Volusia Soil and Water Conservation District refuses to let lack of funds hamper efforts

Published 3-20-2008

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

Members of the Volusia Soil and Water Conservation District aren't letting a problem like the lack of funding stop their work.

The Volusia County Council ended funding this year for the Soil and Water Conservation District, saying county departments could do the job, instead.

The Soil and Water District had asked for a $157,500 slice of the county's $597.8 million budget. The answer was no. As of October 2007, funding stopped.

But the work did not. District Chairman Don Spence is continuing to run the agency, Vice Chairwoman Michele Moen said.

"He's a terrific chairman," she added.

Members of the Soil and Water Conservation District are elected. Spence and Moen, along with fellow board members Tony Cole, Dennis Elster, David Strawn and Lindsey Morris, are working out of their homes. They have no office.

When it had money, the Soil and Water Conservation District shared an office with U.S. Department of Agriculture Agent George Johnson at 1342 S. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand. That was blown away by the February 2007 tornado, and there's no money for a replacement.

"It's really difficult to get things done without a staff," Moen said. "We were asking for such a small amount of funding, to have a manager, a secretary and a part-time agriculturalist."

Without a staffed office, everything moves slowly, Moen said. Members must wait until a board meeting to bring up anything, because they are prohibited by the Sunshine Law from talking district business to one another, and they have no staff to talk with.

Moen said she's not about to give up the district's work.

"The Soil and Water District was created to connect the environment and agriculture, and make sure they both survive," she said. "I think most of the farmers have the same goal."

Soil and Water Conservation Districts were formed after drought and poor farming practices led to soil erosion and the dust storms of the 1930s. To participate in federal-assistance programs to restore the abused land, states were required to establish Soil and Water Conservation Districts to oversee the spending of federal funds. Volusia County's Soil and Water District was established by the Florida Legislature in 1943.


Still seeking to protect the land and water


Working with Citizens for Ormond Beach, Moen has conducted the Soil and Water District's first workshop on low-impact development.

"With no funding, we're reaching out to the environmental interest groups to partner with us," she said.

The West Volusia Audubon Society wants to set up a similar workshop in DeLand.

Moen hopes to bring the workshop to all Volusia County cities.

"Low-impact development is all about water quality and quantity," she said.

It includes:

• Permeable surfaces in parking lots, and smaller parking lots.

• Maintaining the tree canopy. "Keep those trees up," Moen said. They provide cooling shade, reduce water evaporation, and help hold soil in place.

• Maintaining soil health. In traditional development practices, soil on the entire site is packed down by enormous equipment, and soil that wouldn't normally be there is put in place. Pollution and runoff are the result.

"We take healthy soil, and kill it and bury it," Moen said. Many of the trees taken out during construction wouldn't survive if they were replanted, because of the soil. "So, don't destroy the habitat."

• Clustering, "but not for density." Clustering means grouping houses and buildings together in a smaller area, instead of spreading them out, and leaving larger green spaces. "Even with clustering, if the density's too high, you can do a lot of damage. You're going to have runoff. You're going to need lights and highways," Moen said.

• Getting water back to watersheds and recharge areas as quickly and cleanly as possible. For example, the creation of vegetative swales — elongated depressions in the earth to capture excess rainwater — copies nature.

"What's there is working," Moen said. "We come in and completely change it, so it's no longer working for us or for wildlife." She wants to reverse this trend.


Plants and flood plains


The Volusia Soil and Water Conservation District is also working with its Seminole and Lake county counterparts to write a native-plant ordinance.

"Once it's written, we could do so many positive things," Moen said.

Along with conserving water with drought-resistant native plants, the measure would provide economic opportunities for agriculture, help Central Florida maintain its identity, and support its natural wildlife.

Another project is working to protect the 100-year flood plain. The district is awaiting an opinion from the Florida attorney general, but believes land-use regulations can be created to protect the flood plain from harm caused by overdevelopment.

The most effective approach to flood protection is prevention — not building in or altering flood-plain areas.

Moen said it will be important to get support of the cities and the county.

"Of course, we're also working on funding," she said.

She said the budget cut seemed politically motivated.

For years, the Soil and Water Conservation District had a low profile. Then, candidates ran for seats on the district board as environmentalists, and funding was slashed.

Without the district, Moen fears Volusia County agriculture will get less money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Right now, the political support for agriculture is not there," she said.


Looking into agriculture's future


"Agriculture needs to move into organics and alternative fuels," Moen said, but won't be able to do it without local support. Do away with agricultural lands, and there's no agriculture.

She would like to see local farms feed the cities in Volusia County, instead of food being imported from South America.

"Organic foods are the future," Moen said. She recently looked at organic persimmons in the grocery store, and they were going for $2 each. Moen has a persimmon tree full of edible fruit in her yard.

"Greens grow fantastic here — all kinds of greens," she said.

"I want someone to sell persimmon wine. We could be the organic capital of Florida," Moen said. She cautioned, "They have to be products people want to buy, and want to buy locally."

But she questions local elected officials' commitment to farming.

"If the County Council's not willing to support agriculture, and the local cities are not, where does that leave us?" she asked.

The Soil and Water Conservation District wants to start working with communities and political groups, to make them realize agriculture is important and feasible.

Moen said we must plan for the future of young farmers, and make it possible for them to make a living.

"We'd like to work with the county," she said. "In a very respectful way, we'll remind them we're still here."

She added, "We are determined to carry on."

- pat@beacononlinenews.com

Finally: a trial

By John Johnston
Managing Editor

Originally slated to begin in January, the long-awaited Palm Beach County versus Mizner Trail Golf Course trial finally gets underway today before Judge Kenneth Stern in the 15th District Court in West Palm Beach.

A discussion of scheduling matters, the setting of a trial date, and a status conference are on today’s agenda, according to Assistant County Attorney Amy Petrick.

And despite Judge Stern being the third judge since January to be involved in the case, the matter until this week had been stalled with scheduling problems on the part of the first judge, and a second judge recusing himself.  The case is now moving forward, however, because all of the items in the original litigation have been withdrawn -- except for the “claims,” Petrick said.

The claims center on county denial of a zoning change for the Mizner Trail Golf Course, effectively denying development there.

Compson Development Corp of Boca Raton has the Mizner Trail Golf Course as one of its developments, and its Compson that’s now seeking in excess of $30 million over the county’s denial of a zoning change that would, in turn, have permitted the building of 200-plus luxury town homes on part of the Mizner Trail Golf Course in west Boca Raton.

Reached by the Boca Raton News, Compson CEO Robert Comparto, and on the advice of counsel, declined comment.

The Boca Raton News has also learned that Compson has not withdrawn a separate defamation lawsuit against Mizner Trail development opponent, County Commissioner Mary McCarty. The suit alleges that McCarty made defamatory statements about Compson to third parties.  A motion by the county for dismissal of that case is slated for April 9.

McCarty told the Boca Raton News Tuesday that the defamation case is without merit because all of her actions involving Mizner Trail were in her capacity as county commissioner. As such, she believes that those actions are not subject to litigation under the fairly broad blanket of immunity granted to public officials against -- not only liability, but litigation itself -- for actions taken and statements made while performing official duties.

Three lawsuits were filed in April 2006 with the 15th District Circuit court, alleging that in denial of Mizner’s application to build luxury town homes on the Mizner Trail Golf Course, the county acted “in an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious manner against Mizner Trail.”

The first of those lawsuits was dismissed in September 2006, and interim settlement meetings on the remaining allegations did not bear fruit.

The case began when the county zoning commission voted 4-3 in January 2006 that Mizner’s application should move forward to the County Commission -- but with a recommendation for denial.

County commissioners unanimously agreed on Feb. 23, 2006, rejecting plans for 202 luxury townhouses on holes three through eight of the southern Mizner Trail Golf Course in Boca Del Mar, a 35-year old and 30,000 plus household development that straddles the Florida Turnpike west of Boca Raton. Boca Del Mar is the single largest unincorporated area land development in Palm Beach County. In fact, the Boca Del Mar Planned Unit Development (PUD) in 1971 was the first such PUD ever approved in the county.

And the remaining litigation alleges that the county’s denial amounts to “a regulatory taking of Mizner’s property and vested rights.”

Opponents of Mizner’s development proposal convinced the county that the Mizner Trail Golf Course was part of the “general development characteristics” of the overall Boca Del Mar development – and therefore should not be built upon.

Further, and in the words of the then county Senior Site Planner Eric McClellan, the golf course was a  "a firm and wholistic part of the community,” and therefore development as other than a golf course could be denied under the county code on that basis. (McClellan has since left county employ and is working in the private sector).

The Mizner lawsuit in turn countered that Mizner Trail had an inherent right to build the luxury town homes because the property was properly zoned for that purpose, that more than a sufficient number of residential units approved in the original development plan remained unbuilt, and that the golf course itself was never established in perpetuity as a golf course.

The suit also says that Mizner “purchased the property in 1998, with the expectation that it would be used as a golf course temporarily and that the property ultimately would be developed residentially.”

The suit also claimed that “using the property as a golf course is no longer an economically viable use or an economically reasonable use, and has not been for several years, at least since 2002.”

For the better part of three years, the proposed development of, initially, nearly 500, whittled down to 390, then down to 236, and finally down to 202 luxury homes ($500,000 and up) at the Mizner Trail Golf Course was an on-going battle between some residents who opposed the development, and later both the County Zoning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners.

Acting on what the lawsuit alleges, the failure to get the luxury home development approved eventually resulted in Mizner saying it was losing too much money operating the golf course, and the course was closed Oct. 1 2005. 

Mizner’s original plan was to sell one third of the southern golf course.  Upon that land --- six holes of the now closed course --- the plan called for construction of 202 luxury town houses. The remaining 12 holes would then have been reconfigured into an executive 18-hole course.  The plan also included a new deed covenant that for all practical purposes Mizner said prevented the remaining 67 percent of the land from ever being developed.

In a show cause order following the original suit 15th Circuit Court Judge Edward Fine said he believed the county’s denial “shows a preliminary basis” for being overturned.

Mizner’s litigation seeking monetary damages was subsequently filed and was later said to total in excess of $30 million.

Homebuilders bemoan business climate
Industry official tells MTI students that 'overregulation,' stiff impact fees and negative media stifle construction.

BY KEVIN CARTER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BANNER


OCALA - Boosting home building in Florida means fighting impact fees and an atmosphere of fear, according to one industry leader.

"Things are tough out there," Florida Homebuilders Association CEO Emmett Reed said of the current homebuilding market.

Reed told local builders and students in a construction program Tuesday at Marion Technical Institute his 20,000-member group is lobbying state lawmakers for changes intended to improve the state's building climate.

"It's going to get better when government seriously looks at overregulation of the industry," he said.

Fees tied to new home building that proponents say help to offset corresponding increases in municipal and county services are hurting construction, Reed said.

"Impact fees throttle growth," Reed said. "It's an unfair tax on new construction."

Reed notes that, as a sixth-generation Floridian, if he built a new home on land he owns and sold his old home to a family with children from Michigan, he'd be the one to pay an impact fee.

Impact fees brought in a lot of money for government officials to spend during the construction boom, Reed said. "The boom was so hard and so fast and so high they were able to live high on the hog."

It took a downturn in the construction industry for lawmakers to consider the fees' possible negative impact, Reed said. "Now they're looking at it."

He also sees the media as partly to blame for a lack in homebuilding.

Coverage of foreclosures and negative economic forecasts helped create a panicked atmosphere, blinding potential homebuyers to some great opportunities, Reed said.

"The attitude of the country is people are afraid," Reed said. "Now is the time to buy. There'll never be a better time."

Hope is readily apparent in the face of MTI senior Jonathan Gonzalez. He sees a big future for himself in construction despite the industry's current state.

"It drops and gets slow, but it picks right back up," he said.

Gonzalez was among 21 students receiving a certificate Tuesday for completing a core section of MTI's construction technology program, which encompasses carpentry plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

He recently won a local Skills USA competition in carpentry and will compete at the state level in April. He has the next few years of his life mapped out.

Gonzalez plans to go to Central Florida Community College for architectural drafting, work two years for his father in framing and general construction and take the test for a general contractor's license.

Once Gonzalez gets his license, he wants to build homes with his dad, Jorge Gonzalez of JLG Installation Inc. in Ocala.

That's the kind of dream MTI power/construction instructor Tony Vasquez is happy to play a part in.

"The construction industry itself has its ups and downs," Vasquez said. "You can overcome that by having good skills."

As Gonzalez gains critical experience on the job, he'll make a reputation he'll bank heavily on later.

Word-of-mouth referrals are the most important credential anyone in construction carries, Vasquez said: "You're only as good as your last job."

Tavares: Water pressure fix will have to wait
City wants to weigh options before placing pump in Royal Barbor area

Benjamin Roode

Thursday, March 20, 2008


TAVARES - Residents of a Tavares subdivision will have to wait a bit longer for water pressure aid.

Showers and other spigots in some higher elevation houses in the Royal Harbor development on State Road 19 are trickling due to a lack of water pressure, said some residents and analysts from Jones Edmunds, a state-based consulting firm.

A new pump station - at a cost of about $640,000 - in the development would make sure water got uphill to those houses affected, according to a report Jones Edmunds completed.

City council members wanted to make sure they considered all options, including putting the pump station where it could help more residents in the area, before either the city or Royal Harbor committed to pay such a bill.

The city is working to develop a water master plan; that plan would include a solution to the water pressure problem.

