Lake Mary land approved for condos March 30, 2008 A high-density development in Lake Mary got approval from the County Commission on Tuesday, but only after developer Bob Horian agreed to significantly reduce building height. The development is on Sun Drive near Greenwood Lakes Boulevard. Horian asked to modify an original development agreement from several years ago that would let him build condos on land previously approved for offices and town homes. Horian had proposed a 75-foot condo building on one tract. Commissioner Carlton Henley, whose district includes the Sun Drive development, balked at the height. Now the building height limit is just a little more than 55 feet. Horian said he needed to adjust the project, particularly because town homes are not selling well. Nothing's selling particularly well in this real-estate market, but Horian said he thinks he can make condos work in the area, where there's not much available land left. People seem to have turned against town homes because they don't want to deal with the stairs, he said. "I couldn't in good conscience break ground on town homes." Instead, residents will use high-speed elevators. Committee Drops Lifting Impact Fees By Jim  Konkoly of Highlands Today Published: March 28, 2008 SEBRING — The drive to temporarily suspend impact fees died late Friday morning. The burial of county Commissioner Guy Maxcy's idea to stimulate the economy will be Tuesday. Two questions remain, one large and one small. The big question: Will county and business leaders find other ways to stimulate the stagnant local economy? And then: Will Maxcy's championing of an idea that was rejected help or hurt his election bid this year for a fifth consecutive four-year term? In a 9-2 vote Friday morning, the Highlands County Citizens Advisory Committee on Impact Fees decided to tell the county commissioners not to suspend impact fees for six months. The only votes in favor of Maxcy's plan came from Mike Secor, representing the builders, and Chip Boring, a real estate broker. Greg Arnone, a developer who will have to pay $3.8 million in impact fees to build more than 500 housing units in Lake Placid, was the most outspoken committee member opposing the proposed suspension of impact fees. Arnone, though, complimented Maxcy for having the political courage, in an election year, to raise an idea aimed at helping people in financial trouble. He said more people should pose more ideas to help jump start the stalled local economy. The vast majority of comments by committee members at Friday's meeting was against suspending impact fees temporarily. Arnone summed up most of the opposition by saying suspending the fees for growth infrastructure now would bring even bigger problems "home to roost" in the future. For every $1 in impact fees suspended now from builders, he said, the county would have to collect that money from either future builders or from all taxpayers. "Quality of life" is vitally important to the future of the local home building industry, Arnone said, and without impact fees that would suffer horribly. Without charging impact fees to builders and, ultimately, their customers now, county Administrator Carl Cool said, the county would have to charge other people for large infrastructure costs. The committee's 9-2 vote sent a clear message that: There really is no such thing as a "free" lunch, or "free" growth, because somebody has to pay. The only question is: Who pays? When they hold a public hearing on Maxcy's proposed suspension of impact fees on Tuesday, the county commissioners don't have to follow the advisory committee's recommendation. Maxcy, though, said the effort to suspend impact fees did die on Friday with the committee's vote. "And I will lead the charge to bury it, because it is a dead issue now," Maxcy said about an hour after the committee's vote. "I think we have received enough input from people of all walks of life in our county to see that this (suspending impact fees) is a bad idea. "I admit it's a bad idea," Maxcy added. "And I am going to recommend to the board (of county commissioners) that we drop it and drop the whole stimulus package. "At this particular time," he continued, "I'm going to try to regroup with some ideas which would not cost the county any money and work on ideas for the county to deliver better levels of services." Several people at Friday's meeting suggested a substantial decrease in county property taxes to stimulate the local economy, and Maxcy said that's an idea he will pursue aggressively. Maxcy said he's not sorry he suggested an idea that drew widespread comment and ultimately was rejected. He said he tried to do something simply because "there is a segment of society that is on the brink of financial failure" due to the economic slump, and he hopes discussions on solving that problem continue. "I would challenge the leaders of our county and of our cities to come up with new ideas to help people, and not to be afraid to bring up an idea," Maxcy said. "I've walked out on a limb here in trying to offer something to help folks," he added. "It turned out to be a bad idea, but we need ideas. "And now I'm going to focus most of my efforts on stimulating the taxpayers to call for a dropping of the millage (rate), which will lower taxes and help everybody." When Arnone made the motion to recommend not suspending impact fees, committee member Don Elwell, general manager of Kenilworth Lodge, quickly seconded it. Maxcy then quipped that Elwell was going to be his opponent in the election for county commissioner. Elwell hasn't announced his candidacy, but he didn't say Maxcy was wrong. What Elwell did do was praise Maxcy for being "pretty darn bold and brave" in bringing up an idea to help people struggling in the poor economy. Even though Maxcy's idea wouldn't work, Elwell said, raising the idea was good because it prompted people to think about and discuss an important issue. Land deal may hang on who said what Attorney responds to city's attempt to thwart lawsuit By M.C. MOEWE Staff Writer PORT ORANGE -- City Manager Ken Parker said he's recently lain awake at 2 a.m. trying to remember what he might have said during a November conversation that could possibly undo a $5.6 million land deal. The exchange between Parker and a resident took place after a City Council meeting, but Parker doesn't remember exactly what was said. "I just don't recall," Parker said after Tuesday night's meeting. "If I'm testifying, that's what I'd have to say." Port Orange resident Paul Poole, the person Parker spoke with that night in November, said he had asked Parker for a copy of the property's appraisal and the city manager refused because the deal was not yet done. If city officials kept the deal's documents confidential, then state law requires 30 days for public input and two property appraisals on the land being purchased. City officials have said the deal was done with full public disclosure. In February, Poole filed a lawsuit alleging city leaders did not follow state open records laws when approving the $5.6 million purchase of Spruce Creek preservation land. Council members bought the 225-acre parcel in December, paying $1.6 million more than Volusia County's highest appraisal for the land, according to records. Mori Hosseini, chairman of ICI Homes, sold the land to the city after buying it for about $500,000 less than what city leaders paid. The price Port Orange paid was based on a single appraisal of 481 acres that included the 225 acres purchased. Port Orange officials considered the highest and best use "residential and/or commercial development," pointing to a city planned unit development plan that county officials deemed "obsolete." City officials asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit but Poole's attorney, Tanner Andrews, filed a response Monday that the city's request amounted to a denial that Poole had asked to inspect the appraisal. Tanner claimed a denial is not grounds for a dismissal. Poole has said he clearly recalls asking Parker for a copy of the appraisal and he took meticulous notes on the conversation. Parker said he remembers talking to Poole after the City Council meeting in November and does recall that the conversation included how the city decided upon the value of the land. Poole's attorney said it sounds like the two men agree. "If he (Parker) wanted to have a disagreement he'd have to say Mr. Poole didn't ask for the appraisal," Andrews said. The city is hoping Volusia County and state officials will help pay the $5.6 million bill for the land. Parker said an interlocal agreement between the city and Volusia County has been drafted but must be approved by the City Council and the County Council. In May, city officials plan to apply to the Florida Communities Trust, a state agency that funds up to 50 percent of the purchase price of preservation property, Parker said. If the property qualifies for state funding, the city would have to get another appraisal, a state official said. Any property valued at more than $500,000 must have two appraisals to get funded, regardless of whether the property has already been purchased. A hearing date on the city's motion to dismiss Poole's lawsuit has not been set, Andrews said. mary.moewe@news-jrnl.com If trailer park goes co-op, development goes away By Frank Gluck Published Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 4:30 a.m. CORTEZ — When the owner of the decades-old Cortez Trailer Park threatened to sell to a developer last year, the park's population of retirees and snowbirds fought back. They made an offer to buy the park on their own, but it was rejected. So when a competing offer popped up, they picketed along Cortez Road for weeks until Carlos Beruff, the president of Medallion Homes who was eyeing the site, backed away from the $10.5 million offer he had made. Residents are now closing in on a deal to buy this five-acre, 80-unit community and turn it into a cooperative. But they are finding that small personal budgets and a tight credit market are just as tough to overcome as the big-money offers of any developer. Many simply cannot afford to own their slice of paradise. The small lots range from $75,000 to $160,000, a big financial leap for residents used to paying less than $500 month to live in their mobile homes on Sarasota Bay. Others say they are having problems getting loans from skittish banks. "For Sale" signs dot the neighborhood. After 10 months of effort, only 30 possible in-park buyers, of a needed 40 or 50, have committed to investing, residents say. Some, like Nancy Luse, say they are hitting a financial brick wall. Luse, who moved to the park from Arizona more than two years ago, said she is not sure how she will come up with her $75,000. "I love it here, and I made a major move to come here," Luse said. "I want to stay here." Luse could simply continue to rent. But without enough buyers, the homeowners association will not be able to work out a purchase deal with Butch Howey, the landowner who has been eager to sell since 2005. That keeps the door open for him to sell it for development. So for Luse, it would be an investment in securing the future of the mobile home park and her spot in it. Both residents or nonresidents may invest in the cooperative. Buyers would not actually own any land. Rather, they purchase "shares" of the co-op, which gives them a stake in the overall community. Share prices are determined by a lot's location. Those on or nearer the water have the highest share price. Share buyers must also agree to buy the mobile home unit on the given lot, said Donna Stoutin, president of the homeowner's association. Trailer parks have been incorporating in Florida since the early 1980s. There are now nearly 600 co-op parks statewide, including more than 40 in Manatee County. Sarasota County also has more than 40 co-ops. Charlotte County has just over 20. Banks have historically been eager to finance cooperatives because they rarely, if ever, default on their loans, said Vicky Krentz, a co-op conversion specialist with the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of Florida. For residents who can afford them, these cooperatives are an effective guard against possible eviction from developers. In a typical mobile home park, residents own their mobile homes but not the land underneath them. That means the property on which their homes sit can easily be sold. Many, like the Cortez Trailer Park, sit on waterfront property attractive to developers. Last spring, residents of the tight-knit Cortez community found out just how attractive their location is. Howey, the trailer park owner, was threatening to evict the tenants and sell the land to Beruff, the developer. Howey's parents and other relatives live in the park, making the real estate deal also a very public family feud. After the protests from trailer park residents and complaints from those living in the neighboring historic Cortez fishing village, Beruff walked away and Howey relented. Howey eventually lowered the sale price to about $9.5 million and promised to work with the residents to make the deal work, residents say. But it continues to be slow going. "Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of people ready to put up or shut up," said Bob Coulter, a park resident and Michigan snowbird. "If we had had the opportunity to do this last March, we probably would have been able to make a go of it."

