County, Developers Shouldn't Overlook Established Property Rights
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 20, 2008
In the overall scheme of the daily goings-on in Pasco County, it may not seem like a big deal that members of a Wesley Chapel church are protesting a movie theater's request to serve alcohol. Some may even argue the opposition is to be expected.
But there's more at stake than whether a business is allowed to serve adult beverages. It's the property rights of an established group - in this case a church. Too often, those rights are trumped by newcomers - in this case a movie theater.
Look at it this way: Faith Baptist Church was there first - a fact that deserves more respect. And it is very established. Residents worship there, and many of their children attend school there.
On the other hand, Cobb Theatres' complex is under construction.
The problem is that the church is 827 feet from the 16-screen project. Pasco's zoning rules rightly protect churches in this predicament, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages within 1,000 feet of places of worship.
Here's another problem: County commissioners have the authority to grant exemptions. The board has favored the adult beverage industry enough in recent years - allowing alcohol to be sold starting at 11 a.m. on Sundays, up from 1 p.m., four years ago and granting an exemption similar to the one Cobb wants that allowed a liquor store near a Land O' Lakes church in 2005.
Cobb needs to be a good neighbor and do the right thing by dropping its request to serve alcohol. The company is being rude, frankly, by even pursuing the request because of the complex's proximity to the church and school.
Although the mall has changed the area's landscape, the request is still akin to a new neighbor moving in and altering the lifestyle of the neighborhood. Or a big-box store or major subdivision being allowed too close to a rural neighborhood whose residents shouldn't have to put up with the noise, traffic issues or change in lifestyle.
Faith Baptist will have enough trouble dealing with traffic when the mall is built out. It's absurd to think the church wouldn't be affected by the behavior of patrons who have had one too many.
If alcohol sales are so important to the theater's future operations, Cobb officials and developers should have done better math and found a more suitable location on the site of the mall - more than 1,000 feet away from the church. A rule is a rule. The buffer needs to be respected.
This issue isn't about whether you're a teetotaler or would like to enjoy an alcoholic beverage at a movie. It's about whether county rules should be bent for a business under construction, against the wishes of members and leaders of a neighboring property that already exists.
And the answer is no. It would be an intrusion, and it's not essential for the new business' success.
The existing property rights of residents, churches and others deserve to be protected when new neighbors build. Giving newcomers unnecessary breaks from reasonable rules only leads to more distrust of government because those who were there first often feel they're second-fiddle. County commissioners need to be mindful of that, deny Cobb's request and stand by existing regulations.
UCF scientists study cattle ranching's role in wetlands
Amy C. Rippel
Special To The Sentinel
April 20, 2008
Three University of Central Florida scientists have set out on an ambitious project -- help determine how best to preserve the state's wetlands and the cattle that thrive there.
UCF professors John Fauth, David Jenkins and Pedro Quintana-Ascencio have spent the past two years working with the MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center in Lake Placid. They've delved into one of the largest studies ever done on wetlands, a project likely to take several more years to complete.
Jenkins said the study is valuable to Florida because it looks into two important aspects: cattle ranching and wetlands.
"Before I came to UCF in 2003, I had no idea that Florida was so important to the cattle industry nationwide. It is, and I think that fact is probably not common knowledge among Florida's citizenry," he said.
"I think Florida's cattle ranches are undervalued for their place in the history, economy and culture of Florida, and that Florida needs to consider them as more than acreage that can be turned into subdivisions," he said.
Wetlands are vital to the state's cattle ranches, the scientists said. They are excited about the effect of this project because it could help ranchers get more from their land.
The study is taking place at the research center -- a 10,500-acre working cattle ranch in Highlands County that is also home to many species, including wood storks, bald eagles and black bears. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Managed Ecosystems Program is paying for the study.
The UCF professors teach a variety of topics, including biology and ecology. They travel to the research center several times a year to study the land.
"We work very hard and long hours when we're there, but it's very peaceful -- beautiful skies and nice and cool at night," Fauth said.
Jenkins said they are testing how prescribed burns, fertilizers and cattle grazing affect the wetlands.
"Most wetland scientists can guess well what should happen with any one of those, but the simultaneous and interactive effects are not clear," he said. "We're studying 40 wetlands, akin to an experiment in a lab with 40 test tubes or a greenhouse using 40 pots.
"That's no big deal in a test-tube rack or a greenhouse. But it is another scale altogether to pull this off in 40 different ecosystems."
Jenkins said, in the end, the study could help the public -- including ranchers -- understand and value the wetlands.
"Florida has already lost more wetland acreage than any other state, and we stand to lose more as we change land use," he said.
"I think this study is important to Florida's wetlands because we will help figure out what makes them tick and thus how to better manage the wetlands we can keep."
See related story on page J1.
Plan to tap St. Johns River alarms eco-activists; water district downplays fears
Kevin Spear
Sentinel Staff Writer
April 17, 2008
A national environmental group today named the St. Johns River one of the 10 most-endangered rivers in America because of Central Florida's growing thirst for drinking water.
Though some take exception to the designation, the American Rivers organization says it is alarmed over plans to take millions of gallons of water from the scenic river that meanders 310 miles past Orlando north through Jacksonville.
Central Florida wants the water to serve its growing population, but Jacksonville-area officials and environmentalists have filed legal action to stop that from happening.
Rebecca Wodder, the group's president in Washington, said the "backward approach to just suck more water out of the river" ultimately will destroy the St. Johns while doing little to effectively meet the region's thirst.
"There's plenty of water now if we just use it wisely," said Wodder, who called on residents, water authorities and state officials to spare the St. Johns River through more aggressive conservation.
Kirby Green, director of the St. Johns Water Management District, which oversees the river, said improved water efficiency can spare the river temporarily.
By one district estimate, a 40 percent cut in water use by Central Florida residents will delay having to tap the St. Johns River for nearly 15 years.
But Green said that would be possible only with a profound change in attitudes.
For that reason, he welcomed additional attention brought to the St. Johns by the American Rivers group.
"This debate has been the best thing in the world," Green said. "It's elevated the issue of conservation well beyond what we've done before."
'I don't think it's a report'
At the same time, Green bristled at the American Rivers charge that taking a limited amount of water from the St. Johns would "destroy" the river.
He said his agency has gone to great lengths to study and protect the St. Johns, but the environmental group brought little fact or science in designating the river as endangered.
"I don't think it's a report," Green said. "It's a position paper. It expresses the views of its writers."
The American Rivers organization acknowledged that its "endangered" label is based partly on science and partly on an attempt to gauge political, social and economic pressures that could impact a waterway.
The group has put out an annual list since 1986 and during that time has labeled nearly 250 of the nation's rivers and waterways as endangered. Among them were the Florida Everglades and the Peace and Caloosahatchee rivers.
Most years, 10 rivers are chosen from nominations by other environmental groups. Nearly 60 were submitted this year.
In the case of the St. Johns, water managers and a state administrative-law judge will decide in coming months whether Seminole County should be granted a permit to pump 5.5 million gallons daily from the river.
That's a fraction of overall flow. But it's seen as potentially opening the door for proposals to pump as much as a quarter-billion gallons daily from the St. Johns and a tributary.
River's advocate worries
What happens then to the river's salt content, pollution levels and overall health worries the St. Johns Riverkeeper, a group in Jacksonville that nominated the river for the endangered list.
"For the next several days, the plight of the St. Johns is going to be discussed on a national stage and in every major newspaper in the country," said group leader Neil Armingeon. "We don't know whether to celebrate or cry."
The fate of the St. Johns River already has been made central to legal warfare between Central Florida and the Jacksonville area, which during the past year has become much more outspoken in defending the river.
Many of the rivers named by American Rivers as endangered face a more narrowly defined adversary, such as a road, factory or logging operation.
But for the St. Johns, the potential culprits are people who don't yet live in Central Florida.
To make room for them, authorities say new sources of water must be tapped. The traditional source -- the underground Floridan Aquifer -- is being squeezed for all the water it can provide without harming springs and lakes.
Water-saving proposals
District officials have been criticized in the past for not pushing harder to carry out more-stringent conservation requirements.
The most recent figures available show Orange County in 2005 using an average of 173 gallons per person per day. That's far more than the average of 147 gallons per capita in all of the St. Johns River Water Management District.
Among restrictions now in place is a rule that district residents can't irrigate their lawns more than twice a week and not during the middle of the day.
But the district proposed recently to limit lawn watering to once a week during cooler months, possibly November through March.
The district's staff also proposed an end to allowing unlimited use of treated sewage and storm water for lawn irrigation.
Those measures will undergo public review this year and not take effect until early next year if adopted.
Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062.
Loggerhead Nests Drop By 4,600 In State
By STEVE KORNACKI
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 19, 2008
Updated: 11:44 pm
Spotting a loggerhead sea turtle waddling back to the surf, or even discovering a flipper-mark trail to the water or a caged nest of eggs, is among the special joys of Florida beachgoers.
But such sightings are becoming less and less frequent.
Florida accounts for 90 percent of the nation's loggerhead nests, which have dwindled by half since 1998. The most recent count, according to figures just released, shows the state down another 4,692 nests. Just 45,084 were counted last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says.
"There is not a simple answer to this," says Anne Meylan, who coordinates the statewide nesting beach survey program. "That green turtles and leatherbacks are doing so well on these same beaches says that something is going wrong specifically for the loggerheads."
Disease, oil spills, red tide and boat collisions kill many sea turtles, she says. Beach development also takes a toll on all wildlife. But the loggerheads' drop-off - they're on the U.S. threatened species list - can be blamed in large part on shrimp boat nets and long-line fishing hooks. Unlike some sea turtles, loggerheads go after shrimp and other hard-shelled invertebrates, which puts them in particularly dangerous situations.
"There has only been a rule for a few years that shrimp fisheries must use nets with turtle excluder devices," Meylan says.
"Loggerheads take up to 30 years to begin reproducing, but live to between 50 and 100. So, it will be decades before we begin to see a positive impact on their numbers because of the turtle excluder devices, called TEDs, that allow them to escape."
David Godfrey, executive director of the nonprofit agency Caribbean Conservation Corp., blames long-line fishing for most of the loggerhead losses.
"They began fishing with massive vessels with miles of baited hooks about 20 years ago," he says. "The first loggerheads lost from being snagged by those hooks should be maturing and nesting on our beaches right now, but they are not.
"The reason leatherbacks and green turtles are still thriving with nests increasing is because leatherbacks feed on jellyfish almost exclusively and green turtles eat seagrass and algae."
Those species are not as prone to go where the nets and hooks are.
Pinellas County is not terribly significant in regard to the future of loggerheads, according to Meylan. Last year, Brevard County had the most nests - 14,829, compared with Pinellas' 78. Hillsborough County had 21 both years.
"Pinellas is not one of the better counties in addressing the effects of lighting," Meylan says. "Artificial light distracts hatchlings and disorients adults. They wander into roads and get hit by trucks and cars. The light on the horizon is what attracts them, but they get fooled by streetlights and car lights."
The TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach made a big effort to help. "They swapped out every ocean-facing light for one with a different wave length that doesn't distract turtles. They shielded other lights and shut off spotlights during nesting season."
Nesting begins in April, peaks in June and July, and ends in September, with 90 percent of nests on the Atlantic side of the state.
On the Gulf Coast, Sarasota County was the top nesting site with 1,592, down from 1,960 the year before.
"Loggerheads are like the canary in the coal mine," Godfrey says. "It tells us a lot about the health of the marine ecosystem if they are declining. The nutrients they bring ashore are important to healthy sand dunes with prospering sea oats and sea grapes."
Godfrey's Gainesville-based organization is lobbying the fishing industry to switch from j-hooks to circle hooks because they will not snag loggerheads.
"We are losing the loggerheads everywhere in our state, and they are an important part of the marine ecosystem," Meylan said.
"Some beaches among the 196 we survey had no nests for the first time. Locals and tourists miss seeing them. People just love them."
BY THE NUMBERS
4,692
Decline in number of loggerhead nests in Florida, 2006 to 2007
7,782
Increase in number of green turtle nests in Florida, 2006 to 2007
902
Increase in number of leatherback nests in Florida, 2006 to 2007
14,829
Loggerhead nests in Brevard County in 2007 (the most in Florida)
78
Loggerhead nests in Pinellas County in 2007
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Environmentalists See Little Benefit in Mining Research, but Center’s Directors Say It Helps Environment
By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer
The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research conducts too much research to support the phosphate mining industry and not enough to protect the environment, according to several environmental advocates.
But the institute’s research directors argue that its research to support the industry also helps the environment, because it leads to more efficient mining practices. And that conserves resources such as energy, water and land, said Paul Clifford, executive director of the institute.
“As a sidelight, when an industry operates more efficiently, it usually becomes a better steward,” added Steven Richardson, research director for reclamation studies at the institute.
Located in Bartow, the institute was established by the Legislature in 1978 to provide scientific information about both the environmental and health effects of phosphate mining and improvements in mining efficiency.
Specifically, Chapter 378.101 of Florida Statutes empowers FIPR to sponsor research on radiation, water consumption and “other environmental effects of phosphate mining and reclamation as may from time to time be deemed reasonably necessary by the institute for the health, safety and welfare of the citizens.”
The institute gets around $3 million to $4 million per year in state revenues derived from a portion of the state’s severance tax on phosphate mining. That would amount to some $100 million over the past 30 years.
At least one environmental advocate, Glenn Compton, chairman of the organization Manasota-88, has recently called for the Legislature to abolish the organization. Compton has also requested the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, an arm of the Legislature, investigate to determine whether FIPR has met its legislative mandate.
OPPAGA has declined the request.
Compton argues that FIPR has spent millions of dollars studying how to make use of its chief waste product, phosphogypsum, despite the fact its use would conflict with a standard for radiation set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Yet, FIPR has never supported a comprehensive areawide study on the cumulative impacts of mining, something the public has long requested, Compton said.
“They’re missing one of their biggest legislative intents, which is to evaluate what phosphate mining is doing overall to the state of Florida,” he said.
He suggests FIPR’s funding be diverted to state agencies that regulate mining and land conservation acquisition projects in the Central Florida phosphate mining area.
A review of dozens of scientific reports published by the institute over the past three decades shows it has conducted numerous studies on how to improve the recovery of phosphate from the ore, find uses for such waste products as clay slimes and phosphogypsum, and improve the way mined-out landscapes are rehabilitated.
FIPR has also conducted about a half-dozen studies to determine whether elevated levels of radioactivity commonly found on reclaimed mine sites pose a risk to humans, fish, birds, turtles, alligators and armadillos.
Those studies have concluded, in general, that while some of the animals were found to have higher-than-normal levels of radioactivity, the levels were so low they posed no health concern.
Paul Clifford, FIPR executive director, pointed out that urban development and agriculture also cause impacts to the environment.
“Those uses of the land are permanent,” he argued. “Phosphate mines are temporary.”
When told of that comment, Marion Ryan of Bartow laughed heartily.
There’s nothing temporary about the landscape changes wrought by mining, she said.
As the Bone Valley issues chairwoman for the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club, Ryan has provided input on phosphate mining issues over the past 20 years, including as a former member of FIPR’s own policy and education committee.
She said she feels FIPR is biased and has failed to adequately research significant impacts caused by mining. She cited, as an example, “the destruction and fragmentation of wildlife habitat and the permanent alteration of natural (wildlife) communities.”
Ryan acknowledged that phosphate mining companies have learned to adequately create herbaceous wetlands on reclaimed mine sites. But the industry has been less successful creating scrub and sandhill habitats.
“Obviously, since the phosphate industry has not proven they can restore some of our most imperiled ecosystems, I think that’s where the main focus of the research needs to be,” she said.
FIPR’s educational committee helped organize the institute’s annual conferences, which served to advise school teachers how to incorporate phosphate mining into their lesson plans.
“I ended up resigning . . . because I thought they were doing way too much whitewashing for the industry with the teachers in the educational workshops,” she said.
The phosphogypsumpileup
One series of studies conducted by FIPR — to find a use for the slightly radioactive waste phosphogypsum — would provide an alternative to the excavation of more pits for aggregates used in road base, concrete and asphalt.
Phosphogypsum is the chemical leftover after the concentrated phosphate ore is treated with sulfuric acid to create phosphoric acid, the main ingredient in large-scale fertilizer formulas.
In the early days of mining, phosphate companies around the world merely dumped phosphogypsum into rivers or the oceans. That posed little problem because the chemical dissolves in water, wrote Mike Lloyd, FIPR research director, in a 1980s report.
But such disposal methods were not options in Central Florida in recent history. So, area companies have been piling up the material in gigantic “stacks” at least since the 1960s.
It’s been piling up at the rate of 30 million tons per year ever since. The stacks now store nearly 1 billion tons, according to FIPR.
The stacks pose an environmental liability because they contain ponds of acidic waste water that have contaminated streams and estuaries in spills and emergency discharges.
The institute has experimented with using phosphogypsum as a material in road base, asphalt, glass and concrete and as an agricultural soil supplement.
The studies included building two roads with phosphogypsum bases in Polk and Columbia counties.
Those experiments proved that the increase in radioactivity is so small compared to natural background levels it would have no effect on human health, said Clifford.
Ironically, one FIPR-sponsored study cited the impacts of mining to demonstrate that using phosphogypsum would be better for the environment than providing road base from “borrow pits,” which are excavations for shell, sand or dirt.
The study, conducted in 2000 by Patricia Dooris of the University of South Florida, concluded that the excavation of 114 acres of pits for a 12-mile road in Hillsborough County drained several wetlands offsite and caused the relocation of 147 species of animals.
The study did not explore whether similar impacts could be expected on 300,000 acres of phosphate mining in Central Florida.
Yet, the EPA, which has prohibited the use of phosphogypsum, wouldn’t budge.
“The EPA’s policy is based on mathematical speculation,” Clifford explained. “They made the assumption that the road (built on phosphogypsum) would be abandoned and people would build a house on it, and live in the house for 70 years, and stay in the house most of the day.
“In that case, the use of phosphogypsum would slightly exceed the criteria for acceptable levels of radiation exposure.”
Still, the phosphogypsum research serves “a pretty good environmental purpose — the reuse of a material that is now considered a waste,” said Clifford.
Next: Making mining efficient, the clay quagmire, and what about fuel oil?
Greg Martin is a staff writer for the Charlotte Sun.
Tricky pick: Our
'greenest'
president was .
. .
Mike
Thomas
COMMENTARY
April 20,
2008
In honor
of Earth Day, I
devote this
column to
America's
greatest
environmentalist.
His legacy was
global, but
Florida
benefited in
particular.
He saved the
Ocklawaha River
and St. Johns
River from
destruction.
Without him,
there would not
be much left of
the Everglades
worth saving.
Creatures in his
debt include
panthers,
manatees,
eagles,
pelicans,
dolphins and
turtles. But the
list also
includes
elephants,
tigers, seals
and even the
Guatemalan
beaded lizard.
Yet this man
lies buried in
shame, the good
he did interred
with his bones.
No more. Ladies
and gentlemen, I
give you the
true green giant
of American
presidents:
Richard Nixon.
For the many
Nixon haters out
there, this is a
most
inconvenient
truth.
But long before
there was Al
Gore, there was
Tricky Dick.
If Al had
Nixon's guts, he
would have
stolen the 2000
election right
back from George
Bush.
And, by God,
every country in
the world would
have signed the
Kyoto treaty or
faced the
business end of
a B-52.
To get things
done, sometimes
you just have to
be a little bit
scary.
His
accomplishments
include the
Clean Air Act,
the Clean Water
Act and the
Marine Mammal
Protection Act.
He started the
Council on
Environmental
Quality and the
Environmental
Protection
Agency.
Nixon rewrote
the federal
government's
role in
protecting
natural
resources. He
created the
regulatory
framework now in
place, the one
that subsequent
Republican
presidents have
tried so hard to
dismantle.
His
administration
organized the
first worldwide
effort to crack
down on
international
trade in
endangered
species. That
effort now
includes 172
nations and
protects 30,000
species, ranging
from orchids to
whales.
Under Nixon, DDT
was banned and
eagles
flourished.
Under Nixon, the
wholesale
poisoning of
coyotes and
other predators
by Western
ranchers was
stopped.
When Nixon took
office, the U.S.
Army Corps of
Engineers was
busy carving the
Cross Florida
Barge Canal
through the
middle of the
state. Miles of
the Ocklawaha
River had been
destroyed,
drowned under
what is now
known as the
Rodman
Reservoir. Nixon
stopped work in
1971, saving
what was left of
the Ocklawaha
and calling it
"a uniquely
beautiful,
semitropical
stream, one of a
very few of its
kind in the
United States."
Few people
remember that
the corps once
planned to
lobotomize the
headwaters of
the St. Johns
River with the
same kind of
massive drainage
canal it dug
through the
Kissimmee River.
But Nixon signed
a law requiring
environmental
studies for such
projects. It
stopped the
bulldozers in
their tracks.
Meanwhile, down
in the
Everglades, his
administration
stopped plans
for a jetport in
the majestic Big
Cypress Swamp.
Nixon called it
"an outstanding
victory for
conservation"
and followed it
up by getting
Congress to
provide the
money to buy
this treasure.
I could go on
and on. The list
of what Nixon
accomplished
dwarfs that of
any other
president.
Liberals say all
this was a cold,
political
calculation
designed to
exploit the
growing
environmental
movement.
How pathetic.
They can't
question
results, so they
attack
motivation.
For someone who
didn't care
about the
environment,
Nixon brought
some of the
nation's top
environmentalists
into his
administration.
There was Nat
Reed, the South
Florida
Everglades
activist, named
as assistant
secretary of the
Department of
Interior. There
was Russell
Train, Nixon's
second EPA
secretary, who
went on to head
the World
Wildlife Fund.
There was Lee
Talbot, the
Council of
Environmental
Quality's chief
scientist, who
wrote much of
the original
Endangered
Species Act.
In a 1998
interview,
Talbot said, "No
president since
or before,
except maybe
Teddy Roosevelt,
has been willing
to put as much
political muscle
into the
environment."
Nixon's 1973
State of the
Union message to
Congress on
natural
resources
remains one of
the most
comprehensive
and farsighted
assessments of
the environment
ever given.
He was a
visionary. And
whatever led him
in that
direction, I
don't care.
On Tuesday, this
Earth Day is for
you, President
Nixon. The Earth
is a much better
place because of
you.
Mike Thomas
can be reached
at
mthomas@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-5525.
'Natural
Florida' CD
unveiled
By JESSICA
NEWMAN
Special to The
Sun
As she finished
the poem,
"Prayer for the
Everglades,"
which ends with
a hypothetical
picture of a
world without
the vast sea of
grass in South
Florida, she had
to pause and
take a deep
breath.
"This happens
every time,"
said a shaken
Lola Haskins,
Gainesville poet
and contributor
to the "Natural
Florida: In
Word, Image and
Deed" CD-ROM,
which premiered
Saturday at the
Harn Museum of
Art before more
than 100 people.
It was unveiled
as part of the
UF Cultural
Plaza's Earth
Day celebration.
The CD-ROM is
the creation of
Stephen
Robitaille, a
professor at
Santa Fe
Community
College, and it
spans 500 years
of Florida
ecological
history through
the use of
several hundred
works of state
artists,
including
poetry,
photography,
architecture,
novels and
music.
"Art could
become the
medium for
people beginning
to re-appreciate
where they live,
understand where
they live and
help to preserve
where they
live,"
Robitaille said.
He produced the
"Natural
Florida" CD-ROM
with Florida
Defenders of the
Environment, an
organization
dedicated to
preserving the
diverse natural
habitats of
Florida.
Robitaille's
intent is to
provide free
copies of the
CD-ROM to
schools,
libraries and
other outlets
for public
information, he
said.
"I hope to
reinvigorate
environmental
education across
the state,"
Robitaille said.
He came up with
the idea six
years ago after
searching in
vain for a
comprehensive
historical
resource to use
in a class he
was planning to
teach on natural
Florida, he
said.
The CD-ROM is
already used in
a few middle
school and
college
classrooms
around the
state. But
expanding its
reach is a
matter of
word-of-mouth
and is
difficult,
Robitaille said.