Land conservationists keep faith

By NATHAN CRABBE
Sun staff writer
ROCHELLE - Twenty years after its inception, Alachua Conservation Trust has added another jewel to its emerald necklace near the place where the concept was born.


The land-conservation group closed last week on its purchase of a 50-acre property near the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail. The land is just north of the trust's first major auisition, Hickory Ranch, which is now part of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, and it will be the location of an awards ceremony Friday celebrating the group's work.

Executive director Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson said both properties are part of efforts to protect land around Prairie Creek, which runs between Newnan's Lake and Paynes Prairie. The land also adds to the undeveloped buffer around Gainesville known as the emerald necklace, he said.

"This is the area that will separate one city from the next when we're all grown up," he said. "We're getting closer to that vision that was first created 20 years ago."

An Alachua County task force initially promoted the idea of a band of green space around cities and led to the creation of the nonprofit conservation trust in 1988. The trust has since worked to protect about 14,000 acres through public land purchases and private conservation easements.

A 55-year-old former county commissioner, Hutchinson said that over time, the trust has built the relationships and resources needed to buy large tracts of ecologically significant land. He used the most recent purchase as an example, saying the group first made contact with the land owner two decades ago.

"Now people know who we are, and the major landowners in this county have all heard from us," he said.

The group will be honoring three people as conservation stewards at the awards ceremony: Harold Nugent, known to area public school students as the Alligator Man for his class presentations involving the reptiles, as well as Kate Barnes and Bruce Delaney. Barnes is a former county commissioner and Delaney is a former Gainesville city commissioner; both worked to protect land in Cross Creek and the Lochloosa Forest.

"To this day, Cross Creek is the way it is because these folks stepped up and did what needed to be done," Hutchinson said.

Delaney was a co-owner of a fish camp in Cross Creek when he helped stop a massive development effort in that area. In the conservation trust's early days, it helped the St. Johns River Water Management District protect about 28,000 acres in the area that became known as the Lochloosa Wildlife Management Area.

Delaney recalled a meeting in the 1980s in which residents fighting to prevent development were met with the rejoinder that they should just buy the land if they wanted to protect it so badly. He said the trust - with help from government programs providing money for land purchases - enabled exactly that to happen.

"That made it possible to succeed," he said. "You can't do this without money."

Hutchinson said the trust started with the idea that it would be doing a lot of conservation easements, the arrangements in which private landowners agree not to develop land. But he said the state's land-buying programs, Preservation 2000 and Florida Forever, and the local version, Alachua County Forever, provided funding for the group to instead make major land purchases.

"In the land trust world, most of the work is private conservation easements," he said. "In Florida, because there's been a significant local and state commitment . . . land trusts have concentrated on outright purchase."

Ramesh Buch, director of Alachua County Forever, said the conservation trust has worked both as a partner and a seller of land to the program. In some cases they have auired land together, he said, while in others the trust has bought land on its own that it later sold to the county. Now both the county and state land-buying programs are nearing the point when they run out of money. Hutchinson said the future of those programs will be critical in determining whether the trust moves toward more easements, which he said can be a good tool to ensure land is managed to ensure its environmental value.

"When you have a strongly motivated owner, they're the best managers you can have," he said.

Hutchinson served as the trust's first executive director, a role he resumed in January. He said JulieAnne Tabone, who ran public education efforts at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park as a park services specialist, will work as assistant director in preparation to eventually take the trust's top job.

The organization is going through other changes, such as a shift from buying land to managing forests through controlled burns and opening some land for public access. In November, trails in the Prairie Creek Preserve off County Road 2082 were opened and dedicated to the late land-conservation advocates Jane Walker and Susan Wright.

The group's latest purchase fills a "doughnut hole" of unprotected land in the 368-acre preserve, Hutchinson said, while allowing for another trail connecting to the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail. The property is now flatwoods, but will be restored to longleaf pine habitat, he said. He said the protection of land in the area is both environmentally and personally important. Ecologically, the land protects a wildlife corridor for migrating birds and large mammals such as the Florida black bear. Prairie Creek links Newnan's Lake and Paynes Prairie and consequently is important to water quality there.

Personally, Hutchinson grew up on the lake and played in the creek as a child. He said it's satisfying to work to protect the beauty of land he grew up enjoying.

"There's a lot of Prairie Creek water running through my veins," he said.