New growth rules target development in western Palm Beach County: Areas could get more input
Sunday, March 30, 2008; Posted: 08:08 AM

Mar 30, 2008 (South Florida Sun-Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- A new plan for western development could give Wellington and Royal Palm Beach greater say in shaping the neighborhoods and shopping centers that grow up around them.

Palm Beach County proposes creating a new "overlay" for western communities, which would define how many homes could be built on agricultural land in Loxahatchee.

Traffic concerns, strain on schools and parks, and saving space for new businesses and the jobs they would bring are among the issues addressed in the new guidelines.

The overlay goes before the Palm Beach County Commission on April 28, after community meetings, input from local governments and a review by county advisory boards. If approved, it would undergo a review by the state Department of Community Affairs and come back to the commission for a final vote in August.

The plan could allow as many as 8,300 more homes beyond what building limits permit.

"The pieces are coming together," Palm Beach County Planner Maria Bello said. "We have to start somewhere."

The overlay would be a follow-up to the failed "sector plan" -- development guidelines a decade in the making that county commissioners abandoned last year, after opposition from developers, residents and state regulators.

Concerns that the old rules failed to properly plan for growth doomed the sector plan.

The new guidelines need to identify ways to improve roads to deal with traffic, or should be stricter on the number of homes that can be built, Royal Palm Beach Mayor David Lodwick said.

"Let's not just gloss over the traffic issue," he said. "We can't just throw people's quality-of-life issues out the door because a developer wants to build."

Identifying land for businesses to bring jobs, as well as areas for shops and other commercial needs are among the ways to give new western residents alternatives to commuting east on already crowded roads, said Marty Hodgkins, Wellington's community development director.

Without proper planning for western development, Wellington's community facilities risk becoming overwhelmed, Hodgkins said.

"How are public facilities going to be provided, so that there are sufficient parks and schools?" Hodgkins asked.

Commissioners must decide the rate of development to allow on former citrus groves and other farms surrounded by The Acreage. One preliminary version of the plan would allow one home per 1.25 acres, like most of The Acreage. Another version allows one home per 5 acres. Commissioners also could allow a mix, depending on the type of development proposed.

The western area has 233,000 square feet of existing or approved commercial space. The overlay proposes an additional 2.8 to 4 million for commercial, office and industrial development -- creating shopping, professional services and employment intended to make the western area more self-sufficient.

The overlay also calls for a 60 percent open space requirement, intended to set aside land to preserve some of the area's rural feel. What counts as open space -- whether to include retention ponds and landscaping -- was a sticking point in the past.

The housing market may have slowed, but western landowners continue to prepare for the day when they can start building.

GL Homes has proposed 12,000 homes on the 5,000-acre Indian Trail Groves property, west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, but company representatives have said they would consider following new western growth guidelines.

Just east of the GL property, Callery-Judge Grove has proposed to build about 3,000 homes. Callery-Judge Grove owners, long an opponent of the sector plan, saw their 10,000-home "new town" proposal rejected last year by county commissioners and have opted for a scaled-down development.

Nearby, Lion Country Safari has 640 acres and continues to consider development options for the property, beside its drive-through animal attraction.

In a Feb. 13 letter to the county, Lion Country Safari general manager Harold Kramer encouraged the county to stick to the building thresholds included in the old plan and to get the overlay approved.

"Delay increases costs to all concerned, and increases the incentive for the landowners to seek land use changes outside the guidelines of the overlay," Kramer wrote.

Andy Reid can be reached at abreid@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5504.

Bellamy road surfacing stirs debate

By NATHAN CRABBE
Sun staff writer

HIGH SPRINGS - A drive down Old Bellamy Road is a beautiful, but bumpy, trek through history.

Continue to 2nd paragraph The road, commissioned in 1824, was the first federal highway in Florida. The unpaved sections that remain in Alachua County today show the scars of years of use, but there are controversies about surfacing the road.

High Springs Campground Manager Jason Outler said recreational vehicle owners sometimes avoid the business because of its location on the dusty and pothole-covered road. He's offered to pay for the road to be surfaced - yet the county has so far said it plans to foot the bill and the work must wait at least two years.

"It's just crazy that the county won't accept my money," Outler said.

Complicating matters are questions over whether the road should even be altered. The county designated Bellamy as a scenic road in 1980. The designation mainly prevents the removal of roadside trees, which the surfacing project won't do, but also requires the preservation of the road's cultural and historical character.

The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation listed the state's historic antebellum roads, including Bellamy, among the 11 most endangered historic sites for 2006 and 2007. The surfacing is less of a threat than changes such as widening but would still diminish the road's historic appearance, said Laura Kammerer, historic preservation supervisor for the state's division of historic resources.

"It does change the physical characteristics," she said. "It's a whole different feel and look."

Alachua County commissioners last week voted to approve the ranking of 44 unpaved roads in the order in which they will be surfaced. Commissioners last year boosted the gas tax by 5 cents per gallon and dedicated 15 percent to pay for the surfacing work.

The surfacing will be an asphalt treatment that reduces potholes and controls dust. The surfacing is different from paving, which is about twice as thick.

Two sections of Bellamy were included in the county's list. A nearly two-mile section from County Road 236 to NW 262nd Avenue is slated to be surfaced in fiscal year 2011. A half-mile section that starts at County Road 235A and dead-ends into Interstate 75 is set to be done in 2013 or later.

Outler's 48-site campground is located on the former section. The campground turns into a dust bowl when wind blows in its direction, he said, requiring him to drench the road in water up to five times a day.

Owners of new and huge recreational vehicles hesitate to navigate the potholes currently covering the road, he said.

"I've had people pull in and stop in and say, â€òI can't stay. I can't fight that road,' '' he said. "I know it's costing us business.''

He's offered to pay for the surfacing of a four-tenths-of-a-mile portion in front of the main part of the campground at a cost of about $23,000. He would pay the money through a special assessment on his property taxes over a 10-year period.

Assistant public works director Michael Fay said the offer is still under discussion. He said special assessments require a public hearing and can take a year or two to be implemented.

He said the county might also offer other people along roads on the list the opportunity to move up in the rankings if they pay for the work.

