'll sit on the sidelines this time," said Dawn Pardo, another Singer Island opponent of Brown's. "I think it would be a waste of their money."

Pardo said she and other Singer Island political activists plan to get out the island vote as they did Tuesday, even though their main issues, on the Ocean Mall, were won.

While only about 25 percent of eligible mainland voters went to the polls, about 50 percent of island voters showed, and that made the difference, she said.

"We're going to call every single person on the voter rolls the way we did the first time," Pardo said. "We're going to finish the job we started."

Herman McCray, a longtime civil rights leader who backed Masters, agreed that overcoming the first-round loss would be almost impossible for the three council candidates affiliated with Brown.

McCray also said he did not share the concerns expressed by Wade and others that the Singer Island slate of council candidates would stifle change.

"People didn't vote against change or against progress," he said. "But it isn't progress if it's being shoved down your throat."

County lays down rules for Hickory Hill hearing

By MICHAEL D. BATES
mbates@hernandotoday.com

BROOKSVILLE — When county commissioners hold their public hearing on Hickory Hill April 26, nobody expects a quick decision.

Even though the meeting starts at 9 a.m., a vote on the proposed Spring Lake development may not come until late in the afternoon. Or later.

The project has raised strong emotions on both sides: From critics who believe the 1,650-home community, 2.3 miles southwest of the Interstate-75 and State Road 50 interchange, will destroy the environment, create congested roads and be inconsistent with the rural flavor of the area.

Supporters say Hickory Hill is exactly the kind of well-planned development needed to boost the county’s economy and provide the kind of quality growth that should be encouraged.

Aware that the April meeting will be heavily attended and possibly become contentious, county commissioners this week voted unanimously to spell out the ground rules for the public, the developer and county staff.

Assistant County Attorney Jeff Kirk laid out a detailed list of 11 “rules” of procedure to be followed at next month’s meeting. Some examples:

• Hickory Hill representatives will have 75 minutes to initially present their case.

• People who support the proposed development and who have a spokesperson can ask the board for additional time beyond the customary three minutes. Kirk said that is a way of consolidating speakers.

• Opponents of the project who have a representative or spokesperson will have up to 60 minutes.

• The general public will be limited to the customary three minutes to voice their opinion.

“We tried to balance it so that each side gets to make a fair presentation before the board,” Kirk said.

Deputy County Adminis-trator Larry Jennings said county commissioners at that meeting will discuss whether to adopt the comprehensive plan amendment needed to build Hickory Hill.

Commissioners will also discuss drafting a development order at the same time, Jennings said.

County Planning Director Ron Pianta and his staff have spent the last few months drafting that development order that would serve as the blueprint for Hickory Hill.

If commissioners vote to adopt the comprehensive plan amendment, the matter goes to the Florida Depart-ment of Community Affairs for a compliance review.

If they vote not to adopt the comprehensive plan, it essentially kills the project. There would be no sending off to the state for review and no development order.

All of the commissioners, except Diane Rowden, have been guarded in expressing their views on Hickory Hill.

Rowden has said publicly she is in favor of killing the project after the state DCA, in its initial review, recommended commissioners not adopt the proposed amendment because it would lead to urban sprawl and could be detrimental to the environment.

Sebring Sierra, vice president of operations for Sierra Properties — the developer of Hickory Hill — downplayed the state review, saying that most of those concerns are expected in such a report and that the developer intends to comply with all environmental regulations and also make improvements to the roads in the area.

DCA spokesman Jon Peck said state statutes regarding developments of regional impact clearly spell out the rules on such things as roads, environment and water uses.

It is typical, he said, for those initial reviews to cover all the bases by including potential problems down the road so developers can deal with them during the initial stages.

“The idea is to raise the concerns early in the process so nobody gets blindsided,” Peck said.

Sierra Chairman Robert Sierra said he is prepared to address all the issues of concern at the April meeting. After months of debate, the opinions on both sides lines are pretty much set, he said.

“The people who don’t want the project are not going to change their mind,” Sierra said. “And the people who do want the project won’t change their mind.”