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


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UF Trustee Reassures County About Ag's Importance By Jim  Konkoly of Highlands Today Published: March 19, 2008 SEBRING — Despite the statement by the University of Florida's president that "agriculture is a dying industry" in this state, the university's board of trustees told Highlands County commissioners they value and will continue to fund the school's agricultural research and extension programs. However, Dianna F. Morgan, chairman of the university's board of trustees, did not promise that agriculture won't be one of the "targeted" areas for the school's pending $50 million in budget cuts. Ray Royce, director of the Heartlands Agricultural Coalition, which represents all agricultural sectors in Highlands County, is joining the Highlands County Commission in lobbying against cuts in funding for the University of Florida's agricultural programs. In a letter to Edgar Stokes, chairman of the Highlands County commissioners, Morgan said the school remains "committed to supporting the education and outreach mission of the IFAS (Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, which funds the extension service), even as we face challenging budget times. "As the state's land grant university," Morgan continued, "we fully recognize the important role which agriculture plays in our state's economy and we want to continue to help address any future challenges it may face." The immediate challenge, Stokes said in his letter to the school's board of trustees, is making sure agriculture doesn't take the brunt of the university's $50 million in budget cuts. Morgan wrote to Stokes in response to his letter, written on behalf of the entire county commission, which protested the remarks of the university's president, Bernie Machen, that "agriculture is a dying industry in Florida." "The Highlands Board of County Commissioners express deep concern over your recent statement that agriculture 'is no longer a viable industry' in the state of Florida," Stokes wrote in a letter sent to Machen and to the university's board of trustees. Stokes also wrote that agriculture "drives the economic engine in Highlands County." About the extension service in particular, Stokes said it "must be given top priority ... is vital to the agricultural industry, and must be maintained at all costs." Morgan replied that the university faces "a difficult economic environment" and is developing "a cost-reduction plan which will likely impact all areas of our university." "After successive years of across-the-board cuts," Morgan wrote, "it becomes increasingly difficult to meet our cost-cutting requirements without some targeted and strategic reductions. "However," she added, "I assure you that this process will carefully balance the needs of our students, as well as our community outreach." Royce said he remains concerned about possible big cuts for agriculture at the university, and he is rallying support for agriculture funding at the University of Florida and by the Florida Legislature. "We all understand that the state and the university have budgetary concerns that have to be addressed," Royce said. "But we're very, very concerned about a disproportionate amount (of budget cutting) being applied to agriculture. Royce said agriculture is becoming more important, not less important, to the state's economy, particularly because "agriculture is more diversified than ever in our state. And it's branching out into biofuels and other promising areas." South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com County won't bolster regional water authority By Barbara Behrendt, Times Staff Writer Published Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:37 PM BROOKSVILLE — They know the day will come when thirsty Hernando County residents will have drawn so much water from the aquifer that a new source of water will be needed. Working together with neighboring counties facing the same problem, they also know, will make finding a solution easier. But the County Commission on Tuesday balked at a plan to strengthen the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Authority by giving it a permanent staff and office. Commissioner Jeff Stabins even suggested going in the opposite direction, by re-evaluating the financial impact of being in the authority and possibly pulling out altogether. At a time when taxpayers are demanding relief, "this is probably the only branch of government to have the audacity to ask for more,'' he said. "It really turns my stomach.'' Commissioner David Russell agreed. He said he supports regional planning but said residents have made it clear they want smaller, streamlined government. "When you are asked to grow a bureaucracy, it kind of cuts across that grain,'' he said. "It doesn't sit well with me.'' Commission Chairman Chris Kingsley also agreed with Russell and Stabins, while commissioners Rose Rocco and Diane Rowden said they were focused on maintaining water resources. "It's our most precious resource, water, and we've got to plan for the future,'' Rowden said. "When that tap runs dry, who are we going to look to?'' Rowden did question whether Hernando would have enough representation on the board into the future and Jack Sullivan, water authority executive director, explained the mixed makeup of the board. Currently the authority includes Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties along with the city of Ocala. Marion County is about to ask to re-enter the authority. "You can't be overwhelmed by Marion County'' because of the way the representation is set up, Sullivan told Rowden. He also assured commissioners that he didn't see Hernando's water resources going to growing areas like the Villages, parts of which are in Marion and Sumter counties. Instead, Sullivan envisioned water for the region coming from a possible desalination plant in Crystal River and the reservoir at Lake Rousseau in northwestern Citrus County. But Russell was concerned about the "monstrosity'' of the Villages. "They can be a potential water hog'' which could draw resources from the other regional partners, he said. Besides, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, or Swiftmud, should be looking for new water sources, he said. Swiftmud's David Rathke said that is not the district's mandate. The water authority, he said, needs to be the agency that plans, builds and operates a regional water utility system. In just a few years, Hernando County won't be able to get by using the existing groundwater supply and it could find itself trying to play catchup like other urbanizing portions of Florida, Sullivan said. County administrator David Hamilton agreed to bring back a report on how to expand the regional oversight using existing resources. In other action: The commission decided to hear a case in which the county's Planning and Zoning Commission rejected a permit application last week for a mobile coffee stand set up in the U.S. 19 parking lot adjacent to the Spring Hill Chili's. The permit denial effectively put the owner out of business. Stabins and Rowden asked if something could be worked out. Planning director Ron Pianta said the county has been working with the owner but has not yet been able to find a solution where the coffee stand would meet the county's rules about restroom availability, traffic patterns and other issues. Russell said he backed the denial by the planning board because all businesses in the county should follow the same rules. The rehearing will be April 9. Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1434.   If drought worsens, Everglades may be tapped to supply cities By Andy Reid South Florida Sun-Sentinel March 19, 2008 If drought conditions worsen, water managers plan to stick with a proposal to take more Everglades water than usually allowed to restock supplies in Broward and Palm Beach counties. That would lower the Everglades water conservation areas beyond limits set to protect wildlife habitat, a move expected to particularly hurt two endangered species, the Everglades snail kite and wood stork, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. The South Florida Water Management District proposed the measure last year, to be used as a last resort, and wants to preserve that option for this year as well. The corps supports the idea but is accepting public comment on the plan through March 28 before making a final decision. "We are not going to use it if we don't need it," said Chip Merriam, the district's deputy executive director. "It's a backup measure to make sure we can protect the well fields." But Jacquie Weisblum, Everglades team leader for Audubon of Florida, said Tuesday that it is "unacceptable" for the federal government to approve a backup plan it acknowledges could hurt endangered species. "Where is the onus on us to be responsible for our own water supply?" she asked. The water conservation areas cover about 1,300 acres across western Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The water district is supposed to stop taking water from the conservation areas when water levels hit "environmental floors" — minimum water levels considered necessary to support wildlife and protected habitat. The new exemption sought by the district temporarily changes those levels. In the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, known as WCA-1, the limit would change from 14 feet above sea level to 12.5 feet. In WCA-2A in Broward County, the limit would change from 10.5 feet to 10 feet. The corps acknowledges that the changes "may adversely affect the endangered Everglade snail kite and the wood stork" but maintains that they would not "permanently affect wildlife or fish or their habitats." Comments on the proposal may be e-mailed to Catherine.L.Byrd@usace.army.mil or mailed to Catherine Byrd, Planning Division USACE, 701 San Marco Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207. Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5504. Kenric Ward: The governor’s cheap talk devalues the state’s commitment to open government By Kenric Ward Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Like so much greenhouse gas, Charlie Crist’s utterances about Florida’s Sunshine law don’t pass the smell test. The governor says he’s committed to open records and open meetings, but talk is cheap. Actions are what count. So what’s Crist done lately? He went behind closed doors to negotiate a Vegas-style casino deal with the Seminole Tribe, and then, going back on his word, refused to present it to the Legislature for public debate. For this double-dealing, Crist has been sued in court. His odds aren’t good: Five other governors tried this ploy; all five lost. Is litigation what Crist means when he says “The role of Florida’s government is to serve the people of Florida and open government gives the people the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable”? Crist gambles with the public’s trust in other ways. Since his 2006 campaign was bankrolled by every facet of Florida’s development industry, the governor has made no secret of his disdain for grassroots attempts at curbing out-of-control growth. The governor is entitled to his (and his corporate cronies’) opinions. But when the state’s chief executive officer turns a blind eye to arbitrary and capricious behavior by public officials, Florida’s Sunshine turns black. In the days following Feb. 1, when the Secretary of State’s office announced the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment wouldn’t make the ballot this year, Crist’s office received several complaints. Correspondence obtained by this newspaper alleged serious procedural glitches at local and state levels. Among them: • Petitions were denied equal treatment. Some were counted as late as Feb. 1; others, submitted as early as Jan. 2, were not counted. • Signatures of “inactive” or “purged” voters were tossed, in violation of Division of Elections rules. • For seven months, the state did not divulge problems it was having with its petition-tallying database, and stopped posting online updates in January. (Ironically, Crist brags about making state Web sites “more accessible to the citizen’s of Florida.”) • Administrative orders issued without notice or public hearing created chaos. On Dec. 31, Sarah Jane Bradshaw, state assistant division of elections director, informed county officials, “Today is the deadline for petitioning groups to submit petitions to you.” Yet the law set Feb. 1 as the deadline. Ion Sancho, Leon County’s election supervisor, told Fred Grimm of the Miami Herald, “Hometown thought it was playing on one board while the game was secretly moved to another board.” Attempting to shine a light into the shadows, FHD President Lesley Blackner sent public-records requests to all 67 supervisors of elections last month. Only a handful have complied, said Blackner, a Palm Beach attorney. To date, no one at the state can say precisely how many petitions were filed, how many were rejected, or for what reasons. These are not frivolous concerns. Tallying petitions — like counting votes — lies at the foundation of free government. If officials cannot, or will not, do their jobs according to the law, then democracy in Florida is a fraud. Alas, Crist is incommunicado, relying on his staff to send out patronizing, boilerplate responses to anxious constituents. One stock reply advised: “You may wish to write to your senator or representative.” The buck stops where, Guv? “We don’t know what was submitted to the counties. We have no idea,” Sterling Ivey, then a spokesman for the secretary of state, admitted on Feb. 1. Ivey has since moved up to the governor’s office, and a former functionary with the Florida Chamber of Commerce — FHD’s chief opponent — has taken his place. That’s open government, Crist-style. ken.ward@scripps.com Spring keeps coming earlier for birds, bees, trees By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer WASHINGTON — The capital's famous cherry trees are primed to burst out in a perfect pink peak about the end of this month. Thirty years ago, the trees usually waited to bloom till around April 5. In central California, the first of the field skipper sachem, a drab little butterfly, was fluttering about on March 12. Just 25 years ago, that creature predictably emerged there anywhere from mid-April to mid-May. And sneezes are coming earlier in Philadelphia. On March 9, when allergist Dr. Donald Dvorin set up his monitor, maple pollen was already heavy in the air. Less than two decades ago, that pollen couldn't be measured until late April. Pollen is bursting. Critters are stirring. Buds are swelling. Biologists are worrying. "The alarm clock that all the plants and animals are listening to is running too fast," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said. Blame global warming. The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state. What's happening is so noticeable that scientists can track it from space. Satellites measuring when land turns green found that spring "green-up" is arriving eight hours earlier every year on average since 1982 north of the Mason-Dixon line. In much of Florida and southern Texas and Louisiana, the satellites show spring coming a tad later, and bizarrely, in a complicated way, global warming can explain that too, the scientists said. Biological timing is called phenology. Biological spring, which this year begins at 1:48 a.m. ET Thursday, is based on the tilt of the Earth as it circles the sun. The federal government and some university scientists are so alarmed by the changes that last fall they created a National Phenology Network at the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor these changes. The idea, said biologist and network director Jake Weltzin, is "to better understand the changes, and more important what do they mean? How does it affect humankind?" There are winners, losers and lots of unknowns when global warming messes with natural timing. People may appreciate the smaller heating bills from shorter winters, the longer growing season and maybe even better tasting wines from some early grape harvests. But biologists also foresee big problems. The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze. The young of tree swallows — which in upstate New York are laying eggs nine days earlier than in the 1960s — often starve in those last gasp cold snaps because insects stop flying in the cold, ornithologists said. University of Maryland biology professor David Inouye noticed an unusually early February robin in his neighborhood this year and noted, "Sometimes the early bird is the one that's killed by the winter storm." The checkerspot butterfly disappeared from Stanford's Jasper Ridge preserve because shifts in rainfall patterns changed the timing of plants on which it develops. When the plant dries out too early, the caterpillars die, said Notre Dame biology professor Jessica Hellmann. "It's an early warning sign in that it's an additional onslaught that a lot of our threatened species can't handle," Hellmann said. It's not easy on some people either. A controlled federal field study shows that warmer temperatures and increased carbon dioxide cause earlier, longer and stronger allergy seasons. "For wind-pollinated plants, it's probably the strongest signal we have yet of climate change," said University of Massachusetts professor of aerobiology Christine Rogers. "It's a huge health impact. Seventeen percent of the American population is allergic to pollen." While some plants and animals use the amount of sunlight to figure out when it is spring, others base it on heat building in their tissues, much like a roasting turkey with a pop-up thermometer. Around the world, those internal thermometers are going to "pop" earlier than they once did. This past winter's weather could send a mixed message. Globally, it was the coolest December through February since 2001 and a year of heavy snowfall. Despite that, it was still warmer than average for the 20th century. Phenology data go back to the 14th century for harvest of wine grapes in France. There is a change in the timing of fall, but the change is biggest in spring. In the 1980s there was a sudden, big leap forward in spring blooming, scientists noticed. And spring keeps coming earlier at an accelerating rate. Unlike sea ice in the Arctic, the way climate change is tinkering with the natural timing of day-to-day life is concrete and local. People can experience it with all five senses: • You can see the trees and bushes blooming earlier. A photo of Lowell Cemetery, in Lowell, Mass., taken May 30, 1868, shows bare limbs. But the same scene photographed May 30, 2005, by Boston University biology professor Richard Primack shows them in full spring greenery. • You can smell the lilacs and honeysuckle. In the West they are coming out two to four days earlier each decade over more than half a century, according to a 2001 study. • You can hear it in the birds. Scientists in Gothic, Colo., have watched the first robin of spring arrive earlier each year in that mountain ghost town, marching forward from April 9 in 1981 to March 14 last year. This year, heavy snows may keep the birds away until April. • You can feel it in your nose from increased allergies. Spring airborne pollen is being released about 20 hours earlier every year, according to a Swiss study that looked at common allergies since 1979. • You can even taste it in the honey. Bees, which sample many plants, are producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier. The nectar is coming from different plants now, which means noticeably different honey — at least in Highland, Md., where Wayne Esaias has been monitoring honey production since 1992. Instead of the rich, red, earthy tulip poplar honey that used to be prevalent, bees are producing lighter, fruitier black locust honey. Esaias, a NASA oceanographer as well as beekeeper, says global warming is a factor. In Washington, seven of the last 20 Cherry Blossom Festivals have started after peak bloom. This year will be close, the National Park Service predicts. Last year, Knoxville's dogwood blooms came and went before the city's dogwood festival started. Boston's Arnold Arboretum permanently rescheduled Lilac Sunday to a May date eight days earlier than it once was. Even western wildfires have a timing connection to global warming and are coming earlier. An early spring generally means the plants that fuel fires are drier, producing nastier fire seasons, said University of Arizona geology professor Steve Yool. It's such a good correlation that Weltzin, the phenology network director, is talking about using real-time lilac data to predict upcoming fire seasons. Lilacs, which are found in most parts of the country, offer some of the broadest climate overview data going back to the 1950s. This year, though, it's the early red maple that's creating buzz, as well as sniffles. A New Jersey conservationist posted an urgent message on a biology listserv on Feb. 1 about the early blooming. A 2001 study found that since 1970, that tree is blossoming on average at least 19 days earlier in Washington, D.C. Such changes have "implications for the animals that are dependent on this plant," Weltzin said, as he stood beneath a blooming red maple in late February. By the time the animals arrive, "the flowers may already be done for the year." The animals may have to find a new food source. "It's all a part of life," Weltzin said. "Timing is everything."   Land-use meeting delayed By Mike Wright Citizens and a developer waited three hours for a workshop Tuesday, only to have the Citrus County Commission cancel it because of a notice error. The comprehensive plan amendment case for the Crystal River Commons retail town center will be heard at 3 p.m. April 15 with the public hearing in May. The developer, Primerica Inc., is proposing the development on 64 acres on U.S. 19 at Venable Street, just south of Crystal River. Tuesday was set as a public workshop. Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said notices sent to 17 nearby property owners mistakenly said the workshop was at the Lecanto Government Building. Maidhof said his office placed a sign on the building door so that anyone showing up for the 4:20 p.m. workshop would know it was at the courthouse instead. As it turned out, the workshop didn’t start until 7 p.m. Commissioners were in a closed meeting to discuss the Tom Dick lawsuit pushing the 4 p.m. scheduled start of Tuesday’s commission meeting to 5 p.m. Commissioner Gary Bartell said he thought the board should reschedule the workshop to allow affected property owners the chance to be heard. Commissioner Vicki Phillips also noted that the application name was not with Primerica, but the Avid Group. She said that might have led people to believe the case wasn’t on the commission agenda at all. “Why does the name keep changing?” Phillips said. Chairwoman Joyce Valentino had a similar concern about the applicant’ s name. “It becomes confusing to the public,” she said. Avid is Primerica’s consultant on the retail project. Wes Antill, a supporter of the project, was angry to learn the workshop was being postponed. “I know this is important,” he said. “That’s why I waited here for three hours.” Primerica attorney Clark Stillwell said it’s best that all procedures are followed. “They took the most conservative approach,” he said. “I can’t fault them with that.” SO YOU KNOW * Commissioners met behind closed doors for nearly two hours Tuesday with their attorneys to discuss the Tom Dick federal lawsuit. Afterward, commissioners would not comment on what was said during the closed session. Majority owner in builder Sunland Homes files for bankruptcy By Nadia Vanderhoof Originally published 01:16 p.m., March 17, 2008 Updated 03:53 p.m., March 17, 2008 The majority owner of Treasure Coast builder Sunland Homes has filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors in the Southern District of Florida, leaving the future of its local developments in question. According to Craig Kelley, an attorney with West Palm Beach-based law firm Kelley & Fulton, 51 percent of Sunland Homes is owned by Palm Beach County-based Frank E. Young Family Partnership with Frank E. Young registered as the CEO. Developer Ron Hyman owns 49 percent of the company and is represented by Scott Newman, a partner with the law firm Holland & Knight in Palm Beach County. Young filed for bankruptcy on his portion of the business on Feb. 27. Hyman isn’t involved in those proceedings. Executives at Sunland could not be reached and phone lines at the company’s Treasure Coast offices were disconnected. West Palm Beach-based attorney Kelley is handling Young’s bankruptcy proceedings and said the company had ceased operations. “Unfortunately, what was happening was that people who were in committed contracts weren’t coming to the table to close ... people bought semi-custom models and Sunland ended up with a bunch of mortgage payments they never intended to have,” Kelley said. “People were refusing to close on their purchase contracts.” Kelley said Young filed for Chapter 11 to protect his portion of the company from creditors during his plan to restructure and reorganize his business. Sunland built the South Pointe development, consisting of 49 houses, in Martin County’s Port Salerno. The company also was building the massive Lexington Place subdivision in Indian River County, an 81.5-acre parcel slated for 256 homes east of 20th Avenue Southwest and north of Fifth Street Southwest. The gated community was put on the market for $13.5 million in March. Additionally, Sunland purchased a 400-acre parcel for $8.67 million on Midway Road in Fort Pierce in 2005. “This is very sad news because I know both of the principals and I feel very badly that they are going through this,” said Don Santos, past president of the Treasure Coast Builders Association and president of Santos Construction. “You know the old axiom the first loss is the cheapest, I think that when people put $20,000 down on a house and by the time it went to close they saw it depreciate $40,000 to $50,000, they chose to lose the $20,000.” According to the South Florida Business Journal, the biggest creditors in the bankruptcy are City National Bank of Miami, for $14.6 million, and Sterling Bank of West Palm Beach, for $2 million. Last fall, National City Bank also filed a federal suit against Sunland principals for $13 million in outstanding debt related to Lexington Place. “Efforts are being made to liquidate the entire project,” Kelley said about Lexington Place in Vero Beach. “Obviously the property is subject to foreclosure proceedings by the overriding lender.” Sunland’s filing follows the January bankruptcy of Hollywood-based Tousa Inc., which operated Engle Homes statewide and on the Treasure Coast. Fort Lauderdale-based Levitt and Sons, which was building the Seasons at Tradition, an active-adult community within the Tradition development in Port St. Lucie, sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November. Other builders like DiVosta Building Corp. and KB Homes shut their Treasure Coast divisions in 2007. “I would not be surprised if more builders file for protection next year,” said Brad Hunter, director of West Palm Beach-based Metrostudy. “When people started walking away from deposits and canceling contacts, it left builders with a bunch of empty homes and lots, which put a lot of strain on the builders.”     Written by Randyl Drummer Re-Appraising Risk: Some Appraisers See Cracks in Commercial ‘Firewall' Overvalued Commercial Appraisals Based On Speculative Comps Could Add to Woes of Commercial Lenders Over The Next Year My article in CoStar Advisor two weeks ago about the proposed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agreement to curb inflated property appraisals prompted some lively feedback from commercial appraisers and other property professionals. Many appraisers agreed a regulatory "firewall" between lenders and property appraisers erected after the savings & loan debacle of the late 1980s and early '90s has helped protect commercial lenders and appraisers from the misery of the current residential mortgage meltdown. Others wrote in, however, to point out that despite the ‘90s reforms that followed the S&L crisis, commercial appraisers continue to face pressure from clients and lenders to "hit the numbers" -- though most agree it’s far less common, at least so far, than in the residential space. Some worry that pressures on in-house commercial appraisal staffs at the nation’s largest banks and S&Ls during the five-year commercial real estate boom -- along with seductive bonuses and other incentives to approve as many loans as possible -- will lead to an inevitable surge in inflated appraisals, and problem mortgages, over the next year. Others in the industry fret that the emergence of the so-called appraisal management companies, including those offering online services, will erode the due diligence, strict value verification and high standards for appraisers that safeguard the integrity of real estate transactions. Aggressive appraisals of numerous condominium projects in the overbuilt South Florida market will come back to haunt the commercial lending industry over the next year, wrote Michael Vincent John Spaziani, a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser in Palm Beach. The risky appraisals were "heavily influenced by the pressures of the developers, and the lack of demand/supply research in their reports," Spaziani said. When a party has a pecuniary interest in the appraisal process and pressures an appraiser -- and when that appraiser bends to the pressure -- then the appraisal process is corrupted, Deborah L. Tripp, MAI, SRA of Property Solutions, LLC in Columbia, SC, told Advisor. "The pressure I have experienced from my commercial appraisal business is relatively infrequent and doesn’t come close to the pressure I received from clients soliciting residential appraisals in 2003," Tripp said. "After six months, I closed down my residential division, because constantly educating residential clients about why I couldn’t provide predetermined value conclusions was not my idea of a fun or profitable business." "But when a commercial appraiser does get pressured, it’s a far bigger kind of pressure and could cause much more damage," she adds. "Not all commercial clients are great clients, and just as there are unscrupulous lenders, there are also unscrupulous mortgage brokers, accountants, developers, real estate brokers, appraisers and many more bad actors." So far, the proposed Home Valuation Protection Program, established by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight in an agreement earlier this month with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Office, is focused on problem single-family mortgages. The new rules are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2009, pending a 45-day public comment period. However, the proposed rules are far from a "cure all" for maintaining independence, said Andrew Miliotis, a 20-year commercial real estate agent with AIT Realty Corp. in Los Angeles. "So long as appraisers have knowledge of the sales price of the transaction and are able to talk with the agents involved in the transaction, they are going to be influenced to come to the ‘desired’ valuation," Miliotis said. "It would be interesting to find out how common it is for agents to assist appraisers by providing comps to justify the sales price." "It is not only mortgage brokers/lenders who have created the mess that we see in the residential market, but also the greed of agents and even buyers themselves who cannot grasp the cyclical nature of the real estate market and are certain that no matter what they've agreed to pay, they will 'make a killing’ in a short time," Miliotis added. The Fannie/Freddie pact won't guarantee independence -- just ensure that it's the GSA lender that orders the appraisal rather than the buyer or mortgage broker, noted Charles R. Harris, a Realtor with Prudential Florida WCI Realty in Fort Myers, FL. "[Lenders] will still ask for a copy of the contract, and in my experience, [appraisers] have usually came in at or just above the contract price -- regardless of what the fundamentals may indicate," Harris said. "One solution to the problem would be to disallow comps that are speculator driven and only allow comps based on investor or end-user purchases -- those are the only true values of the properties." "That was the major problem with residential as well as some commercial vacant land appreciation in Southwest Florida," Harris continued. "The speculators were buying everything at any price and the appraisers were writing appraisals based on those reckless purchases -- and the lenders weren’t doing their homework and saying, ‘wait a minute, this is way above the last 20 years of normal annual appreciation," Harris said. "Everyone is pointing fingers, but the truth is they were all guilty of sleeping with the ‘green monster.’" "Whenever you have a sale, and you have real estate commissions and brokerage commissions and loan fees at risk, you have pressure. Nobody in that deal gets paid unless it goes through," added Steven Smith, REA, MAI, owner of San Bernardino, CA-based Smith Realty Advisors. "They don’t want to know the truth as much as they want to get their commission." Smith, who has conducted seminars on appraisal and mortgage fraud prevention since 1982, said commercial appraisers are increasingly being asked to provide "comp checks" -- preliminary estimates of a property’s value, usually before the client even hires the appraiser to complete a formal appraisal with full due diligence. Comp checks -- epidemic in problem residential appraisals where they are used as instruments of buyer/lender pressure -- are routinely cited as a violation of ethical standards under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), the generally accepted best-practices guidelines administered by The Appraisal Foundation and first established for licensed and certified appraisers in the 1980s. "At my office, we don’t use price parameters at all," Smith told Advisor. "If it’s in a known project, we’ll look there first, and then we’ll go to a project of similar value if we need to. No one’s going to knowingly call us that are perpetrating a fraud. Sometimes I’ve taken the call and the loan person has no concept why I can’t and won’t do what they want -- because they think everybody does it," Smith added. "So our phones don’t ring as much, but guess what -- you can actually make a living being neutral. What a concept." On the other hand, Stanley B. Reed, MAI, a Lakeland, FL appraiser, said that he has experienced "essentially no problems in the commercial appraisal/lending field." "The major elements of change [in 1991] were the separation of the appraiser from the borrower, and the separation of the appraiser and appraisal reviewer from the lender," Reed said. "Our profession did not fix the problem in the ‘80s, so the government did. Now the government must fix this mess. Too bad: No guts and too many people scared of lawyers." Other appraisers declined to identify themselves publicly, spooked by the fear of being blacklisted by clients or lenders -- or running afoul of the Appraisal Institute, the best-known trade group for appraisers which bestows the coveted MAI and SRA designations. Some of the most strident warnings about inflated commercial appraisers came from professionals who are licensed and certified through appraisal organizations and state certification programs other than the Appraisal Institute. "Commercial appraisers face client pressure on value all the time," said one Arizona residential and commercial appraiser with 30 years in the business, who is not an MAI. "While the level is less than in residential, it still exists. Residential appraisers are subject to the same reforms that impacted the commercial appraisers after the S&L crisis. They are subject to the same standards, advanced education and testing." "I personally know what it is like to lose a major client for half a month’s production after I missed three numbers. All of the commercial shops are run by MAIs. To openly comment against the [Appraisal Institute] would be a death knell for my working in the Phoenix market." The aggressive bonus structures put in place at banks and S&Ls for commercial review appraisers allowed lenders to accept in-house commercial appraisals that "never should have been allowed to pass muster," said Warren K. Hoppke, SRPA, of Newport Beach, CA, a member of the Appraisal Institute and owner of AppraiserValues.com. "Overvalued commercial appraisals will start to appear toward the end of this year," he predicted. "Many commercial appraisals were [simply] accepted by lending institutions who merely placed the appraiser on their approved list, and then accepting the appraisal," Hoppke added. Hoppke said he heard reports that at one of the larger U.S. banks, commercial review appraisers were pressured "to produce as many loans as possible to increase profits." "The review appraiser’s job was to utilize fundamental appraisal methodology to review these commercial appraisals. However, they were so swamped and were so motivated by per-review-appraisal high bonus structures that they rubber-stamped appraisals in their reviews and accepted appraisals by any certified general appraiser." "Most of the appraisals had extremely low cap rates, understated expenses and overblown future projections on discounted cash-flow analyses that would never materialize," Hoppke continued. "I have reviewed numerous commercial appraisal reports ... and I can tell you that many of these reports are overvalued." In a letter to the Appraisal Institute forwarded to CoStar, a MAI-certified appraiser in the Midwest echoed those concerns, expressing dismay about the "continued, flagrant abuses in the commercial appraisal profession." The appraiser asked the institute to incorporate provisions for commercial into the agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The appraiser argues that on-staff appraisers hired by banks such as Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual "cannot be viewed as independent." "We are aware of many instances that these on-staff employee ‘appraisers’ must fill in required responses to comply with bank requirements, even if these "appraisers" know that their responses are not independent or even correct," the appraiser wrote. "As an independent appraiser, I have the ability to refuse working with clients that do not allow for me to properly complete my appraisals in compliance with my own ethics and in compliance with USPAP." Commercial mortgage bankers abuse the appraisal system just as much as residential mortgage bankers, the Midwest appraiser wrote in the letter. "Compared to their residential cohorts, commercial mortgage bankers are a little more savvy in directing commercial appraisers in the direction of what value they need." One mortgage broker and Realtor chimed in, warning against painting all mortgage brokers with too broad a brush. "I have never, ever suggested, inferred, or requested or put pressure on any appraiser to inflate any appraisal in order to make a loan for any reason," she said. "Most honest brokers -- and there are a lot of us in the world -- have never used this practice." "My concern is that we will revert to the Dark Ages -- where minority properties were redlined by the lenders and the appraisers, to the past when certain appraisers would appraise down properties because of prejudice. If this [Fannie/Freddie] change happens, there will have to be some additional regulating standards/safeguards put in place." "A lot of the blame has to also be shouldered by the lenders -- who seemingly pressured their account executives to push higher rates not just for the subprime client, but for any client -- to make their profit." Proposal for turbines near Walton Rocks draws concern By Derek Simmonsen Wednesday, March 19, 2008 ST. LUCIE COUNTY — In the future, going to catch a few waves or taking the dog for a walk at Walton Rocks beach might involve driving past a wind turbine first. Although public lands are no longer being considered for Florida Power & Light Co.'s wind turbines proposal, three of the remaining six machines would be near public beach access at Walton Rocks. All six are proposed for FPL property near the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Although FPL officials said Tuesday they would keep public access to the site, it remains a concern for the Treasure Coast chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to conservation efforts to protect beaches and the ocean. Walton Rocks is a popular surfing spot and Andy Brady, the chapter's current chairman, said he's been riding waves there for about 30 years. "We said from the very beginning Walton Rocks would be the big battle," Brady said. His group remains concerned about the effect the project could have on wetlands and native wildlife, and Brady said he worries the structures, with a 20-foot high concrete base, would damage the dunes on the beachfront and pose a danger during hurricanes. Hundreds of people have signed petitions against the plan, according to the group. "People in St. Lucie County enjoy having natural habitat," he said. "I just can't imagine what it'd be like if they put the turbines in there." FPL owns the Walton Rocks property and began leasing it to the county for public use in December 1986. The 20-year lease expired and was not renewed by the county, though FPL has continued to allow public access to the area, according to county and company officials. "It wasn't intentional," said County Administrator Doug Anderson, who said the county typically has a system in place to remind employees when contracts need to be renewed. This lease agreement slipped through the cracks and Anderson said it was a mistake that won't occur again. Julie Zahniser, who runs the Save St. Lucie Alliance, an organization opposed to the turbines, has criticized the county for not renewing the Walton Rocks lease. "It should be a public resource. It should be something that the county tries very hard to lease again," she said. Both Zahniser and Brady said their organizations would continue to hold meetings and lobby commissioners about the project in the coming months, as the turbines are reviewed by the county's growth management department before eventually going before the Planning and Zoning Commission prior to getting a full County Commission hearing. Though opponents have been vocal in their concerns about the project — e-mailing commissioners, speaking during public meetings and posting signs along Indian River Drive — the turbines do have their supporters. Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, said Tuesday he thinks the technology would be good for the area, so long as concerns about birds, sea turtles and other wildlife can be addressed. He said he hopes the discussion of turbines will branch out into other areas of renewable energy, as well. "It's the effort by the power company to look into and invest in some of these types of technologies," Perry said. "It's much better than having a coal or another nuclear plant." FPL has said its studies show there is enough wind on the land to make the project feasible and there would be no harm to sea turtles or other wildlife in the area, though bird studies are not yet complete. The company also says the machines would not be a danger to the nuclear plant or the nearby Sands condominiums.   • Commissioner Chris Craft, who once talked excitedly about the possibility of the project, said he is completely against the turbines now because he doesn't feel the savings to the environment are significant enough to make the effort worthwhile. • Commissioner Doug Coward, who strongly opposed the use of turbines on public conservation land, said he remains "skeptical" about the project, but doesn't plan to take a public stance on the issue until it formally comes before the commission. • Commissioner Charles Grande, who hasn't taken a public stance on any part of the project, said he felt a lot of attention has been spent on "non-issues" such as noise and is anxious to have a discussion on more important aspects of the project, such as whether it is actually viable on Hutchinson Island, he said. • Commissioner Paula Lewis, who was against putting turbines in Blind Creek Park, said she is still researching the larger issue of wind turbines and has several questions left unanswered. She may take a tour, unescorted by FPL officials, to see the turbines in Texas, she said. • Commissioner Joe Smith, the only commissioner to tour FPL Energy's wind farm near Abilene, Texas, said he won't announce a public position on the project until it actually comes before the board for a formal vote. Until then, he said he is willing to have an open dialogue with anyone on the project, so long as people don't "throw out red herrings" or use incorrect information.   Growth rate slackens in Florida, area By Kate Spinner Florida's population growth dipped sharply last year, dropping by about half compared with the middle part of this decade when the population jumped by roughly 400,000 people each year. The slowdown coincided with a steep decline in the real estate market, along with soaring property taxes and home insurance costs. Southwest Florida contributed to the decline, according to census statistics released today. The figures show Manatee and Sarasota counties among the slower-growing counties in the state from 2006 to 2007. Charlotte County is in worse shape, having steadily lost population since Hurricane Charley struck in 2004. Just a few years ago, several Florida counties ranked among the fastest growing in the nation. Today, only Flagler and Osceola make the Top 20 list. But despite the slowdown, Florida is still a high-growth state compared with most areas in the country, said Scott Cody, a demographer for the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "We're used to a lot of growth, so when it slows a little it looks extreme," Cody said. New York State's population, for example, grew by just 0.08 percent last year, while Florida's growth rate was more than 1 percent. However, neighboring Texas and Georgia -- which did not see as rapid a rise in real estate or insurance costs -- exceeded Florida's growth rate last year. The U.S. Census Bureau's figures estimate county and state populations on July 1, 2007, and provide a snapshot of changes annually. According to the estimates, St. Bernard and Orleans parishes in Louisiana, slammed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, saw the fastest population growth from July 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007. Between 2003 and 2005, Florida's growth exceeded 2 percent, absorbing a population spike the size of Miami each year. So the lower numbers last year do not necessarily spell catastrophe, even in a state where growth is a major drive for the economy, said Amy Baker, coordinator for the state's legislative office of Economic and Demographic Research. Baker and other economic experts said the drop in growth is probably more a correction than a trend. They expect population growth to return to normal in about three years. Growth of about 1.5 percent falls more in line with what economists view as normal for Florida. "We'll move from adding a city the size of Miami each year to adding a city the size of Tampa," Baker said. In the meantime, the dip in growth hurts. "When it's a little slower, you don't anticipate as much growth in your economy," Baker said. People in the building industry feel the most pain and that pain has been particularly sharp in Charlotte County, where in some neighborhoods, the number of vacant houses rivals those that are occupied. Some people left after Hurricane Charley, but many were replaced by people who came to rebuild. When the reconstruction was nearly finished, the ensuing downturn in the housing market forced several businesses to move away, said Jim Sanders, president of the Charlotte-DeSoto Building Industry Association. "I know a couple businesses that just packed up, closed the doors to their offices and took everybody to North Carolina and South Carolina," Sanders said. Charlotte's population dropped to 152,814, the census estimates, compared with 156,213 the month before Charley struck. Between July 2003 and July 2004, Charlotte population increased 2.7 percent. Last year it dropped by 0.15 percent. Sarasota County's population growth peaked in 2004 and 2005 with 2.6 percent growth both years. In comparison, the county's population was 372,073 in 2007, up 1 percent from 2006. Manatee County's population grew 0.9 percent last year, to 315,108. Growth from 2004 to 2005 peaked at a rate of 3.4 percent, jumping from a population of 294,882 to 304,988. Although the state's economy is struggling now with the real-estate slump and the decreasing rate of population growth, experts said that Florida remains an attractive place. Rapid job growth helped fuel higher-than-predicted growth earlier in the decade. But during the boom, Florida's cost of living soared with housing prices that were largely inflated, said Wayne Archer, executive director of the Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The high real estate prices, coupled with rising insurance costs and property taxes, combined to dissuade people from moving to the Florida, Archer said. "Unless somebody shows me different, my conclusion is that's probably the culprit," Archer said. Baker added that during a nationwide economic downturn, people are less likely to take risks, such as moving to a new state. Real estate suffers in the short term from the slower rate of growth, but in the long term, Archer said, prices will drop and the situation will self-correct as baby boomers begin to retire. "I don't think Florida's gotten any uglier from their perspective," Archer said. For planners and advocates for managed growth, the dip in the rate of population growth is not bad news. "We were growing too fast," said Joe McClash, a Manatee County commissioner. "We didn't have the demand for the supply that was being built." The slowdown gives the region time to better define its growth management laws and build infrastructure to meet the needs of the next boom, McClash said. Staff writer Aaron Kessler contributed to this report. High costs driving down South Florida's population South Florida saw more people move out than move in last year, a new study shows, but Central Florida's population grew. BY TRENTON DANIEL AND ROB BARRY tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com South Florida's population is shrinking -- albeit by a small number -- with Broward driving the decline. In a report being released Thursday, the Census Bureau estimates the number of people in the area dipped slightly from 2006 to 2007, marking the first time in recent history that the region -- from Palm Beach to Monroe counties -- saw more people moving out than moving in. The main culprit: the high cost of living, demographers say. The most significant decline happened in Broward, where the population last year fell by more than 13,000 people -- or about 1 percent -- to 1,759,591. Miami-Dade County grew by less than 1 percent -- 10,827 people, to 2,387,170 -- not enough to offset Broward's dwindling numbers. Monroe County also experienced a net decrease of 174 people. That decline is ongoing because full-time residents are selling their homes to wealthy snowbirds, according to Richard Ogburn, assistant to the director of research and budget at the South Florida Regional Planning Council. Along with South Florida's high cost of living, say demographers, the collapse of the region's housing market and the disappearance of jobs contributed to the overall decrease in population. ''This is the first [study] to look at the impact of the increase in the cost of housing, the difficulty in getting [homeowners] insurance and the inability to keep up with the cost of living,'' Ogburn said. The new data show that the pattern of migration out of Miami-Dade -- which has been steady since 2001 -- is now being replicated in Broward County. Broward school officials have already seen the impact of the decline in population. Over the last few years, enrollment has plunged by nearly 14,000. A further decrease is expected in the next school year. Not until the 2009-10 school year do officials expect enrollment to rise again, and it won't be dramatic. The recent drops in enrollment have forced the Broward school district to reconsider plans to build new schools. One example: a high school targeted for the Sunrise area got the ax because there weren't enough students to justify it. The story unfolding in Central Florida is far different, the Census data shows. That region is witnessing rapid growth similar to what happened in South Florida during the 1980s and 1990s. From 2006-2007, Indian River and St. Lucie counties saw a combined increase of 12,944 people and a net influx of 11,052 people who moved there from other parts of the United States. Some of the new residents moving to the area likely came from South Florida, demographers say. ''With the cost of land . . . to rise, the counties that have large, available tracts of land are going to start to feel the pressure,'' Ogburn said. ``They are undergoing growth pressure, much as their neighbors in the south had in earlier decades.'' Statewide, Census officials reported a net gain in population of 35,301 -- much lower than the 170,099 gain tabulated from 2005 to 2006. This lower rate of growth is largely caused by South Florida. Florida's fastest growing county remained Flagler, which is situated farther north along I-95 on the state's eastern coast. The population zoomed 7.2 percent. ''The grandparents retire here and the family comes down,'' said Carl Laundrie, a spokesman for Flagler County. ``They like it, and then the whole family comes down.'' Flagler, added Laundrie, is drawing baby boomers who are making a beeline for warmer weather. Back in South Florida, demographers say they don't expect the downward population trend to continue. ''We're not setting a long-term trend here,'' said Bill Leonard, senior planner for Broward County. ``Once housing costs and wages and salaries and such kind of stabilize, people will start moving back. This is South Florida.'' Not people like former Plantation resident, Jason Lakritz, 26. In July, he moved to less expensive Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. His parents moved there, and he decided to do the same. ''Money. Cost of living. Quality of life,'' Lakritz said by telephone. ``In Broward County, it's barely safe to let your children play outside without adult supervision. We were just fed up.'' Miami Herald staff writer Jasmine Kripalani and Hannah Sampson contributed to this report. City loses ruling on short-term rentals By Kim Hackett VENICE — In what property rights advocates are calling a precedent-setting ruling that could open homes throughout Florida to short-term rentals, a Circuit Court judge has ruled against Venice's efforts to regulate such rentals without an ordinance. Saying Venice's decision to limit homeowners' ability to rent for long weekends was "clearly erroneous," Judge Robert Bennett ruled Friday that the city "went outside the essential requirements of the law" in dictating how long and how frequently someone could rent his or her home. "This is a clear victory for property owners everywhere," Valerie Fernandez, managing attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national nonprofit property rights group involved in the case, said in a statement. Advocates consider it precedent-setting because few communities in Southwest Florida explicitly prohibit short-term rentals in their codes. The case has been closely watched because of the slumping real estate market, which has led struggling investors and other property owners to try to glean any income they can from their properties. The ruling will not apply to Sarasota County and communities that have established laws prohibiting short-term rentals -- defined in the Venice case as more than three times a year for periods of less than a month. But jurisdictions including Manatee and Charlotte counties, which have no ruling on the books, now may have to allow vacation rentals in single-family residential neighborhoods whether neighbors like it or not. That is how Venice became embroiled in a property rights case. Investor and property manager Stephen Milo started renting about a dozen homes in Venice, primarily on the island, in 2005. One house on his vacationrentalpros.com site boasts 11 beds and enough room for 16. Neighbors complained about noise and parking and said those kinds of rentals were a threat to neighborhood tranquility. When Venice City Manager Marty Black first asked zoning director Tom Slaughter to look into the issue, Slaughter concluded that he could find no code prohibiting short-term rentals. He recommended that the city draft an ordinance. It never did. Instead, city leaders told Milo that because he held a state public lodging license he was operating a commercial business, and those are not allowed in single-family neighborhoods. Anyone who rents a house more than three times a year has to get a state license to do so. Milo appealed his case to the Venice Planning Commission, which unanimously ruled in his favor in 2007. The city's staff reversed the volunteer Planning Commission's ruling last summer, and Milo appealed to the City Council. A few weeks after a new council took office late last year, it upheld the staff's position. Fernandez told the Venice City Council that the legal foundation would support Milo's side of the case "all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary" before it voted in December to start enforcing the short-term rental ban. The Pacific Legal Foundation has successfully argued a half-dozen property rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. "The court ruled unambiguously that when governments seek to take property or even a portion of someone's property, the owners must be justly compensated under the 5th Amendment," Fernandez said. Venice Mayor Ed Martin said Wednesday that he had not had a chance to review Bennett's ruling and could not comment. 42 tenants lined up for the Shops at Wiregrass By Lisa Buie, Times Staff Writer Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 6:58 PM   WESLEY CHAPEL — The Shops at Wiregrass announced 42 tenants Wednesday as crews broke ground on what will be its main artery, the State Road 56 extension. "These tenants will be excellent additions to anchor stores Dillard's, Macy's and JCPenney. The Shops at Wiregrass will offer today's shopper the lifestyle-center experience with the convenience of department store shopping and the unique mix of small retailer shopping," said Jim Richardson of Forest City Development. He said the company expects to announce more stores before the grand opening, set for between Oct. 15 to 30, the same time that the first phase of the road extension is set to be completed. That phase will connect Mansfield Boulevard in Meadow Pointe II to the main highway, giving commuters there another route besides County Line Road. The entire road, which will eventually reach Meadow Pointe Boulevard, is slated to be finished in 18 months. The $24-million, 3-mile extension will be paid for by developers of Wiregrass Ranch and Meadow Pointe. Wednesday, a group of county commissioners, ambassadors for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce and members of the Porter family, who owned the land, attended the ceremony, which was held in a tent and featured table linens, fresh fruit and yogurt parfaits. Each attendee received a small box with a chocolate shovel inside. One by one, officials took the lectern to praise the road and the progress it will bring and to express relief after three years of construction delays. "I'd rather tangle with a team of wild horses than go through all we did to get the road built," Commissioner Pat Mulieri told the crowd. Peter Hanzel, who has served as chairman of the Greater Wesley Chapel of Commerce, said an extended SR 56 will alleviate a clogged road system and improve everyone's quality of life. "It will allow families to spend more time on family events and less time on clogged roads," he said. The list includes most stores that were named in plans submitted to the county in August. But some names on the initial list were missing, including Apple, Banana Republic, Williams-Sonoma, Ann Taylor Loft and the Children's Place. But Leslie Resnik of the public relations firm handling the Wiregrass account said the company announced only what is "signed, sealed and delivered," and that a store's absence from the initial list does not necessarily mean it won't be locating at Wiregrass. Wiregrass Ranch is a 5,022-acre property owned by the Porter family since 1940. It is under development as a master-planned community and will include retail, residential, civic, hospital, educational, office and park uses. Total build out is anticipated over 10-years. The Shops at Wiregrass is developed by Forest City Commercial Development and the Goodman Co. Developers are billing it as a pedestrian-friendly, outdoor lifestyle village with curved tree-lined streets, open-air cafes and pocket parks that invite lingering and relaxation. Lisa Buie can be reached at buie@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4604. Yet Another CSX Complication The Tampa Tribune Published: March 18, 2008 Two Polk County lawmakers who support CSX Transportation's plan to sell the state 61 miles of track for commuter rail and move its Orlando freight yard to Winter Haven stand to benefit financially from the deal hatched largely in secret over the last few years. State Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, is president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Blue, a land management company that recently bought a warehouse and distribution business along the CSX line, and House Speaker pro tempore Marty Bowen of Haines City is co-owner of 140 acres of pasture and citrus land at the edge of the proposed Winter Haven hub. Both lawmakers insist that just because they stand to make money from the CSX deal does not mean they have a conflict of interest. That's highly doubtful, but even the appearance of a conflict should be enough for both to recuse themselves from advocating for the project. Alexander has openly supported CSX's plans, and his company's recent purchase of the storage and warehouse business Phoenix Industries, whose customers rely on CSX for shipping services, makes his advocacy suspect. Bowen's property ownership is less suspicious. She said she owned the acreage long before she knew about the hub, and she currently has a contract to sell it along with several other properties. That the Polk duo could benefit from the project is yet another complication tarnishing the $491 million CSX deal the Legislature will consider this session. Alexander and Bowen should stay out of it. Soberly Weighing Advantages Of Higher Ethanol Consumption The Tampa Tribune Published: March 18, 2008 The honeymoon is over for ethanol, even with oil prices breaking records. Smart people are questioning the economics of the tax-subsidized fuel. Unfortunately, many of them are asking the wrong questions. Corn-based ethanol is an imperfect fuel, but producing more of it has benefits too important to discount. True, its production requires lots of water, land and energy. And using food crops for fuel does raise grocery prices. By some estimates, ethanol requires more energy to produce than the finished product contains. Economists differ, but the important question is whether ethanol is preferable to gasoline, which also takes a lot of energy to find, refine and transport. Market prices suggest ethanol competes very well. Ethanol also is considered a water hog. Making a gallon requires four gallons of water, says energy expert Bruce Dale, professor of biobased technologies at Michigan State University. But refining a gallon of gasoline takes 10 to 40 gallons of water. Environmentalists who have long argued for renewable fuel are now saying that turning food into fuel is wrong. The Retail Bakers of America complain that ethanol makers burn up our food supply and jack up the price of bread. The price of wheat has more than tripled during the past 10 months, but bakery goods haven't gone up as sharply. Labor, packaging, advertising, transportation and all the other costs make the price of grain a small factor in the price of bread. Dale calculates the cost of the corn in a box of cornflakes is five cents. In any case, don't blame ethanol for the soaring price of wheat, corn and other commodities, nor for the rising price of meat. Actually, most corn is eaten by animals. That's why meat prices have risen along with the price of grain. The real villain is the falling dollar. As the dollar loses value, foreign companies buy more U.S. grain. Wheat exports are up more than 60 percent over last year and are still increasing. Currently, we taxpayers subsidize ethanol by 51 cents a gallon. In general, consumers are better off when the market sets prices. The political reality is that crop subsidies won't soon be eliminated, so let's see what our money is buying. The ethanol subsidy cost about $3 billion last year, but the high demand for grain lowered price supports for farmers by $6 billion. And, Dale estimates, the subsidized ethanol reduced the bill for imported oil by $15 billion. Planting more crops for energy on more land raises environmental questions, to be sure, but much farmland is available, especially here in the South. The world is growing and using more fuel. Reuben Jeffery III, U.S. coordinator for international energy affairs, estimates total energy demand will increase 55 percent by 2030. Unless our energy habits change, more dollars will be sent overseas to buy more oil. Ethanol can be made here at home, giving all farmers a potential new source of income. Last year, Americans used about 21 gallons of gasoline for every gallon of ethanol. Most cars can use a 10 percent ethanol blend, so ethanol production could easily double within the existing system. And until a better fuel is available, it should.