Fay said the resurfacing will not diminish the road's historic value. He pointed to the fact that another former section of the historic path is now County Road 235A, which is completely paved, and other sections outside the county are also paved.

Even the unpaved road is already covered in limestone, he said, in comparison to the rutted dirt road used in the 1800s.

"I don't think it changes the nature of the road," he said.

Bellamy Road has been around longer than Florida has been a state. The road follows a path used by the Spanish in the 1600s. In 1824, plantation owner John Bellamy received a commission to build the territory's first federal road. The road stretched between St. Augustine and Pensacola and was used as a major highway until the Civil War.

County public workers say the road's designation as scenic prevents full-scale paving, which would require the installation of drainage structures that mean removing trees. But they say the surfacing work, which requires no new structures, is allowed under those regulations.

"If anything it will probably help preserve the scenic beauty of the area by controlling the dust," said Chris Zeigler, senior engineering technician for public works.

But Bob Lynch, who lives on a road off Bellamy, questioned the changes. He said a historic marker was placed on the road with an intention to keep the road in its current state.

"It wasn't supposed to be paved. It wasn't supposed to be improved," he said. "It was supposed to be left as it is."

Kammerer said the road doesn't have any historic designations that would restrict changes. Because the project would not require state funding or permits, she said, her office would not review the surfacing.

While she agreed with Fay's point that the original road has already been altered, Kammerer said the unpaved road is closer to its historic color and feel than a surfaced road.

"At least dust still flies and it's a little closer to the historic look," she said.

Outler points out that the small section of Bellamy passing in front of the campground is actually New Bellamy Road, built when Interstate 75 cut through the road's original path. A 1994 survey by Alachua County Land Surveyors supports his claim.

It's the New Bellamy section that Outler is willing to pay to be surfaced. The fact he's willing to pay for the cost of the paving should put him near the front of the list, Outler said.

"What's wrong with government that won't take someone's money that's willing to pay it?" he said.

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

Regional water supply: County will have little choice

By Jim Hunter

While Citrus County Commissioners are upbeat about the region's water supply authority beginning to take a full-time role in planning new regional water supplies for the future, there are a few reservations about some suggested sources.

Commissioner Joyce Valentino, for example, said she doesn't look too favorably on build-ing reservoirs on the Withlacoochee River or using Lake Rousseau as a reservoir. She said she thinks the conservation and reuse projects in the authority's master plan ought to come first, then a desalination plant somewhere down the line.

All three Citrus commissioners who sit on the Withlacoochee Regional Water Supply Au-thority think desalination will be the answer to future needs for the county. They note, how-ever, it will be more a more expensive source of water.

Commissioner Dennis Damato said he feels confident that once the scientific analysis is finished and the minimum flows and levels are set for Citrus waters, there will be a better picture of what alternatives resources will be the best to use so environmental damage is not done.

Some TOOFAR members also have some reservations and, in particular, are uneasy about some of the proposed alternative sources of water in the new master plan for the au-thority. A consultant's plan lists possible sources of water for the future, including withdrawal from the Withlacoochee River at a number of locations.

TOOFAR is a citizens' group dedicated to the best management and conservation of natu-ral resources through public education and interaction with entities responsible for resources protection and regulation.

TOOFAR President Al Grubman said he is uneasy with some suggestions in the supply au-thority plan that would reduce water in the river from upstream. He questions the effect on the Tsala Apopka Lake chain.

TOOFAR fought for a decade to have the Wysong Dam replaced on the Withlacoochee River. The group showed how the dam had served to keep the maximum amount of water in the lake chain. The dam was finally replaced, and Grubman doesn't want to see that tool for maximizing lake levels jeopardized.

The idea of some offstream natural reservoirs for use in flood times doesn't bother some TOOFAR members so much as the idea of routine diversion of part of the river upstream. Wayne Sawyer, another longtime member, said he, for example, would like to see the Flying Eagle property, once a natural storage area of flood waters, considered for that.

Mark Wilson, also a longtime member and officer of TOOFAR, said he wants to see all the scientific evaluation of effects on the river, including the estuary, before any project is con-sidered.

Taking water from the river and sending it to The Villages doesn't set well with some TOOFAR members either, Grubman said, especially after the regional water district recently increased their water withdrawal permit to 10 million mgd.

Wilson said he felt the water district was just looking for ways to let The Villages continue to grow, and Sawyer said he didn't like that the director of the authority had been a consultant planner for The Villages.

Jack Sullivan, the authority' longtime, part-time director, said he has retired from his consulting business, but, moreover, he never was involved in nor advised The Villages on water matters.

Sawyer said he would be against sending river water to The Villages, but that could hap-pen, however, as regional development means sharing between the member counties, and as more than one official has pointed out, counties don't own the water. It is a state resource.

Second, the other counties in the authority's area share the Withlacoochee River with Citrus and it if were to be used, have as much right to it as Citrus.

Southwest Florida Water Management District Executive Director David Moore said the Villages has actually reduced usage since its permit increase, as well as developed alternative sources. He doesn't see the pressure from The Villages in the future because the massive development is entering its last phase.

As for how alternative source are developed, Moore said he thinks there will be some groundwater still available in Citrus and Sumter counties after minimum levels of the aquifer are determined and that will probably be one of the initial new sources developed through some dispersed wellfields that minimize draw-down.

Desal may be the next choice for Citrus, he said, but he doesn't see that happening for a couple decades. Moore emphasized that the possible alternative source list is just that, and it's typical to lay out all feasible alternatives before picking the most feasible and desirable one. Because it takes so long to develop new sources from start to finish, planning has to begin way ahead, he said.

Damato agreed with the need to plan way ahead and said he thinks the authority plan is a good beginning. "It's going to take a long time to get there, and you've got to start someplace."

He said having the headquarters in Inverness, as is proposed, will be a plus for the county, in that having the authority and possibly water district staff present will keep a natu-ral focus on Citrus resources.

Sullivan said citizens in the authority's area will have a big say in proposals for using the river. The minimum flows and levels and modeling the water district is now doing will be used to protect the resource, he said.

Regional development, which will mean some shared use, is the best way to create new water supplies, and because of the financial realities, the only way to go in the future, he said.

Commissioner Gary Bartell, long involved in water issues, said the situation has changed dramatically for funding water projects. If they are not regional, they probably won't have much chance of getting funded, he said.

Bartell said he had reservations about taking Withlacoochee water too, and that it could only be at high, peak levels.

For him desal is the way to go, and the authority and water district will have the benefit of the all lessons Tampa Bay Water learned with its desal plant in Tampa Bay.

The final reality is, he said, Citrus County will continue growing, and to think that won't happen or use water as a tool to try to stop it would be misguided, he said. Granted, the cost of new water supplies will be enormous, he said, but to those who oppose regional, cooperative development, he asks, "What's the alternative?"

Bartell said the answer is the county doesn't have another realistic option. Working to-gether it will be affordable, he said. "I want to be proactive," he said. "You have to look 10 or more years ahead."

Road authority's version of cleaning up its act
Scott Maxwell

TAKING NAMES

March 30, 2008

Time to check back in with the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority -- you know, the agency that says it has reformed itself.

The latest finds the authority settling a lawsuit with its former public-relations consultant, Ron Pecora.

The final deal: The authority won about $8,000 -- and spent $110,000 in legal and investigative costs to get it.

Authority officials pronounced this a good deal.

And you know, sometimes I start to wonder if I'm the one who's detached from reality. So I decided to take this matter to an unbiased expert -- my 7-year-old daughter, Cameron.

"Cameron," I asked. "Would you spend 110 pennies so that you could get eight?"

"No," came the wrinkled-nose response.

Well, sorry, sweetie. You're apparently unfit to serve on this board that controls billion-dollar road deals.

After all, you could see this money-losing result coming like a tractor-trailer down the BeachLine. I wrote months ago that this legal action looked like it could cost the authority more than it would get back.

Authority officials, of course, claim they served toll-payers well. They point to more than $1 million worth of counterclaims and bills from Pecora that are now gone. And they say they had an obligation to go after Pecora, accusing him of improperly billing the authority for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that he's now too broke to collect from anyway.

That could all be true. After all, we've seen one financial mess after another over there -- from major contracts that lacked competitive bidding to money paid to Pecora's firm that was given to Doug Guetzloe that even the authority's own investigator concluded was wasted.