In addition to
art and
literature, the
CD-ROM includes
special features
that showcase
essays by local
historians,
documenting
important
social, economic
and political
activities in
various regions
of the state
that affected
the habitat.
There is also an
archive of rare
postcards that
made natural
Florida famous
around the world
and a volume of
local songs from
Florida
musicians.
Patchwork is one
such musical
group featured.
Patchwork is a
folksy blue
grass band
comprised of
five women, who
blend acoustic
stringed
instruments and
twangy voices to
produce songs
glorifying
natural Florida
and address
environmental
problems facing
the state.
"Natural
Florida" takes
viewers on a
virtual tour of
the state and
breaks it down
into nine biome
regions with
works of art of
various genres
from each one.
One artist
featured on the
disc is Ellie
Blair, a
Gainesville
painter who is
famous for her
oil-on-canvas
portrayals of
some of North
Florida's most
striking nature
scenes.
Originally from
New York City,
Blair came to
Florida for a
weekend 37 years
ago and hasn't
left since.
While other
contributing
artists
displayed their
work at the
premiere, Blair
began and
finished a
painting of a
palm tree on the
prairie in
approximately
one hour while
on stage. Blair
said she was
happy to
contribute to
the CD-ROM
because she
loves her job
and loves the
state.
"I get to
contemplate the
beauty of the
natural world,"
Blair said. "In
this state, it's
great. You can
be at the beach
one day and in
the swamp the
next."
Naturist
resort could
bring wealth to
rural Arcadia
But some
wonder what else
might unravel in
the process
Over lunches
of black-eyed
peas and fried
pork chops at
the downtown
Wheeler Cafe,
the new joke
goes something
like this: "So I
hear you're
moving out with
the
nudists, eh?"
In a place
where the top
elected official
owns 300 cattle
and there is a
church for every
168 people, a
Naples
developer's plan
to build a
nudist colony of
1,034 homes has
caused a stir.
Earth Sun
Capital Group
LLC is seeking
DeSoto County's
approval to
build the Terra
Sol Naturist
Resort just
outside Arcadia,
close by the
home of the
rodeo that is at
the heart of the
area's identity.
While
potential
revenue
generated by the
resort is
tempting for
this
economically
stressed
community, the
idea of Terra
Sol clashes with
the traditional
moral values
shared by many
in this slice of
rural Florida.
Besides
jokes, the
conflict has
generated plenty
of talk, from
those who follow
a
live-and-let-live
philosophy and
others arguing
it would mark
the unraveling
of Arcadia's
very fabric.
Preachers are
vowing to rouse
their flocks in
protest.
Government
offices have
been inundated
with
phone calls.
"This last
month it's been
all about the
nudists," said
Matt Holloman,
spokesman for
DeSoto County,
where Arcadia is
the county seat.
Don Wagner,
who has
developed mostly
small office and
commercial
buildings in the
Naples area,
believes he has
a
recession-proof
business plan in
the growing
popularity of
nude recreation,
an industry that
has increased
from $150
million to $450
million in
revenues over
the past
10 years.
With only one
other nudist
resort between
Tampa and Miami,
he says a resort
in DeSoto --
centrally
located between
Florida's coasts
-- would bring
60 jobs and $30
million to the
local tax base.
That is more
than a third of
the county's
current budget,
which dropped by
$11 million this
year because of
the
economic downturn.
"This could
be a major,
major economic
boost for the
community," said
Wagner, who is
joined by three
other Naples
real estate
agents in
the venture.
Conservative tradition
Arcadia is
one of Florida's
grand old cow
towns, a
community
renowned for
hosting the
state's oldest
rodeo and a
charming
downtown lined
with
antique stores.
Conservative
and traditional
are the two
words Arcadians
use most to
describe their
community,
usually in
accents more
reminiscent of
Georgia and
Mississippi than
coastal areas
dominated
by retiree-transplants.
Yet poverty
is more than
twice the state
average, jobs
are scarce, the
tax base ranks
among Florida's
lowest and new
development is
coveted by many
business owners
more than a new
pair of
cowboy boots.
Arcadia and
DeSoto County
missed out on
the real estate
boom that swept
much of Florida.
Although at
least a dozen
housing
developments
were proposed in
the county, none
were built
before
the downturn.
Amid the
blushing and
back-slapping
laughs over
nudism, many in
the business
community are
supportive of
the resort.
"I'm not too
concerned about
them and, to be
honest, that's
what I've been
hearing from
nearly every one
of my
customers," said
Wyvon Taylor,
who owns a
bookstore downtown.
But just down
the street, at
the Heritage
Baptist Church,
associate pastor
David Bedell
strongly disagrees.
"I think it's
dead in the
water," Bedell
said as children
played in the
100-year-old
church's school
and tall brick
walls of the
Gothic
Romanesque-style
church cast a
shadow over
Arcadia City
Hall next door.
"Of course, the
business owners
want more
business, but if
you went door to
door and took a
poll, I'm
confident the
majority would
be against it."
Some
politicians,
including the
town's mayor --
also a pastor --
already have
come out against
the
nudist colony.
Ultimately,
DeSoto County's
five elected
county
commissioners
will decide
because the
resort's
proposed
location is
outside
Arcadia's city
limits and the
development plan
requires a
zoning change.
Bedell said
two
commissioners
have confirmed
that they will
vote no. He has
written a letter
to each board
member, and
plans to lobby
hard in the
coming months.
Cows
and oranges
Commission
Chairman Thomas
"Felton" Garner
said he is not
rushing
to judgment.
"Let's just
wait and see
what happens and
hear what
everybody has to
say," Garner
said over lunch
at Wheeler's,
the town's
oldest
restaurant,
where black and
white photos of
cowboys flung
high on the
backs of rodeo
bulls cover
the walls.
His tan
cowboy boots
planted firmly
on the
69-year-old
floor, Garner
talks about the
community he has
called home for
77 years.
Garner's
granddad came to
Arcadia in late
1800s when the
region was a
cattle-producing
hub. The
commissioner
still lives in
the house where
he was born, on
1,300 acres.
"Oranges and
cows, that's all
anybody did back
then,"
Garner said.
DeSoto's
economy has not
changed much.
The county has a
large prison now
and Arcadia's
historic
downtown
regularly
attracts
day-tripping
antique
shoppers, but
oranges and cows
still rule.
With so
little to
distinguish the
region, some
worry that
DeSoto could
soon be known as
"the place for
nudists," in
Bedell's words.
"Is that what
we want to be
known for?"
Bedell wonders.
"Not a quaint
downtown or a
traditional,
rural culture,
but nudists?"
Wheeler's
waitress Kasey
Conklin, 25,
said she is
growing tired of
the debate. "I
got a regular
who says if they
come to town,
he's going to
start streaking
-- and he's like
90," she said.
Yet many
old-timers point
out that DeSoto
County had
nudists before.
A group lived
in the woods
near the
unincorporated
community of
Brownville, said
the daughter of
Wheeler's former
owner,
Jeanette Foley.
Everybody
knew about it,
Foley insists,
and nobody
really cared.
"They were
out there ever
since I can
remember," Foley
said, as
waitresses
exchanged jokes
about naked
cowboys and
hunters using
their deer
stands to peep
in on the
resort. "They
didn't bother us
and we didn't
bother them. If
they want to be
butt naked, then
let them be butt
naked --
who cares?"
Foley quickly
apologized for
her
straightforward
"country talk."
Wagner plans
to appeal to
that spirit in
pitching
his development.
There is a
fierce
independent
streak running
through DeSoto,
where rural
isolation breeds
self-reliance
and a strong
attachment to
the land.
"I think
people in this
county really
value private
property rights
and individual
freedom,"
Wagner said.
Wagner is
proposing a
12-foot high
wall and 20-foot
vegetative
barrier around
the nudist
colony, which is
surrounded by
cow pasture.
However, the
development site
is only a mile
from the
county's only
high school and
middle school, a
big issue for
some residents.
Others say
the nudists
would have more
to worry about
than parents
and students.
"We're
talking about
high school
students here,"
said Denise
McCarthy, who
works at health
clinic near the
school. "They're
doing worse
things than
the nudists."
Projecting
an image
A nudist
himself, and
married father
of three
daughters,
Wagner tries to
project a
wholesome,
family image as
he meets with
local
community leaders.
Wagner said
people have a
knee-jerk
reaction,
associating
nudism with
sexual behavior.
But Wagner has
visited clubs
around the
country and said
they attract
mostly older
people,
not swingers.
"Most are
very
family-oriented,
very respectable
businesses," he
said. "These
people are your
neighbors. They
are just earthy,
well-grounded,
very
secure people."
Wagner said
his market
research shows
that the nudist
demographic is
predominately
people 45 or
older with a
median income
between $69,000
and $75,000 --
more than double
the median
income in DeSoto County.
About 50,000
people belong to
the American
Association of
Nude Recreation,
but market
researchers have
identified about
5 million people
who express an
interest in nude
recreation,
Wagner said.
That is a little
less than 2
percent of the
country's population.
Wagner's
resort, financed
through
pre-sales, would
include 246
single-family
homes costing up
to $400,000,
along with 380
RV rental spots
and 414 modular
cottages running
as low as
$85,000.
Proposed
amenities
include two
restaurants, six
tennis courts
and the nation's
only nude
golf course.
Wagner
created a Web
site to help
raise money for
the development
about a year ago
and was swamped
by the traffic.
People wanted to
make
reservations,
and Wagner did
not have a site.
With 320
acres now under
contract, the
company's new
Web site
generated 2,800
hits last month
before the
controversy
broke. Wagner
said there has
been interest
from across the
United States
and in Europe,
where nude
sunbathing
is common.
Controversy
over nude
recreation is
not limited to
Arcadia. The
Suncoast
Naturist
Association,
with 60 members
throughout
Southwest
Florida, has
been trying to
get Caspersen
Beach in Venice
designated
"clothing
optional" since
2000
without success.
Similar
efforts across
the state have
met with
varying resistance.
The state's
only nude beach
is in Miami, and
there are a
handful of nude
resorts near
Tampa and
Orlando. Most
nudist clubs are
considered "non-landed."
The president
of the Suncoast
Naturists, a
North Port
resident who
asked to be
identified only
as Fred because
he worries that
some friends
would not
understand the
lifestyle, said
Wagner faces an
uphill battle.
But if the
resort is
approved, Fred
believes it will
be very popular
because it is
within a few
hours of nearly
cities in South
and
Central Florida.
Nudists are
used to driving,
Fred said.
"I wish him
luck," he said.
"It's hard to
find property
for this type of
thing because
people tend to
have a lot of
misconceptions
about what
we do."
THE PROJECT
The Terra Sol
Naturist Resort
is being pitched
by four Naples
real estate
agents. The
group formed
Earth Sun
Capital Group
LLC to develop
the project
in Arcadia.
At 1,034
homes, the Terra
Sol project is
the largest
development
attempted by the
group, said
principal Don
Wagner. Wagner
has helped
develop small
commercial and
office space
around Naples
for the past 17
years. The group
plans to fund
the Terra Sol
project through
pre-sales.
Wagner said the
project would
add 60 jobs and
$30 million to
the local
tax base.
Farm
Commodities
Becoming Hot
But some are
concerned that
speculators are
actually hurting
growers.
By BECKY
BOHRER
The
Associated
Press
NEW ORLEANS |
Farming has
always been a
risky business,
at the mercy of
bad weather,
wars and
drought. Now
farmers' profits
face a new and
surprising
enemy:
speculators that
some think are
driving prices
up so fast that
growers are
getting locked
out of top
dollar for their
crops.
Shoppers are
feeling it, too,
as investors
pump billions of
dollars into
agricultural
commodities and,
insiders say,
help push up the
price of the
most basic of
foodstuffs, a
loaf of bread.
"It's been very
stressful for
all of us to
manage marketing
this crop," said
George LaCour, a
grain farmer
near Morganza in
southeast
Louisiana.
LaCour sold more
than half his
2008 crop before
planting it,
hoping to cash
in on soaring
prices. Selling
the rest will
have to wait
until after the
harvest since he
has limited
bank-borrowing
power to hedge
his future crops
against price
swings and he
doesn't want to
risk the money.
"Nobody wants to
take the risk,"
he said.
Agriculture
interests
nationwide are
edgy about what
they see as a
flood of
speculative
money into the
market and they
want action,
fearful that it
is throwing the
markets into
chaos and making
it harder for
farmers to
manage their
risks.
"We want the
government to
investigate, and
if there are
significant
issues, we want
them to work
through what
should be done,"
said Chad Hart,
agricultural
economist at
Iowa State
University.
"Right now, I
don't think
anyone has a
full grasp on
what's going
on."
The Commodity
Futures Trading
Commission,
which regulates
U.S. futures and
options markets,
will make an
attempt with a
hearing Tuesday.
The panel can
expect to find a
sizzling market,
some say too hot
to handle,
stoked for two
years by
profit-hungry
cash from index
funds and
speculators and
rocketing prices
for in-demand
corn, soybeans
and wheat.
There has also
been a rise in
planting: The
Agriculture
Department said
wheat
production, for
example, grew
from 1.8 billion
to 2.06 billion
bushels from
2006 to 2007,
and more than
63.8 million
acres of wheat
will be planted
in 2008, up 3.4
million acres
from 2007.
And there is
nervousness.
Some grain
buyers, wary of
the market
volatility, are
limiting
contract
dealings with
growers,
effectively
cutting farmers
off from top
prices at a time
when production
costs have
soared, insiders
say.
Coal-fired power
plant getting
closer to
reality in
Southwest
Georgia
Jim
Cook
Dothan Eagle
Published:
April 20,
2008
A
well-worn
dirt road
bordered by
dense
woodland
splits about
1,800 acres
of family
land owned
by Claude
Bell and his
cousin
Patricia
McGregor.
The road
marks more
than a
division of
property, it
also
reflects two
sides of a
controversial
issue in
Early
County, Ga.
Plans
have been in
the works
for about
six years to
build a
coal-fired
power plant
on about
2,000 acres
of land next
door to the
Georgia
Pacific
containerboard
mill in
Cedar
Springs, Ga.
and just
across the
Chattahoochee
River from
the Alabama
town of
Gordon. The
$1 billion
project is
expected to
be a big
economic
boon,
bringing
about 1,000
temporary
construction
jobs and 120
permanent
jobs to the
struggling
county.
McGregor,
along with
property
owners Mary
Whitehead
and Joe
Darnall,
have sold LS
Power an
option to
buy their
land to
build the
plant, once
the project
clears all
administrative
and legal
hurdles.
Bell’s
land adjoins
the property
owned by
McGregor,
who resides
in Virginia.
It has a
pond and a
screened-in
building he
uses for
family
gatherings.
An
independent
film company
recently
used the
site to
shoot scenes
for the
movie
Forgiving
Injustice:
The Lena
Baker Story,
a biopic
about the
first woman
executed in
Georgia.
Bell said
the noise
and
emissions
created by a
nearby
coal-fired
power plant
would render
his property
unusable,
and his
cousin’s
decision to
sell the
land has
estranged
them.
“She was
like a
sister to me
when we were
growing up,”
he said.
Bell, a
member of
the Friends
of the
Chattahoochee,
a local
environmental
group, says
the plant
will drain
water from
the already
overused
Chattahoochee
River, and
create more
air
pollution in
Early
County,
which the
Sierra Club
says already
has some of
the dirtiest
air in
Georgia. On
the other
side of the
debate are
folks who
say the
environmental
impact of
the plant
will be
negligible,
and that its
economic
impact would
be a
tremendous
boost to a
struggling
rural area
where good
jobs are
hard to
find.
Olin
Thompson,
chairman of
the
Blakely-Early
County
Development
Authority,
said Early
County
desperately
needs the
jobs and
investment
the coal
plant would
bring. The
unemployment
rate in the
area stands
at about 5.6
percent and
nearly a
quarter of
the county’s
12,000
residents
live in
poverty.
Thompson,
who has
lived in
Early County
for 64
years, has
seen many of
the
community’s
best and
brightest
move away.
“The
majority of
them move
somewhere
else,
there’s
really
nothing for
them to do,”
he said.
According
to Thompson,
the jobs and
consumer
spending
brought by
the plant’s
construction
and
operation
would help
turn Early
County
around. The
plant would
also bring
increased
tax revenue
to Early
County’s
government.
LS Power,
Early County
and various
other
governmental
authorities
signed a
25-year
agreement
which levies
ad valorem
taxes on a
graduated
scale.
During the
first four
years of the
agreement,
LS Power
will pay
Early County
$200,000 and
the county
development
board
$50,000 per
year. For
the next two
years, LS
Power will
pay no ad
valorem
taxes or
fees. In the
seventh year
of the
agreement,
the plant
will pay
$285,000 in
ad valorem
taxes and
fees. From
then, the
plant’s
annual taxes
will
increase
every year,
topping out
at $4.3
million in
the
agreement’s
25th year.
In
addition to
ad valorem
taxes, the
plant will
also likely
pay between
$1.5 to $5
million per
year in
state and
local sales
tax on the
coal it
imports.
The new
plant would
use a
variety of
technologies
to remove
some of the
harmful
gases and
particulate
matter from
the plant’s
exhaust and
LS Power has
agreed to
use
wastewater
from the
nearby
Georgia
Pacific
plant to
generate
steam, then
treat the
remaining
water before
putting it
back into
the
Chattahoochee.
Bell says
the plant’s
emission
controls
don’t go far
enough, and
doubts the
feasibility
of the
plant’s
wastewater
treatment
scheme. He
also pointed
out that no
matter what
the plant
does, it
will still
return less
water to the
Chattahoochee
than was
taken out by
the Georgia
Pacific
plant.
Litigation
regarding
the plant
may be
wrapped up
by early
summer. In
January, an
administrative
law judge
upheld an
air permit
issued by
the Georgia
Environmental
Protection
Division
that the
Friends of
the
Chattahoochee
and the
Sierra Club
had
challenged.
The ruling
has been
appealed to
a superior
court judge
and the
appeal will
be heard in
May. If the
judge rules
in favor of
the permit,
the Friends
of the
Chattahoochee
and the
Sierra Club
can take it
to an
appeals
court, which
can choose
not to hear
the case.
Mike
Vogt, LS
Power
project
manager,
said he’s
confident
the courts
will uphold
the air
permit, and
if
litigation
is wrapped
up by early
summer,
construction
on the plant
could begin
in late
summer or
early fall.
According to
Vogt, a new
administration
is unlikely
to derail
efforts to
build the
plant.
“We’re
down to the
final throes
of the
permitting
process and
litigation,”
he said.
“It’s the
end of the
tunnel we’ve
been looking
for.”
Condo buyers
had a lot to
beware of
It was
among
Brevard's
first signs
of South
Florida-style
condomania
-- in more
ways than
one, it
turns out.
On a
sweltering
August day
in 2005,
buyers
waited in
line in lawn
chairs
outside a
sales
office,
eager to
snatch one
of the
affordable
units in the
refurbished
and
attractive
Beach Club
Condominiums
off Eau
Gallie
Boulevard.
Altair
Franklin was
one of them,
waiting and
smiling in a
swimsuit
before
buying a
one-bedroom
condo in the
sunny yellow
complex for
$140,000.
"It was
the first
time I had
ever bought,
and I was
really
excited,"
said
Franklin,
one of those
featured in
a photo in
FLORIDA
TODAY.
The
converted
apartment
complex,
then owned
and marketed
by
Miami-based
Paramount
Properties
of Florida,
sold out
quickly.
Since
then, the
excitement
has turned
to anger and
financial
heartache
for buyers
of the 160
units.
The new
condominium
association
has sued the
developer
and its
engineer for
$1.3 million
plus damages
to help fix
horrible
structural
problems
that should
have been
found and
disclosed,
court
records
show.
Instead,
many
problems
were hidden
by fresh
paint.
Beams
holding up
concrete
catwalks are
rotting and
unsafe.
Windows and
some roofs
leak.
Air-conditioning
units are
corroded.
Load-bearing
supports
have
decayed.
Freshly
painted wood
trim easily
flakes away
to reveal
rot and
termite
damage. The
lawsuit's
exhibits
include
color photos
of such
problems,
the likely
result of 20
years of
beach
weather.
Yet, an
April 2005
report by
the
developer's
architect
for
potential
buyers said
all were
"safe,
functioning,
and in sound
condition."
Now, the
owners of
the modest
condominiums
must cough
up as much
as $5
million for
repairs,
Franklin
said. That
could mean
assessments
of anywhere
from $8,000
to $30,000
per unit,
according
owners and
the lawsuit.
"For a
one-bedroom
condo --
who's going
to pay
that?"
Franklin
asked.
Caution
tape
I
strolled
through
Beach Club
to check out
the
complaints.
Catwalks and
stairwells
are held up
with
temporary
wooden beams
wrapped in
yellow
"caution"
tape. Metal
jacks shore
up some
second- and
third-floor
walkways.
Inspectors
left holes
in siding
and trim to
reveal wood
damage.
That's
what you can
see. The
lawsuit also
claims:
Electrical
wires were
left
uncovered in
places and
violate
safety code.
Air-handlers
are
"corroded
and
failing."
Someone
cut holes in
attic
firewalls.
But three
months
before
Franklin and
others lined
up to buy,
the seller's
architect,
Bernabe
Hernandez of
Hialeah,
said in his
report that
all were
"safe,
functioning,
and in sound
condition."
Hernandez
estimated
the
electrical
system had
another 53
to 66 years
of life. The
air
conditioning
would be
good for
another 15
years. And
the
firewalls
were good
for another
17 years, he
said.
Who's
responsible?
The
lawsuit
names
Hernandez
and "Beach
Club LLC" as
defendants,
not
Paramount
Properties.
Beach Club
LLC was a
short-lived,
limited
liability
corporation
managed by
Maurice
Cayon of
Hialeah, who
handled the
construction
and
conversion
of the
apartments
into condos.
Paramount
is the
parent
company of
Beach Club
LLC, said
the condo
owners'
attorney,
Patrick
Howell of
Orlando.
The
owners
accuse
Hernandez of
professional
negligence
and Beach
Club LLC of
breaking
"implied
warranty."
State law
says
developers
of condo
conversions
extend a
three-year
"implied
warranty of
fitness and
merchantability
for the
purposes or
uses
intended."
I tried
to reach
both
defendants
Friday.
Cayon was
not
available
this week,
an assistant
told me.
Hernandez
did not
return
messages
left at his
office.
Paramount,
meanwhile,
also lists
the Cypress
Cove complex
near Suntree
among its
other condo
conversion
and sales
projects.
It's not
as if Beach
Club's owner
and
developer
made no
effort to
repair
conditions
before
sprucing-up
the complex
and putting
it on the
market.
The city
of Melbourne
Building
Department
reports they
pulled eight
permits in
2004 to
repair wood
and the
roof, which
suffered
some storm
damage in
the 2004
hurricanes.
And a
disclaimer
throughout
Hernandez'
inspection
report says
it should
not be
construed
"directly or
indirectly
as a
guarantee
for any
portion of
the
structural
system." The
document
says he
visually
inspected
the premises
but used no
"destructive
methods" to
find out
more.
Lessons
fleeting
Somewhere
in this is a
lesson. For
those
involved
with Beach
Club, it
could be up
to a jury to
determine
what that
is.
Buyers
should
always get
their own
inspections
before they
commit. But
more
admonitions
of "buyer
beware"
don't seem
to cut it in
Brevard
anymore.
A look
down Eau
Gallie
Boulevard
reveals so
many ways
buyers and
investors
were ripped
off in the
go-go real
estate
craze.
Across
the street
from Beach
Club are the
abandoned
Casalina
condos,
where the
developer
burned
through
millions
then
disappeared,
leaving a
half-built
project in
foreclosure
with
friends,
investors
and
subcontractors
holding the
bag.
That's
just west of
a project in
which the
developer
nearly
finished two
houses,
bailed out
before they
could be
occupied,
and left the
owners
paying for
uninhabitable
properties.