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

Residents Air Frustrations About New SuperTarget

By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 18, 2007

LUTZ - Frustrations about increased traffic and other effects associated with a planned SuperTarget on County Line Road boiled over at a tense community meeting Thursday night.

About 50 residents from Pasco and Hillsborough counties aired their concerns about the planned retail chain at County Line Road and North Dale Mabry Highway.

Many wondered why they were not informed about the project before Pasco County reviewers approved it.

Some said they were dismayed at seeing bulldozers tear out the cypress trees and begin pouring the concrete for the 173,000-square-foot footprint.

The store is set to open in October.

On Monday, Hillsborough County plans to close County Line Road, from North Dale Mabry Highway to Deer Lake Road, for three months so construction crews can add turn lanes and a concrete median and raise the road 3 feet.

Todd Mark, who lives on Deer Hollow Lane, said morning traffic is so congested on County Line that he cannot make a left turn to go to work.

"I didn't want another Target or big-box store next to me. It's a total change of life and not for the better," he said. "It's the beginning of the end of the area."

County Line Road carries an average of 13,100 vehicles a day, and traffic volumes will increase to an average 14,370 vehicles a day with Target, according to county estimates.

Bob Campbell, head of Hillsborough's transportation and land development review division, said the county had been negotiating with Pasco County reviewers for 18 months but had limited input.

Hillsborough granted the right-of-way permits for the three median cuts and approved the roadway improvements.

"We cannot control land use in another unit of government," Campbell said.

He suggested the county form a group to study the long-range vision for County Line Road.

Many were fed up and said no one has addressed their concerns about the development's effects on drainage, flooding, water quality, wetlands and wildlife.

John Ferguson, who lives in Pickert Lane Estates off County Line Road, said he and his neighbors will be enduring more truck traffic on the two-lane road.

Ferguson suggested petitioning the county to install speed humps. That effort failed two years ago when a petition lacked community support.

Others backed turning County Line into a cul-de-sac and rerouting the traffic onto another east-west corridor.

"We don't want our neighborhoods turned into a driveway for Target and Wal-Mart," Ferguson said.

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown @tampatrib.com.

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.

Sewer hookup may aid 11 lakes

Windermere looks at guarding the Butler chain by linking to Ocoee's sewer system.

Rich Mckay
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 18, 2007

WINDERMERE -- The town's future development as well as the health of the Butler Chain of Lakes might depend on six or so miles of pipe, laid almost due north.

In a nod to what may be Windermere's inevitable path, the Town Council agreed last week to approach Ocoee and Orange County about the possibilities of hooking up to one of their sewer systems.

The step was significant because the town's reliance on septic tanks has long thwarted commercial development of its downtown -- a direction many residents wish to maintain, fearing more traffic from outsiders.

But among the recommendations of an environmental study of the 11-lake chain scheduled to be presented to the Orange County Commission on Tuesday is that the town switch to a sewer system to help prevent nutrients leaking from septic tanks into the lakes. Too many nutrients could cause an algae bloom, which could harm the lakes.

The town's Development Review Board made a similar recommendation to the council in response to builder Kevin Azzouz's plans to develop about two blocks of downtown with shops, restaurants and offices.

Orange County's Health Department has required sewer for Azzouz's plans for about 54,000 square feet of development.

Mayor Gary Bruhn said the town will pursue a fact-finding endeavor so town leaders will have the all the information from the source.

"This issue needs to be guided by the town, not the developer," Bruhn said.

Council member Robert Sprick suggested Town Manager Cecilia Bernier explore all options, including whether it is possible to connect just downtown to a sewer system.

Bernier told the council that Ocoee City Manager Robert Frank indicated that Ocoee's system could handle Windermere's sewer needs.

Charles Smith, Ocoee's utility director and an engineer, said his city could link its system to Windermere for about $1 million per mile for the pipes, plus $200,000 for a lift station.

To hook up homes and abandon septic tanks would cost about $20,000 per household. That includes crushing the tank in place and filling the hole, as well as digging up the existing septic leach field, he said.

The cost to convert about 800 homes from septic service will run about $16 million.

Rich McKay can be reached at rmckay@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470.