But Pecora worked for the authority for years. And yet, they didn't start making those claims against him until after he went public with accusations of wasted money and impropriety at the authority.

Makes you wonder what's going on with the contractors that didn't turn on the authority.

There's also the settlement agreement, in which the authority stated: "The authority asserts no improprieties or wrongdoing on the part of Pecora & Blexrud or Ron Pecora individually."

Maybe it'd help if the expressway folks just let us know which of their conflicting statements to believe.


New face, same old profession

In other expressway news, the authority has a new board member.

Now, keeping in mind that the authority is the subject of a still-sealed grand jury report that State Attorney Lawson Lamar says criticizes the board for being too involved with political fundraising, guess who Charlie Crist picked as the newest member of the board?

A corporate lobbyist involved with political fundraising.

Now Tanya Juarez is a perfectly pleasant corporate lobbyist. And smart, too.

But she's a lobbyist all the same -- for TECO Energy, which has cut hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks to candidates and political parties in the past decade. She's also personally involved in fundraising -- serving, for instance, on the host committee for a campaign event for Seminole County Commissioner Bob Dallari.

What's more, she's in a serious relationship with one of the top local associates at Citigroup -- the firm that the authority often uses for bond work. In fact, Juarez cast a vote to give Citigroup business at her very first meeting last week.

Now, all of the other board members voted the same way. And even I wouldn't assert that Citigroup got that business because Juarez was there. The board has given Citigroup plenty of business in years past. (In fact, the Sentinel has scrutinized that as well.) What's more, Florida's conflict-of-interest laws are pretty lax in this regard. They don't require public officials to abstain on voting on things unless they personally or their company directly gain from the deal. Boyfriends, girlfriends, even extended family members, often don't count.

In fact, before she voted, Juarez (who's the daughter of veteran GOP consultant Oscar Juarez) said she sought the counsel of the state's ethics commission and determined "there were not any conflicts on the agenda, both ethically and legally. I care about Central Florida and serving our community."

Sounds good. But in a state with 18 million people, it seems like our governor could find someone to serve on the authority who's not a lobbyist, not involved in fundraising and not dating someone who does business with this public agency.


So, are you satisfied?

Just as a reminder, there's a proposal out there to reform the structure of the authority and reduce its dependency on political appointees by the governor. (If you agree, contact your state legislator.)

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty -- who's the lone elected official on the board and now chairing the authority -- isn't so interested in that. Neither are other authority officials. They say they've already cleaned things up and that the reform is in place.

But considering everything going on, I'm not sure how much more reform we can take.


HUGS AND SLUGS

Time for another round of hugs and slugs.


A hug to Attorney General Bill McCollum for staying on top of the cruise lines that are trying to tack on and jack up fuel surcharges, sometimes retroactively . . . A slug to Miami-based Carnival cruise line for whining about the need for these charges in general. Nobody is telling you that you can't raise prices, Carnival. They're simply telling you to do it upfront rather than tacking it on in a way that surprises customers . . . A hug to Target for helping Orlando and Mayor Buddy Dyer pay for new cameras meant to catch crime downtown . . . A slug to Orange County adults in general (School Board, County Commission and otherwise) for mucking up plans to rebuild Evans High. The latest calls for a stripped-down campus -- one that could separate the school from its baseball and football fields, provide less parking and scrap a planned culinary-arts program. The way to solve bickering among adults is not by shortchanging the kids.

Scott Maxwell can be reached at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6141.

Fla. growth rate expected to slow

By ANTHONY CLARK
Sun business editor

Florida's population is projected to grow at the slowest rate in 30 years as a result of the state's housing bust and overall economy, dragging down Alachua County's growth rate with it, according to a University of Florida report.

UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research is projecting statewide growth through 2010 at half the level of the 2002 through 2006 boom years, with an average of 209,000 more residents a year instead of the 418,000 the state was adding.

Bureau director Stan Smith compared the boom and bust trend to that of Florida's real estate and construction boom years between 1971 and 1974 that was followed by a national recession.

The forecast predicts normal growth levels of about 317,000 between 2010 and 2020, similar to the 1980s and 1990s.

The economy will also affect other high-growth states as people are unable to sell their homes to move and have fewer job opportunities to choose from, Smith said.

"It will have an impact on tax revenues and certain types of industries that are really geared toward growth such as construction and real estate," he said.

Still, Smith said a slow growth rate for Florida would be a big increase in a lot of states.

Alachua County averaged 4,200 more residents a year between 2002 and 2007, ranking 43rd among 67 state counties in its rate of growth. Smith said the county can expect a little less than 2,000 people a year through 2010 and 3,000 people a year from 2010 to 2020, in line with state trends.

The projections are based on historical trends.

Brent Christensen, president of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, said he is cautiously optimistic that Alachua's typical slow and steady growth will not slow too much because of its stable economy and outlook for job growth.

"There's some concern out there with the economy, but as we know, our area has been somewhat immune to those economic trends," he said.

He pointed to construction at Shands at the University of Florida, Progress Corporate Park in Alachua and plans for a life sciences incubator on UF's campus as signs that jobs are on the way.

"Just a simple analysis sometimes doesn't give you the whole story," Christensen said.

The majority of the state's growth is from migration, with people in their 20s and 30s making up the largest share of those moving into Florida, Smith said.

During a recession, job creation slows, which in turn slows migration.

Anthony Clark can be reached at 352-374-5094 or anthony.clark@gvillesun.com.

Tax flip benefits richer families

By MICHAEL C. BENDER

Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

Sunday, March 30, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — The grocery store cashier, the public school teacher and the young family trying to establish roots in suburbia could lose more of their income to state government under a proposed tax change that would give the state's wealthiest residents the biggest benefit, a Palm Beach Post analysis shows.

The Post study, based on a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of personal spending, shows households with the lowest average income - $60,000 or less - would see modest tax increases under a proposed constitutional amendment being prepared for the November ballot.

Higher income, higher savings

A proposal to increase the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent, eliminate most property taxes that pay for schools and possibly repeal some sales tax exemptions could result in a tax increase for households with the lowest income.

Meanwhile, households with higher income could get a tax savings.

The Post study shows that households earning $71,000 per year would receive a $30 cut. A $150,000 income household would receive a $146 savings.

The constitutional amendment, which needs a final vote from a state tax panel to be placed on the November ballot, would cut nearly all property taxes that pay for schools and increase the statewide sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent.

That tax swap would leave a $4 billion hole in Florida's $19 billion education budget. The amendment suggests lawmakers close that gap by removing sales tax exemptions on some goods and services.

The federal survey of consumer spending shows that poorer households spend a larger portion of their income on sales taxes compared with wealthier families.

Even by expanding the sales tax base by repealing tax exemptions on services, as the amendment suggests, a one-penny sales tax increase would cost low-income families a bigger share of their paycheck, the analysis shows.

Meanwhile, the U.S. survey shows wealthier households spend a larger percentage of their income on property taxes.

That means eliminating the property taxes that pay to operate K-12 schools would erase the sales tax increase for wealthy families.

School taxes account for 27 percent of the statewide average property tax bill.

In Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, property owners pay about 35 percent of their tax bill to schools. In Martin County, 40 percent.

The Post analysis assumed that lawmakers would reverse course on a decade-long debate in the legislature and agree to remove sales tax exemptions on some goods and services.

Economist Hank Fishkind, who testified in favor of the amendment at the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, said state lawmakers will have little choice but to repeal sales tax exemptions.

Businesses and services forced to add sales taxes would likely pass the cost on to their customers, according to Fishkind's analysis of the amendment.

Fishkind, the former head of the University of Florida economic forecasting program analysis, calculated the amendment's effect on different age groups.

His report showed that Floridians 25 and younger would pay an extra $117 in state taxes as a result of the amendment. Residents between 25 and 34 would pay an additional $39 per year.

Meanwhile, Floridians between 35 and 44 would get an annual tax break of $60. Senior citizens would pay $111 less in taxes per year.

Fishkind said the benefit of the amendment would be the deep property tax cut, which he said would ignite real estate sales and spark the state economy.

"This is about getting rid of an insidious tax and a seductive tax for the legislature," Fishkind said.