Across the
river, a
lawyer and
builder took
millions for
two projects
and
developed
nothing. One
was
disbarred;
the other
disappeared.
Franklin
recently
moved out of
Beach Club
and put her
ground-floor
condo near
the
clubhouse on
the market
for $99,000,
or 70
percent of
what she
paid.
No bites.
"They
have to
change all
the windows,
all the
beams," said
Franklin,
who served
on the condo
association
board when
it
discovered
the
problems.
CAPE CORAL —
In a county with
one of the
nation's highest
foreclosure
rates, empty
houses have
attracted a new
type of
nonpaying
tenant: bees.
Tens of
thousands of
honeybees,
building nests
in garages,
rafters, even
furniture left
behind.
When a swarm
came to a
foreclosed ranch
house in Cape
Coral, town
officials called
B. Keith
Councell, a
fourth-generation
beekeeper and
licensed bee
remover.
On a recent
evening,
Councell stood
at the light
blue house's
open garage door
as hundreds of
honeybees buzzed
over his head
and past his
ears,
disappearing
into a hole
behind the water
meter. The house
has been without
a human occupant
since December.
Then he did
what he does at
most foreclosed
homes: nothing.
"If it's in
the yard, I just
take care of
it," Councell
said. "But if
it's in the
structure,
usually I can't
get permission
to go in. And
it's a problem,
because
somebody's going
to get stung. It
creates a risk
for everybody
around."
Foreclosed
houses around
the country have
been colonized
by squatters,
collegiate
revelers,
methamphetamine
cooks, stray
dogs, rats and
other uninvited
guests. Councell,
35, has eyes
only for bees.
Last year, he
said, he
answered calls
about bees in
more than 100
vacant houses,
and the volume
was higher this
year.
Lee County,
on Florida's
southwest coast,
was until
recently a boom
area. But like
other
fast-growth
regions, the
county is now a
focal point in
the foreclosure
meltdown. By one
measure it had
the highest
foreclosure rate
in the country
earlier this
year.
But for area
bees, the real
estate boom is
just beginning.
"Abandoned
buildings
attract bees,"
said Roy
Beckford, the
University of
Florida
agricultural and
natural
resources agent
in Lee County,
who said he had
received "quite
a few calls"
about bees in
empty
properties.
"Bees
anywhere in the
world will make
homes in any
building that is
not occupied,"
Beckford said.
"They send
scouts out, and
find a place
where they will
not be
disturbed.
They're looking
for a sheltered
place to build
colonies and
make honey."
Bees also live
in occupied
homes.
Most hives
have 15,000 to
60,000 bees,
said professor
Jamie Ellis, a
bee specialist
at the
University of
Florida.
At a time
when honeybee
populations are
dropping
nationwide,
Councell sees
himself in
competition with
exterminators.
Because
Africanized
honeybees,
sometimes called
killer bees for
their
aggressiveness,
have appeared in
Florida, the
current trend is
toward
exterminating
rather than
removing them,
Ellis said.
When Councell
removes a
colony, he kills
the queen and
replaces it with
a European
queen. "If I can
remove a box of
bees and put
them to use, so
they're
pollinating
fields, instead
of that guy
spraying, it
makes more
sense," he said.
Planners: Floridians
need to grow up,
face water limits
By DINAH VOYLES
PULVER
Environmental Writer
ST. AUGUSTINE --
Floridians and their
governments have
acted like toddlers
and teenagers for
too long, a group of
elected officials
decided Friday.
Like youngsters
that eat unhealthy
food with abandon,
Floridians have used
water willy-nilly
with no thought for
what would happen
when it runs out or
how it might affect
their neighbors.
Now, it's
catching up with
them, and no easy
answers await
elected leaders
trying to find a
compromise to this
region's water woes
before a full-scale,
costly legal battle
erupts. That was
clear Friday as
officials from
Jacksonville to
Orlando gathered at
a joint meeting of
regional planning
councils.
But attendance
was sparse, with no
one representing
Seminole or Volusia
counties. Both
counties are among
those expected to
ask to pull water
from the St. Johns
River, a proposal
that has triggered
widespread animosity
to the north, with
several cities and
counties concerned
it would harm the
water quality on
their end.
"We all need to
show up because it's
an important issue
for all of us," said
Clay County
Commissioner Harold
Rutledge, president
of the North Florida
planning council.
Teresa Jacobs, an
Orange County
commissioner, isn't
confident such a
diverse group will
come to a meeting of
the minds over
water, considering
the varying opinions
on just the East
Central Florida
planning council.
But she brought up
one issue that has
rarely been
discussed in such
meetings.
"I hear us
talking about
conservation, but I
don't hear us
talking about
carrying capacity,"
she said. "I think
we don't want to
talk about it
because growth has
always been so
precious to this
state, but I think
the environment is
telling us there are
limitations."
That's true, said
Kirby Green,
executive director
of the St. Johns
River Water
Management District.
The district
oversees the water
supply in an
18-county area that
includes both
regional councils.
"We are moving
from a place of
plenty to a place of
restriction and
limited use," he
said.
The district's
responsibility is to
protect the
environment first
and then ensure
there's enough water
for other uses. The
challenge, Green
said, is that local
governments have
"very jealously
guarded" their
ability to decide
how their areas
grow.
The situation has
been building for
years, with
utilities across the
region having
problems finding
enough clean, fresh
groundwater, he
said. The district
and governments in
the region "haven't
done the job we need
to do in tying all
of those issues
together and coming
up with a way to
address them."
In addition to
discussion about
Central Florida's
explosive growth,
part of the
discussion Friday
focused on
conservation, with
the group agreeing
to spend time at the
next meeting
learning more about
which agencies are
doing the best job
of conserving water
and enforcing water
restrictions.
The group also
learned that Lake
County, which had
been talking with
Volusia and Seminole
about using the
river, has decided
to wait until the
district completes a
study already under
way to determine
whether the proposed
pumping could harm
the river.
Orlando area's water
wars are draining us
of common sense
Mike Thomas
COMMENTARY
April 17, 2008
Orange County has
set aside $1 million
to fight a legal war
with the South
Florida Water
Management District
over access to
water.
We will pay two
government agencies
to battle each
other, a scenario
that only benefits
lawyers, consultants
and newspaper
columnists.
This is absurd. It
is the kind of
government waste
that has people
screaming for more
tax cuts.
The fight is over
Orange County's plan
to drain 7 million
gallons of water a
day from lakes Mary
Jane and Hart, the
featured attractions
at Moss Park.
There are two
problems with this:
*It could damage the
ecology of the
shallow lakes.
*It could deplete
water needed for the
Kissimmee River.
The river is
undergoing a massive
restoration project
that, when
completed, will
create 40 square
miles of wetlands.
The thing about
wetlands is that you
have to keep them
wet. Without water,
the half-billion
dollars being spent
on this will be
wasted.
So the South Florida
water district wants
to make sure it has
plenty.
And two of the many
lakes that drain
into the Kissimmee
are Mary Jane and
Hart.
This puts the birds,
bugs and fish of the
Kissimmee in direct
competition with
Orange County for
water.
I side with the
critters.
Orange County
doesn't need the
water, and they do.
About half the water
Orange pipes to
homes is sprayed on
yards, where it
collects pesticides
and fertilizers and
carries them to
lakes Mary Jane and
Hart -- and the
Kissimmee River.
More water is wasted
in homes because of
long showers, huge
toilet bowls, and so
on and so forth.
Orange County has
done little to
change this
situation.
It has not banned
water-greedy St.
Augustine grass in
new developments.
It has not worked
with homeowner
associations to end
covenants requiring
St. Augustine.
It does not have a
rate structure that
sufficiently
penalizes people for
using too much
water.
Yet the county has
its straw out. It is
easier to waste
water and pump more
from the nearest
lake than it is to
conserve water and
leave the lake
alone.
If I were the ruler
of the water, this
would be my
response: If you are
so hellbent on more
growth, then you can
provide for it by
making better use of
the water you now
have.
That would force the
county to think
radically about a
water-saving
ordinance it
currently is working
on.
Extremism in the
pursuit of
conservation is no
vice.
I'd tell the same to
everybody looking to
stick a straw in the
St. Johns River. If
we conserved, we
could meet our water
needs for the next
10 years without
pulling another drop
from a lake or
river.
And then it would be
time to talk about
more.
Rather than throw
lawyers at the South
Florida water
district, Orange
should work with it
on a long-term
solution for the
river and people.
One option is to
build a reservoir
that would provide
water to the river
and to the counties.
There also is the
possibility of a new
well field out in
the hinterlands.
Those would be
expensive.
But you would have
Orange and Osceola
chipping in, along
with the water
district. Maybe
other utilities in
the region would be
interested. Many
wallets help lighten
the load.
So let's call off
the litigation.
For too many years,
competition -- not
cooperation -- has
defined our quest
for water.
Those days must end.
We can't afford this
nonsense any longer.
Mike Thomas can be
reached at
407-420-5525 or
mthomas@orlandosentinel.com.
Builders group
sues Orange schools
Group seeks
lower impact fees in
sales-tax feud
Erika Hobbs
Sentinel Staff
Writer
April 18, 2008
Orange
County's public
school system is
"misappropriating"
$825 million in
voter-approved
sales-tax money
because
officials aren't
using it to
build new
schools, a
lawsuit filed
Thursday
contends.
The Home
Builders
Association of
Metro Orlando,
which represents
area developers,
is asking a
judge to force
the school
district to
spend the
sales-tax money
on new schools.
The trade group
also is asking
the court to
lower the fees
developers pay
school districts
to offset the
cost of building
new schools.
School Board
officials say
they are
building the new
schools; they're
just using a
separate pot of
money to do it.
Administrators
contend they've
been good
stewards of the
half-penny
sales-tax
proceeds that
the public
approved in
2002.
But that money,
they said, no
longer covers
all of the
projects
originally
planned, so
they're now
supplementing
the budget with
money from other
sources.
"We're not
misusing any
money," School
Board Chairwoman
Karen Ardaman
said. "We're
using all
available
capital
resources -- not
just sales-tax
money."
By filing the
suit, the home
builders group
says it is
making the
leaders of the
nation's
11th-largest
school district
stick to their
promise to build
new schools with
voter-approved
money and
relieve crowding
at existing
schools.
However, the
group also hopes
to lower impact
fees they pay to
the school
district, fees
that builders
typically tack
directly on to
the price of a
new home.
District
officials,
however, say the
suit attempts to
derail efforts
to improve
dilapidated
campuses across
Orange County,
and is a thinly
veiled attempt
to boost a
stagnant housing
industry.
"Clearly this is
all about
shortchanging
the community to
subsidize a
special-interest
group, which in
this case is the
home builders,"
Ardaman said.
Countered Tom
Ross, the home
builders
attorney: "You
know, when you
catch a child
with a hand in
the cookie jar,
the first thing
they are likely
to do is shift
the blame and
the attention to
someone else.
This is not . .
. about impact
fees. It is and
has been about
the School Board
being held
accountable" for
the promises it
made.
A long-standing
feud
The lawsuit,
filed in Circuit
Court, escalates
a long-standing
feud between the
two sides.
Developers and
school districts
rarely see
eye-to-eye on
how to raise
money for new
schools. But in
Orange, the
issue is far
more
complicated.
In 2002, voters
agreed to a
half-cent
sales-tax
increase. In
return, the
School Board
promised to
renovate 136 new
schools and
build 25 new
ones with the
$2.2 billion it
expected to
collect by the
end of 2015.
Over time,
rising
construction
costs, hurricane
losses, minimum
class-size
mandates and
declining
sales-tax
collections all
bit into that
budget, School
Board Attorney
Frank
Kruppenbacher
said Thursday.
The district
scaled back
renovation plans
to cover 128
schools and
boosted the
budget by using
impact fees,
state funds and
by borrowing.
The 25 new
schools promised
during the
sales-tax
campaign are
still being
built, Ardaman
said, but with
other money.
"We evaluated
what would be
the most
efficient plan,
and that is what
we chose to help
keep our
promise," she
said.
Ruling cheers
both sides
During that same
time, the
district's
impact-fee
formula also
came under
review. A panel
made up of
county,
school-district
and home-builder
representatives
hashed out a new
impact-fee
formula, one
that sharply
increased the
rate to $11,829
for a
single-family
home, up from
$7,000.
Last fall,
representatives
from the home
builders
questioned why
they didn't get
credit for those
25 new schools
on the sales-tax
list if impact
fees were being
used to pad the
budget. Both
sides asked
Attorney General
Bill McCollum
for an opinion
on how the
sales-tax money
could be spent
and in which
order the
schools could be
built.
McCollum's
decision last
month cheered
both sides.
The School Board
banked on this
line in his
ruling: " . . .
the school board
has flexibility
to work within
the terms of the
plan as it
prioritizes the
use of these
funds."
The home
builders group
relied on
McCollum's
finding that
district
officials cannot
use other
sources of money
to "supplant"
the sales-tax
funds.
'A right to
prioritize'
Ardaman said
Thursday that
since the
sales-tax
program began,
the district has
either finished
or is working on
49 schools.
Nineteen of
those are new
schools, though
most have been
built with a
combination of
funding sources.
"We are
'supplementing,'
not
'supplanting'
that budget,"
she said. "And
we have the
right to
prioritize our
projects as we
see fit."
But Ross said
those figures
are disingenuous
because only one
of those new
schools, Wekiva
High, was built
solely with
sales-tax money.
"The School
Board has no
lawful ability
to disavow their
promise and to
use the funds in
manner different
from the way
they were
directed to be
used by
electorate in
the referendum,"
he said.
If the board
continues to use
impact fees for
new schools,
developers
should get
credit for them,
he said. If a
judge agrees,
Ross estimated
that impact fees
could drop by
roughly $2,000
per
single-family
home.
"The bottom line
is, we feel like
they ought to
keep promises to
taxpayers," said
Don Wetherington,
president of the
home builders
group. Erika Hobbs
can be reached
at
ehobbs@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-6226.
Builder
thought he had a
deal for concrete
plant near Destiny,
but Osceola County
leaders sided with
opponents
The builder thought
he had a deal, but
county leaders sided
with opponents,
including Destiny's
developer.
Mark Pino
Sentinel Staff
Writer
April 17, 2008
George Maib thought
he had the ideal
site for a
concrete-distribution
plant -- Yeehaw
Junction.
The rural location
meant it was removed
from neighbors who
might object, while
the existing road
network was perfect
for delivering the
product into Central
Florida and the
state's East Coast.
But the few
neighbors who are
there -- including
the developers of
Destiny -- did
object to the plan.
And county
commissioners
listened, denying
the project by a 4-1
vote this week.
"My biggest opponent
was a considerable
landowner with a
project that may not
happen for 10
years," Maib said.
"For me it's a shame
that you have to
spend more than
$100,000 to find out
you can't do
something. And the
whole time you have
gone through
planning and zoning
and met all the
requirements and
worked with staff
for six months. I
believe these
decisions are
entirely politically
motivated by
constituents with
more power and
money."
When built,
proponents say the
city of Destiny will
be a showplace for
"green" and
"eco-friendly"
concepts. Situated
on more than 40,000
acres, the
development must
still win all kinds
of local and state
approvals before
construction can
begin.
Randy Johnson, a
former state
legislator, now
chief operating
officer for Destiny,
didn't like the
possibility of the
plant less than two
miles from the
project's doorstep.
Johnson questioned
the urgency when
there was "nothing
out there" and said
permitting the plant
for 10 years made
"no sense" in the
scope of landowner
Dan Shalloway's plan
for a transportation
center in the same
area.
Commissioners and
Johnson said they
support the concept
of a transportation
center.
But Johnson added
that the plant put
potential jobs at
risk by creating "a
nasty, industrial
corridor on a
gateway into a city,
and it just takes
our breath away."
The brainchild of
South Florida
developer Anthony
Pugliese, Destiny is
expected to have as
many as 100,000
residents when it is
built.
Its developers say
the community will
be
"self-sustaining."
The concrete plant
would have been
built on 22 acres.
The developer said
it would have been
barely noticeable
from the road and
two similar plants
had been situated
there in the past.
The Yeehaw Junction
site would have
allowed the plant to
guarantee delivery
times -- something
that's crucial in
the industry.
Many companies are
eager to use the
area as a
distribution hub
because of the
existing road
network.
Engineer and
landowner Shalloway
plans to build a
full-service truck
stop, warehouse and
distribution site
bordered by
Florida's Turnpike
and U.S. Highway
441, just north of
State Road 60 and
Destiny.
Commissioner John
Qui�ones was the
only commissioner to
vote against the
denial. He thought
that cutting the
lifespan of the
plant would have
been a good
compromise.
He told
commissioners that
although there were
no guarantees of
commission approval
the county had to be
careful about the
message it is
sending to other
businesses.
"I think we need to
have a discussion on
that as county
commissioners," he
said. "I didn't
really see any
evidence by the
Destiny folks that
there was going to
be an impact."
A neighboring
landowner, whose
parents bought the
land near Florida's
Turnpike, U.S.
Highway 441 and
State Road 60 in the
1970s as an
investment, spoke
against the project
and the effect it
might have on her
property values.
But the development
group had experts
who said that
property values
would not be hurt
and that the plant
was unobtrusive and
environmentally
safe.
"This industry is
not a polluting
industry. It is not
your grandfather's
concrete plant,"
said Maib, who has
faced opposition
before. He is
currently involved
in a lawsuit against
another county that
denied his plant
after neighbors
complained.
"I was very
disheartened," he
said. "We're talking
about an area of
county that is
undeveloped. It's as
good a location as
you could ever ask
for."
Mark Pino can be
reached at
mpino@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-931-5935.
Protecting
State's Natural
Beauty Provides
Major Financial
Rewards
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 19,
2008
Environmentally
conscious Floridians
don't need another
reason to encourage
their elected
officials to
safeguard wildlife
and wilderness
lands. Protecting
Florida's natural
beauty should be a
no-brainer.
But for the
naysayers and
elected officials
who cater to
developers, a
Florida Fish and
Wildlife
Conservation
Commission
consultant offers a
financial reason:
Wildlife viewing is
a
multi-billion-dollar
business that lures
millions of tourists
and in-state folks.
The findings by
Southwick Associates
of Fernandina Beach
are almost as
impressive as the
state's varied
landscape.
Researchers used
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service,
Census Bureau and
other statistics to
compile the report.
In 2006 - the
last year for which
the relied-upon data
is available - about
4.2 million people
took part in
wildlife-viewing
activities such as
bird watching,
photographing Key
deer, and viewing
manatees.
Of that number,
1.6 million tourists
and residents
traveled the state
specifically to
participate in
wildlife-viewing
activities.
More than 740,000
were out-of-state
visitors, making
Florida the nation's
top destination for
these activities,
with California
second. That's
something all
Floridians should be
proud of, given the
popularity of the
Golden State and the
vast wilderness of
Alaska and other
states.
Consider the
economic impact -
more than $5 billion
in 2006, including
$3 billion in retail
sales that nearly
doubled the $1.57
billion in 2001.
This was in the form
of purchasing
binoculars, cameras,
bird seed, campers
and other goods and
vehicles, as well as
guide fees and other
expenses.
And thousands of
people have jobs
supporting wildlife
viewing activities -
nearly as many as
those employed at
Walt Disney World.
The report also
shows the importance
of local and state
land preservation
programs. More than
1.4 million
residents and
tourists visited
publicly held lands
up and down the
peninsula.
And here's
something for
builders and
developers to chew
on: About 3.3
million Floridians
participated in
wildlife viewing
activities either at
their homes or near
them. This serves as
a strong incentive
to develop
environmentally
friendly projects
that protect
wildlife habitat.
People enjoy the
outdoors. It's that
simple.
It's encouraging
that the state,
despite its growth,
still retains
features that draw
nature lovers.
Lawmakers and local
officials eager to
undo growth
management laws and
hesitant to continue
funding preservation
programs would be
foolish to overlook
nature's mighty
contributions to the
economy.
MORE OUTDOOR BUCKS
Florida isn't
just an immensely
popular state for
viewing wildlife.
It's a land of
plenty for
sportsmen, who also
add big bucks to the
economy.
The state's 2
million anglers and
hunters spend more
than $4.8 billion a
year on supplies,
fees and other costs
associated with
their year-round
pursuits - more than
double the revenues
of Miami-based
Burger King,
according to a
report produced by
the Congressional
Sportsmen's
Foundation.
The report,
"Hunting and
Fishing: Bright
Stars of the
American Economy - A
force as big as all
outdoors," gives
these tidbits:
•Florida
sportsmen spend just
over $1 billion
every year on
outboard boats and
motors used on the
state's numerous
lakes, waterways and
other water bodies.
Florida leads the
nation in the number
of days spent on the
water.
•Hunting and
fishing pumps $13
million into the
state's economy
every day.
•The state's
number of hunters
and anglers exceed
the annual
attendance of
Florida's three
professional
football teams (2
million compared to
1.6 million).
Fla. Gov. Crist
criticizes tri-state
water sharing proposal
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)
-- A federal proposal
that would let Georgia
keep more water during
droughts instead of
letting it eventually
flow into Apalachicola
Bay means Florida would
be "bearing the brunt"
of problems created in
dry times, Gov. Charlie
Crist said Friday.
Florida has been quiet
since the Army Corps of
Engineers announced a
proposal Tuesday that
would allow greater
storage in upstream
lakes and lower river
flows into Florida. But
in a statement Friday,
Crist said, "We will
continue to pursue all
opportunities to ensure
protection for Florida's
environment, economy and
quality of life."
Florida, Alabama and
Georgia have fought for
nearly two decades over
water rights in the
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint
and the
Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa
river basins.
Georgia wants to hold
back more water in
federal reservoirs to
serve its growing
population. Florida and
Alabama argue Georgia
hasn't adequately
planned for growth. They
say lowering the water
flow into their states
would be bad for the
environment as well as
small cities, power
plants, industries and
fisheries that rely on
the rivers.
In Florida, biologists
and oystermen say
Apalachicola Bay needs
the right mix of salty
gulf water and fresh
river water for oysters
to thrive. The area
produces about 90
percent of the state's
oysters.
"We recognize that in
times of drought,
impacts will be felt
throughout the river
system. However, this
proposal again leaves
Florida's ecosystem and
residents bearing the
brunt of harmful
conditions, rather than
a shared adversity
between our neighbors,"
Crist said.
The new plan comes after
settlement negotiations
among the governors of
Florida, Georgia and
Alabama broke down in
February, prompting
Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne to say the
federal government would
impose its own solution.
In times of extreme
drought, the plan would
continue a temporary
provision announced last
fall allowing river
flows to dip below the
current minimum of 5,000
cubic feet per second at
the Jim Woodruff Dam,
near the Florida border.
Under particularly wet
conditions, it also
allows for reservoirs
such as Lake Lanier,
north of Atlanta, to
keep up to 50 percent of
their inflow instead of
the current maximum of
30 percent.
The plan is to be
finalized by June 1.*
Making Sure Citizens
Are Heard
The
Tampa Tribune
Published: April 19,
2008
Democracy
is messy. Listening to
competing viewpoints can
be time-consuming and
tedious. Speakers are
not always articulate,
diplomatic or coherent.
That means government
meetings will never
function with auto-line
efficiency.
And that's just fine.
Elected officials
should make it a
priority to listen to
citizens, not shut them
out and vote as quickly
as possible.
Thus, the importance
of the "Voice of the
People Act," sponsored
by, among others, Rep.
Michael Scionti, a Tampa
Democrat.
The bill would
require governing boards
to allow at least 15
minutes of public
comment before every
meeting and allow
citizens to speak on
agenda and non-agenda
items. Significantly, it
would allow citizens to
request discussion of an
item on the consent
agenda, where numerous
items are approved at
once with little
discussion.
Too often it appears
elected officials have
little interest in
hearing from the public.
On Thursday, the Tampa
City Council even
considered a resolution
to limit public input at
monthly workshops.
Fortunately, it was
rejected.
To be sure, citizens'
comments are not always
helpful. They may be
ill-informed, confused,
even insulting. But
listening to the public
is the price of public
service.