S.R. 56 Gets Scooped For Extension By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune Published: March 18, 2008 WESLEY CHAPEL - Developers and Pasco County officials will formally break ground Wednesday on the long-awaited eastern extension of State Road 56. Rather than the usual golden shovels, the assembled dignitaries will use an enormous ice cream scoop to kick off the project at 10:30 a.m., said Leslie Reznick, spokeswoman for Forest City Enterprises, one of the two developers overseeing the $25 million road project. Forest City and its partner, West Palm Beach-based The Goodman Co., are building the 800,000-square-foot Shops at Wiregrass open-air shopping center at the northeast corner of S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. The ceremony will happen at that intersection. The groundbreaking will set in motion a road project more than four years in the making. County officials see the extension as vital to reducing traffic congestion on State Road 54 about three miles to the north. The first leg of the project, which kicks off Wednesday, will link Bruce B. Downs and Meadow Pointe Boulevard. Crews have 18 months to finish the work, according to the developers' deal with the county. The work that starts this week is timed so that the portion in front of Shops at Wiregrass will be finished when the plaza opens Oct. 30. Long-term plans call for extending S.R. 56 nearly 10 miles to U.S. 301 south of Zephyrhills. Work on S.R. 56 will coincide with the widening of Bruce B. Downs between County Line Road and S.R. 54. Where S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs meet, the builders will construct one of the region's largest intersections - 10 lanes in every direction. Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.   If I recall correctly, it was Robert Thomas and Sebring Sierra who wanted Hickory Hill Road closed because it happens to be right in the middle of the new subdivision they are building, not the folks who already live there. Hickory Hill Road closed By MICHAEL D. BATES Hernando Today Published: March 17, 2008 SPRING LAKE - SPRING LAKE - Like many motorists, Virginia Edwards likes to veer off the well-traveled highways and lose herself on one of Hernando County's many scenic roads that wind past large pastures, slightly rolling hills and trees. One such road is Spring Lake Highway, east of the city. The deeper in, the thicker the trees. For a real scenic route, drivers take Spring Lake Highway to Hickory Hill Road, turn east and enjoy the Spanish-moss encrusted trees almost kissing the pavement as they dip down along the narrow road. But recently, Edwards' enjoyable ride came to an end. About one-quarter mile down Hickory Hill, drivers are confronted by barricades and signs warning motorists to stop. No trespassing. Road closed. Edwards used Hickory Hill as a shortcut to State Road 50. Not anymore. The county "vacated" the road and turned ownership over to the landowner, Sierra Properties, which intends to build a 1,750-housing-commercial development in the Spring Lake area. "That road's been open to the public for years and years and years," said Edwards, who lives in Ridge Manor. "Quite frankly, I don't think they did any notice about vacating the road." Ironically, it is because of people like Edwards who used Hickory Hill as a cut-through that the road is closed. During the approval process for Hickory Hill, residents who live along that stretch appealed to the county to close it because of the narrow, sometimes challenging conditions of the road and to retain the rural quality. "People were actually glad we participated with the county to get that road closed," said Sebring Sierra, vice president of operations for Sierra Properties. People like Mark MacKinley, who has lived 12 years on Shirley Drive, which branches off Hickory Hill Drive. MacKinley said he was one of the people who petitioned county commissioners to close it. It may not attract scores of cars now, but when the development of Hickory Hill begins, the canopy-like road will be a hazard, he said. In fact, he said, it's already dangerous. It's not unusual to see motorists traveling 60 to 70 mph down that narrow, winding road, he said. "Hickory Hill is going to become a thoroughfare for people moving from the east side of the county to the west side," MacKinley said. County Engineer Charles Mixson said there was plenty of advance notice about the road closing, including announcements at two public hearings. Dennis Dix, the county's transportation planning coordinator, said there are two schools of thought on road closures. Some people believe there should be choices so people can get from one point to the other, he said. "The other view is 'not through my neighborhood," he said. In the case of Hickory Hill, the latter view won out. Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com. County staff passes on development proposal By Jim Hunter The county planning review board on Thursday will hear two requests for land use changes and a planned development in relation to the Crystal River Commons project on U.S. 19 just south of Crystal River. The county planning staff is recommending denial. Primerica Group One Inc., a Tampa Bay development company, has an option on the 261-acre RealtiCorp property just south of the Crystal River Airport on the opposite side of Venable Street. It wants to develop a commercial area called Crystal River Commons on the land along U.S. 19, but, like RealtiCorp before it, has run into opposition about destruction of wetlands from the public and the county, among other issues. Primerica redesigned the commercial tract with less loss of wetlands than had RealtiCorp had, noting there would be no net loss of wetland; with approximately only 10 acres being re-created. Opponents, however, want no loss at all. To do the project, Primerica needs some land on the north end of the St. Benedict Catholic Church property owned by the Diocese of St. Petersburg for a road beginning at the Ozello Trail intersection. That road is key to the project. After lengthy negotiation, the diocese and developer came to an agreement that would mean the Ozello Trail intersection would be a entrance for the project from U.S. 19, and the new road would continue east across U.S. 19 past the St. Benedict’s parking lot. It would then weave its way through the tract to the northeast corner of the property where it would intersect Venable. The company would build that road and eventually give it to the county and receive impact fee credits for the costs. The road would go through an area that would be like a town center, the developer has said, noting that the connection with Venable would serve as a traffic reliever for the intersection with U.S. 19. So an initial step was for the diocese to request an atlas amendment to the county land development code to change from LDR (low density residential) with mobile homes allowed and RUR (rural residential) to GNC (general commercial) and CON (Conservation) and to allow the planned development overlay for a commercial project with 399,000 square feet of retail and service, and 125,000 square feet of office. The planning staffers cited loss of three acres of jurisdictional wetlands, as well as traffic concurrency (a road’s ability to handle increased traffic) as reasons to recommend denial, though they said this specific piece was part of a larger project and might be addressed differently on that basis in the future. In a separate item on that bigger project following the diocese request, Crystal River Commons is requesting approval from the board for a planned development overlay for going from the current land use designation RUR and LDR to GNC for the whole commercial part tract to be developed. Groups such as Homosassa River Coalition and Kings Bay Association, citing important wetlands along parts of U.S. 19, have opposed any destruction of wetlands on the property. RealtiCorp had originally proposed to destroy wetlands, but mitigating the destruction by recreation of wetlands and donation of sensitive lands to the state. It bogged down with problems with the county and the local interests concerned about the environmental impact. The planning staff had more than environmental concern, in its recommendations for Thursday’s hearing, however. In its summary, the staff said that granting the request for the changes of use would adversely affect the public interest and would not be generally compatible with adjacent properties and other properties in the district. It added that though some concerns might be addressed by the applicant at a later date, it could not presently recommend approval. The staff said that while there were a number of things to be considered on the positive side, such as the phasing schedule, the availability of utilities, and the possibility that the project might alleviate some traffic, the new uses would result in two large retail projects and 18 commercial outparcels within the Coastal High Hazard Area in an area where there are traffic and environmental limitations. The uses were found inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan. They would require destruction of existing wetlands and, for instance, add to the net gain of commercial acerage in the 100-year flood plain and Coastal High Hazard Area, and so they would be inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, planners said. The developer has said benefits of the project included an eventual $75 million in tax revenue and about 1,000 jobs, in addition to the property taxes. One of the two anchor stores is expected to be Wal-Mart, but that has not been officially announced. * The Citrus County Commission meets at 4 p.m. today to discuss land-use cases. The agenda includes a 4:20 p.m. workshop on comprehensive plan amendments for the Crystal River Commons project on the southeast corner of U.S. 19 and Venable Street. * The Planning and Development Review Board hearing begins at 9 a.m. Thursday in Room 166 at the Lecanto Government Building Builder's mansion in Orlando area to go to winning $100 raffle ticketholder A developer hopes to raise enough money with a drawing of $100 tickets to pay for a mansion. Adrian G. Uribarri Sentinel Staff Writer March 18, 2008 HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS   John Artimovich and his sons spent about three years building a palace of a home. What looks like a bed-and-breakfast inn transplanted from the Swiss Alps is lined with ridged-teak floors and dotted with details such as European wrought iron, stair treads cut from raw cypress and a sculptured-tin ceiling. But Artimovich said a souring real-estate market left him, like many others, without a buyer. So he decided on another idea: to raffle off the 4,570-square-foot house. "Hundreds of people came through here," Artimovich said. But even after a change in real-estate agents, he said, he had no luck. "The market prevails." Artimovich and his son Michael filed papers to start a nonprofit charity, Sons of Toil. The goal is to raise enough money through $100 ticket contributions to pay for the house, and to fund, among other causes, an apprenticeship program for budding and out-of-work trade workers. Artimovich said the housing downturn forced him to lay off more than a dozen workers, and that he plans to start training new ones as he builds eight more homes on a 5-acre plot in Howey. He said he would like to build and raffle off one new home per year with the help of local craftsmen and volunteers. "We're putting local people to work," Artimovich said. "If it takes us nine years to finish the whole project, that's OK with us." Artimovich will face challenges. Across the country, house raffles that have started with good intentions have ended up in disappointment for the raffle holders and their donors. "A lot of times, they just go on forever," said Mary Stimmel, regulatory-program administrator at the state Division of Consumer Services. "They just never end because they don't get enough money to pay back the lender." In 2006, a house raffle in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was postponed indefinitely after a local cultural center failed to sell the necessary 15,000 tickets it needed to give away a $1 million house. Some participants received cash prizes, but nearly 10,000 were left in limbo. Florida statutes prohibit a charitable organization from canceling a raffle, so Artimovich must collect as many contributions as he can through Sept. 30, the cutoff date for his Oct. 14 drawing. He said he's confident he will and that the raffle will go as planned. "It's gonna go through no matter what," he said. "That house will exchange hands with the winner regardless of the contributions." Inheriting the home will come with expenses. Assuming the house has a fair-market value of $1 million, the winner would have to pay up to $350,000 in income taxes and more than $17,000 in property taxes. Other prizes include a 2008 Dodge pickup and $10,000 and $5,000 cash. While state law doesn't allow charities to require contributions for tickets, Artimovich said he needs a minimum of 16,000 $100 ticket donations to comfortably turn over prizes, clear debt and fund charitable programs. He declined to say how many tickets have been sold since 2008DreamHome.org went up in February. Michael Artimovich, president of the Sons of Toil charity, said he expects the raffle to fund ongoing construction and charitable causes. "This is not a one-shot deal," he said. Regardless, Artimovich still will face the question of how to fund more than just new homes. Last year, house-raffle organizers in Illinois conceded that less than $10 of every $100 ticket would ultimately go to a children's hospital in Chicago. That falls short of the American Institute of Philanthropy's fundraising efficiency standard, which suggests charities should spend no more than 35 percent of donations on fundraising expenses. Steven Moreira, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, said a raffle can be an option of last resort for someone who wants to sell a home. "It's sounds like a creative way to sell a home if the seller is desperate," Moreira said, "but there are so many legal hoops." Recently in St. Cloud, a man decided to try to raffle off two houses he built on east Lake Tohopekaliga. As of last week, he said he had distributed about 60 tickets for $250 donations each. He said he needs to sell at least 2,950 more during three remaining weeks to cover costs. Artimovich said he plans to hold cookouts for visitors to the house at State Road 19 and Dixie Avenue from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays through the summer. "You're going on guts and you're going on hope," he said. "There is no failure." Adrian G. Uribarri can be reached at auribarri@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5926.   I just love this. When you read the commentary that appeared in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune today, consider that the author is executive director of The Gulf Coast Builders Exchange. Talk about self-serving. Leaders shouldn't be so dense about proposed density increases   How dense are we and how dense should we be? These are big questions to be answered in determining our future land-use pattern in Sarasota and Manatee counties. That they also ask how intelligent we are is just as pertinent. To answer the first question in its urban planning context, Sarasota County has 643 people per square mile, or roughly one person per acre. Manatee County has 411 per square mile. Sarasota County has the fewest residents per household in Florida, with only 2.14 people per household -- a number reflecting our relatively aged population. Manatee is at 2.30. Viewed another way, Sarasota County needs more dwellings per person than anywhere in Florida. Shouldn't we provide those units in the most land-efficient manner possible? That means more density. To put our density in context, look at Pinellas County, the most dense county in Florida, with 3,383 people per square mile, or roughly five times the density of Sarasota County and eight times the density of Manatee. Fewer people per household, along with relatively wealthy households, create a favoritism of single-family homes and moderate density, multifamily apartments and condominiums. Another related concern is housing affordability. This can be measured as a ratio of median household value to median family income. A normal ratio would be 2.5 or 3 to 1. In 2006, the Sarasota County ratio was 4.85 to 1. In Manatee County it was 4.52 to 1. The ratio for the state is 4.2 to 1. For a median value home, at a ratio of 5 to 1, it would take 59 years to pay off a 6 percent mortgage loan with 10 percent down. By contrast, at a ratio of 2.7 to 1, it takes only 12.5 years to pay off that loan. David Denslow, a researcher at the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, says the baby boomer retirement wave already has started and is crowding out working families. He said wealthy boomers taking early retirement helped drive up Florida's housing prices, making real estate unaffordable for working families. "Some of the working families have gone to the Carolinas or Virginia, and that's showing up in our stagnant school enrollments," he said. But what do we see more recently or in the near future: $4 gas, $5 gas? Seventy-eight million baby boomers turning 62 on Jan. 1? A June 1, 2007, Herald-Tribune article suggested we are only one hurricane away from $6 gas. Then what? Will a good number of the 31,323 commuters to Sarasota County each day decide they need to move closer to work? If we don't provide density, taxes will rise to pay for more publicly funded work-force housing. Absent a 2-foot rise in sea level in the next five years, there will be more housing demand by then to soak up existing inventories. Those demanding it will want to be able to afford it, at least in part by reducing transportation costs. Single-family homes predating the new building code may not be in as great demand as newer homes and dwellings and those in or near downtowns or other business districts, but they may be the only choice if we don't replace obsolete, nonconforming housing stock. To make this happen, land-use amendments that increase density will be imperative. We have to address water supply issues even if it means treating saltwater with relatively more expensive reverse-osmosis plants. And, of course, Floridians need to solve the property insurance and property tax issues. Unfortunately, some residents, and those who would call themselves community activists or even leaders, would prefer that we not try to solve the water supply problem because it might allow new development to occur. Such people believe that just because they arrived here before the next person, they have the right to charge only newer residents the higher costs of a new water supply rather than have all share in the higher costs of a diversified supply system. Somehow, we need to make Florida real estate a good investment again. Hopefully, four of five city and county commissioners won't be so dense the next time they are presented with a proposed density increase. No one is saying we have to be as dense as Pinellas, but more density is a prudent land-use policy. Our community's future depends on it. Jay Brady is the executive director of the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange. Editor's note: For other views on density, which were published on Sunday's Perspectives page, go to heraldtribune.com/perspectives . Builder WCI posts loss of $578 million in 2007 WCI Communities Inc., the struggling Bonita Springs-based home builder, lost $459.8 million in the fourth quarter, or $10.93 per share, as the Florida real estate market dragged revenues down 64 percent. That compared to a year-earlier net loss of $64.6 million, or $1.55 per share. The developer of Tidewater Preserve and Waterlefe in Manatee County and the Venetian Golf & River Club in Venice said it lost $578.5 million, or $13.77 per share, for all of 2007. The company's revenues last year totaled $936.4 million compared with $2.04 billion the previous year. WCI's shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, were selling for $3.16 at the close of regular trading on Monday, up 14 cents, or about 4.6 percent. The company had $339.2 million in write-downs for the fourth quarter because of the "continued deterioration" in the company's primary Florida market. WCI said the write-downs reflect lower prices and "slower absorption." The mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial, which typically excludes items, was for a loss of 69 cents during the fourth quarter. Revenue dropped 63 percent to $191.6 million. On a net basis, the company lost 52 orders for homes in the fourth quarter, while gross orders fell 59 percent. Its backlog as of Dec. 31 was worth $211.9 million, compared with $911.2 million at the end of 2006. The company's gross margin, excluding write-downs fell to 3.1 percent from 19 percent a year earlier. WCI spent much of last year struggling over control of its board with one of its largest shareholders, activist investor Carl Icahn. The back-and-forth resulted in a deal that ended with Icahn's election as chairman in September. Most recently, the company averted bankruptcy, at least in the short term, in January when it convinced its backers to relax certain debt covenants. The amendments, which last until the end of June 2009, modify, suspend or waive certain covenants and give the company greater operating and financial flexibility, the company explained at the time. In return, WCI said it would reduce the total commitment available under its revolving credit agreement and lower the outstanding amount on its term loan. It also agreed to increase pricing on the loans and converted a portion of the revolver to non-revolving status. WCI laid off 575 workers in November. Region's vision of future focuses on Volusia By DINAH VOYLES PULVER Environment Writer WINTER PARK -- An effort to create a new regional planning policy for Central Florida got off to a slow start Monday night. About 60 people attended from the six counties within the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, including Volusia County. Wanda Van Dam, an Osteen resident, was one of a few Volusians who made the drive to the Winter Park meeting. Van Dam said she's trying to stay informed. Volusia figures prominently in the regional visions and maps that have been drawn up over the past couple of years. Large areas of the county have been identified as critical natural resources that should be protected, but the county also has areas that have been identified for continued growth. The planning council will spend the next year writing a new strategic regional plan it will use when reviewing comprehensive plan amendments and other local government documents for state officials. The new policy will borrow heavily from planning done by the myregion.org group, which includes Volusia business, government and elected representatives. The planning council already is considering the new regional vision when reviewing proposed developments. Part of that vision includes protecting critical ecosystems and wildlife corridors. Phil Laurien, the council's executive director, said when the council reviewed the proposed plans for a 6,000-acre development straddling Interstate 95 in Edgewater, there were concerns about how it would fit into the regional plan. Laurien said he was thrilled that the developer, Don Mears, embraced their concerns and worked to rearrange the development on the land to preserve more of the environmentally sensitive areas. Laurien also expressed concern about Volusia County's recently approved "map A," an area where the county wants to limit development. According to the council's natural resources maps, "Map A" doesn't take into account some of the area's critical wetland resources. The council has no regulatory authority, but is charged with making suggestions and providing oversight in five key areas, including natural resources of regional significance, economic development, emergency preparedness, transportation and affordable housing. Laurien said it became clear through the myregion.org process that the area needs to take steps to change the way it grows or the economy will begin to suffer. dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com     the nature of things Florida motorists can buy a sea turtle license plate.Turtles Too Tasty for Own Good By Tom Palmer  Write an email to Tom Palmer Tom Palmer Environment Reporter Dept.: Metro Desk (863) 802-7535 tom.palmer@theledger.com Your Name:  Your Email:  Subject:  Message:    The time may be coming when freshwater turtles will merit a tag as well. There's some evidence that many of these species, which historically had been considered common, may be in danger because of a combination of habitat loss and increased commercial harvesting. Florida is not the first state in the Southeast where wildlife officials have raised these issues. Officials in North Carolina and South Carolina have already limited harvests to protect freshwater turtles But don't look for any additional restrictions on freshwater turtle harvesting in Florida in the near future. State wildlife officials are still trying to figure out what's happening with turtle populations from what I was told by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Pat Behnke. One of the big obstacles to restricting commercial harvest is that any rules must be based on documented population threats and that's the rub. Doing this requires having something called baseline information. That provides a standard of comparison for analyzing trends. When you say wildlife is declining, as many people do, the logical question to ask is "How do you know?'' How you know is that you have population data from one point in time and you can compare that with the results of subsequent surveys and see what's happening. That may sound simple, but it isn't. You have to figure out, for instance, where to conduct the surveys, how to conduct the surveys, what qualifications survey participants should possess, etc. You may also want to know the reproductive success of the animals that are the focus of your study, the conditions of the habitat they occupy and many other factors that could affect their ability to survive. You might wonder why biologists are in the dark about Florida turtle populations. However, conducting population studies of species that are considered common usually isn't a high priority in a state where we have so many uncommon species that attract and merit the attention of biologists. The biologist's lament is often "So many species, so little time.'' Behnke said the impetus for the study was a report of an unusually large number of turtles being harvested from a lake in the Gainesville area and some growing concern over the past decade by biologists that something may be happening to freshwater turtles. There's been some reports that one of the things that's happening is a lot of turtles are being harvested for Asian markets, where turtle meat is popular. Behnke said FWC's main concern is whether the harvest, regardless of where the meat is being marketed, is sustainable. She said she doesn't expect any proposals to come up for discussion until next year. That is probably optimistic. I would cite the example of the gopher tortoise. BURYING TURTLES ALIVE This is a species for which there was a large amount of population data. Nevertheless, it took years to finally end the practice of burying them alive to make way for new development in their former habitat. That was because there were large commercial interests involved that were prepared to challenge state biologists' data and conclusions from that data every step of the way. It will be interesting to see what kind of clout the turtle meat industry has. By the way, a little over a third of Florida's 18 freshwater turtle species already have some kind of protection. The law limits possession to two Barbour's map turtle, Escambia map turtle, diamondback terrapin, river cooter and loggerhead musk turtle and one alligator snapping turtle, and prohibits buying and selling of these species. In addition, the Lower Keys population of the striped mud turtle is classified as an endangered species. There are closed seasons for killing softshell turtles or river cooters, or collecting their eggs, and there are restrictions on harvest methods for all turtles that it is legal to harvest. With any luck, state wildlife officials will be able to come up a clearer picture of the status of Florida's freshwater turtle population while there's still time to prevent another environmental calamity from occurring. A management plan is always better than a recovery plan. [ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or863-802-7535. His blog on the environment is at environment.theledger.com. ]   This is not really a relevant story but I just couldn't resist including it. It falls into the category of "the nerve of some people's children" 147 years later, loan now worth $22.7M By Janet Zink, Times Staff Writer Published Sunday, March 16, 2008 9:37 PM TAMPA — In the early months of the Civil War, the city of Tampa needed ammunition and other supplies to defend against attack but apparently was short on cash. So it issued a promissory note for $299.58 to storekeeper Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861. Kennedy's great-granddaughter says the city never made good on its loan. Now, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment plus 8 percent annual interest. The total bill: $22.7-million. "Obviously we came at a bad time because the city seems like they're trying to cut their budget," she said. "On the other hand, they're building the Riverwalk." Attorney James Purdy filed the suit in the Hillsborough Circuit Court last week. He did not return calls for comment. Biddle wouldn't give specifics on why she decided to sue now, using as evidence a piece of paper that has been handed down as an heirloom for generations. "This thing has been in the family since the date on the note, and it has never been repaid," said Biddle, 77. "My daddy told me, and I certainly believe him." Tampa City Attorney David Smith said he doesn't consider the claim valid. In legal documents, Biddle's attorney argues that the statute of limitations doesn't apply in the case because at the time the note was issued, the state had no such statute on such documents. And Biddle pointed out that in the 1990s the federal government agreed to pay the Seminole tribe for land illegally taken in the 1820s. But attorney John Grandoff said the city can defend against the case using the "doctrine of laches," which prevents claims from being made after an extraordinary passage of time. "It's kind of how the court feels about whether it's been too long or not," Grandoff said. "It's total discretion on the judge's part." Rodney Kite-Powell, curator at the Tampa Bay History Center, noted that the Tampa of 1861 is not the same city that exists today — literally. Tampa was originally incorporated in 1855, but was abolished in 1869 in part because residents had no money to pay taxes, and the city had no money to pay its bills, Kite-Powell said. It was reincorporated in 1887. At the time the note was issued, Tampa was a tiny town with about 800 residents, city limits that included just a portion of downtown. It also was home to Fort Brooke, where local Confederate soldiers were stationed. Biddle's great-grandfather, Thomas Pugh Kennedy, was one of the city's most significant pioneers, Kite-Powell said. He operated a store with business partner John Darling. "Merchants are always important because they're the way people get stuff — from cannons to clothing and food," he said. "People really relied on these early merchants to supply people with what they needed." Joan Kennedy Biddle grew up on Davis Islands and attended Plant High School. She moved to east Hillsborough in the 1960s and ran a lumber business with her late husband. She now owns a three-bedroom home in Brandon. Biddle said she's known about the note since she was a little girl. "I showed it to the attorney, and he said it looked very interesting," she said. "It's strange that the thing has never been collected." Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.