State lawmakers last year ordered a five-year, $15 billion cut on local governments and placed Amendment 1 on the ballot, which created bigger homestead exemptions, portability for Save Our Homes and about $9 billion less revenue for government and schools.

But state lawmakers last year agreed to increase property taxes that pay for public education by $326 million beyond what would be generated by new construction. In the past eight years, state lawmakers approved $2.6 billion in property tax increases for schools.

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, who voted for the school property tax increase last year, is a leading proponent of the constitutional amendment.

He said it was unlikely lawmakers would have to repeal any sales tax exemptions to pay for the amendment.

Rubio said the swap would ignite the economy in such a way that the one-penny increase would generate double what it does today.

Fishkind disagreed.

"I have a lot of respect for Speaker Rubio, but I wouldn't bet the farm on that," Fishkind said. "There will be a need for additional taxes."

All seven of Rubio's appointees to the tax commission voted in favor of the amendment on March 17.

Appointees from Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Point St. Lucie, voted 6-1 in favor. Gov. Charlie Crist's appointees supported the proposal, 8-3.

Crist, who led the Amendment 1 campaign last year, has said he would "probably" support the amendment.

Pruitt has declined to give his opinion. His only public statement has been to congratulate Rubio for his "persistent effort to cut property taxes."

Pruitt, however, has supported repealing sales tax exemptions. He sponsored a constitutional amendment in 2002 that would have wiped out some exemptions, but also reduce the state sales tax to 4.5 percent.

The 2002 plan, which lawmakers refused to put on the ballot, would have given lower-income families a 25 percent sales tax savings and wealthy households a 10 percent break, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis.

The current measure needs one final vote from the tax commission, which has to approve the wording of the ballot question.

Commission Chairman Allan Bense, who favored the amendment, said members have a "moral obligation" to stick with their original vote unless significant changes were made during editing.

But Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said he planned to discuss the amendment with commission members before the final vote.

Atwater, the designated Senate president for next year, compared the amendment to the high-speed train that Florida voters approved in 2000 before they changed their minds about the costly project in 2004.

"Before, you got some new gift in Florida with no way to pay for it," Atwater said. "You got a high-speed rail, but no way to pay for it. Or smaller class sizes, but no way to pay for it. Now, you want a tax break, but no way to pay for it.

"It's always better that when you ask the voters to decide something constitutional, that you ask them to decide on an equation that has equal value on both sides."

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, an Indialantic Republican who also has designs on the Senate presidency, has said the amendment amounts to a tax increase.

He wrote a letter to commission members last week urging them to continue their deliberations on the amendment.

"This proposal came together quickly," Haridopolos wrote. "And although there was some public discussion, the bulk of the debate was focused on the potential tax reduction with little mention of the tax increase or the actual spending cuts necessary for the so-called 'tax swap.' "

Basketville: population zero

VENICE — After 54 years of selling Shaker baskets, Nantucket baskets and all kinds of decorative items to go in them, the country's oldest handmade basket company is closing its Venice store.

Basketville, on South Tamiami Trail, used to be a retail outpost for all things wicker. In an aluminum, barn-like building in South Venice it developed a cult following among tourists and crafty decorator types when nothing else was out there.

Now there is a Pier One, a Wal-Mart and a collection of stores in strip malls in one of the most congested areas of south Sarasota County.

Company president Greg Wilson did not return calls and he put a gag order on Venice employees, so it is hard to know for sure why the store is closing or even when.

The Venice Basketville's closing marks the last store outside Putney, Vt., where founder Frank Wilson started his basket-making empire in 1941. He acquired a basket and bucket shop that had a history dating to 1842.

Much has changed in Venice and in basketmaking since Wilson decided to expand his craft to his winter home in Venice in 1954, where he once lived behind the store.

Baskets that used to be hand-crafted at Basketville's Putney plant are now made in China, the Philippines and eastern Europe.

Basketville, a privately held company, once had seven retail stores, but a few years ago the company closed all but the Venice and Putney stores.

The Putney Basketville is still open on State Route 4, north of Brattleboro, just outside the heart of downtown, where Sackett's Brook meanders through the village.

The town of 3,000 attracts writers and artisans and is known for its small colleges and backcountry hiking and skiing. Basketville, once a multimillion dollar company, used to be the second biggest employer next to Putney Paper, which employs about 40, said town manager Chris Ryan.

Basketville was one of the last traditional New England-style basket manufacturers when, in 1996, it closed its Putney plant and shipped 40 jobs and its patterns to China.

"It was a tough decision," Wilson told the Brattleboro Reformer in 1996. "I think that we're probably the last holdout in that industry, in a sense. It's kind of the last of the corner blacksmiths closing up shop."

Basketville's former manufacturing plant sits vacant and for sale across the street from its retail store.

Ryan had not heard about the Venice closing and did not know anything about the Putney store's future.

The weekend before Easter, the Venice Basketville was crowded with shoppers looking for bargains.

"I've come here quite a bit over the years," said Joanne Schiller of Venice. "Gifts, artificial flowers. I thought I'd make a last stop over to see if there's anything I can't live without."

Stephanie Figula, a teacher and 20-year customer from Hercules, Calif., stocked up on small baskets for her students' craft projects.

"We bought oodles every year," said Figula.

Some of the walls and shelves were bare and, on others, there were baskets for toting garden tools, baskets for cats or dogs, baskets to store mail and even a wicker basket bike frame.

All the Nantucket baskets, laundry baskets, tote baskets and silk flowers are on sale. And when the inventory is gone, the store will be too.

Four Basketville employees -- all women -- rang up the purchases and chatted with customers about the store's closing.

"It's a landmark here," said one employee, who would not give her name per corporate instructions. "I've worked here for 19 years. It's been a wonderful place."

A fortune that was built in middle of nowhere

By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent

Published Saturday, March 29, 2008 2:59 PM

BRADENTON — How does a public servant making $137,000 a year achieve a net worth of $8-million?

Former Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells largely credits his wife's hard work and real estate savvy. But critics say Wells also used his public position to help win approval of a controversial project on which his wife was developer.

In 1997, Leslie Wells formed Cherokee Creek Inc. with friends. They paid $1.98-million for nearly 1,000 acres of the Rutland Ranch, part of the estate of St. Petersburg banker Hubert Rutland.

The Wellses invested no money; Leslie Wells says the other couple made the down payment while she handled development of what would be an upscale community of 301 homes. The site was miles from anywhere, reachable only by a two-lane road from the small town of Parrish.

The county's planning staff and planning commission said the project should be denied. They cited concerns about urban sprawl and incompatibility with surrounding land use. Environmentalists and many area residents also opposed it.

Among them was Linda Tucker, a native of Manatee who had once socialized with the Wellses. She sent out a flier that urged others to speak up, noting that the fact the sheriff's wife was the developer "could substantially increase the pressure'' on county commissioners to approve the project.

Tucker soon got a call from the sheriff himself.

"He said, 'Linda, this is Charlie Wells. I want to know why you're attacking my wife. I've been really good to your family.' I was flabbergasted. In my estimation he was threatening me and made it very clear I ought to back down and not oppose this development if I knew what was good for me.''

Frightened, Tucker spoke with the FBI and the FDLE. She also filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics, but it was dismissed on the grounds there was no evidence Wells "ever used or threatened to use'' his official position to orchestrate support for his wife's development.

By a 4-3 vote in 1998, the County Commission approved a zoning change to permit Cherokee Creek. Records show only three people expressed support for the project: a contractor who later built the Wellses' new house and two deputies who had worked for Wells.

One, Bobby King, had recently retired after years as what Wells called "my right-hand man.'' The other, James Higginbotham, had a work history that included falsifying reports and using department radios for personal business.

A week after Cherokee Creek was approved, Wells promoted Higginbotham to sergeant. He continued to rise through the ranks: Now a major, he runs the jail and makes $110,000 a year. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Wells says he never threatened Linda Tucker or pressured deputies to support the project. Leslie Wells says the County Commission had no choice but to approve Cherokee Creek because it met the criteria for a planned development.

"We were ahead of our time, but we had a right to use our property that way,'' she says. "I'm a little pissy about accusations I have to have my husband to do anything.''

County Commissioner Joe McClash voted against Cherokee Creek because, he says, it wasn't consistent with the county's comprehensive plan and "is one of those borderline areas where growth should be limited.''