The Voice of the
People Act deserves
adoption.
Visitors at event get
glimpse of planned
'airplane community'
By Jessica Metzger
For The Herald
NEWBERRY—Neighbors and
residents ate barbecue
and discussed plans for
a proposed fly-in and
golf community, Oak Tree
Landing, on Saturday
with the key planners of
the project.
Consultants, civil
engineers, directors and
architects from the
Stiles Corporation, the
company planning the new
community, were
available to explain
plans, answer questions
and listen to residents’
concerns.
This community, located
on County Road 232 and
S.E. 80th Avenue and
spanning 815 acres, is a
controversial project
because the community
does not conform to
Gilchrist County’s
comprehensive plan.
Residents are also
concerned about traffic,
plane noise and other
changes that this
airplane community may
bring to the area.
“We couldn’t have had a
nicer day,” said Julie
Cole, development
consultant, as well as
one of the event
organizers. “The
community did really
come out. They got to
see what we have
planned.”
Approximately 300-400
people attended the
event, Cole said, put
together by the joint
efforts of Cole
Development and Realty
and the Stiles
Corporation.
“We want the community
to have input,” she
said. “They got to meet
everyone who is involved
in the project and see
what an airplane looks
like.”
Resident Lynn Bischof
said she liked the
project.
“I’m impressed,” she
said. “If they’re going
to have growth out here,
this is a very nice
thing. I think it’s a
good way to get people
out and inform them. A
meeting wouldn’t draw
them out.”
Larry Murren, a neighbor
just to the south of the
property in Newberry,
said he came because “he
was kind of anxious to
see what they’re going
to do with it.”
“Our main concern is how
much noise there will
be,” Murren said. “We
have planes occasionally
fly over (now), and that
hasn’t been a problem.”
Cindy Murren, his wife,
said, “The biggest thing
they could do for me is
pave 80th Avenue — all
of it.”
Stacey Hoyt, another
resident on CR 232, said
she thought the event
was a good thing.
"They needed to provide
some information to the
public,” she said.
Hoyt was mainly
concerned about the lack
of time restrictions on
the use of the airstrip.
“I think it’s going to
be good for Gilchrist
County, but I have some
serious issues with the
planes and jets
disrupting our way of
life,” she said. “I
talked to (development
officials). I thought
they were informative.”
“I think there are some
things that need to be
worked out, especially
for people who want to
live in the rural
community,” Hoyt said.
Aviation consultant Mark
Schenieder said that the
runway is public by
statute but private in
use. He said that he
estimates that runway
usage will be at an
average of one to two
times a day.
Schenieder also said
that the runway itself
has been designed to
keep big jets off.
The golf course is
another first for the
area too. Forest Fezzler,
a former PGA golfer
turned course designer,
is planning the 18-hole
course.
Cary Goldberg, the
investment manager for
Stiles Corporation, said
Fezzler is known for
utilizing the terrain he
is given.
Fezzler said this site
has more potential than
the past three sites he
has worked on.
“I love creating the
golf course,” he said.
“It’s an awesome,
awesome site for
golfers. We’re excited
every time we come out
here.”
Leslie Remy, a resident
from Bell, said she
thinks the project as a
whole is good for the
community.
“I think it’s a great
thing and I think they
have the money to do
everything right,” she
said. “I think Gilchrist
could use the revenue
from it.”
Henry Langford, a
neighbor to the
property, said he is not
so happy about the
change.
“I think it’s going to
happen. I think one
person waving a flag
isn’t going to change
anything,” he said.
“With change, there will
be more and more people,
less and less property.”
Terry Stiles, the
chairman and CEO of the
Stiles Corporation, said
the event was designed
to show the community
what exactly they want
to do to create with Oak
Tree Landing.
“We want to do it
right,” he said. “If you
check our reputation, we
try to match the
community needs. We
build a quality
project.”
Cole agreed.
“I truly believe this is
a great project. It’s
the right thing for the
community,” she said.
“When change comes, it’s
very hard to accept it.
But when you look and
see what’s here, it
preserves the land and
beauty…If there’s any
more development coming,
this is the type we
want.”
Builders group sues
Orange schools
Group seeks lower
impact fees in sales-tax
feud
Erika Hobbs
Sentinel Staff Writer
April 18, 2008
Orange County's
public school system
is
"misappropriating"
$825 million in
voter-approved
sales-tax money
because officials
aren't using it to
build new schools, a
lawsuit filed
Thursday contends.
The Home Builders
Association of Metro
Orlando, which
represents area
developers, is
asking a judge to
force the school
district to spend
the sales-tax money
on new schools.
The trade group also
is asking the court
to lower the fees
developers pay
school districts to
offset the cost of
building new
schools.
School Board
officials say they
are building the new
schools; they're
just using a
separate pot of
money to do it.
Administrators
contend they've been
good stewards of the
half-penny sales-tax
proceeds that the
public approved in
2002.
But that money, they
said, no longer
covers all of the
projects originally
planned, so they're
now supplementing
the budget with
money from other
sources.
"We're not misusing
any money," School
Board Chairwoman
Karen Ardaman said.
"We're using all
available capital
resources -- not
just sales-tax
money."
By filing the suit,
the home builders
group says it is
making the leaders
of the nation's
11th-largest school
district stick to
their promise to
build new schools
with voter-approved
money and relieve
crowding at existing
schools. However,
the group also hopes
to lower impact fees
they pay to the
school district,
fees that builders
typically tack
directly on to the
price of a new home.
District officials,
however, say the
suit attempts to
derail efforts to
improve dilapidated
campuses across
Orange County, and
is a thinly veiled
attempt to boost a
stagnant housing
industry.
"Clearly this is all
about shortchanging
the community to
subsidize a
special-interest
group, which in this
case is the home
builders," Ardaman
said.
Countered Tom Ross,
the home builders
attorney: "You know,
when you catch a
child with a hand in
the cookie jar, the
first thing they are
likely to do is
shift the blame and
the attention to
someone else. This
is not . . . about
impact fees. It is
and has been about
the School Board
being held
accountable" for the
promises it made.
A long-standing feud
The lawsuit, filed
in Circuit Court,
escalates a
long-standing feud
between the two
sides.
Developers and
school districts
rarely see
eye-to-eye on how to
raise money for new
schools. But in
Orange, the issue is
far more
complicated.
In 2002, voters
agreed to a
half-cent sales-tax
increase. In return,
the School Board
promised to renovate
136 new schools and
build 25 new ones
with the $2.2
billion it expected
to collect by the
end of 2015.
Over time, rising
construction costs,
hurricane losses,
minimum class-size
mandates and
declining sales-tax
collections all bit
into that budget,
School Board
Attorney Frank
Kruppenbacher said
Thursday.
The district scaled
back renovation
plans to cover 128
schools and boosted
the budget by using
impact fees, state
funds and by
borrowing. The 25
new schools promised
during the sales-tax
campaign are still
being built, Ardaman
said, but with other
money.
"We evaluated what
would be the most
efficient plan, and
that is what we
chose to help keep
our promise," she
said.
Ruling cheers both
sides
During that same
time, the district's
impact-fee formula
also came under
review. A panel made
up of county,
school-district and
home-builder
representatives
hashed out a new
impact-fee formula,
one that sharply
increased the rate
to $11,829 for a
single-family home,
up from $7,000.
Last fall,
representatives from
the home builders
questioned why they
didn't get credit
for those 25 new
schools on the
sales-tax list if
impact fees were
being used to pad
the budget. Both
sides asked Attorney
General Bill
McCollum for an
opinion on how the
sales-tax money
could be spent and
in which order the
schools could be
built.
McCollum's decision
last month cheered
both sides.
The School Board
banked on this line
in his ruling: " . .
. the school board
has flexibility to
work within the
terms of the plan as
it prioritizes the
use of these funds."
The home builders
group relied on
McCollum's finding
that district
officials cannot use
other sources of
money to "supplant"
the sales-tax funds.
'A right to
prioritize'
Ardaman said
Thursday that since
the sales-tax
program began, the
district has either
finished or is
working on 49
schools. Nineteen of
those are new
schools, though most
have been built with
a combination of
funding sources.
"We are
'supplementing,' not
'supplanting' that
budget," she said.
"And we have the
right to prioritize
our projects as we
see fit."
But Ross said those
figures are
disingenuous because
only one of those
new schools, Wekiva
High, was built
solely with
sales-tax money.
"The School Board
has no lawful
ability to disavow
their promise and to
use the funds in
manner different
from the way they
were directed to be
used by electorate
in the referendum,"
he said.
If the board
continues to use
impact fees for new
schools, developers
should get credit
for them, he said.
If a judge agrees,
Ross estimated that
impact fees could
drop by roughly
$2,000 per
single-family home.
"The bottom line is,
we feel like they
ought to keep
promises to
taxpayers," said Don
Wetherington,
president of the
home builders group.
Erika Hobbs can
be reached at
ehobbs@orlandosentinel.com
or 407-420-6226.
A better way to preserve land
Published Thursday, April 17,
2008 8:43 PM
During the past 19 years, Florida
has been engaged in the largest and
most ambitious land-buying program
in the nation. Begun during the
administration of Gov. Bob Martinez
as Preservation 2000 and continuing
today as Florida Forever, the
program has purchased more than
3-million acres of rural Florida
land for conservation to assure
future generations that open green
space remains in our rapidly
developing state and that the
environmental splendor of our
cherished heritage is retained.
As a fifth-generation Floridian
whose family traces its agricultural
roots to 1635, I take a back seat to
no one in my reverence for our rural
lands and the commitment to preserve
their character for my children and
future generations. From an
environmental standpoint, it is
critical. From an aesthetic vantage
point, it is vital. And from the
viewpoint of the quantity and
quality of our water supply, the
purity of the air we breathe and the
habitat of native wildlife and
plants, it is absolutely
indispensable.
As we move forward, however, some
tweaking of the program is
necessary. The 3.5-million acres
purchased by Florida, combined with
an additional 2-million acres
acquired by local water management
districts, means that 5.5-million
acres are under state or local
management and effectively have been
taken off the tax rolls. If you add
the nearly 3-million acres of land
in Florida owned and managed by the
federal government, you're talking
about 8.5-million acres in that
status.
If that weren't enough,
insufficient funding is dedicated to
managing the land we've acquired,
resulting in the desirable parcels
that we've set aside being inundated
by invasive plants and animals that
are inexorably destroying the local
fauna and flora and fundamentally
altering the character of the land
we're seeking to preserve.
So how do we move forward?
I believe that when the Florida
Legislature ultimately reauthorizes
spending under the Florida Forever
program, currently set at
$300-million a year, we need to set
aside a portion of the money to
purchase development rights to rural
property. Under that approach, at
least a portion of the desirable
land targeted for conservation could
remain in farming or ranching. For
parcels whose development rights the
state purchases, the land could
remain productive, taxes would be
paid, the purchasing power of those
working on the land would be
preserved, and the property would be
managed by its owner so its
essential character would remain
intact. At the same time, the state
would have a contract in hand
prohibiting the land owner from
developing the property.
While the price of purchasing the
development rights would be
negotiable, such purchases typically
run only 50 percent to 60 percent of
the cost to buy the land outright.
This is not a new idea, as
California, Georgia, New Jersey and
many other states have programs that
purchase development rights. It's
time that Florida considers
something similar.
After all, if our goal is to
protect desirable rural property
from development and maximize our
purchasing power, why not set aside
some of the funding for a program
that not only accomplishes that goal
but also keeps the land on the tax
rolls, keeps it productive and
requires the owner to maintain the
property in the condition that
attracted state land-buying managers
to it in the first place?
Charles Bronson is the Florida
commissioner of Agriculture and
Consumer Services
Forced To Give Up Condos
By SHANNON
BEHNKEN
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April
19, 2008
Updated: 12:11 am
TAMPA - Shane Mummery and dozens
of his neighbors are on the verge of
losing their homes - and they face
hefty losses on their investments.
They haven't missed mortgage
payments, and they don't want to
sell. But none of that matters.
Mummery and his neighbors own
units in a New Tampa complex that
failed as an
apartment-to-condominium conversion.
The 396 units in Portofino were put
on the market as condos in 2006, but
the developer sold just 31 of them.
Last July, an apartment management
company bought the rest of the
units. Now, that company wants to
terminate the condominium, buy out
the individual unit owners - at
today's lower market rate - and
convert the whole complex back to
apartments.
And, apparently, the condo owners
may have little say. A revised
Florida statute and provisions in
the original condominium declaration
make it easier for the developer to
force owners out.
What's happening at Portofino is
a new twist in the real estate
crisis sweeping the nation, but
experts say it's likely the
beginning of a trend in states such
as Florida, where more apartment
units sold as condos than in any
other state. Thousands of these
complexes have fizzled as
condominiums. Other companies
already are trying to terminate
various Florida complexes, real
estate attorneys say.
For Mummery, it doesn't seem
possible.
"It was my interpretation that
you buy property and no one has the
right to take it from you as long as
you make your payments," Mummery
said. "I can't imagine being told by
a court that you must sell, and you
must lose money."
Alan Pollack, an owner of the
company, Chicago-based Providence
Management Corp., said he
understands the owners' plight but
thinks it's in everybody's best
interest to turn Portofino back into
an apartment complex.
"We're not kicking anyone out of
their homes," Pollack said. "They
can live there forever, they just
have to rent."
Thousands Of Apartments Have
Reverted
In the Tampa Bay area, dozens of
converted apartment complexes are
half empty. Since 2004, nearly
29,000 apartments were converted to
condominium units in Hillsborough,
Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando
counties, according to New
York-based research firm Real
Capital Analytics. That's the third
highest of all metro areas in the
nation. Only the metro areas of
Miami-Palm Beach and Orlando have
more.
So far, 3,500 units in the Tampa
area have reverted to apartments,
according to the research firm.
Several of the conversion companies
have gone bankrupt or let complexes
fall into foreclosure. In many
cases, the people who purchased
units are living among a sea of
renters.
Donna Berger, a condominium
lawyer with Katzman & Korr in Fort
Lauderdale, said the Portofino
situation is an "unintended
consequence" of an amendment to a
Florida statute. The revision, she
said, was supposed to help owners
terminate a condominium more easily
in extreme cases, such as when a
hurricane destroys the complex or
makes it impossible to run it as a
condominium.
"This is the flip side of the
statute," Berger said. "I don't
think this is what legislators
intended. This definitely opens the
door for more condo conversions to
be terminated."
State law used to require 100
percent of condo unit owners to
approve before a condominium could
be terminated. The statute was
amended in July to require only 80
percent of the owners' approval,
unless 10 percent vote against
termination.
The 10 percent addition was
intended to protect condo owners
from developers swooping in and
taking over, said Gary Poliakoff, of
the Fort Lauderdale firm Becker &
Poliakoff. But in the case of
converted apartments that failed as
condominiums, he said, it's possible
for developers to acquire enough
units to force the termination.
At Portofino, the condominium
declaration states that once the
condominium is terminated, approving
owners can buy units from
disapproving owners at "fair market
value."
Now that the real estate market
is in steep decline, fair market
value means owners may be out tens
of thousands of dollars compared to
what they originally paid for their
units. When the condominium is
actually terminated, independent
appraisers and an arbitrator could
help determine the value.
Armed with the statute and the
condominium declaration, Pollack
said his company is following the
laws and exercising its rights.
Officials at Providence Management
knew about the statute and the
document's wording in July when they
purchased the 365 units for $120,000
apiece, Pollack said.
Providence Management has two
other projects in St. Petersburg,
but neither is similar to Portofino.
The company owns Lakeside Village
Apartments, which it is rehabbing,
and the former Plaza Fifth apartment
building. Pollack said it is doing
extensive rehabilitations and plans
to call the finished building
Skyline.
Pollack said he understands why
condo owners would be upset about
losing money but said everyone will
be better off in the long run if the
owners "cut their losses now."
"If only 10 percent of the units
are owned and everything else is
rental, how will anyone get anything
out of their investment?" he said.
The company plans to terminate
the condominium soon and is trying
to buy as many units now as
possible, he said. It has been
successful with three sales so far;
all three sold in January for
$127,000 each, according to the
Hillsborough County Property
Appraiser's Office. Condominiums at
Portofino originally sold for an
average of $150,000.
Owners Say They Will Lose
Thousands
For the past few months, Pollack
has contacted owners and made offers
by phone. Mummery said he was told
future offers on his one-bedroom
condo would be lower and that he
should sell now to get the most
money.
Mummery said he would lose at
least $16,000 on a sale to Pollack
and would likely go into
foreclosure.
Stanley Romanek said he paid
$175,000 for his unit in October
2006 and was told at the time that
the complex was nearly sold out. "I
bought at the peak of the market,"
he said. "I have a lot to lose."
Romanek said he hasn't been made a
concrete offer yet.
Jitendra Sutaria sold his unit to
Pollack's company in February and
said he lost $15,000 on the deal. He
said he felt intimidated and thought
the state statute and condominium
documents were stacked against him.
If he waited to sell, he said he
feared he would lose even more
money.
Raymond Burger, a Tampa lawyer
representing Mummery, said he thinks
forcing the Portofino owners to sell
is against their constitutional
rights.
"Just because something is
written in the condo declaration,
doesn't mean it's legal," he said.
The courts may work out any legal
issue, but for now, the statute
appears to allow what's happening at
Portofino, said Jon Peet, chief of
compliance for the Florida Division
of Land Sales, Condominium and
Mobile Homes.
Peet said he is aware of only one
other converted condominium in
circumstances similar to Portofino.
The developers of Eden
Condominiums in Boca Raton sold
condominium units in one of its four
buildings and planned to upgrade the
others. But now that the market has
changed, the developer wants to
convert the complex into an assisted
living facility, said Steven Platzek,
an attorney for several of the condo
owners.
The developer has made offers to
some unit owners, Platzek said, but
none have closed. Some of the owners
are upset the developer didn't
finish the project as planned.
He said he also thinks the
amended statute opens the door for
other condominiums to be terminated
by developers.
"The statute gives the developer
the opportunity to exploit their
position as the majority unit
owner," he said.
Pollack, of Providence
Management, said Portofino is the
company's first project to revert
condos back to apartments but said
it is actively scouting failed
conversions that would make good
investments. He said he thinks other
companies are looking, too.
The process of buying condominium
conversion is complicated, he said.
But if the company can buy now,
while the real estate market is
soft, it will pay off later when the
market rebounds.
"Some view these complexes as a
headache," Pollack said. "I view
them as opportunities."
Reporter Shannon
Behnken can be reached at
sbehnken@tampatrib.com or (813)
259-7804.
Code
Enforcement cites south Marion
asphalt pile
Neighbors of paver's pit seeing red
over the 'blacktop mountain.'
BY CHRISTOPHER
CURRY
STAR-BANNER
Published: Saturday, April 19,
2008 at 6:30 a.m.
BELLEVIEW - Lake Weir Heights
resident Wayne Hart knew he'd be
living next to a sand pit when
he moved here 18 years ago. He
says he had no problem with
that.
But Hart and some of his
neighbors were not prepared for
what's been going on at the pit
during the last few months.
"Welcome to blacktop
mountain," Hart says as he leads
the way into his backyard.
Past his fence line rises a
roughly 50-foot high hill of
asphalt millings, removed during
road construction projects.
Twice, Lake Weir Heights
residents have gone to the
Marion County Commission with
complaints of heavy dump trucks
rumbling in late at night to
drop off the asphalt, the sound
of their slamming tailgates
echoing in the darkness.
Hart said they're also
worried about potential for
groundwater contamination from
antifreeze and oil that has
leaked onto the asphalt over the
years. When it rains, run-off
from the asphalt hill flows down
into the sand pit, which is less
than 100 feet from where
neighbors have their drinking
wells, he said.
"Everyone's wells are along
here," Hart said. "Just prove to
us this won't hurt us or our
kids five to 10 years down the
road."
Inglis-based road
construction firm D.A.B.
Constructors Inc. purchased the
sand pit operation in September
2006 for $2 million. That was a
couple of weeks after the
Florida Department of
Transportation awarded the firm
the $23.9 million contract for
the County Road 484 extension.
Now, the 39.9-acre property has
become a staging area for that
road project, with the big
asphalt hill, concrete barriers
and fill dirt on site.
Jeff Prather, a spokesman for
the Department of Environmental
Protection's Orlando office,
said inspectors went to the site
and found it in compliance
because the asphalt millings
were only being stored
temporarily, not disposed of
there.
The Marion County Code
Enforcement Department has
issued a notice of violation
against D.A.B. At first the
department gave a mid-April
deadline to remove the asphalt
pile. But that was moved back to
May 5 because the department's
initial instructions to D.A.B.
were that the firm could apply
for a special use permit to
store the asphalt in the
agriculturally zoned property.
Code Enforcement Director Sam
Luckey said a subsequent
discussion with the Zoning
Department changed the county's
stance to say no asphalt storage
is allowed on agriculturally
zoned property. D.A.B now has a
May 5 deadline to remove the
asphalt or the case goes to the
Code Enforcement Board. Luckey
said if the code board upholds
the violation, it will issue a
new deadline for removal before
any fines start. He said the
length of the code enforcement
process may frustrate some, but
the county has to provide due
process.
D.A.B. lead attorney Joe Lott
said the company has a strong
legal case and the big pile of
asphalt poses no health risk. He
points to a 1998 study by the
University of Florida's Hinkley
Center for Solid and Hazardous
Waste Management aptly titled
"Leaching Characteristics of
Asphalt Road Waste."
That study concluded that the
levels of two types of toxic
substances seeping out of
asphalt piles - polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons and
volatile organic compounds -
were low enough to pose "minimal
risk." Timothy Townsend, the
lead researcher on the study,
said there were higher lead
concentrations in some samples
stripped from older roadways,
probably from leaks when cars
still used leaded gasoline.
Lott points to that study and
says D.A.B. considers the
asphalt millings the same as
clean fill for road projects.
"We are convinced - and we've
done the research - crossed the
t's and dotted the i's - there
is no environmental impact
there," Lott said. "But at the
same time, we may remove it just
to avoid the fight ... we have
no intention of leaving that
there permanently, but we feel
we could legally."
Christopher Curry may be
reached at
chris.curry@starbanner.com or
867-4115.
Developer offers land plus building
deal
By S.I. Rosenbaum, Times Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:51
PM
RIVERVIEW — A local developer who
offered up land for the Brandon
Advantage Center at a bargain price will
be first in line to design and build the
multi-million-dollar project, board
members say.
And he's named a projected cost
that's more than double the money raised
so far.
Last month, developer John Sullivan
approached the project's nonprofit board
with an offer: He'd sell them a
$4-million parcel of land at his
Winthrop development in Riverview for
only $750,000.
The board members were pleased. For
years, the Advantage Center — a planned
multi-purpose civic center — had been a
dream without a home.
"No one else has stepped up to the
plate" to offer land, board president
Miller Dowdy said.
Sullivan says the offer "has no
strings."
But Dowdy says there was a condition:
Sullivan would be the "preferred"
contractor on the project.
"Could I have brought in another
contractor? Sure," Dowdy said.
"But then, as part of the deal, we
would have had to pay fair market value
for the land."
Sullivan, however, said there was no
quid pro quo on the land deal.
"There's always the soft loyalties to
someone who stepped up and did
something, but that's the extent of it,"
he said. "If I donate my time and do
something, they will think of me first
when they do something."
The St. Petersburg Times
leases office space from Sullivan at
Winthrop Town Centre in Riverview
Both Sullivan and Dowdy stressed that
the board has not yet contracted with
Sullivan.
But the project hasn't been offered
to anyone else, and the board hasn't
solicited bids on the project-management
job, Dowdy said.
"When you have an offer in front of
you of $3- to $4-million (in savings on
the land price), it's very hard to say,
'Why don't you hold that and we'll see
if anyone else will offer us that kind
of money?' " he said.
Although the Advantage Center will be
funded in part by tax dollars, as a
private-public partnership, there's no
legal requirement for a competitive
bidding process, said Ben Wilcox,
executive director of the
government-accountability group Common
Cause Florida.