Market forcing trailer park residents from homes BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR As the residents of Palm Trailer Park empty their homes, readying for eviction this summer, they can look over the south fence at what Miami-Dade County considers affordable housing. The drives there are freshly paved, not worn and gravelly. The buildings are painted in identical shades of cream, as opposed to the trailer park's patchwork of rusting metal and tacked-up plywood. There is a swimming pool rather than concrete slabs marking the sites of demolished trailers. The complex's 204 units are set aside for low-income families, with rents as low as $625 a month. And they are completely unaffordable for many of the residents at the trailer park, in unincorporated Miami-Dade near Northeast 16th Avenue and 112th Street. ''The people here are poor, so poor,'' said Ana Lucia Morales, who pays $275 a month to rent the lot for her trailer, which her granddaughter bought her five years ago for $5,500. Light, phone and food bills for herself and her three dogs and eight cats consume the rest of her $535 monthly income. Like many of her neighbors, Morales lives mostly on Social Security. By the end of June, they will be evicted from the homes that they own outright, bought out against their will for a few thousand dollars and sent away from some of South Florida's last truly low-income housing. As mobile home owners, they are victims of a wildcat real estate market, a complicated zoning code and a tanking economy -- a fast-changing landscape that has left the owners of some of South Florida's nearly 200 trailer parks caught between selling out and going under. The region has no houses in these residents' price range; they have struggled even to find apartments, and tens of thousands of people are ahead of them on public-housing waiting lists. They own their homes but not their land, and when they are cast out they almost all share the same problem. They have nowhere to go. ''The affordable housing we talk about is not affordable to the people we're talking about,'' said Subrata Basu, Miami-Dade's director of planning and zoning. ATTRACTIVE SITES And even as the plummeting real estate market chills most speculators, some parks' large size and ready-made zoning keeps them attractive. ''Mobile home parks are the low-hanging fruit for developers,'' said Shirley Taylor-Prakelt, housing director in Davie, home to about 20 traditional parks. More than 30,000 trailer lots are licensed in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Some owners have invested thousands of dollars in the homes and thousands more on improvements such as central air conditioning. Eviction can cost them their life savings. That's because it's illegal to relocate older trailers, which are not built to withstand hurricanes, and state law requires the park to pay only $1,300 for homes abandoned on site. With the help of the nonprofit group Jobs With Justice and a pro bono lawyer enlisted by a neighboring church, the Palm residents were offered far more: $6,300 per trailer. While that is more than enough to pay for a security deposit and first and last month's rent on a new place, it is not enough to keep many residents afloat beyond a few months. Others cannot pass the credit check required for some apartments or cannot find a place for their pets. ''It's really made a shambles of my life,'' said Kenneth Foster, 72, who has lived in Palm for 20 years and said he cannot afford rent higher than $400. He fears he will be sleeping in his van. Lawyers for the park's owner, Alta Mira Apartments, did not return calls last week. HOLDING ON TO DREAM Even in a charred real estate market, some trailer park operators may find selling more attractive. 'It was my grandparents' dream and I'm trying to keep it going,'' said Benjamin Frame, owner of Trinidad Court, home to about 200 trailers in the Little Haiti area of Miami. ``But I can see where trailer park owners would want to get out of the business.'' When his grandparents opened the park 50 years ago, it mainly hosted Canadian snowbirds and retirees. In the 1990s, they began selling to lower-income residents, who had less money to maintain the trailers and were more likely to miss rent. He increased rent this year from $255 to $400 to try to keep up with costs. The average water bill for one part of his park jumped 33 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to county records, and taxable value of the park grew from $2.3 million to $2.7 million. ''Last time I checked, Miami-Dade's not giving me free water for my tenants,'' Frame said. Trailer parks in Davie and some other suburbs are less susceptible to redevelopment because of zoning laws. Replacing the park with condos or other homes generally requires a public hearing and a vote by elected leaders, which are opportunities for residents to plead their case. PROTECTING CHOICE In Pembroke Park, where up to 50 percent of residents live in mobile homes, rezoning a trailer park requires 65 percent approval in a citywide vote. The town created the law a decade ago after a number of trailer parks were redeveloped. ''Some Americans look at mobile homes as trailers or trash -- we look at it as a choice,'' Town Manager Robert Levy said. ``We want to . . . protect that.'' In much of Miami-Dade, however, conversion is much easier. Many trailer parks sit on land already zoned for residential use. Sympathetic county commissioners voted this month to extend a ban on building permits at the parks, but only for three months. When that expires in June, they might create new zoning just for mobile home parks. QUESTIONS TO ANSWER But imposing new land-use restrictions on current owners -- and potentially lowering the value of their land -- raises both legal and ethical questions that County Mayor Carlos Alvarez is still weighing. ''You have to try to strike a balance,'' said Denis Morales, Alvarez's chief of staff. Basu, the planning director, said new zoning is not a ''silver bullet'' to protect trailer owners because zoning laws cannot block evictions. The County Commission approved some strategies proposed by Alvarez, such as looking for more temporary housing for displaced residents and helping trailer dwellers form homeowners' associations. NEW LAWS Still, many of the stronger recommendations would require new local or state laws that could be opposed by the development lobby. For example, Alvarez suggested tightening zoning laws to protect the number of affordable homes, lowering property taxes on trailer parks and lobbying the Legislature to give residents more time and money when parks close. Nationally, the best results come when governments prod park owners to work with residents, according to John Vogel, who studies real estate and affordable housing at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Given enough notice and financial aid, for example, some residents' associations have been able to buy the entire park, the trailer equivalent of going condo. At parks like Palm, which the county values at $2.2 million, residents can't fathom raising enough money. ''If I had a fraction of what they have,'' said Foster, the longtime Palm resident, ``I could live comfortably for the rest of my life.''