How does he feel about it now?

"The same way I felt at the time,'' McClash says. A few years after the vote, he added, Wells "told me he was really ticked about how I treated his wife. He's likeable unless you don't give him what he wants.''

In 2000, as the first phase of the development began under the name of Foxbrook, Charles B. Wells appeared on the plat as one of the owners. By the time he retired last year, financial disclosure records show he had a third interest in a house and 41 lots in Foxbrook and owned another home nearby.

Estimated value: $5.17-million.

FRESNO, Calif. - Yosemite National Park must halt more than $100 million in planned construction projects because the developments threaten the park's fragile ecosystem, a federal appeals court panel ruled Thursday.

Work on moving campgrounds, rerouting a key access road and upgrading hotel rooms on Yosemite Valley's floor had been temporarily barred since a U.S. District Court ruling last year.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the repairs must stop until September 2009, when the agency is due to produce a new plan to manage the federally protected Merced River.

The river courses alongside the valley's cherished granite walls and glimmering waterfalls.

'Huge implications'
Yosemite officials said they feared the ruling could push the park service to cap the number of people allowed through the gates each day in order to safeguard Yosemite's natural resources.

"The implications here for Yosemite and all national parks are huge," park spokesman Scott Gediman said.

The two small conservation groups that filed suit in 2000 had long argued that the government's plan to manage the California black oaks, delicate wetlands and bat species that thrive near the riverbanks was inadequate.

"This is really more about preserving everyone's access to the park than it is about denying access," said Bridget Kerr, a member of Friends of Yosemite Valley. "I have always had hope, but I have even more hope now that the American citizens will have a voice in protecting Yosemite."

After the Merced flooded in 1997, park officials drew up an ambitious remodeling project to move campgrounds and fix roads destroyed by the river. The plan would have blasted part of the river canyon and felled nearby oaks.

Commercial expansion
Friends of Yosemite Valley and Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government sued, saying the park's plans would allow rampant commercial expansion that could degrade the valley's health.

Thursday, the court said the park service had broken federal law "by not requiring a response to environmental degradation until after it already occurs," Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote.

Bottled water plant permit shouldn't be revoked, water district now says

Officials at the Suwannee River Water Management District are recommending that a water use permit for Blue Springs not be revoked after all.

The change comes after the Suwannee River Water Management District held mediation with Blue Springs Properties.

The water district had started the process on Aug. 14, 2007 to revoke the permit due to two years of inactivity.

But the owners of the water use permit challenged that decision.

Also, the owners of the permit have recently attempted to secure a special exception to build a water bottling plant in Gilchrist County -- thus using the water use permit.

And while the Gilchrist Planning Commission recommend denial of the special exception needed, the Gilchrist County Commission is the governing body that will make the final decision.

That meeting will be held sometime in April.

Blue Springs is located about five miles west of High Springs, near Rum Island, in Gilchrist County.

Conditions of allowing the water use permit to continue are:

* A reduction in the water use permit from a daily average of 528,000 gallons a day to 500,000 gallons a day.

* Blue Springs must seek review of the denied Planning and Zoning recommendation by applying at the County Commission level.

* If Blue Springs is awarded the special use permit from the county, than Blue Springs must begin construction of the plant within 12 months.

* If Blue Springs is not awarded the special use permit from the county, then Blue Springs must seek a judicial review of the denial.

If the above conditions are not met, the water district can revoke the permit, but if all conditions are met, than the water district will agree to not revoke the permit.

The Governing Board will vote to accept the mediation terms at the next water district meeting to be held April 8 at 9 a.m.

City of Newberry gives final plat approval to development featuring 999 homes

NEWBERRY -- A 999-unit subdivision with retail space is closer to becoming a reality in Newberry.

The Newberry City Commission gave final approval on Monday to change the land use designation on more than 200 acres of land, paving the way for the development.

The land use change from agriculture to mixed use development is the first step for the multi-use development that will include homes, apartments and townhomes, as well as retail stores.

Land use designations are used by cities to plan where future growth can occur.

Tom Daley, with the Daley Design Group, who spoke on behalf of the developers, said that the development will include bike trails and parks.

The massive development is also planned to be a "green development," meaning that all the homes and even the stores will be energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

If the development is successful in being a green development, it will be the largest in the state to receive the designation.

"We are really hoping to make this a jewel," Daley said.

The development is still in the early stages, with more information being available as the process moves forward, Daley said.

The development is unique not only for its size but the fact that the developers are donating more than 63 acres of land adjacent to the development to the Alachua County School Board.

The Commission approved a land use change on that 63-acre tract of land from agriculture to low density residential.

This donation of land will not guarantee that a school will be built on the property, as the School Board could choose to sell the land and build a school elsewhere in the county, said Newberry Mayor John Glanzer.

The donation of the land allows the developer to meet school concurrency rules.

But Daley is hopeful that the School Board will choose to build a school on the land.

"A school is definitely in the works," he said.

Newberry City Manager Keith Ashby said that having developers plan and help with school capacity is forward thinking.

"This is clearly planning ahead," Ashby said.

When beauty and utility meet, one ends up gone

By Dan DeWitt, Times columnist

Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:39 PM

Canopy roads, as you probably know, are the stretches of rural highway shaded with arching tree limbs, usually loaded down with Spanish moss and resurrection ferns.

Ordinance.

That means law, of course.

Put them together — canopy road ordinance — and you get the reassuring idea that the scenic lanes that help define the county's character are firmly protected by its government.

At the same time, if you're smart, you probably suspect that's all too good to be true. And it is.

This month, a Progress Energy crew cut down more than 35 trees — including several large oaks — along a protected stretch of Griffin Road southeast of Brooksville.

Imagine a vaulted ceiling in an old church with one side peeled away. Or, as Griffin resident Leslie Phillips said: "It looks like a tornado blew down our street.''

This clearing can actually be traced back to two tropical storms that hit Hernando in 2004.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative has long served several Hernando neighborhoods that, according to the two companies' boundary agreement, were in Progress Energy's territory.

The confusion and potential danger of this arrangement became obvious after the 2004 storms, when both companies decided to "true up the boundaries,'' said David Lambert, a Withlacoochee spokesman.

That required Progress Energy to run lines down Griffin Road and also Powell Road, a nonprotected street where the company has also cleared away a swath of trees.

The company did this with approval of the county and its canopy road ordinance, said Public Works Director Charles Mixson.

This 20-year-old law identifies nine canopy roads, including the northern 1.6 miles of Griffin and, most famously, Fort Dade Avenue west of Cobb Road.

It requires County Commission approval for clearing along these roads, except when "required for the establishment or continuation of the service provided by & utilities.''

Of course we need electricity. Losing it for a couple of weeks after those 2004 storms made me realize it is just slightly less essential to life and family happiness than is oxygen.

And maybe there is no choice but to cut down the trees on Griffin.

One of Phillips' suggestions — burying utility lines along canopy roads — would be far more expensive than clearing and, because of root damage, probably just as destructive, said Florida Progress spokesman C.J. Drake.

But wouldn't it be better if the law mandated that this be hashed out in public, by our elected commissioners? Couldn't they, and shouldn't they, weigh the value of "trueing up boundaries'' against the preservation of a canopy road, and explore whether they have the authority to intervene?

I think so, because canopy roads are important, and the commission would not have passed the law in the first place unless a lot of other people felt the same way.

These are oases of beauty — a few stretches that give a slight lift to everyone who drives on them, nice counterpoints to many other roads that, well, aren't quite so attractive.

Which is what we now have on Griffin, in the form of a 300-yard-long line of stumps.

"It seems pretty drastic, doesn't it, for three utility poles?'' Phillips asked.

Yep.

The county designates all or part of the following as canopy roads:

• Fort Dade Avenue

• Old Trilby Road

• Snow Memorial Highway

• County Road 550

• Jasmine Drive

• Griffin Road

• Neff Lake Road

• Baseball Pond Road

• Mountain Lake Road

By Mike Wright

The Citrus County Tourism Development Council agreed Thursday morning to contribute $100,000 toward purchase of Three Sisters Springs.

The donation is contingent on the city of Crystal River receiving a Florida Communities Trust grant of up to $6.6 million to buy the property.

County officials called the potential purchase vital in not only protecting manatees, but also giv-ing visitors an opportunity to view them.