"I do feel that it's very difficult
to determine who's really benefiting
here," he said. "And as for the use of
public funds, whether that's being spent
in the most efficient and effective
ways, it's impossible to tell given the
nature of the deal that's been made."
Last month, there was a series of
public meetings to gather input from the
community about the center and to
explore the building's projected cost.
When they were done, one of his
estimators came up with the projected
price tag of $8.2-million.
So far, state Rep. Trey Traviesa,
R-Tampa, has secured only about
$3.4-million in state and federal
funding for the quasi-public project.
Organizers had hoped to raise private
donations to cover the rest.
Part of the reason for the higher
cost is that the Federal Emergency
Management Agency has increased its
requirements for hurricane shelters —
one of the Advantage Center's projected
uses.
For example, instead of requiring
shelters to withstand only 120 mph
winds, the agency now requires them to
withstand winds of 200 mph.
FEMA had promised $1.4-million in
funds before changing its standards but
has yet to increase the figure to match,
said Rachel Burgin, Traviesa's aide.
Similar projects across the state are
in a similar bind, Burgin said.
"There have been other centers that
said, 'Forget it, we're not having a
hurricane shelter,' and they found other
ways to fund it," she said.
Now, the center's planners are asking
the agency to increase the funding to
match the heightened standards, Dowdy
said.
"You can't change the standards on us
and then expect us to build with the old
dollars," he said.
"We have to come up, as a board, with
a way for each component of the center
to pay for itself."
Sullivan agreed.
"We're not looking at this as being a
major financial coup for us," he said.
"I don't know if you'd want to take
on a project that cost $8.2-million and
there's $3.4-million in the bank. Most
people wouldn't do that."
S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at
srosenbaum@sptimes.com or 661-2442.
Local Job Market
Worsening
By
TONY HOLT
Published: April 18,
2008
TALLAHASSEE -
TALLAHASSEE - The local
labor force has grown by
nearly 3,000 since 2006.
That has not
translated to a stronger
job market. In fact, the
opposite is true.
In spite of the spike
in the number of
work-eligible residents,
only 763 more people
have jobs today compared
to two years ago,
according to state data.
The unemployment rate
has soared from 4.1 to
7.0 percent, leaving
Hernando County with the
second highest
unemployment rate in the
state behind Flagler
County.
"It's really a
multiplying effect,"
said David Hamilton, of
Career Central. "It
spreads out. If one good
paying job is lost in
one area, there are two
or three more jobs under
it that are affected."
Hamilton further
explained it this way:
A home builder is
unemployed because of a
slumping housing market.
Brick masons, framers
and roofers who rely on
that industry also are
out of work. Before
long, there is a decline
in jobs among
manufacturers, lumber
companies, drivers and
home supply retailers.
If one sector is
suffering, it is
guaranteed to spread to
other areas, Hamilton
said.
The labor force in
Hernando County as of
last month was at
63,228. People 16 and
older who are working or
looking for work make up
the labor force,
Hamilton said. Full-time
students, stay-at-home
parents, people on
disability and retirees
are not included.
Out of that labor
force, 58,805 people had
jobs. That means 4,423,
or 7 percent, were
unemployed.
Only Flagler County,
located north of Daytona
Beach, had a higher
unemployment rate — 7.6,
according to figures
released by the state.
"It's certainly
disappointing to know
unemployment has
continued to rise," said
Deputy County
Administrator Larry
Jennings. "That
definitely makes us want
to diversify our economy
more, which is something
(we've) been talking
about for a while."
Florida's
unemployment rate was at
4.9 percent, a 0.3
percentage point
increase from the
previous month.
Its March 2008
unemployment rate is the
highest since February
2004.
Florida remains below
the national mark of 5.1
percent.
The Tampa
metropolitan area — the
second largest behind
Miami-Fort Lauderdale —
rose from 4.8 to 5.1
percent unemployment
from February to March.
More than 1.3 million
people make up the
region's labor force.
Hillsborough,
Pinellas, Hernando and
Pasco counties make up
the Tampa metropolitan
area.
Nineteen counties
have a higher
unemployment rate than
the national average and
34 are higher than the
state average, according
to the Florida Agency
for Workforce
Innovation.
Reporter
Tony Holt can be reached
at 352-544-5283 or
wholt@hernandotoday.com.
By Michael Pollick
Published Saturday, April
19, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Unemployment shot up in
Southwest Florida during
March, with rates rising
even faster than in the
state as a whole.
Charlotte County came close
to breaching the 7 percent
figure during March with the
third highest unemployment
rate in the state.
Both Sarasota County -- with
an unemployment rate of 5.5
percent last month -- and
Charlotte County were higher
than both the state and
national averages. Manatee
County's rate was 5.1
percent in March
The Agency for Workforce
Innovation reports that 4.9
percent of the state's labor
force was out of work in
March, the highest number
since February 2004.
Roughly 30,000 Florida
workers lost jobs in March,
most because of the
construction decline.
The construction industry
has lost more than 82,000
jobs in Florida in the last
year as the housing market
slowed.
The new figures mean about
452,000 people are
unemployed out of a work
force of about 9.2 million.
"The impact of the housing
meltdown continues to
adversely affect the state's
economy," said Sean Snaith,
director of the University
of Central Florida's
Institute for Economic
Competitiveness. "We can
expect more job reports like
this one over the next three
to six months."
The 6.9 percent figure for
Char- lotte County was
surpassed only by Hernando
County at 7 percent and
Flagler County at 7.8
percent. Charlotte's rate
was up from 6.5 percent in
February and 4 percent from
a year ago.
Charlotte, Sarasota and
Manatee had a combined
unemployment rate of 5.6
percent last month compared
with 5.3 percent in February
and 3.4 percent a year ago.
In the trenches in Southwest
Florida, the job hunt
picture is definitely grim.
Angela Stamper was trying to
get back into the job
market, working on her
resume in between making
phone calls from the Jobs
Etc. office at 3660 N.
Washington Blvd. in
Sarasota.
"I'm getting frustrated
already, and this is my
first day out," Stamper
said. "Where am I going to
live making $8 an hour?"
"You are finding that there
are a multitude of
candidates for each
position," said Lisa Pierce,
director of operations at
Ad-VANCE Personnel Services
in Manatee County. "It is
not uncommon for an
entry-level clerical
position to have 45
candidates."
One of the people she is
helping to keep employed is
Daniel Hoffman, an attorney
with a background in
employment law laid off by
the city of Venice about a
year ago.
Hoffman has not been able to
match his skills to a job
since then.
For the last few weeks, he
has been helping out at Big
Summer Gold Card, a golf
marketing company with
offices off Bee Ridge Road
in Sarasota.
"I am answering the phones,
inputting customer orders
and stuffing envelopes," he
said.
"Too many attorneys," said
Hoffman, sitting in his
cubicle, looking ready for
any corporation in his blue
blazer with gray slacks.
"This town is just crawling
with them."
He has a couple of
lawyer-type interviews
cooking, one with a county
elsewhere in Florida and
another in Seattle.
Meanwhile, "I am doing this
to pay the bills."
There were 22,135 unemployed
people in the region last
month, a 60 percent increase
from 13,891 in March 2007.
The region's total
employment has shrunk from
390,446 a year ago to
374,010, a 4.2 percent
decline.
Sarasota County's 5.5
percent unemployment in
March was the 16th highest
rate in the state. In
February, it stood at 5.2
percent and, a year ago, 3.4
percent.
Manatee County's 5.1 percent
unemployment rate was the
23rd highest of Florida's 67
counties with 5.1 percent.
That compared with 4.8
percent in February and 3.2
percent in March 2007.
All three counties had a
higher rate than the overall
state average, with both
Charlotte and Sarasota
exceeding the national rate
of 5.2 percent.
Going into the summer travel
season, hospitality and
leisure services stand out
as remaining sources of new
jobs in Florida, said Snaith,
the UCF economist.
"Leisure and tourism remain
one of the few bright spots
in Florida's economy," he
said. "But higher gas prices
and worsening conditions in
labor markets put this
sector in jeopardy, as
well."
R.J. Minton knows all about
hospitality. His R.J. and
Co. of the Gold Coast is a
one-man shop that hires
supplemental staffers for
catering and provides some
in-home work for bartenders
and servers.
Fundraising galas are the
main reason for the business
to exist in Sarasota, Minton
said.
While some of the parties he
is staffing are not inviting
as many people as they used
to, the business is holding
up fairly well, Minton said.
"There are plenty of
applicants," he said. "I
have had a much easier time
finding what new help I have
needed this year than I have
in the past. There are more
people looking for something
extra."
Starting pay for servers:
$10 to $12 per hour.
mřřs *
Dune plants destroyed
Contractor plans to replace vegetation
BY JOHN A. TORRES
FLORIDA TODAY
"Balsa" Bill Yerkes used to shore up
the dunes behind his house by placing
leftover Christmas trees on the sand and
letting Mother Nature do the rest.
Last year, he stopped a neighbor from
throwing out a dozen century plants so
he could plant them on the dune behind
his Satellite Beach surf shop. The
county joined in as well, planting sea
oats on the dune.
This week, Yerkes and his wife were
stunned to see most of the vegetation on
the dune destroyed by contractors hired
by the county to replenish those very
dunes.
"Vegetation is what prevents
erosion," Yerkes said, pointing to a
backhoe sitting atop the dune right by a
sign warning people to keep off the
dunes. "Without vegetation the rain
comes and washes all the sand away. A
good high tide can come up and take it
out as well.
"Why don't they just dump the sand in
the ocean now?" he added. "They're just
wasting taxpayer money."
In February, the county embarked on a
$3 million beach renourishment project
that was seen as a short-term fix. More
than $40 million has been spent since
the 2004 hurricanes to replace beach
sand. The project, slated for completion
by the May 1 turtle nesting season, will
have dumped 128,000 cubic yards of new
dune sand by then.
A recording with the Brevard County
Natural Resources Management Office says
"Care will be taken in placement of sand
in order to neither damage nor bury any
vegetation that has established itself
naturally or has been planted on the
dunes."
'Unfortunate'
Mike McGarry, beach project manager
with the county, called the incident an
"unfortunate necessity," explaining that
the contractor had no other way of
getting the sand on the beach without
destroying the existing vegetation.
"The contractor is replacing that
vegetation at his own expense," McGarry
said. "All that dune vegetation that was
placed there was part of the restoration
project. We try to impact it as little
as possible."
McGarry agreed that the root system
of the sea oats play a major part in
keeping the dunes together.
"It plays a very large part," he
said. "And the vegetation itself traps
wind-blown sand. That's why it will be
replaced."
This was not a problem during earlier
parts of the restoration done in the
South Beaches area, where the dunes were
basically nonexistent. Florida Fish and
Wildlife Commission biologist Allen
Foley said it's common sense that the
better vegetated a beach and dune are,
the less erosion will occur.
Nola Yerkes, Bill's wife, said
contractors assured her they would not
disturb the existing vegetation on the
dune. She could not understand the logic
of dumping sand without properly
reinforcing the dune.
"Last May, the rains came and washed
it all away," said Nola Yerkes, blaming
the lack of vegetation on the dune.
She was referring to the 2007 storms
that were blamed for sweeping $10
million worth of sand from Brevard's
beaches.
A grant from the Florida Department
of Environmental Protection is funding
between 40 and 50 percent of the
project. County dollars are covering the
rest.
A large-scale dredging project in
South Beaches would cost up to $62.5
million, according to the county's
coastal engineering consultant. So in
December, commissioners directed the
staff to look into setting up a beach
and shore preservation district that
would operate similar to the Sebastian
Inlet Taxing District.
Off-color?
Some have complained about the new
sand's coloring, which appears to be
more orange than white. The contractor,
CKA LLC of St. Cloud, has been using
sand from five regional borrow pits in
Brevard and Indian River counties.
McGarry said the sand is very good
beach quality and that the color will
change as it gets weathered and dries
out a little.
"It's checked every day," McGarry
said. "It's true that the material is
slightly darker than what's on the beach
but that's because it's wet. Once it
dries, it lightens up."
McGarry said all the samples taken
have met specifications of the quality
control plan approved by the state.
He said roughly 100 samples have been
checked so far and that everything has
met specification.
"People like to use the word dirt but
all the samples have met the state
standard for beach quality," he said.
"The county's standard is even stricter
and the samples have met that standard
as well."
Susan Valentine, a Floridana Beach
resident who has taken an active role in
pushing for beach restoration, said she
was pleased with the project so far.
She said the wet sand will eventually
change color.
"Twenty dump loads of wet sand are
going to stay wet for a while," she
said.
Foley with the Fish and Wildlife
Commission said different color sand
should not affect the ecology and the
upcoming sea turtle nesting season as
long as it is the same quality sand that
already is on the beach.
"The two important questions are
whether they can build the beach back up
in the way it was naturally and are they
good at determining if the sand is the
same quality," he said.
"Mistakes in either regard may change
things dramatically."
The Englewood Water District is ready
to design and lay sewer lines for nearly
10,000 homes and lots in East Englewood
now served by septic systems. Cost for
each parcel: roughly $9,000.
Talk about a political minefield.
This is not a done deal. Yet. But
something is probably going to happen.
On Thursday morning, the district's
board of supervisors voted to reopen
with Charlotte County negotiations that
were interrupted by Hurricane Charley
in 2004.
Wait a minute, you say. That area
lies outside the Englewood Water
District's service boundary and gets its
water from Charlotte County Utilities.
True, but there's a catch.
In 1989, the county ceded its
sewerage rights in East Englewood to a
private company called West Charlotte
Utilities. Five years later, when the
water district bought West Charlotte
Utilities, it also paid for those
rights, valued in 2004 at $8.3 million.
Since then, water district customers in
Englewood have borne the interest costs
of that investment with no way to recoup
their money. Now there's a way. District
administrator Rich Rollo says return of
an investment on sewers takes fewer than
10 years.
From an environmental standpoint,
sewering East Englewood makes sense.
While a good septic system works fine,
many, especially the older ones, do not.
And during torrential rains, even the
best systems fail, allowing waste water
to run into swales and drain into Lemon
Bay or the Myakka River.
With environmental regulation of
runoff getting tougher by the year,
sewers loom in the near future anyway.
The water district just wants its money,
which could lead to a number of
outcomes, depending on the negotiations.
Assuming it would be best for customers
to deal with one utility: the county
could simply pay the district $8.3
million and regain the sewer rights; the
district could give the county the
rights, then when the county installs
sewer lines, the district could charge
for the wholesale treatment; or the
district could buy the county's water
rights, valued at $12 million or so.
The latter option would improve the
drinking water for East Englewood, and
it would give residents voting rights
for the water district board, which is
elected. The idea is not too farfetched,
considering that the county already has
long-range plans to build a water
treatment plant in West County,
Commissioner Tom Moore said Thursday.
As Rollo mentioned, no matter who
extends the sewer lines, "it won't be
pleasant." No one appreciates paying
$9,000 in impact fees and $1,000 to hook
up to sewer lines, only to see their
water bills double. On the other hand,
the district has sewered most of
Englewood with no political bloodshed.
Maybe it can pull this off, too.
A multigenerational beacon for sweet
tooths
Published Friday, April 18, 2008 7:15 PM
HUDSON — The blueberries are slow to
ripen this year because of the cold
fronts that blew in this winter. But
they're coming. On each green and purple
cluster, there is usually at least one
big, fat, juicy blueberry. By the end of
this week or next, all the bushes at
Brenda's Berry Barn should be sweet and
ripe.
Brenda Short and her husband, Jerry,
started this farm in Hudson four years
ago as a retirement plan. They're both
now in their late 50s. Jerry still works
in maintenance for the county. They've
got a big red barn next to their fields,
where they can stand in the shade and
sell preserves, produce, crafts and
buckets for people to pick their own
berries.
On any given day, it's a
multi-generational affair: Brenda's
87-year-old mother, Margaret Fry,
sometimes works the register. She is
turning 88 next month and has survived
five bypasses and two battles with
cancer. She lost her husband, Carl,
three years ago. Carl was the nature
lover who taught his children and
grandchildren the names of trees and
plants. A few days before he died, he
was out in the blueberry fields, picking
weeds.
"I had never tasted a blueberry
before we started this," Margaret said
Friday in the barn. "Isn't that
something?"
And one of Brenda's 14 children is
bound to be there, usually with a child
of their own in tow. Brenda and Jerry
had three children and then adopted 11
more. Brenda, along with her mother, has
a deep belief in God. She isn't looking
to adopt more children, but if one came
to her, she wouldn't say no.
"If God sent me one," Brenda said,
her voice trailing off. All of her
children are grown and out of the house
now, but it doesn't seem lonely, because
they visit often.
Margaret's great-grandchildren call
her Grandma Great and she grins hearing
them say it.
"I have 26 grandchildren and
20-something great-grandchildren," she
said. "Can you believe that? And I love
every one of them."
The parking lot around the barn is
soft, deep sand that pillows around
tires, making the first turn into this
farm a different world for most of the
suburban moms and kids who come here to
pick blueberries.
"It's dirty here!" one little boy
whined as he got out of the car, walking
gingerly on the sand. His sister was
behind him, pointing out a chunk of
dirt.
"I think that's poo behind you!" she
said.
"Ewwww," the boy said. "Poo!"
But as they walked, bucket in hand,
into the field, their misgivings melted.
For most of the children, the bushes are
taller than them, and they can escape
into their imaginations.
"Blueberry heaven!" one girl kept
shouting. "I've found blueberry heaven!"
"Here is a yummy big one!" another
girl yelled. "Look how big it is!"
"Mom?" one girl said.
"Yes?"
"I've been eating a lot of
blueberries," she said.
Every few minutes, an adult voice
will shout children's names and the kids
will yell back, sticking their hands up
so they can be found. But mostly,
though, it's pretty quiet, people moving
slowly from bush to bush, picking the
berries, focused and feeling the breeze.
Erin Sullivan can be reached at
esullivan@sptimes.com or (813)
909-4609.
Smart Growth Includes Constraining
Density In Transitional Areas
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 13, 2008
It's always a
slippery slope when elected officials
consider development projects in rural
areas, but Pasco County officials face a
more arduous task in considering a
residential project proposed on
unincorporated land abutting Dade City.
The project, called Citrus Ridge, would
consist of 358 homes on 112 acres on the
north side of St. Joe Road, designated a
rural scenic road in the county's
comprehensive land use plan.
More importantly, the land is in a
transition area, adjacent to the Northeast
Pasco Rural Protection area, and that's
where the rubber hits the road.
As it stands, the proposed density -
three units an acre - is too high. It's
equivalent to the overall density of the
city, so it is inappropriate for the Dade
City transition area.
In a transition area of this type,
density should be lowered, not maintained.
It's that simple.
Dade City officials have correctly
recognized this planning principal - twice.
The first time occurred when the developers
submitted their original 450-home proposal,
floating it for annexation into the city.
City commissioners said no because the
density was too high, which was refreshing.
The city's second objection, which is
continuing, was raised after the county's
Development Review Committee expressed
concerns. That resulted in the developer
reducing the number of homes to 358. But as
city officials and residents maintain, that
density is still too high.
Their concerns shouldn't be ignored. For
starters, the county's own land use plan
requires that new projects in the transition
area be evaluated with the rural protection
plan in mind - including "harmonious and
appropriate transitioning of residential
land uses."
In addition, comprehensive plan
amendments that would increase densities in
the transition area "shall be held to the
same standards of ensuring compatibility"
with the rural protection area, the plan
states. This should ensure that citylike
densities don't ruin the character of rural
areas or result in sprawl.
City officials also have a legitimate
concern about the impact to St. Joe Road,
which has two lanes. Part of the road - at
21st Street, an extremely tricky
intersection - is already congested, and
allowing such high-density development will
only make matters worse.
Without question, Dade City will bear the
brunt of Citrus Ridge. The tract adjoins
property in the city to the west, northwest
and southeast. Nearby homes are on minimum
half-acre lots, and homes in a new
subdivision will have lots no smaller than
that size, too.
Citrus Ridge would surpass that density.
County officials should be good neighbors
and acquiesce to the city's issues.
County and city officials also would be
wise to get together with the developer to
resurrect the possibility of annexing the
land into the city - with a lower density,
of course. The land is essentially an
enclave, and it would make better sense if
it was included in the city, especially
considering that the land directly west
already has been annexed.
The developers do deserve some credit,
not only for reducing the proposed number of
homes the first time but also for recently
pulling back on the project in order to meet
further with local officials and residents
to gain support. It appears they're trying
to be good neighbors.
But eventually, the final decision will
rest with county commissioners, not the
developers. Commissioners need to understand
a transitional area for what it is and
lessen the impact on Dade City and the
Northeast Pasco Rural Protection area by
ordering a further reduction in density.
Did appraisers juice Florida real-estate
market?
SPECIAL REPORT: Under pressure, some set
home values higher
Mary Shanklin and Vicki McClure
Sentinel Staff Writers
April 13, 2008
Almost every street has one: a vacant
house that sold a couple of years ago
for a jaw-dropping price. It could be
another example of appraiser-inflation
during the overheated housing market,
which saw property values soar tens of
thousands of dollars with each sale.
Appraisers so commonly pumped up house
values to meet demands of developers,
real-estate agents and lenders that
complaints against them tripled in
Florida in recent years -- the largest
complaint increase for any profession
regulated by the state.
Frank Gregoire, former chairman of the
Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board,
said most appraisers are honest but some
succumb to pressure from lenders who
want higher appraisals.
"I'm not alone. Plenty of appraisers
want a light shined on this," said
Gregoire, who owns an appraisal company
in Pinellas County and is campaigning to
become Pinellas property appraiser.
"Consumers need to know about what they
are buying and the devastating effects
of this on their neighborhoods."
Ninety percent of appraisers reported
last year that they felt pressured to
adjust property values -- up from 55
percent in 2006, according to a
nationwide survey of 1,200 appraisers by
October Research Inc. The pressure came
primarily from mortgage brokers but also
from real-estate agents and brokers.
High appraisals lead to buyers
overpaying, and that often leads to
foreclosure. And inflated values ripple
through neighborhoods, driving up
property taxes and leaving abandoned
houses behind. Metro Orlando ranked in
the top 25 for foreclosures among 229
metropolitan areas, a recent RealtyTrac
study found.
Some appraisals highlighted by
regulators and local officials:
*Appraisers reported that Lancelot
condos near Winter Park were hundreds of
square feet larger than their actual
size.
*One appraiser certified he had
inspected homes throughout Central
Florida even though he was in North
Carolina.
*In Oviedo, a number of appraisers said
Lakeside Villas condos were worth sales
prices of about $240,000, though the
price included about $40,000 of buyer
incentives.
Inflated appraisals have led to mortgage
fraud throughout Florida, according to
the FBI.
"The appraiser is the key," said federal
agent agent Norm Meadows, based in
Tampa. "They are the professional who
gives the number that everyone really
relies on. That's the key to the fraud."
Experts estimate that about a third of
homes nationally are overvalued by at
least 15 percent because of fraudulent
appraisals, and those numbers are likely
substantially higher in Florida.
No unflattering photos
The story of a California nurse's
purchase of a Florida home illustrates
key factors with high appraisals:
Lenders pressure appraisers for high
values, and buyers want appraisals high
enough to exceed the price so they can
qualify for a mortgage and feel as if
they got a deal.
Though buyers pay for appraisers, they
often let the mortgage brokers select
them. Mortgage and real-estate brokers,
appraisal-management companies and banks
usually choose the appraiser.
"The manner that they use to game the
system now is either mass faxes or mass
e-mails," Gregoire said. "Loan
originators around the country will send
out a notice: 'We're going to do a loan
. . . can you get me $500,000? If you
can . . . you'll get the assignment."
One "blast" message sent in December
2006 offered Gregoire and others $350
for an appraisal of a St. Petersburg
house. It cautioned appraisers about
photographing the house: "Photos CANNOT
contain pictures of any person OR
UNFINISHED/CONSTRUCTION/DAMAGE
PICTURES!!!"
Repeated calls to the company and the
broker for comment went unanswered.