(I wonder if Buddy Johnson's place is considered a cattle ranch? That would explain the growing number of ranches... they are all filled with rent-a-cows and owned by developers getting their ag exemption until it's time to build)

 

Cattle Ranchers Have Struggles, But Industry Still Grows in Polk

By Kevin Bouffard
THE LEDGER

 Write an email to Kevin Bouffard

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Higher costs, lower farm prices and more than a year of drought has cattle ranchers in Polk County and the United States struggling, said Jim Handley, chief executive of the Florida Cattlemen's Association in Kissimmee.

But, he added, "generally it's not been a bad year."

A rainy 2007-08 winter has eased the drought, although the state's rivers, lakes and reservoirs have not recharged fully, Handley said.

Ranchers are still coping with rising production costs, particularly fuel and feed, he said. The national boom in ethanol production has taken millions of tons of corn off the market for cattle feed, driving up prices.

Reluctant to raise consumer prices for fear of losing market share, the feed lots are pushing down the price of calves in Florida and other states, Handley said.

The average price for Florida calves fell to about $1.05 per head in early 2008, down more than 10 percent from a year ago, he said. That's about the break-even point.

Prices had risen from $88.20 per hundredweight in 2002 to $130 in 2005 before declining again, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Despite those woes, the cattle industry in Polk jumped to the state's third largest in 2007 with 102,000 head, up 3 percent from 99,000 head in 2006, when it ranked fourth in the state. That's still short of the peak during the last decade of 105,000 head in 2003 and 2004.

The state had 1.7 million head in 2007, up 50,000 from 2006.

Almost all Florida ranches are cow-calf operations. They breed and raise calves for six to 12 months, then sell them at auction to Western feed lots.

On the optimistic side, beef demand is up, particularly in export markets such as Mexico and Japan, Handley said. Domestic demand is also strong.

 

Central Fla. plan has growing pains

Brevard County cautious about how to meet vision for Central Florida

BY JAMES DEAN
FLORIDA TODAY

While some Central Florida neighbors eagerly embrace a new regional vision for growth, Brevard County leaders remain cautious about its promise.

If successful, the vision promoted by MyRegion.org's "How Shall We Grow?" initiative could prevent sprawl, conserve large tracts of green space and improve transportation options in the seven-county region, where population could double by 2050.

But agreeing on those goals has been the easy part, local officials said.

Without policy changes that address the realities of property rights, market forces and limited public funding, the vision could end up shelved like other well-intentioned plans -- or produce unintended consequences.

"I just think we've got a long way to go," said Chuck Nelson, the Brevard County Commission's representative on the MyRegion.org Executive Committee. "It's a very complicated process when you're talking about land-development issues."

Tonight, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council begins a key effort to implement those principles into its policies. That will have a local impact because the council reviews changes to city and county land-use plans and large-scale developments like Viera.

But there's no consensus yet on how to do the same thing in Brevard, where elected officials and citizens have been discussing the vision for more than a year.

Local residents last year had a chance to shape the vision's principles by voting on a set of growth scenarios emphasizing different priorities, such as cleaner air or shorter commuting times.

Nearly 20,000 people participated, according to MyRegion.org. Almost all agreed that continuing current development trends was unacceptable.

"Which is big news to politicians, because that means all their local codes and plans ultimately need to be shifted, or we will get the bad result of what the trend is," said Phil Laurien, the regional planning council's executive director and a MyRegion.org consultant.

The resulting vision, unveiled with fanfare in August, recommended protection for environmentally sensitive lands; higher-density, mixed-use urban centers connected by road and rail corridors; and less sprawl in the countryside.

County commissioners and city representatives joined regional counterparts signing a "compact" supporting the August vision, but they also have expressed reservations.

Last fall, the Brevard Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to use local land-use plans and visioning efforts -- not MyRegion.org's -- as the basis for updating its long-range transportation plan to 2035.

Nelson's ongoing concern is that the vision promotes denser cities, but has no way to meet its promise to offset that growth with conservation in other places.

"The danger is you end up with higher densities in urban centers and still have sprawl on the edges, and that's certainly contrary to what we've been trying to accomplish," he said.

Melbourne, for example, can encourage taller buildings downtown, but doesn't have spare land to set aside. And some land shown as green space in an artist's rendering of the future vision is slated for growth in Palm Bay.

Practically, all government leaders know they won't have enough money to buy huge swaths of land for conservation or build new transportation corridors -- like one proposed from Palm Bay to Orlando, the vision's two "regional cities."

And they would face lawsuits if they tried to prevent property owners from building allowed by current zoning.

But, despite the hurdles, some city leaders say it's up to the county, as local the government with the most people, to show more leadership in advancing the vision.

"I think we need some direction from the county, as to whether they've bought into this." Palm Bay City Manager Lee Feldman said in an interview, echoing comments he made during last month's meeting of the Space Coast Growth Management Coalition.

"If they haven't, I think it's a relatively moot issue for the cities."

Nelson hopes the regional planning council will provide models for how to implement the vision into comprehensive plans, with concepts including transfers of development rights and conservation subdivisions.

Places Laurien cited as being the most proactive so far generally are smaller and more built-out than Brevard, namely Seminole County, the Orlando area and the city of Tavares in Lake County. Volusia County is considered a leader in protecting green space.

Tavares Mayor Nancy Clutts said "How Shall We Grow?" had helped renew the city's priorities. It has begun changing codes to create a downtown master plan, encourage the use of golf carts and start a water-taxi service to Mount Dora.

"We changed the conversation from what we don't want to what we do want," she said.

Brevard's leaders agree that an important conversation is in progress and will continue.

"The more we talk about it, the more we're going to see its advantages," said Malabar Mayor Tom Eschenberg, a local city representative to MyRegion.org meetings.

There's no deadline by which any government needs to act, but analysis and action will be easier while a real estate market downturn is reducing development pressure and demands on planning staffs.

Some experts believe this visioning effort will succeed where others have failed and serve as a statewide model, because it has lasted longer and involved more people.

"We really are at a critical time in Florida's growth, and plenty of people are saying if we don't do something now, we're not going to want to live here in 10 years," said Linda Chapin, director of the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies at the University of Central Florida. "We just can't afford to fail."

Contact Dean at 242-3617 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

The Oaks complex boon for this area

Building Green Is Becoming Mainstream

A better way to give growth power to citizens

Palm Beach Post Editorial (but not necessarily the opinion of the person who does this web page)

Monday, March 17, 2008

The threat of total citizen control over growth in Florida is driving a proposal to give citizens some control over growth in Florida.

The Hometown Democracy petition drive, opposed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, would require referendums on every change to county and city growth plans. There are as many as 12,000 changes per year. Backers didn't get the 611,000 valid signatures to place the proposal on the November ballot, but haven't given up. Hoping to discourage Hometown Democracy, Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham, is advocating a Citizens Planning Bill of Rights.

The Pelham proposal would require developers to hold public meetings with neighbors before filing applications. That would be just "good business for developers," Mr. Pelham told The Post. It would cut from twice a year to once the number of times developers can amend growth plans. Too many amendments, he argued correctly, turn growth plans that are supposed to span 20 years into "six-month suggestions." It would block last-minute changes to amendments before public hearings, thwarting maneuvers seen over the last three years in Martin and Palm Beach counties.

Developers particularly don't like a proposed requirement that cities or counties must agree by a supermajority to make major plan changes or to reverse local planning boards. While developers object to giving planning commissions too much power, that's the idea, Mr. Pelham said. The advisory panels review plans in detail, only to watch commissions financed by campaign contributions overturn them.

Mr. Pelham unapologetically condemns growth-related traffic planning - a system he once championed. It is built, he said, on "a consultant's numbers game." The system allows approval of projects if nearby roads can carry the traffic but has been blamed for increasing suburban sprawl. In its place, Mr. Pelham suggests a system built on "a glorified impact fee" that would require developers to pay for public transit as well as roads.

But allowing development in exchange for cash has huge implications, which Mr. Pelham acknowledges. Rather than force the issue this session, he is calling for a year to study what could be the most significant growth management change since the Growth Management Act of 1985.

Every time a developer has an urge to reject these moderate proposals, Mr. Pelham can remind them of the alternative: "This or Hometown Democracy? Which is worse?" For that reason, Mr. Pelham said, the proposals "have gotten a better reception than you'd expect." While Hometown Democracy backers say the Legislature can't be trusted, Mr. Pelham makes a good case why his approach can be.

The Future Of Florida