"This is a real foundation of eco-tourism," Commissioner Gary Bartell, who chairs the TDC, said.

The effort to protect Three Sisters Springs from development is gaining steam.

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite announced this week she is seeking $5.6 million in federal funds toward purchase of the property.

And the Southwest Florida Water Management District also is considering getting in on the pur-chase so that it could use some of the property for stormwater runoff from nearby shopping center parking lots.

Crystal River is the lead agency in seeking the state grant. City Manager Andy Houston said TDC money could help the city secure points needed to place the project at the highest priority.

While most TDC money is spent on promoting Citrus County to overnight visitors, state law allows the county to buy land for a nature center.

Houston said he spoke with tourism manager Mary Craven about the idea of the county being in-volved in the management plan.

Manatees are the No. 1 tourism draw to Citrus County. Other than the Homosassa Springs Wild-life State Park, few areas exist to view manatees other than the up-close interaction that snorkeling and diving bring.

"My office interacts often with people who want to see manatees but not necessarily get in the wa-ter with them," Craven said. "That's one big reason why the Homosassa Springs Park gets 300,000 visi-tors a year."

The city is teaming with numerous conservation groups to create a management plan prior to the state grant application deadline in May.

City council members will host a town hall meeting Monday night to get public input for that plan.

IF YOU GO

What: Crystal River City Council town hall meeting.

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: City Hall on U.S. 19.

Why: Develop management plan for the Three Sisters Springs property

Neglected Toxic Waste Plume Worries Neighborhood
Mark Douglas

News Channel 8

Published: March 27, 2008

Updated: 10:04 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Homeowner Jim Abel spruced up his yard last May with new sod, landscaping, sprinklers and a well for irrigation.



"With the water shortage, I had a lot of freedom with the well," he said.

Abel had no inkling the industrial drill rigs that started appearing in the street in front of his 12th Avenue home might foreshadow a problem with his irrigation well.

A toxic plume of industrial waste discovered by workers building the Pinellas Trail 17 years ago is now coursing through groundwater under Abel's Azalea neighborhood, beneath parks, playgrounds and hundreds of homes, according to samples drawn from test wells.

Abel, like many people who live there, didn't have a clue about the chemical cocktail creeping through the water table.

There are hundreds of private irrigation wells within the area of possible contamination. However, neither the state Department of Environmental Protection nor Raytheon Network Centric Systems has alerted homeowners to the south, even though they have known for three years that the plume is migrating toward that neighborhood.

Raytheon inherited the pollution problem from E-Systems, the defense plant's former owner. Company officials say newsletters were sent out in 1999 detailing the contamination problem at the company's 72nd Street plant site. They offer no evidence, however, of where the newsletters went or of notifying homeowners within the past three years, when environmental technicians hired by the company found the plume had spread.

The pollutants include such industrial chemicals as 1,4-dioxane, TCE and vinyl chloride, all considered hazardous to humans. Under certain circumstances, exposure to some of the chemicals could be fatal.

The company said there is no danger. The DEP said there is no risk to people because no one drinks the groundwater.

"From a human health standpoint you couldn't have a better scenario," said DEP spokeswoman Pamela Vazquez.

Determining The Risks

Vazquez said her agency established in the early 1990s that no one was drinking the contaminated groundwater and that the agency hasn't had reason for concern since signing a consent order in 1995 making E-Systems deal with the problem.

Drinking the water, however, is not the only danger, according to one local groundwater expert.

"It sounds like in that particular neighborhood a lot of people have private irrigation wells where they draw irrigation water from their own property, which means there probably is an exposure route for those people," said Jeffrey Cunningham, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida who specializes in the cleanup of contaminated soil and water.

Cunningham, at the request of a reporter, reviewed test results gleaned from thousands of documents generated as part of the ongoing DEP pollution case.

"Based on the numbers I'm looking at in these test results, if I had an irrigation well that was drawing the same water as being measured here, I'd be pretty concerned," Cunningham said.

He said most of the risk stems from inhaling chemicals that could vaporize into the air during irrigation.

There is also some danger if people have physical contact with the contaminated water, he said.

A test conducted for this story to determine the level of dioxane in Abel's well came up negative for the chemical.

That gave Abel little comfort, however, now that he knows the test well on the city street next to his home has yielded samples of dioxane at 30 times the level that is considered safe.

He wanted to know whether the water from his 20-foot-deep irrigation well is safe.

"Do I continue to water my yard and take the risk of something happening or just let the yard die away and deal with it?" Abel said.

News Channel 8 hired a private firm, Environmental Conservation Laboratories of Orlando, to test samples from Abel's well water specifically for dioxane. The company also tested samples taken from two other private wells in Abel's neighborhood.

None of the three well water samples revealed detectable levels of the chemical, but Cunningham said no one should interpret those samples as a clean bill of health for the neighborhood, given Raytheon's own test well results.

"If that plume is there, it certainly appears to me there's a significant hazard."

Hundreds of Irrigation Wells

The DEP said that in the 16 years since its pollution investigation began, Raytheon has sampled water from just one private irrigation well. That well also came up clean, but there are hundreds more that have not been tested.

Mapping experts with the Southwest Florida Water Management District said the agency has issued permits for an estimated 204 private irrigation wells within a half-mile radius of Raytheon and about 691 within one mile.

Weeks ago, Vazquez said that DEP did not know the number or location of private wells.

She later said DEP had the private well data a year ago, but there is no indication that anyone in that agency has used it for any purpose.

Hydrogeologist Sandy Nettles, of N.S. Nettles and Associates of Palm Harbor, said "if you have 700 wells available, you should go canvass them."

Cunningham also said the state or Raytheon should be testing the private wells.

"If people in that neighborhood have irrigation wells that they use to water their lawns, they probably want to know whether or not their particular wells have been impacted by the chemicals that are being found in the groundwater," Cunningham said.

The DEP's Vazquez said that Raytheon has an obligation to test every private well with a quarter mile of its toxic plume.

That would mean Raytheon has to test the wells between now and May 31, when the DEP said a final evaluation and cleanup proposal comes due.

Ryan Robinette, who lives near Jim Abel, said he wants someone to test his water right away. Robinette worries about his Labrador retriever, Sampson. "My dog drinks my well water so that concerns me. My dog is like my kid, practically."

Sue Olsen lives on nearby Robinson Drive and shares another concern voiced by her Azalea neighbors Robinette and Abel.

They all want to know why the state has kept them in the dark.

"I'd have liked to known when I bought my house," Olsen said, "and I'd like to know now what they're doing to correct the problem."

St. Petersburg Councilman Herb Polson said Raytheon officials contacted him last week when they learned that this story was about to become public. They told him then that the plume was moving into the Azalea neighborhood. Polson said he advised the Raytheon representatives that they should immediately notify area neighborhood associations.

"I thought there was a responsibility there," Polson said.

The chemicals probably leaked from a waste tank at the defense plant when E-Systems owned the property.

The company produced electronic components for the defense and space industry, and the chemicals now showing up in groundwater are products or byproducts of the work.

Toxic Stew

The chemical that DEP records show has moved the farthest at concentrations of up to 30 to 60 times the safe level is 1,4-dioxane.

"Exposure to very high levels of dioxane can result in liver and kidney damage and death," according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

Its documents say people who inhale low levels of dioxane vapors for short periods report eye and nose irritation. The agency advises children not to play in mud or water contaminated with the chemical.

Vinyl chloride, which is showing up at 1,200 times the safe level in groundwater under the ball field at Azalea Park, is a known carcinogen, according to the registry. The health effects of exposure to vinyl chloride range from dizziness to death, and it "might affect growth and development" of children.

Other industrial chemicals such as TCE, chloromethane, and 1,1-dichlorethene are also showing up in unhealthy levels in test wells on or around the Raytheon property.

Cunningham said dioxane often is the first chemical to show up as groundwater pollution spreads, but he doubts it will be the last in this case.

"If dioxane is there now, the other chemicals are probably on their way."

And some of those, he suggests, are even more troubling.

"Vinyl chloride is known to be a very potent carcinogen, and if and when those chemicals start showing up, then we've really got a pretty serious health risk."

No Health Risk?

Raytheon public relations senior manager George Rhynedance initially declined to answer questions about the health risks associated with the plume but later released a statement that, among other things, said "a risk assessment completed in 2005 by a firm specializing in such work concluded that cumulative human health risk estimates are well below the levels of concern used by" state and federal environmental agencies.