Cheryl Oliphant of Santa Monica, Calif.,
bought a house that lenders shopped to
appraisers as being worth $550,000. The
registered nurse now thinks the
appraisal was inflated.
A novice real-estate investor, Oliphant
said she used her retirement savings and
bought at the top of the market,
thinking she had a great deal and
instant equity in the house because it
appraised for $50,000 more than the
$450,000 sales price.
"The appraisal was wishful thinking,"
said Oliphant, who could not provide the
appraiser's name. "I became a little
suspicious later when I went to
refinance and the next appraiser was
having a hard time finding the value."
Oliphant has been trying to sell the
house at a $100,000 loss and plans to
file for bankruptcy, losing her $50,000
down payment. She said she might
ultimately have to abandon that house
and four others she bought in Florida.
Complaints against appraisers still
number in the hundreds, but the steep
increase shows a growing awareness of
the role they played in inflating the
housing bubble. The reasons behind the
complaints vary, but appraisers often
cite pressure from mortgage brokers.
Appraisal professionals generally earn
$200 to $500 for preparing reports and
usually do not get a premium for
accepting conditional assignments,
Gregoire said. Though that might seem
like a small fee in exchange for
compromising the integrity of an
appraisal, it can help pay the bills, he
said.
"When you're looking at the prospect of
not being able to pay your electric
bill, when you don't have any groceries,
when you're saying to yourself, 'I've
got bills to pay,' " the longtime
appraiser said, "some of them succumb."
Matt Smith, managing editor for Real
Estate Technology News, said pressure on
appraisers to restate values is nothing
new. "But it's been escalating to
alarming levels in recent years," he
said. "It's the only profession I know
of where the better you are at doing
your job, the more training you have and
the more ethical and honest you are, the
more you are punished with fewer
assignments and blacklisting."
John Mechem, spokesman for the Mortgage
Bankers Association, said lenders want
legitimate appraisals because they are
left with the property when buyers lose
homes in foreclosure. In addition,
lenders are contractually obligated to
investors to get objective property
appraisals.
"We believe that appraisers should be
free of pressure from brokers, lenders
or real-estate agents, and that
appraisers have an obligation to both
the lender and the borrower not to
succumb to such pressure," Mechem said.
Officials with the American Society of
Appraisers say that although loan
underwriters are left with bad loans
when appraisals overstate values, higher
sales prices also mean more fees for
mortgage brokers.
Some appraisers say the criticism is
unfounded.
"The funny thing is, and I used to teach
appraisal, what is the definition of
market value? It's the value reached by
a willing buyer and a willing seller in
a free and open market," said James
Studeman. The former appraiser lost his
license in September for stating he had
inspected homes throughout Central
Florida even though he was in North
Carolina. He said he relied on detailed
photos from his trainees.
New homes prone
Homes most prone to appraisal abuse are
condo conversions, new homes and rural
properties because there are few
comparisons.
In new subdivisions and condominiums,
developers need at least one or two
appraisers to set a pattern of high
values for the first few sales because
subsequent appraisals will use the
initial sales as comparables, said Ellen
Wilcox, special agent for the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement.
"Once a couple sell at that higher
price, then you've established a value
for that subdivision, and it hurts
anyone who buys in that subdivision,"
Wilcox said.
On custom and rural homes, appraisers
can more easily pad the value, with few
homes to compare. Adam Sleap, president
of Florida Realty Investors, said he
shies from buying those homes because
the appraisals are less reliable.
"There is no question that appraisers
who are unethical made some
contributions to the drive-up in
prices," Sleap said. "It also it
contributed to the drive-up in prices of
houses that were more unique, more
custom."
In a case resolved by the state in 2006,
Winter Park appraiser Cecil Wright
compared a custom home on 5 acres in a
rural area of southeastOrange
County to homes more than 10 miles
away. Unlike the home being appraised,
most comparison homes were on a lake or
golf course. One was 16 miles away on
Genius Drive in Winter Park's exclusive
Windsong community.
Two subsequent appraisers said the house
was worth about half the $800,000 value
that Wright had figured. He would not
comment but told state investigators
that comparable homes used by other
appraisers were not valid because the
home he appraised was of superior
quality. The state Real Estate Appraisal
Board fined him $2,250 and suspended his
license for a month.
Cheap commodity
Florida regulators have been overwhelmed
with complaints, so unethical appraisers
have continued operating for years
without sanction, and the state has
violated federal oversight standards.
Complaints against appraisers rose so
much -- tripling from 220 to 680 in just
three years -- that the state Department
of Business and Professional Regulation
failed to meet federal standards for
resolving public complaints in a timely
manner, according to the Appraisal
Subcommittee of the Federal Financial
Institutions Examination Council.
Currently the state real-estate and
appraisal boards share 29 investigators;
the Legislature added two positions last
year.
From a third to half of the public's
complaints against appraisers went
unresolved for more than a year,
according to records from the
federal-review panel. Though the state
has continued to tackle the backlog, the
state Real Estate Appraisal Board still
had four dozen cases that were at least
a year old as of December.
Gregoire said it's unfortunate that
unethical appraisers keep working while
the state catches up. Some states
suspend someone's license in an
emergency.
The "vast majority are honest and
hardworking, and they would like to
eliminate the riffraff and run them out
of the profession," he said.
Unfortunately, he added, loan
originators sometimes keep shopping
until they find someone who will give
them the price they want.
Mary Shanklin can be reached at
407-420-5538 or
mshanklin@orlandosentinel.com. Vicki
McClure can be reached at 407-420-5540
or vmcclure@orlandosentinel.com.
Mike Thomas
COMMENTARY
April 13, 2008
I discovered Montverde 20 years ago on
our bike races through rural Lake
County.
It had the only convenience store for
miles, so we always stopped. The town's
most notable features were the one
blinking light, the boarding-school
academy and neighboring Lake Apopka.
It was here that Ginn Resorts announced
plans to build Bella Collina, an
exclusive lakefront development to rival
Isleworth in prestige and cost. Mansions
would line the soupy, polluted lake,
with the lots alone costing $1 million
to $2 million.
I knew then that the real-estate market
had tipped into insanity. This was
orders of magnitude crazier than the
downtown-condo craze.
I wouldn't have bought a lot on Lake
Apopka if you threw in a Ford F-250 and
offered to strap down the trailer. Yet
investors fell from the skies, almost
like the birds that once plunged into
the lake after eating fish contaminated
with farm chemicals.
During its first sales event in April
2004, Ginn reportedly broke a
real-estate record by selling nearly 400
home sites for $174 million.
Most all sales were to investors. Some
flipped for quick profits, adding more
bubbles to the froth.
A lot that sold for $277,900 in June
2004 sold for $900,000 in June 2005.
A lot that sold for $449,000 in June
2004 sold for $1,490,000 in June 2005.
Maybe it was the artist renderings of
the Italian motif, or the Nick Faldo
golf course.
Maybe it was the irresistible marketing
pitch, like this description of Lake
Apopka: "Its waters offer miles of
scenic beauty and unlimited recreational
opportunities. Peaceful days of fishing
and quiet mornings spent gazing at light
dancing on the water's surface are
balanced with afternoons of water skiing
and evenings of pleasure cruises."
Gator bait
Given the size of alligators in Lake
Apopka and neighboring Lake Siena, I'd
take my chances drinking the water
before skiing in it. This makes one of
the Web-site pictures all the more
amusing: three lovely children sitting
lakeside midst the bulrushes. Two words:
gator bait.
The ultimate problem with such ventures
is that after the frenzy subsides, you
need people who actually intend to live
in the development at the going price.
As of yet, there don't seem to be many
takers. So buyers who paid a fortune for
lots based on the assumption that
someone would pay them an even bigger
fortune are stuck. One good indicator is
that the Lake County Office of the Tax
Collector reports that 2007 taxes have
yet to be paid on 309 of the 823 lots.
Many investors are bailing out, some
simply handing their lots over to the
lenders foolish enough to loan them
money. The two lots I referred to
earlier in this column are both owned by
the banks now. Property records show
real-estate transactions this year are
dominated by bank takeovers.
How can lenders, supposedly
sophisticated in the arena of real
estate, loan speculators $1.5 million to
buy flipped Lake Apopka lots out in the
boondocks?
Don't they have a common-sense
department that reviews this stuff?
At best, what we have here are a bunch
of buyers, appraisers and lenders
smoking something stronger than I ever
experienced at the University of
Florida.
Built on speculation
There are 20 to 30 mansions under
construction or complete at Bella
Collina. Reportedly, one or two are
occupied. Most were built on speculation
or were bought by investors. I've
counted about 15 listed for sale for
prices ranging up to $9.7 million.
They are not selling. One is offered for
rent at $18,000 a month.
Naturally, some buyers are suing Ginn.
Ginn says it can't be responsible for
investor losses in a down market.
It's not as if the developer has left
town on a midnight train. There are
guards at the shack. The new golf
clubhouse looks nice, if not lonely,
sitting on top of one of Montverde's
many hills.
Maybe this place just needs to wait for
the next boom before booming. If true,
that would make now a good buying
opportunity. A real-estate agent told me
he has a lot listed for $358,000 that
once sold for $1.3 million.
So far there are no takers.
Mike Thomas can be reached at
mthomas@orlandosentinel.com or
407-420-5525.
Deep water challenges
Residents from the area
enjoy the Ichetucknee
Springs on Saturday. Springs
across Florida continue to
be a popular recreational
destination for those hoping
to cool off during the
blistering heat of summer.
There currently are two
bills up for a vote before
the State Senate that could
assess and protect the
health of Florida’s springs.
TROY ROBERTS/Lake City
Reporter
Historically, legislature slow to act
when springs preservation discussed
Invasive and non-indigenous plants are
invading the state’s springs and rivers,
fed by nearly 300 tons of nitrates from
leaking septic systems and runoff from
the excessive use of lawn fertilizers,
according to experts.
For more than a decade, concerned
citizens have banded together in an
attempt to get legislation passed that
would help protect Florida’s springs and
rivers before the life within them
disappears — and along with it, much of
our quality drinking water.
Each attempt at a legislative solution
has been thwarted by lobbyists for two
powerful groups, developers and
agricultural interests.
In an attempt to turn the tide, Sen.
Burt Saunders, R-Naples, this year
introduced a bill to do just that —
protect a few of Florida’s springs — and
hopefully generate awareness that would
lead to the protection of other
endangered freshwater treasures.
Saunders, chairman of the Senate
Environmental Preservation and
Conservation Committee, favors a pilot
program that targets only two of
Florida’s 33 first magnitude springs.
First magnitude springs are springs that
produce more than 64 million gallons of
freshwater daily. The state is home to
more than 700 total springs.
Saunders’ bill would focus on Silver
Springs near Ocala and Rainbow Springs
near Dunnellon, both in Marion County.
The bill creates a task force that would
work to formulate a successful process
for springs protection that could be
replicated
throughout the state.
“The reason I picked Marion County is
because they have made a major effort to
protect the springs within their
county,” Saunders said. “I was trying to
find a way to assist them legislatively
in their efforts.”
Some oppose the bill because it sets a
minimum nitrate level in the springs and
this could cost builders money by
forcing them to switch to a more
expensive septic tank that reduces the
amount of nitrates that seep into the
ground and eventually into the aquifer.
“The Saunders bill would turn
rule-making authority over to the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection and allow the agency to go to
the other springs. It’s concerning to me
because we need to have a balance,” said
Rep. Will Kendrick, D-Carrabelle.
“I’m not comfortable with our springs in
the hands of a regulatory agency with
little communication with the
agriculture community.”
However, in an attempt to get a springs
protection bill through the legislature
this year, Rep. Debbie Boyd, D-Newberry,
has filed HB 31 that she believes would
at least get the process moving in the
right direction.
Boyd’s bill also would create a
nine-member task force to collect and
inventory all existing data from past
task forces and other groups and also to
compile a list of existing best
management practices to help protect the
springs.
“When addressing land-use regulations,
it should be based on good science,”
Boyd said.
Many believe that good science already
exists.
“Whatever plan comes up, agriculture and
developers will oppose it,” said Jim
Stevenson, coordinator of the
Ichetucknee Springs Basin Working Group.
“They’ve been involved in opposing
previous bills.”
Stevenson said in 1999, a Florida
springs task force was organized by the
Florida Department of Environmental
Protection.
“I chaired that task force, and our task
at that time was to determine the status
of Florida’s springs and recommend
action for the protection of those
springs,” he said. “We came out with a
report in 2000 that included 100
recommendations. It was a very
productive task force.”
Stevenson said that the action taken on
many of those recommendations are still
with us today.
“We did a lot of educational projects,
the DOT (Department of Transportation)
put up Ichetucknee springs basin signs
along roadways, and printed educational
brochures such as ‘Let’s protect
Ichetucknee Springs.’ We had a video
produced called ‘Water’s Journey, Hidden
Rivers’ and put up outdoor exhibits at
Alligator Lake, Cannon Sink and Rose
Sink,” he said.
In addition to those projects, which
represent a small example of the work
that was accomplished from 1999 to
today, nitrogen-reducing septic tanks
are now replacing the older, nitrate
leaking septic tanks within Ichetucknee
Park.
Legislative solutions have eluded voters
in the past, but Boyd believes her bill
has a good chance of passing this year.
“For several years we’ve tried to help
Rep. Boyd and before her, Dwight Stansel,
with springs protection legislation,”
Kendrick said from Tallahassee, where
the legislature is currently in session.
“I don’t see any reason why Boyd’s bill
wouldn’t pass.”
In recent years, the public’s mood has
changed and support is growing for
springs protection within the state as
evidenced by local groups committed to
keeping Florida’s drinking water clean.
“There is a feeling that none of these
bills have much teeth, and we’re not
quite sure that we will have springs
protection,” said Fort White’s Loye
Barnard, a board member of Save Our
Suwannee. “Opposition will be hard to
overcome. The best management practices
for agriculture are self-regulating, but
a lot of farmers are realizing the
importance of protecting the springs and
aquifer.”
Other groups feel let down that a
springs protection bill has never become
law.
“My feeling is as far as the task force
is concerned, that we’re going to study
the springs to death — it’s time to take
action,” said Carolyn Baker, a member of
Our Santa Fe River environmental group.
“Everybody really likes the idea of
springs protection, but when you start
picking on the worst polluters, that’s
when the fear factor comes in, and the
bill usually dies,” said Annette Long,
president of Save Our Suwannee. “Every
bill that I have followed has failed to
make it out of committee.”
The protection of Florida’s springs
should continue to garner support from
its residents as long as there are
groups willing to show up at meetings
and ask the tough questions.
“Instead of studying the springs some
more — we know what the problems are for
at least five or six of those 33 springs
from previous studies — let’s stop the
bleeding and save Florida’s springs,”
Long said.
Nothing less than the future of
Florida’s drinking water is at stake
according to the organizations who have
taken it upon themselves to be the
watchdog of our environment.
“In formulating this bill everyone had
input and it was recognized that it was
a humble beginning, a first step that
will look at both regulatory and
non-regulatory methods to help protect
the springs in Florida,” Boyd said, as
she explained the details.
In the town of
Duette, neighbors say, 'Yes in my backyard'
By CHRISTOPHER O'DONNELL
Published Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 4:30
a.m.
DUETTE — Driving his pickup truck along
dusty Bill Parrish Road, Pat Carlton slows
down when he spots a tractor tilling dark,
loamy earth.
"Man, that's pretty," he said. "When you
get it on your hands and you can't get it
off, it gives me the fever to farm."
Five generations of Carlton's family have
lived in Duette. A long dust-and-shell road
that winds north through Duette is named
after his family.
So to an outsider, it may seem odd that
Carlton and many others in Duette support a
proposed mine expansion in the area that
will destroy pristine scrubland and 400
acres of thriving wetlands.
And yet, Duette residents in general back
the plan by mining giant Mosaic to mine
2,000 more acres of land known as the
Altman Tract.
The Manatee County Commission will
consider the expansion at a special meeting
Monday; county staffers are recommending
denial of the plan.
Some Duette locals feel like the
community, about 30 miles northeast of
Bradenton, is already the dumping ground for
Manatee County.
For example, when commissioners recently
dismissed a request by a developer to build
a landfill near Port Manatee on the county's
northwest side, several commissioners
suggested they look to put the dump in
Duette instead.
Th*at, along with a long-held perception
that Duette residents pay taxes that are
mainly spent elsewhere, has left many
feeling that Mosaic does more for them than
their own county does.
That sentiment was solidified when
Mosaic, the world's largest phosphate mining
company and a major local employer, offered
to build Duette a new fire station and park
if the mine expansion gets approved.
Disgruntlement has led community members
to put forward a candidate for the county
commission to represent them.
The residents' support for mining and the
expansion plans are rooted in the
community's history and its people, many of
whom see the land as a tool to be used more
for gain than for admiration
or preservation.
A proud community
It was families like the Carlton's that
created Duette, turning rugged land into
crop fields, citrus groves and pasture
for cattle.
In the early 1970s, the community changed
when mining companies began buying vast
tracts of farmland laden with phosphate used
in fertilizer.
Today, farmland and mines stand side by
side. The dust that blows across the
community in dry weather could be from mined
earth or fallow fields.
About 800 people live in the 136 square
miles covered by the Duette Fire District.
The homes are so far apart, locals load up
their pickups with candy and park at the Dry
Prairie Baptist Church so children can go
trick-or-treating on Halloween.
The community is easily missed by
truckers that hurtle through it on State
Road 62. There are two small churches, two
convenience stores and a pole-barn fire
station staffed by volunteers. One point of
pride is Duette Elementary, famed for being
the last one-classroom schoolhouse
in Florida.
No road signs acknowledge the community
save for a wooden hand-painted welcome sign
erected by the local 4-H club.
The community's remoteness and
understated personality have bred a fierce
self-reliance. Farmers lend one another
equipment, labor and time. The Southern
custom of bringing cooked meals to sick
neighbors is still alive here.
"I have come to love that close-knit
community feeling," said Felicia Tappan,
president of the Duette Civic Association
who was raised in the suburbs of St.
Petersburg. "How can you live next to people
and not get to know them?"
But Duette is changing.
Its cheap land brought an influx of
people who fled city life and deed
restrictions or came to pursue
long-held dreams.
Larry Woodham, a 61-year-old former
Winn-Dixie product manager who lived in
Tampa and Bradenton, bought and cleared a
23-acre site and started a vineyard seven
years ago.
Now, he grows six varieties of muscadine
grapes. His summer crop averages about
17,000 pounds of grapes. In autumn, when the
vines produce again, they will probably
yield another 9,000.
During the day, people come to pick their
own grapes and enjoy the scenery. At dusk,
he watches deer nibble on the fruit, a sight
he could never see in the urban landscape
where he used to live.
Also fed up with the bustle of Bradenton,
Carroll and Kim Young moved to Duette seven
years ago, buying a six-acre plot that can
only be reached by a mile-long muddy road.
A 6-foot high sign reading "Tortuga Inn"
from Anna Maria Island that was going to be
discarded marks the entrance, along with a
neatly arranged pile of about 50 paint and
varnish cans.
The worn path that leads up to their
house is lined by decorative wooden posts
with thick rope strung between them that
would not look out of place on the grounds
of a museum.
The Youngs keep horses, ducks and white
turkeys. Their 9-year-old granddaughter,
Katelyn, has the run of their land in her
pink golf cart.
Carroll Young had always promised his
wife he would buy her an island if they ever
won the lottery. Tired of waiting, he dug
and filled a 5-foot-deep moat, creating a
60-foot island in one corner of their land.
The island is reached by a wooden bridge.
The Youngs have bonfires on the island,
roasting weenies.
"I love it out here," Kim Young said.
Newcomers to Duette are made welcome, and
allowed to re-invent themselves as they see
fit. But those who complain about mining or
farming are quickly rebuffed.
The long-timers find it hard to warm to
anyone who comes to such a remote, rugged
area and expects to find the amenities and
polish of the suburbs.
"A lot of people come out here because
they want to live in the country but they
want town comforts," Carlton said. "They
don't want to smell cow poop or fertilizer
on the ground. They've got to understand
country is different."
Freedom at a price
But the privacy and open-space that
Duette residents value comes with a price.
The nearest grocery store is about 20
miles away in Parrish.
Their post office is in Bowling Green,
almost 25 miles away. The Hardee County ZIP
code they must use is a major source of
irritation for residents, who would prefer
to pick up their mail in Parrish.
It also causes health insurance companies
to assign residents to doctors 50 miles away
in Sebring, when there are closer practices
in Manatee.
When refrigerators and other appliances
break down, residents face a long wait for
repairmen to be dispatched from Lakeland,
where a Sears is located.
"If you want it fixed right away you have
to put it on the back of a truck and take it
somewhere," Tappan said.
Duette's remoteness brings a host of
other problems. There is no county water,
sewer or cable. Most residents get their
high-speed Internet connection through
satellite dishes or cell-phone lines. The
service is expensive and does not work well
in rain or fog.
Parents face long trips to get children
access to swimming pools and other
recreational facilities. The school bus ride
for students takes more than an hour.
It is Duette's isolated location and
small population that make it suitable for
large mines. But the real lure, however, is
what lies beneath the soil.
Living in Bone Valley
Duette's landscape was shaped millions of
years ago when retreating seas left behind a
layer of marine creatures and
ocean sediments.
The result was Bone Valley, an
phosphate-rich area that includes parts of
Hardee, Hillsborough, Polk and
Manatee counties.
The seam of phosphate lies about 25 feet
to 40 feet below the surface. The only way
to extract it is to tear up the land.
Duette lies on the southeast corner of
Mosaic's huge Four Corners mine -- named
because it straddles the boundaries of
Manatee, Hillsborough, Polk and Hardee
counties. The 60,000-acre mine, which
employs 500, produces an average of about 7
million tons of phosphate per year.
Tall draglines with booms as long as a
football field propel a bucket the size of a
garage into the ground. The thud can be
heard and felt by residents far from the
site. Illuminated by huge lights, mining
continues all night.
"It was like Yankee Stadium," said John
Korvick, who moved to Duette to start an
organic fish farm. "It sounds like a car
crash when the draglines hit. Everyone's dog
barks; there's sand everywhere."
But what sounds like the ultimate
not-in-my-backyard horror show produces only
a handful of complaints. Few in the
community of farmers question the need for
more fertilizer.
"When Lakewood Ranch stops fertilizing
their grass, we can stop mining," said
Tappan, who is running for a seat on the
Manatee County Commission.
Mosaic works hard to keep the support it
has in Duette. While the Manatee County
School District has tried several times to
close Duette Elementary, Mosaic regularly
donates money and materials to the school.
If a resident's well runs dry, the company
pays for a deeper well to be dug.
"The phosphate companies take good care
of us; the county doesn't," said resident
Linda O'Connor, whose husband worked 25
years with IMC Agrico, the phosphate company
that merged with Cargill to form Mosaic.
For more than seven years, Mosaic
spokeswoman Diana Youmans has been the
company's representative in Duette.
She regularly attends community meetings
and chats with locals like an old friend. At
fund-raising events like pie auctions and
fish fries, she buys a pie or fish plate.
"I do it because these people are friends
of mine," Youmans said.
"They're committed to things that are the
most important to their community. I think
they are used to pulling together to address
issues and things that they want to see
happen to their community."
But Mosaic is not always seen as a
friendly company.
Environmentalists oppose the damage the
mine expansion and other Mosaic activities
cause. And beyond that, some critics of the
expansion plan say the company is trying to
buy off the Duette residents with the offer
of the park and fire station.
Mosaic pays $1.72 to the state for every
ton of phosphate it takes out of the ground.
This is known as severance tax. The state
has returned $7 million of it to Manatee
County since 2000. By law, the county can
only use the money for employees or programs
related to mining.
About $5 million of the fund is unspent.
The money may be needed to pay for future
monitoring of reclaimed land and in case of
mining-related litigation, county
officials said.
But Duette residents say the money should
be spent in their town, where mining occurs.
One project, they say, could turn reclaimed
land into a community park, similar to what
Mosaic is promising if it gets a permit for
the mine expansion.