Another housing development planned for Graceville

By ANNE SPENCER
Jackson County Floridan
Sunday, March 18, 2007
GRACEVILLE ? In addition to a planned 20-unit housing development by Cornerstone Energy Efficient Homes across from Graceville High School, Flag Properties is planning 12 houses and 24 townhouses across from Western Auto.

City manager Eugene Adams told the Graceville City Commission about the latest one in the city's regular March meeting. The developer is Bruce Thompson of Campbellton.

Adams also introduced Graceville resident Pam Rimes, an employee of Cornerstone, who briefly told of the affordable housing project Cornerstone has.

The company is working in conjunction with a non-profit organization, Housing Opportunites Concepts, to build and sell the homes to "workforce" families.

They will be constructed with a system called structural insulated panels, or SIPs.

More jobs coming to the area may be the reason for the developments. A new state prison is under construction and will offer 312 jobs, and Green Circle Bio Energy plans to open a wood-pellet factory near Cottondale with about 50 jobs.

Also, Cornerstone may open a factory to make its SIPs. Owner David Taynor, also a builder, says he will make a decision between Graceville and Ozark, Ala., in about six months.

In addition, the Baptist College of Florida continues to grow and offer more degree-programs.

Rimes was given permission to leave brochures at city hall.

In the action agenda of the meeting, the City Commission approved giving a surplus police car to the Town of Malone; renewed its right-of-way agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation; and directed the city attorney, Frank Bondurant, to draw up an education agreement.

The city will pay for one of its employees, Charlie Martin, who has a degree in biology, to take courses online from Florida State University that will lead to a civil engineering degree.

Adams said completing the requirements online will take about two years and cost about $5,200.

Bondurant said the agreement will provide for the city's reimbursement with interest on a pro-rata basis if Williams does not continue employment with the city for the length of time agreed upon.

Adams said he believes the city will well benefit from the arrangement.

"I feel strongly about this," he said as he presented the recommendation to the city board, after having suggested it in a previous meeting to get reaction.

He said he'd also like to look at such an arrangement for police officers employed by the city.

One item on the action agenda, revisions to the city's comprehensive plan, was postponed due to a need for re-advertisement. The planning commission has a meeting on March 29 at 5:01 p.m. and a special meeting of the city commission was called to deal with amendments at 6 p.m.

The city manager reported on use of the old city hall, dates for the fall Harvest Festival, the sidewalk project, street lights, downtown properties and parking, his visit to the Capitol, and introduced the newly named warden for the state prison, which is under construction in the Graceville Industrial Park.

? The Graceville Historical Society wants to lease the old city hall and Adams said he will be presenting a proposal to the city board.

He said the city must continue to own the building to get any grant funding and suggested a lease of $1 a year with the city maintaining the building and grounds.

? Adams said he had talked to the Harvest Day committee and passed on the request by the Graceville High School band director for a different weekend for the event, because the band is always at state competition the day of the parade and can't participate.

As a result, the date for the Harvest Festival this year will be Oct. 20.

? DOT has extended the date for the sidewalk design to June 20. The sidewalk will extend from Hardy's northward to the high school, along State Road 77.

? Police officers have checked 21 street lights and 12 have been repaired by Gulf Power. The city is responsible for maintenance of the lights.

? About downtown properties, Adams said he had heard from four owners who "were not resisting the city's desire to improve these sites."

The effort to improve the properties consists of updating facades, roofs and windows and other things needing major repair, or demolition.

With new jobs and new residents coming, downtown needs to keep up, Adams said, and added, "We're proud of our progress."

But one of the main problems downtown business people have, he said, is parking. He said he may have a proposal about this in April.

? Adams said he'd spent a day with State Sen. Al Lawson, State Rep. Don Brown and State Rep. Marti Coley, and asked for $1.8 million for the city's wastewater system.

The funding is needed to complete the process of eliminating "inflow and infiltration" into sewage lines, as this adds to the burden of the system.

Adams said he was told money was tight this year, but the legislators were "supportive," and "I'm optimistic," he said.

The Legislature is in session now.

Roads an issue at Compass Lake
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 an