Rhynedance would not share a copy of that assessment, discuss its scope or identify the company that produced it. He said Raytheon did not give a copy to the DEP and "that risk assessment is currently being updated."

DEP'S Vazquez said her agency also thinks no one in the Azalea neighborhood is in danger.

When pressed for the basis of that opinion, Vazquez asked and answered a series of her own questions: "Are folks out there safe? Absolutely. Are they drinking safe water? Absolutely. Do we expect someone to understand why it takes 15 years to this point? No, because they don't have the expertise."

Cunningham, who earned his doctorate in environmental and civil engineering from Stanford University, said he can't figure out why the DEP didn't force the companies to clean up the pollution before the plume oozed into the ground under the neighborhood.

Vazquez conceded that if left unchecked, the plume eventually could make its way into the seagrass, oyster beds and marine life of Boca Ciega Bay.

She said she is aware of no studies that predict the environmental effects if that were to happen.

The leading edge of waste has traveled half the distance from the Raytheon property in that direction during the past three years.

Cunningham said something needs to be done soon.

"It looks like probably the water's moving toward the bay, in which case it's only a matter of time before that contamination reaches the bay unless some sort of corrective action is taken to prevent the chemicals from getting there."

Rhynedance said Raytheon hopes to finish assessing the problem soon and initiate a cleanup sometime in 2009.

Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603 or mdouglas@wfla.com

Study group meets on Rainbow Springs protection

Government officials, nonprofit groups discuss how to preserve springs

COMMENTARY TAKING NAMES
Elected officials must exit ethical fantasyland
Scott Maxwell

TAKING NAMES

March 26, 2008

State Sen. Gary Siplin wants to give lobbyists the right to shower lawmakers and public employees with free meals, trips and gifts.

Orange County commissioners are dragging their feet enacting ethical and campaign-reform measures suggested by their own task force.

And on Tuesday,Seminole County commissioners passed a watered-down package of reforms that will continue to allow these elected officials to get paid by special interests to lobby other elected officials.

So here's a philosophical question: What in tarnation is wrong with you people?

I mean, seriously. It's like normal, well-meaning individuals go through some sort of bizarre transformation as soon as they get elected to public office. Suddenly, they start acting as though their districts cover unincorporated patches of fantasyland -- where it's OK to have no shame about taking gifts and even cash directly from special interests.

Seminole County is just the latest.

On Tuesday, commissioners passed new rules that they claimed were in response to residents voting for stronger ethics policies in 2006.

But if residents were asking for a life preserver, commissioners threw them a foam peanut.

The new ordinance does nothing to ban gifts, nothing to create an ethics board and nothing to beef up disclosure surrounding those who regularly lobby commissioners.

What it does prohibit is county commissioners from getting paid to lobby other officials inSeminole County -- which is good. But it stops short of prohibiting them from getting paid to lobby fellow politicos outside of Seminole -- which is precisely what has happened.

Two years ago, the Sentinel revealed that Commissioner Brenda Carey was also on the payroll of developer Daryl Carter -- and lobbied Volusia officials on his behalf. Under Seminole's "reform," that's still OK. (Carter, you may recall, is the fellow with whomOrange County Mayor Rich Crotty invested $100,000 and doubled his investment, breaking no laws, according to state officials.)

"It's hard to believe it took them a whole year to come up with something so weak," said former Seminole Commissioner Grant Maloy, who has pushed for stronger reforms. "The voters spoke very clearly on this."

Similar stories can be told throughout Florida.

While there are a few places -- including Duval County, Sarasota and even Winter Park -- that have taken strong actions, such as imposing strict campaign-donation rules and creating ethics boards and offices, many more have not.

The common excuse from politicians is that they don't hear pleas for reform as they go about their daily lives. But if they are relying only on chatter from the cocktail circuit, they are ignoring clarion calls.

The calls can be found in polls by the chamber of commerce in Central Florida, where an Orlando councilman was hauled off in handcuffs, and by media outlets in New York, where the governor recently resigned.

And it's not just the arrests. People are simply sick of seeing politicians parlay their positions into paydays -- legal or not.

So before you politicians downplay calls for reform, how about running the idea by some people other than your golfing foursome or insiders who thrive under the status quo?

I submit that if you head to a community meeting and talk about how you think it's perfectly acceptable to accept a free trip, work on the payroll of a local developer or help campaign donors hide their identities, you'll receive quite a wake-up call.


Scott Maxwell can be reached at 407-420-6141 or smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com.

Ethics questions raised about two city votes to allow Walgreens

ALACHUA -- The validity of two votes related to the approval of a Walgreens development in Alachua are being questioned due to possible conflicts of interest.

State rules prohibit any public official from voting on matters in which they, their relative or their business partner could benefit financially.

But the brother and the son-in-law of one of the property owners who recently sold her land to Walgreens voted on matters related to their relative's property.

Walgreens is planning to build a store across the street from the CVS in Alachua. Three different sets of property owners own the land that Walgreens plans to build on.

One of those is Marion Lewis Nieland, whose brother, James Lewis, sits on the City Commission and whose son-in-law, Rodger Mallard, sits on the Planning and Zoning Board.

Mallard and his wife also are joint signers with Nieland on a mortgage. The land that Nieland put up for collateral for that mortgage is some of the land that Walgreens plans to build on.

Both the Commission and the Planning and Zoning Board had to vote to approve several changes before the Walgreens could be given the OK to build.

At a Nov. 15, 2007 Planning and Zoning meeting, a vote was held to approve the site plan -- the blueprint for how a development will use land -- for Walgreens.

Only three of the five Planning and Zoning Board members were present -- Mallard being one the members present -- meaning the vote would have to be unanimous to pass.

The site plan was approved 3-0.

But Alachua resident James Stephens is asking the city why Mallard, son-in-law and joint mortgage partner of Nieland, was allowed to vote.

"It is my understanding that public officials are supposed to abstain from votes that directly benefit them financially, or that they have a financial interest in," Stephens states in a letter to the Alachua Planning and Zoning department. "Obviously the site plan approval significantly increased the marketable value of the land in this site for the applicant property owners."

Stephens references public documents that show a $280,000 mortgage that Nieland signed with Mallard and his wife in 2006. The property that Nieland used for collateral was the property that Walgreens was to build on.

Stephens goes on to ask the city to explain how Mallard's vote was not a violation of state rules. He also questions what this means for the vote.

If Mallard had abstained, the vote could not have taken place, as three board members are needed for a vote to take place.

"No vote should have been taken at the Nov. 15, 2007 meeting," Stephens states in his letter to the city. "Why isn't the Walgreens site plan an invalidly approved plan?"

But Robert Rush, attorney for the city, said that no violation took place.

Rush said that after researching the issues, he found that Mallard disclosed his ties to Nieland to the city.

And the ties were such that he had no financial incentives to vote one way or another, Rush said.

"I don't think this is an issue at all," Rush said.

Rush said that Mallard's joint mortgage with Nieland and the fact that the land in question was owned by a relative was not an issue during a site plan approval, an approval he said has no bearing on the financial value of a piece of property.

At a previous Planning and Zoning meeting, when the land in question was rezoned, Mallard did in fact refrain from voting, Rush said.

The difference between a site plan change and a zoning change is that a zoning change affects the value of a piece of land and a site plan does not, Rush said.

But Stephens disagrees.

"Mallard's vote tripled the value of land owned by his mother-in-law," Stephens said. "The same land also secures the mortgage on Mallard's house, a personal gain to Mallard."

Stephens is currently involved in a lawsuit with Nieland concerning who owns a part of a piece of the property that Walgreens plans to build on.

Public records also show that at a Sept. 10, 2007 City Commission meeting, James Lewis voted in favor of closing a city road and giving the property to the adjacent landowners, one of which was his sister, Nieland.

The road runs down the center of the proposed Walgreens property and must be sold to Walgreens in order for the development to build the store.

As of press time Wednesday afternoon, Rush said he was unfamiliar with the vote that Lewis made.

Citrus Panel OKs Delay On Tax Decision Revision of levy on boxes of fruit will wait for another week. By Kevin Bouffard THE LEDGER  Write an email to Kevin Bouffard Kevin Bouffard