"It's taking an outsider like Mosaic to
do it," Tappan said. "The county can't do it
because they don't have the funds, because
they're spending it in other places."
State cuts could
erode gains made in the classroom
TALLAHASSEE — Just as Florida's public
school system — long ranked among the worst
in the nation — has begun to show marked
improvement, a series of state budget cuts
threaten to derail that progress,
particularly for students and schools
already struggling to keep pace.
For the first time in more than 30 years,
the amount Florida pays to educate each
student is expected to drop.
Also looming ominously for schools is a
question likely to be placed on the November
ballot that would eliminate the main funding
source for education --
property taxes -- leaving the state's
education system with no
guaranteed replacement.
Many school districts, including those in
Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties,
plan reductions in programs that have been
linked to improvement.
For example, the Department of Education
last year cited Florida among the top five
states for learning gains among Latino and
black students. Now, districts are cutting
reading tutors, guidance counselors and
other staff that educators say are vital to
helping students at risk.
"My fear is that we were on our way to
doing some great things, and now, it could
be that we're facing our first real downturn
in public education," said Andy Ford,
president of the state's main
teachers union.
Legislators disagree. They ignored a plan
by Gov. Charlie Crist to use state reserve
funds to make up for the cuts and actually
increase school funding next year.
House and Senate education leaders stood
side by side with a tax watch group in the
capitol to talk about how schools could make
the cuts without affecting classroom
learning -- something educators say
is impossible.
"The funding increases made it easier to
invoke change," said House education leader
Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, racing back to the
capitol after delivering a grim budget
update to visiting school board members.
"It created an atmosphere where change
was more doable. But, look, the budget isn't
getting wiped out. It's not even a 2
percent cut."
Progress slow to come
Like other agriculture-based states in
the South, Florida was slower than the
Northern states to make education
a priority.
As the public school system grew, it
became clear funding would be an issue.
Florida teachers held the nation's first
statewide strike, demanding higher salaries
and more money for education, in 1968.
The lack of a state income tax meant less
money for schools. And the large retired
population seemed uncommitted to
funding education.
When students began pouring into the
state in the 1980s, the government scrambled
to keep up.
"The reason we weren't keeping up with
other states is because we were getting
50,000 or 60,000 new students a year, and
all the money was going just to pay for the
growth," said Wayne Blanton, who has been
lobbying for Florida schools more than
30 years.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act and
the election of Gov. Jeb Bush in the 1990s
marked a major upswing for the
state's schools.
Improvement plans were drafted for
failing schools, a statewide reading program
was created, and measures of accountability
that were controversial began to show
some effect.
In January, a report by Education Week
ranked Florida 14th in the nation in overall
achievement, a jump from the bottom half in
a single year.
Marcus Winters, who studies Florida for
the Manhattan Institute think tank,
summarized like this: "Basically, they were
very, very bad, and recently they've been
getting a little better, but they still have
a ways to go."
A recent report from the Census Bureau
found that relative to its wealth, Florida
is next to last in the nation in per-student
funding, only beating the District of
Columbia. The national funding average is
$43.34 per year for each $1,000 of
residents' wealth. Florida spends $33.51.
Whereas Florida spends about $7,700 per
student, New York spends nearly twice
as much.
Florida's teacher salaries remain among
the lowest in the nation. And the graduation
gap between white and minority students
remains wide.
Last month, in the first lawsuit of its
kind, the American Civil Liberties Union
sued Palm Beach County schools, where the
graduation rate for black students is 30
percent less than it is for whites. The
graduation rate for Latinos is 20 percent
less than it is for whites.
Chipping away at quality
Florida's economy began sinking when the
real estate market turned in 2006. Student
enrollment declined after decades of growth,
pinching school budgets that had planned for
more students.
State revenues dropped unexpectedly, too.
Lawmakers promised schools a 6 percent
funding increase for the 2006-07 school
year, and then, as the revenue estimates
came in, began pulling back. School
districts dipped into their savings this
spring to avoid midyear layoffs.
As the Senate and House begin negotiating
their respective budgets this week,
education leaders say the money is vital to
continuing progress, and to improving the
areas where Florida still lags.
For example, lawmakers want to cut a
program that partially reimburses teachers
for the cost of training to receive National
Board certification, and gives a bonus to
certified teachers who mentor their peers.
Certified teachers have been linked to
higher student achievement. So many teachers
in Florida took the incentive that last year
Florida ranked first nationally in the
number of newly certified teachers.
Proposed cuts target reading programs
that helped lift fourth-grade reading scores
from the bottom 20 percent in the nation to
the top half, from 1998 to 2007, and money
for Advanced Placement programs that
resulted in more Florida high school
graduates earning college credit than all
but three other states in 2007.
Budget proposals from lawmakers include
up to $15 million in cuts to after-school
programs offering mentoring and tutoring for
poor students.
There are also cuts to training for
teachers in low-performing schools.
"They call those programs 'icing on the
cake' but they help children who need
support to do well in school," said Sen.
Frederica Wilson, a Democrat and former
teacher and principal in Miami.
Patricia Levesque, who worked under Bush
on education reforms, said some of the
proposed cuts would chip away at quality
within a year.
"If they don't have reading coaches,
you'll see it in the next year's reading
scores," Levesque said.
During the state school boards'
Legislative breakfast last week, members
peppered lawmakers with questions about
the cuts.
Many wanted to know about the future. One
asked lawmakers not to "spin" the cuts as
"not so bad."
There were few answers.
"They really need to look at this long
term," said Shirley Brown, a Sarasota County
School Board member and former lawmaker. "We
started to make gains. Now we're turning
back the clocks on that, and it's hard
to take."
Volunteers Revitalizing Keep
Pasco Beautiful
By JULIA
FERRANTE
The Tampa
Tribune
Published:
April 13, 2008
Updated:
Seven months ago, the civic
group Keep Pasco Beautiful had
all but fallen off the radar.
Membership had dwindled.
State and county money dried up.
And the group's efforts to
promote recycling and trash
cleanups were struggling.
"In August 2007, we almost
went under," said Jennifer
Seney, a local activist and the
group's newly minted vice
president. "We had no
leadership, and we were down to
six people."
That's changing, thanks in
part to the trend of going
green. An expanded board of
directors, now numbering 10, is
capitalizing on the popularity
of environmental consciousness
and promoting the idea that
Pasco County could be a more
beautiful place to live.
The Keep Pasco Beautiful
board, a local affiliate of Keep
America Beautiful, plans a
second "coming out" of sorts
Saturday with a local version of
the Great American Cleanup. From
9 a.m. to noon, volunteers will
be dispatched to some of the
county's "trashiest" places,
stretching from east Pasco's
Lacoochee to the Sea Pines
neighborhood on the Gulf Coast.
The event, which last year
attracted 600 volunteers and
netted 7.5 tons of trash, will
target areas that seem to be
magnets for litter, including
Kent Grove Road, Gunn Highway
and Old Pasco Road in central
Pasco; Moon Lake Park, Old Dixie
Highway, Eagle Point Park and
Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Park
in west Pasco and parts of
Lacoochee in east Pasco.
"We have a lot of rural
places in Pasco that while
scenic drives also are tempting
places to dump stuff," Seney
said. "We are going to take care
of this stuff that was so rudely
dumped along our roads."
About 25 groups, including
three led by county
commissioners and one involving
public schools, have volunteered
to participate in the cleanup,
Seney said.
Commissioner Jack Mariano,
who represents northwest Pasco,
is recruiting volunteers for
efforts along U.S. 19 and at the
Werner-Boyce park. He also plans
to ask boaters to pick up trash
along the Hudson Beach canal.
The cleanup, he said, is a good
way to get people involved in
making the county a better place
to live.
"It's healthy for the
community to clean up after
itself," he said.
Rebirth Of The Group
Seney is largely responsible
for the group's resurgence, said
County Commissioner Ann
Hildebrand, who was the first
chairwoman of Keep Pasco
Beautiful 16 years ago. Seney
recently asked Hildebrand to
return as the group's president.
She also recruited Joanne
Hurley, spokeswoman for
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
and the county's first recycling
coordinator.
"We're getting recycled,"
Hildebrand said. "We started in
1992, and then we started
limping along. My friend
Jennifer called me recently and
said, 'Let's revitalize it.'
We've got a great little board
now. We're rejuvenating it,
getting grants and donations and
doing this cleanup."
When Keep Pasco Beautiful
started, the Florida Department
of Environmental Regulation
mandated recycling education and
gave counties money to do it,
Seney said. Pasco received about
$30,000 from the state for about
three years then told counties
they had to pick up the tab
themselves. The county also
allocated $10,000 per year to
the organization until 2007.
"We used to have money to
spend on public relations,"
Hildebrand said. "As the first
president, I went to different
schools ... If you don't start
young, it's hard to get that
message across."
The group receives no county
or state money now, Seney said.
She plans to apply for a federal
reimbursement grant, but the
terms require the county to
spend money to get it back and
come up with matching funds.
Seney also plans to ask everyone
she knows for donations, whether
they be monetary or in-kind
gifts, such as the use of
garbage bins for the cleanup.
The same trend that has cast
plastic water bottles and
grocery bags out of favor is
helping to rebuild Keep Pasco
Beautiful, Hildebrand said.
"There's no doubt there's a
momentum for being green," she
said. "There is definitely a
public awareness for preserving
and protecting our environment
that was not there a few years
ago. One reason it has become
more en vogue is because of the
cost of living."
Educating The Public
As recycling coordinator from
1990 to 1994, Hurley took a
leadership role in implementing
Pasco's curbside recycling
program. She said public
education is the key to
maintaining interest and
participation.
"Education programs work, but
they have to be consistent," she
said. "You can't introduce a
concept once and hope it will
take hold. You have to introduce
it and reinforce it ... I'm
happy the organization is going
to try to regroup, because I
think we need litter prevention
and litter cleanup more than we
did before."
Pasco has the added incentive
of having too much trash, Seney
noted. The county's
waste-to-energy plant is over
capacity by about 60,000 tons of
solid waste per year, and Pasco
leaders are paying Osceola
County to accept the excess
trash. Officials plan to expand
recycling, but that will not be
enough to fix the problem, they
say. Plans are in the works to
add to the incinerator as well.
"We have a real issue here in
Pasco. We have too much trash,
so recycling pops to the
surface," Seney said. "I believe
attention will come back to
groups like Keep Pasco Beautiful
and efforts for recycling
because of the very local issues
we are facing."
Seney's long-term plan is to
build the Keep Pasco Beautiful
board with a chain of
succession, so volunteers don't
burn out and quit. That was one
of the problems with the
previous board.
"It wasn't neglect as much as
evolution" that led to the
group's struggle, Seney said.
"People had gotten to the point
where they had done it for a few
years and were tired. I think
getting volunteers will always
be difficult. You have to
attract them, and they have to
own it. You always have less
people than you need, and you
never know how many people will
show up."
KEEP PASCO BEAUTIFUL
TO
VOLUNTEER, DONATE OR FOR
INFORMATION: Call (727)
379-9200 or 1-888-654-8837; or
e-mail
kpbeautiful@hotmail.com.
ADDRESS:
Keep Pasco Beautiful Inc., P.O.
Box 11335, Spring Hill, FL 34610
STATEWIDE
LITTER HOTLINE:
1-800-226-5488
UPCOMING
EVENTS: April 19, Great
American Cleanup; April 26,
Earth Day at Crews Lake; Sept.
20, Coastal Cleanup
Reporter Julia
Ferrante can be reached at (813)
948-4220 or
jferrante@tampatrib.com.
RV-Camping Resort Proposed
For Beach
By MICHAEL D.
BATES
Published:
April 12, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - A
camping resort suitable for 100
recreational vehicles is being
proposed for Hernando Beach.
Located on the northwest
corner of Osowaw and Shoal Line
boulevards, the resort would
include laundry and restroom
facilities for the RVers,
recreational areas, a clubhouse,
swimming pool, children's
playground, nature trail and
gazebos.
A neighborhood market,
containing a 26,000-square-foot
commercial plaza, would also be
part of the mix. The market
includes plans for retail and
office space, a restaurant and
fuel services.
Planning and zoning
commissioners will hear more
specifics of the zoning request
when they meet at 9 a.m. Monday
at the Hernando County
Government Center, 20 North Main
St. in downtown Brooksville.
The planning staffers have
recommended approval of the
project.
Planning and zoning
commissioners make
recommendations on rezoning
cases. County commissioners, the
final authority on such matters,
typically discuss those
recommendations at their land
use hearing one month later.
Also at Monday's meeting:
- Planning board members will
consider a conditional plat for
Highland Oaks, a 28-home
development proposed for the
northeast corner of County Line
Road and Sparks Road.
One of the stipulations
planners are recommending is
that the developer pay his
proportionate share of costs to
improve County Line Road at the
site.
- A local woman will ask the
P&Z for a special exception use
permit to sell plants, fruits
and vegetables from a piece of
property she owns along Manecke
Road near Ponce de Leon
Boulevard and Mondon Hill Road.
Margarita Konofaos, in her
request to planning staff, said
there are eight parking spaces
on-site. Hours of operations
would vary depending on planting
season.
- The board will consider a
request to rezone a 1.5-acre
parcel at County Line Road and
Broad Street for an office
complex and physicians'
practice.
FERNANDINA BEACH - Twisting
down the middle of Amelia
Island, the Egans Creek Greenway
offers a quiet sanctuary, both
for the animals that call it
home and the people who frequent
it.
The 316-acre preserve - one
of the best bird-watching spots
in the area - contains two
ecologies, with saltwater and
freshwater habitats existing
side by side for decades.
For the past five years,
though, the waters that feed the
greenway have changed, with
saltwater seeping into the
fresh, wreaking havoc as it
spreads. On a quiet, foggy
morning, the site still exudes
peacefulness - but dealing with
the mistakes that led to dead
trees, displaced animals and
ecological changes resulted in a
years-long struggle that is
anything but peaceful, pulling
in politicians and bureaucrats
from a dizzying array of
agencies.
The problems of Egans Creek,
for all the consternation
caused, are contained ones,
affecting a niche ecology that
is several steps removed from
the broader water issues the
First Coast - and, indeed, the
entire state - is dealing with.
But the issues of the creek
might serve as a cautionary
tale, showing how even
well-meaning, highly educated
people can see a project come to
ruin when dealing with a highly
complex water system.
Taking the lessons of the
creek to heart, some residents
note, wouldn't be amiss as
officials ponder whether to
dredge or drink or do anything
else to the St. Johns River.
"Any time you try to manage
nature," said John Carr, a
forester who's thrown himself
into the fight to rescue the
greenway, "there are often
unintended consequences."
Small change; big effect
It doesn't take much of a
rise in salinity to change the
nature of a body of water.
All water, even that
considered fresh, contains some
solids - salinity, in ecological
terms, includes salts besides
sodium chloride (table salt) -
but the volume of those
substances radically changes
what types of animals and
vegetation can survive there.
When the St. Johns Water
Management District evaluates
changes to water systems,
salinity impacts are one of the
major areas they investigate,
spokeswoman Teresa Monson said,
including looking at how salt
levels will rise if the water
moves less or if less freshwater
is introduced into the system.
The district says it is in
the early stages of evaluating
what would happen to the
salinity of the St. Johns as
utilities remove fresh water for
drinking.
Planners around the country
have wrestled with rising
salinity levels. An increase in
salt has led to problems in the
Rio Grande, the Colorado River
and many estuaries, places where
salt and fresh water mingle.
The latest change
The most recent chapter in
the story of Egans Creek began
about five years ago, when the
state Department of
Transportation began
transforming the section of the
greenway between Atlantic Avenue
and Jasmine Street into a
saltwater marsh.
The change was the latest in
a string of modifications made
over decades, as various
portions of the creek were given
over to saltwater or fresh. By
the 1950s, the local mosquito
control authority settled the
dividing line at Atlantic
Avenue: Different habitats
flourished on either side of the
line, with a freshwater swamp to
the south and a salt marsh to
the north.
The barrier remained at
Atlantic until a few years ago,
when the Department of
Transportation went looking for
land to mitigate for wetlands it
had destroyed for two road
projects in Jacksonville. Its
solution: Move the saltwater
barriers to Jasmine Street,
allowing about 100 acres between
Jasmine and Atlantic to return
to salt - a somewhat
controversial project, but one
that residents appeared to make
their peace with.
Mistakes in the engineering
work, however, allowed saltwater
to begin to creep across the
barrier and contaminate the
freshwater portion of the
system, killing trees and
animals, changing the ecosystem
and creating ponds that are
saltier than sea water.
"The original project concept
did not adequately prepare for
the lay of the land," DOT
engineer Joe Knight said.
A brackish mess
That mistake led to the
freshwater part of the system
becoming a brackish mess, said
Pat Foster-Turley, an Amelia
Island resident with a doctorate
in zoology. She has been
following the change in the
creek and its effect on the
island's animals since it began.
While the salt that spilled
over into the freshwater side of
the creek has been enough to
kill vegetation that can't stand
salinity, it hasn't been enough
to turn the southern portion
into a saltwater habitat. "The
whole thing has been a botched
mess anyway you look at it," she
said.
What was supposed to be the
freshwater side of the greenway
began losing vegetation and
animal life, changing the entire
complexion of the area, said Bob
Wells, an island resident who
began walking the greenway after
surgery and ended up founding a
group championing the site.
The effects on the area's
flora and fauna have been
widespread. Most visibly, the
saltwater killed a 50-acre grove
of red maple trees, and pushed a
freshwater frog species
southward, into areas of
still-fresh water. The animals
that prey on the frogs followed.
Alligators, otters, deer and
other mammals headed to
different parts of the island,
looking for fresh water to drink
or vegetation that hadn't died.
"Everything was affected on
the freshwater side,"
Foster-Turley said. "The animal
life - the deer, the pigs -
everything that lived in the run
of the creek: They moved either
up the slope or toward the
freshwater sources."
Such sources are not the
easiest thing to find on the
island. Many of the man-made
retention ponds that capture
rainwater, for example, are
fenced off, making them unusable
by animals traveling across
Amelia Island.
"I know the otters are not as
prevalent," Foster-Turley said.
"They've had to modify their
lifestyle to handle it."
A constant worry
But not all creatures can
modify their lifestyles as
easily when salinity levels
change. That's why salinity is a
constant worry when waterways,
whether tiny ones like Egans
Creek or mammoth ones like the
St. Johns River, are altered.
In the St. Johns, the
situation is complicated by the
fact that though it's a
freshwater river, it contains a
lot of brackish water, with
levels sometimes spiking for
reasons no one is exactly sure
of. The water near Picolata
Point, about 57 miles up the
river, saw its salinity level
increase eightfold for about two
months last year, said
environmental scientist Dean
Dobberfuhl with the Water
Management District.
And those rising levels
reveal themselves through
changes in the animal life in
the river, say those who spend a
lot of time on the water.
Ben Williams, 51, for
example, has fished the river
since he was a child. The owner
of the Fisherman's Dock fish
market said it's only been
recently that he has seen
saltwater barnacles far down the
St. Johns. Some of the creatures
sit, still alive, on bridges
south of Palatka, 80 miles from
the mouth of the river.
"It's pretty obvious looking
at them that they've been here a
while," he said. "They keep on
getting bigger. Over the year,
everything creeps south."
While both dredging and
drawdowns of the water level in
the St. Johns are expected to
lead to some sort of change, no
one can be sure exactly how much
saltier the water could get,
although the Water Management
District has started studies to
get an answer.
For Egans Creek, meanwhile, a
solution appears to be at hand.
Earlier this week, the Water
Management District approved an
expedited permit that will allow
the DOT to build a dam at
Jasmine Street that should stop
the saltwater seeping through.
The Department of Transportation
is expected to bid out the
project this month, with
construction starting around the
end of the summer.
Those who have fought for the
change are ecstatic. But in the
midst of their excitement,
they're mindful that, once
again, humans will be dealing
with a complex system not under
their control.
"My guess is we're talking a
decade" before the freshwater
side returns to vibrancy, Carr
said. "We're messing with Mother
Nature. Mother Nature does her
things her way. All you can do
is try to facilitate the way you
think she wants to go."
timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4103
Proposed
water bottling plant near High
Springs on hold
By
Rachael Anne Ryals
Herald Staff Writer
The
decision on whether to allow a
proposed water bottling plant
near High Springs on the Santa
Fe River is on hold
indefinitely.
Due
to an illness of a commissioner
on the Gilchrist County
Commission, the decision is now
on hold until a 5-member
Commission can be present.
Commissioner D. Ray Harrison Jr.
is in the hospital and has been
ill for several months,
Gilchrist Planning Director
Taylor Brown said.
On
Monday, April 7, an attorney
representing the owners of the
Blue Springs Properties asked
the County Commission to delay
making a decision until a full
Commission is available.
A
full Commission is required as
part of the conditions of a
legal mediation between the
Suwannee River Water Management
District and the owners of Blue
Springs Properties.
The
water district had been in the
process of revoking the water
use permit that states how much
water can be withdrawn from the
site each day. That permit,
which allows a maximum daily
rate of 660,000 gallons a day,
was being revoked due to two
years of inactivity.
But
mediation between the water
district and the owners of Blue
Springs Properties was held as
the special use permit was
sought.
The
water bottling plant proposal
was heard by the Gilchrist
County Planning and Zoning
Commission just last month.
That
Commission recommended that the
County Commission deny the
plant, citing safety and
incompatibility as reasons for
why the special exception needed
by the plant should not be
awarded.
A
hearing was to be held by the
Gilchrist County Commission this
month to decide if a special
exception permit should be
granted, allowing the water
bottling plant to be built.
The
County Commission is the entity
that will make the final
decision to allow the water
bottling plant.
Hatchet
Creek proposal to be reviewed
again
By NATHAN
CRABBE
Sun staff writer
In October, the
Gainesville City Commission put
restrictions on the proposed
Hatchet Creek development around
Ironwood Golf Course that would
have prevented construction in
wetlands and places where
passing aircraft are noisiest.
Six months later, developer Rob
Simensky is hoping commissioners
have second thoughts.
In a special commission meeting
Wednesday, Simensky will ask for
the restrictions to be rewritten
to clear the way for up to 1,500
residences, a 400-bed
assisted-living home and 2,000
square feet of retail and office
space. He said he wants the
changes completed before May,
when two commissioners who
support the project leave
office.
But he'll face challenges such
as the Gainesville Regional
Airport's call to delay a
decision until maps showing
aircraft noise are finished in
June. Environmental advocates
have raised questions about the
project's environmental impact
on wetlands and a creek that
drains to polluted Newnan's
Lake.
Debate over the proposal has had
its share of hyperbole.
Supporters have called it the
most important development ever
in east Gainesville, while
opponents have suggested it
could spell the end of the
airport.
Simensky said he's offering new
assurances the project would
avoid environmental impacts and
noise-related conflicts. He said
he's asking for changes because
the airport's objections led to
restrictions that essentially
stopped the development.
"The combination of all these
conditions made it physically
impossible to move forward with
the project," he said.
The commission will consider
land-use changes that need to be
sent to the Florida Department
of Community Affairs for
approval. The city will send its
next batches of changes to the
department in May, so a delay
could mean the project would
wait until the next scheduled
submittal in the fall.
The development would be an
"active adult community" that
would require at least one
resident at least 55 years old
in most homes. The 500-acre
property snakes around Ironwood,
the city-owned golf course, and
sits in the path that planes
take to the airport's main
runway.
Airport officials have said the
development could lead to
noise-related lawsuits that make
it difficult to operate. After
the October decision, the
airport embarked on a study to
show where aircraft noise is
loudest and where the Federal
Aviation Administration can
restrict funds if development is
allowed.
Airport CEO Allan Penksa
questioned the rush to approve
the project before the study's
initial noise maps come back in
June. "Nothing has really
changed since the commission's
last meeting," he said.
Simensky said he'll present new
promises on noise issues. He
said he'll agree not to develop
in an area where current
aircraft noise is shown to be an
average of 65 decibels in the
upcoming noise study.
He said homes on the rest of the
site would be built with
noise-dampening materials. He
said he'd also agree to an
avigation easement on the site,
which would commit property
owners to allowing noise without
legal action, and give notice to
home buyers of the agreement.
There are also wetlands issues
on the site. Gainesville
environmental coordinator Mark
Garland said the site has about
90 acres of wetlands but is
criss-crossed by drainage
ditches. He said many of the
wetlands are severely degraded.
Garland said his first
preference would be having the
wetlands enhanced and restored,
but doing so could lead to
flooding of the golf course.
Creating new wetlands could pose
similar problems, he said, as
well as have an uncertain effect
on Newnan's Lake. "We have to
figure out how to protect the
area as much as possible without
flooding people," he said.
Simensky said he's proposing to
leave untouched a large wetland
on the northwest corner of the
site that he said makes up more
than half the total wetland
acreage. He said he'd agree to
create wetlands on-site
equivalent to the remaining
wetlands that would be filled.
Those wetlands are actually many
small wetlands less than an acre
in size, he said, and the work
he proposes could improve water
quality flowing to the lake.
"From an environmental
perspective, we're leaving the
site in better shape that where
we started - by a lot," he said.
Local Sierra Club chairman Rob
Brinkman said he's concerned
about the replacement of natural
wetlands with engineered
wetlands. He said the
commission, in projects such as
the Auto Town Center, has
circumvented regulations that
require wetland impacts to be
avoided as a first option. "You
could eliminate all the wetlands
in the city of Gainesville," he
said.
The St. Johns River Water
Management District must approve
the filling of wetlands. Just
last Thursday, the district's
staff recommended that its
governing board deny Simensky's
permit.
Simensky said the long process
of approving the project has led
to delays in getting needed
materials to the district. He
said he'll ask for the
application to be pulled and
resubmitted once he completes
the process with the commission.
He said he'll present new
information at Wednesday's
meeting on the project's
economic benefits. A study he
funded shows the project could
create 824 on-site jobs and
another 756 off-site, as well as
$10 million in property tax
revenues and another $3 million
in fees to the city.
Simensky hails from Katonah,
N.Y., a wealthy bedroom
community of New York City that
homemaking entrepreneur Martha
Stewart calls home. He said his
company has developed projects
such as an assisted-living
facility and single-family homes
in New York and an apartment
building in Pennsylvania.
He said he first came to
Gainesville to visit an uncle
who has since died and sought a
development opportunity in the
area. He's since worked with
east Gainesville community
leaders and said he's donated
money to the renovation of
Gainesville's Cotton Club, a
historic venue for black
performers during years of
segregation.
Former state representative Ed
Jennings Jr., who owns land near
the Hatchet Creek property, and
Alachua County Commissioner
Rodney Long, who has called
himself the project's "non-paid
consultant," are among east
Gainesville leaders hailing the
project.
Jennings, an ownership partner
in the nearby Eden Park and
Lewis Place housing
developments, said Hatchet Creek
would be "a mini-Haile
Plantation" that transformed the
Eastside by boosting property
values and attracting other
businesses.
"It would be the most
significant residential
development in a generation and
maybe the most significant
development ever," Jennings
said.
Long has supported extending the
Eastside's Community
Redevelopment Area to the
project site. That would allow
any tax increases that
correspond with jumps in
property value to be funneled
back to other projects in the
area.
Long said he has offered advice
to the developer but is not
paid, although he said as a real
estate broker that he doesn't
preclude working with Simensky
in the future.
He too called the project "the
most significant in east
Gainesville" and contrasted it
with an airport that has seen a
downturn in large passenger jet
traffic. "If the airport was
growing, I could really
understand the argument," he
said.
One change since the October
meeting is that Simensky has
discussed the idea of
redesigning the golf course from
a north-south to an east-west
orientation, taking some homes
out of the area closest to the
airport. He's paid for a study
on creating a special district
to tax people who buy homes on
the site to pay for the
redesign.
Airport authority chairman Peter
Johnson said he talked with
Simensky in an effort to reach a
compromise, but after those
meetings was surprised to see
the map of the redesigned
course. The map shows six holes
of the course would be in the
airport hazard zone across from
its runways.
The airport board has opposed
any development being approved
before the noise study is
finished, much less development
in the hazard zone. Johnson told
the authority he made a mistake
in directly dealing with
Simensky.
"I was very naive," Johnson
said.
City Manager Russ Blackburn
described a separate
misunderstanding after talking
with Simensky. On March 9,
Simensky sent an e-mail to
Blackburn saying he appreciated
a commitment "made on several
occasions, that Staff will
either support or have no
recommendations regarding each
specific modification to
conditions that have been put
forward in accordance with the
process you suggested."
On March 14, Blackburn wrote
that he wanted "to be clear that
staff will review and provide
recommendations to the City
Commission on the proposed
condition modifications."
Blackburn couldn't be reached
for additional comment.
Simensky has expressed an
interest in getting the project
approved before two new
commissioners take office in
May. Of the three commissioners
who voted against restrictions
on the property, two - Ed Braddy
and Rick Bryant - are leaving
the commission and will be
replaced by commissioners who
made environmental protection a
part of their campaigns.
Commissioner Jack Donovan, who
voted in favor of the
restrictions, said he wants to
wait until the noise study is
completed before considering
changes. He questioned the
project's benefit to
lower-income residents of the
eastside.
"This thing is close to being a
gated community," he said.
Proposed, controversial
'fly-in' community to have
'Family Fun Day' to educate
public about project
By Jessica Metzger
For The Herald
NEWBERRY -- Oak Tree Landing,
possible future home to a
proposed fly-in and golf
community, is holding a Family
Fun Day and BBQ on Saturday,
April 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at 7308 N.W. 294th Terrace
(County Road 232), east of SE
80th.
The event is free and open to
the community, so that residents
can meet the developers, enjoy
barbecue, watch live
entertainment and participate in
activities.
There will be an inflatable
bounce house, live bands playing
a mix of rock, country and
bluegrass, longest drive
competition and possibly face
painting, said Julie Cole,
property manager and land
consultant, as well as one of
the event organizers.
“We understand the need to
really engage the neighbors and
community,” she said. “They can
take a look at what’s there and
give their two cents.”
The proposed development is a
controversial one, with
residents saying that it would
be out of character for the area
and create urban sprawl.
Cole said everyone would be
invited to tour the property,
examine display boards showing
plans and talk to all the
various “players” involved in
creating the fly-in community.
The golf course designer, civil
engineers, principle owners and
architect will all be available
to talk with residents.
“Proposals like the golf course
are a departure from what the
community is used to,” Cole
said. “We want them to get a
feel for what we have proposed.”
Oak Tree Landing will be a “big
mixed community,” Cole said.
The plan is to build homes
around an airstrip where people
can taxi their planes out of
their garage and onto the
runway.
Cole said the community is
marketed toward people who want
second homes, who are
“empty-nesters” and who will be
part-time residents. She said
the airstrip will not be used in
any commercial capacity.
It is estimated the community
will bring in $10 million in
property taxes, Cole said, and
$50 million for construction in
the economic phase. Also, the
proposed golf course will add a
small job base.
Cole said she hopes the
community comes out to the
event.
“People are curious,” she said.
“And it’s a gorgeous piece of
land.”
For more information, Julie Cole
can be reached at 352-871-5354.
Land
near Turkey Creek gets new
designation
ALACHUA -- A
9.15-acre piece of property on
U.S. 441 just south of County
Road 25A will now be allowed to
have commercial businesses
located on the previously rural
land.
The Alachua City Commission
voted 5-0 to change the future
land use map -- a map showing
what type of growth can occur
and where -- on the property.
The land use designation was
changed from Alachua County
Rural to Alachua Commercial.
The commercial designation
allows such potential entities
as retail stores, restaurants,
hotels and offices, according to
the city’s land use codes.
Climate change affects us here, now
By Ann-Gayl Ellis, guest columnist
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:00
PM
Quick: What comes to mind when you
think about climate change? If your
thoughts turn to polar bears and melting
ice caps, you're not alone. Americans
are concerned about climate change. We
know it is real, and we think it is
scary, but we tend to think about it in
terms that are far removed from our
everyday lives.
In fact, climate change has a direct
connection to all of us, in the most
personal way. It has and will have real
consequences for the health of our
communities, our families and our
children.
The problem with focusing on climate
change in terms of a doomsday scenario
is that it can paralyze us and cause
inaction. According to a recent Center
for Excellence in Climate Change
Communication Research poll, less than
half of Americans believe they are
personally at risk from global warming,
but significantly more believe it is a
threat to future generations (60
percent) or to all life (57 percent).
Even those who think of climate
change on a here-and-now basis may not
know just how serious the danger really
is. The World Health Organization
reports that human-induced changes in
Earth's climate now lead to at least
5-million cases of illness and more than
150,000 deaths each year.
In recent years, the scientific
community has started to understand more
about the negative impacts that climate
change has on our health and on an
already strained public health system.
The laundry list of health issues that
are growing more problematic as a result
of increased climate variability is
long: heat stroke and hypothermia,
asthma, cardiovascular and pulmonary
illness, gastrointestinal illnesses
associated with water contamination, and
the list goes on. Furthermore, the most
vulnerable members of our population —
those who depend on the public health
system for their care, including the
poor, the chronically ill, the elderly,
the disabled and the uninsured — are
most affected by the health impacts of
climate change, giving this struggle
moral dimensions as well.
The following are five important ways
that residents can take action in their
lives today:
• Be prepared. Inform yourself about
the health impacts of climate change and
regional climate change issues facing
your community and take actions to
prepare for possible disasters.
• Travel differently. Leave the car
at home one day, and take public
transportation instead. Walk or bike. If
you need to drive, carpool. If you can,
telecommute.
• Eat differently. Buy food from a
community farmers market and food that
doesn't travel across the country to get
to your supermarket shelves. Eat more
vegetables and less meat.
• Green your work. Use recycled paper
if you don't already, and even if you
do, print less often and on both sides
of the paper. Set your computer to
energy-saver mode and buy eco-friendly
office furniture.
• Green your home. Insulate your home
so that energy isn't literally going out
the window. Reduce your use of wasteful
products, reuse or recycle the products
you do use, and conserve water.
Taken together, these five changes
can chart a path toward a healthier
personal lifestyle, community and
climate.
Ann-Gayl Ellis is the health
education program manager at the
Hernando County Health Department. Guest
columnists write their own views on
subjects they choose and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of this
newspaper.
SARASOTA — The rumors started to fly last
week when a city staffer was away from City Hall
at a meeting all morning.
Some co-workers whispered that she had been
fired. Others said she had quit.
Neither was true, but the rumors illustrate
how edgy the city's 766 workers are as they
anxiously wait for an announcement on expected
staffing reductions, including layoffs.
That announcement could come from City
Manager Robert Bartolotta as early as this week.
Things got so bad that the city created a
newsletter in an effort to quell the rumors. The
first edition of "The Buzz" hit City Hall on
March 20.
"The whole purpose for The Buzz is to help
employees get through this difficult time," said
Jan Thornburg, the city's public information
officer. "To answer their questions, rather than
let the watercooler chatter get out of control."
The city has to trim $3.4 million this year
and an estimated $6 million to $7 million next
year from the budget, due to a decrease in
revenue spurred by state-mandated tax reforms.
Job cuts across the state reflect a new age
of tightened city budgets after tax changes
approved by the Legislature.
Last summer, the City Commission took its
first stab at reducing expenses by eliminating
35 positions. And that is likely to be only
the start.
"Everyone is worried," said Bartolotta, who
promises to notify those employees who will be
let go before anyone else finds out.
He is promising staffers that anyone who is
let go will have either 30 days' notice or one
month's pay.
Bartolotta said he expects positions to be
eliminated, with the eliminations including
some layoffs.
Thornburg has been trying to allay worker
anxiety, but that has been a tough task as
employees await Bartolotta's announcement.
"We're trying to do everything we can to let
them know what our financial state is and how it
will impact them," Thornburg said. "A lot of
people have been really nervous, thinking they
will come in tomorrow and be laid off and
receive nothing."
The administrator said he has not finalized a
plan and does not know exact numbers yet. But he
acknowledged that at least one of the city's 13
departments would be eliminated and merged with
other city departments.
Another possibility is merging some services
with Sarasota County.
"I can tell you services would not be
impacted, but that would be a lie," Bartolotta
said. "If there are not as many people, you just
can't have the same level of service."
In July, the City Commission will face tough
decisions when it holds the first of several
budget workshops.
"It is possible residents will see some of
their favorite city services on the chopping
block," Mayor Lou Ann Palmer said.
Commissioners have been meeting with
Bartolotta one on one. But he has not given them
exact numbers.
Commissioner Kelly Kirschner said the passage
of the Amendment 1 property tax reform measure
sent a clear message to local governments.
"The taxpayers have spoken," Kirschner said
"They want and expect to pay less in taxes. It
is up to us to do that."
The challenge will be to reduce expenses
while retaining core services, such as garbage
pickup, Kirschner said.
Charlotte ducks issue
by firing Loucks
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 4:30
a.m.
As the
Babcock Ranch development surfaced a few
years ago, Charlotte County staff faced enormous
pressure from some commissioners and business
activists to quickly and favorably review
the plans.
Commissioner Adam Cummings, who opposed the
project and anticipated a whitewash, confronted
County Administrator Bruce Loucks. As the
commissioner recalls, Loucks could barely
contain his anger at Cummings' implication. Even
so, he instructed his staff in writing to ignore
outside influences and to scrutinize the ranch
proposal as they would any other.
The result was an honest critique -- and good
government -- whether the commissioners and
their friends were happy or not.
This story came to mind on Tuesday morning,
when the commissioners forced Loucks to resign
in a 4-1 vote, Cummings dissenting. Loucks knew
it was coming. He had his resignation letter
ready. And, within seven minutes, he was gone.
No one gave a specific reason. They didn't
have to. Commissioner Tom Moore later called it
death by a thousand cuts.
No doubt, the commissioners themselves are
under pressure. A general anxiety has settled
over the whole country, including Charlotte
County, whose economy relies so heavily on
construction and real estate.
And, just as its citizenry cried for it to do
something, local government's spending power was
decimated by tax cuts and a reeling economy.
So, the commissioners fire
their administrator.
OK, now what?
Interim administrator Roger Baltz told the
commissioners he was ready at any time to
discuss their ideas for the county's direction.
He did not have any immediate takers.
The commissioners did, however, have an
extended conversation on how to televise their
budget meetings, which room the next day's
meeting was scheduled for, and how to let the
public know if they switched rooms. Cummings
finally suggested they put a sign on the door.
Yes, that was one crisis averted, but it
hardly signaled a new day, despite Loucks' departure.
In the public's mind, the handling of the
county administrator's resignation is just
another example of the commissioners' reluctance
to accept responsibility for mistakes and their
seeming inability to enunciate clear courses of
action on much of anything lately.
Loucks did a decent job. He'll get a decent
job elsewhere. If he failed at anything, it was
making the commissioners look good. Maybe Baltz
can do better. He'll earn his pay trying.
A zoning change which would allow the Rockland
Palace on Railroad Avenue to reopen may be
vetoed by Mayor Sonny Nobles, Nobles said
Wednesday. The bar was closed by the city in
January due to numerous code violations.
However, because the site is not zoned
commercial, a zoning change is necessary for the
city to issue a permit to bring the building up
to code. The site is now zoned residential but
the Palace was “grandfathered in” to the area
decades earlier, when the zoning map was
created.
The city council voted 3-2 Tuesday to grant the
zoning change from residential to commercial.
However, the ordinance must be signed by Nobles
to take effect and Nobles said Wednesday he is
considering vetoing the move. A veto can be
overridden only by a 4-1 vote of the council.
“I feel strongly about the deterioration of the
neighborhood,” Nobles said.
The area where the bar is located is now listed
as residential and to change the property to
commercial would be considered spot zoning.
Nobles said that would allow surrounding
residential properties to be rezoned to
commercial and open the area to an even greater
number of commercial enterprises.
Nobles said rezoning would decrease surrounding
property values and adversely affect the
neighborhood, creating noise, excessive lighting
at night and additional traffic.
Nobles and Councilman Mark Stewart said their
goal wasn’t to close the bar. They just didn’t
want to see the zoning changed.
“I’m not trying to put anybody out of business.
I just don’t like the zoning change,” Stewart
said Thursday.
City Building Official Roy Rogers said Wednesday
the only way the bar could continue in operation
without a zoning change would be for the city to
change its land use regulations. He said that
wasn’t likely to happen.
Nobles said he would oppose the zoning change
whether the business was a bar or a Bible
bookstore.
Councilman Don Boyette said he didn’t want to
see the bar closed because it has been in
existence so long. The Palace has been in
business for more than 40 years, by most
accounts.
Rockland Palace owner Calamity White told the
council she is taking the necessary steps to
remedy the situation.
“We are trying to do the right thing,” White
said.
Rogers said the Rockland Palace was cited for
having an unsafe structure, a leaking roof and
unsafe wires, some of which hung down low enough
to come in contact with customers, posing a risk
of electrocution. Other violations were noted as
well.
Rogers said White has hired an engineer who is
drafting plans to remodel the building.
SEBRING — A dozen Highlands County government
and business leaders met Thursday to consider an
advertising campaign to entice homeowners in
upscale coastal Florida communities to sell and
move here.
The idea was raised by county Administrator
Carl Cool. About a month ago, he took it to the
county commissioners. They praised the idea but
said county funds, which are in short-supply,
won't pay for the ads.
On Thursday, Cool met with representatives of
the real estate and building industries, plus
county development and financial officials, to
throw that idea out again.
The idea was praised as a potentially great
strategy that could spur home sales and possibly
home building, too. Nobody at the meeting,
though, was ready to commit funds to pay for the
ads.
Another meeting will be held next week to
further explore both the proposed coastal
advertising campaign and potential sources of
revenue to fund it.
From discussions about the "target market"
the advertisements would be aimed at, the ads
would convey the following message:
Dear resident of Coastal Florida,
If you are the type of person we're looking for,
we've got a sweet deal for you here in Highlands
County. In fact, we can offer you the deal of
your lifetime, if you meet our requirements.
You would be the ideal candidate for our offer
if you are:
• Retired with a secure pension or 401K, lots of
equity in your home, plus a boat load of
disposable income to spend in our stores and
restaurants;
• You bought beautiful waterfront property,
maybe along the Inter-Coastal Waterway, and
built a home for $200,000 about 15 years ago;
• Your $200,000 home is now worth $1.2 million,
according to your county's appraiser;
• But, what was coastal paradise when you built
there has turned into a nightmare. Now, you're
afraid of crime, worried about the obscene
coastal cost-of-living , and going crazy from
the nightmarish traffic.
If that sounds like you, we've got your ticket
out of that mess and into paradise – at a
bargain you won't want to pass up.
All you have to do is sell your coastal home,
cash in your equity in it, take your moveable
Save Our Homes property tax break, and buy – or
build – a home in Highlands County. Over here,
you can spend $250,000 and get a luxurious home
that would cost you $500,000 on the coast.
But, you say, with the horrible home-sale
market nationwide, you can't sell your home?
No problem. Sure, it won't sell at the $1.2
million that your county says it's worth. But
you can dump it at the fire-sale price of, oh,
say $800,000. Sure, that's $400,000 below what
it's valued at, but it's still four times what
you paid for it.
Just do the math. Sell your house at
$800,000, and you've made a $600,000 profit off
the $200,000 you spent to build it. Come to
beautiful Highlands County, buy or build a
$300,000 house, and you've got a luxurious home
that would cost $600,000 on the coast.
Now, since you're leaving the coast with
$800,000, and you're only spending $300,000 for
your new home here, you've got $500,000 to throw
in the bank. And that'll buy you all the rounds
of golf you'll ever play.
And, maybe best of all, when you bring your
huge Save Our Homes property tax exemption from
the high-cost Florida coast to low-cost central
Florida, you'll pay almost no property taxes
here.
We think that's a deal you can't beat with a
stick.
Love,
Highlands County.
P.S. Just give us a call and we'll show you
around. You're gonna love what you see here.
While the proposed coastal ad campaign is
only in the preliminary planning stage, three
things are certain already.
First, the campaign would have to be sold
locally as a drive to boost the entire Highlands
County economy and not just the real estate
market, according to county Commissioner Guy
Maxcy.
Second, Louise England, executive director of
the Highlands County Economic Development
Commission, doesn't want to use any of her
agency's advertising budget on this ad campaign.
England said the EDC's entire advertising
budget for this fiscal year is already
committed. And, she said, EDC's sole mission is
to attract businesses that provide good-paying,
full-time jobs to this county.
Cool wondered out loud if the EDC could
"re-focus" its mission and help fund the coastal
ad campaign because each high-income retiree who
moves here would boost the Highlands County
economy by shopping, dining and playing here.
England said every time a home is bought in
this county, it helps the economy. But, she
said, when retired seniors move here, "no matter
what their disposable income is," they mainly
fuel the retail, restaurant and recreation
industries, all of which generally offer
part-time, no-benefits, low-wage employment.
Those types of jobs do not "create new
wealth" in the county and don't give people the
income they need to become home buyers, she
said.
EDC, England said, has one focus: Trying to
bring in good-paying, full-time jobs that do
"create wealth" and allow county residents to
become county homeowners.
Maxcy praised Cool's idea to advertise on the
coasts for well-off, retired homeowners who
could find a great bargain and better
quality-of-life in Highlands County.
To generate widespread support for the plan,
Maxcy said, leaders will have to show how it can
benefit the entire county economy, and not just
one segment.
The third point agreed on Thursday was that
any coastal advertising must have a sharply
focused "target market." Any dollars spent
should not be wasted on a "shotgun" ad
campaign," said county Development Department
Director Jim Polatty.
Mike Secor, president of the Highlands County
Builders Association, said the economy would
rebound much quicker if the news media didn't
focus mainly on "doom-and-gloom" stories about
the economy.
England told two reporters at the meeting that
newspapers should do more "good news" economic
stories.
Maxcy didn't dispute their comments.
But, Maxcy said, "If the economy of Highlands
County wasn't in a crisis, we wouldn't be here
talking to each other."
Zetrouer Farm recognized as Century
Pioneer Farm
Star-Banner
Published: Friday, April 11, 2008 at 12:53 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 11, 2008 at 12:53 p.m.
SHILOH - The Zetrouer Farm in the northwest Marion County
community of Shiloh, in the county's farm preservation area,
has received the state's Century Pioneer Farm designation.
It is one of five Florida farms receiving the designation
recently.
Renee Andrews, whose great grandfather Daniel Zetrouer
was given the land in 1897, operates a black Angus farm on
the remaining 46 acres today. She said the farm started out
on 160 acres.
"I think it's important to be recognized for operating
the farm for more than 100 years. Florida started out as an
agriculture state, and it's still very much a part of the
state," Andrews said.
The designation from the Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services recognizes families who
have maintained continuous ownership of a farm for 100 years
or more. The state began recognizing the pioneer farm
families 25 years ago, with 144 having earned the
designation.
In a press release Florida Agriculture Commissioner
Charles Bronson said, "these families have been able to
retain ownership of their land through the Great Depression,
diseases, droughts, freezes and the urbanization of Florida.
That is the great tribute to the many generations of these
families."
- Harriet Daniels
Rural America Hit Hard By
Housing Crisis
By EVELYN NIEVES
The Associated
Press
Published: April
12, 2008
MERCED, Calif. - The end came in
a blink outside the Merced County
Courthouse.
Only six people showed up for the
foreclosure auction, Janice Pimentel
and her son Nick included. By
chance, the Pimentels' dairy farm
was the first property offered.
The auctioneer, a young man in
aviator sunglasses and bluejeans,
read their address and paused for
bids. When none came, the Joe T. and
Janice R. Pimentel Dairy Farm, 21
years in the life of the family,
officially became the property of
its main creditor, a local lender.
"Well," Janice Pimentel said,
"that's that."
The Pimentels' farm was once a
fixture in California's Central
Valley, which is best known as the
world's fruit basket and, these
days, may have the highest
concentration of foreclosures in the
country. Many of the properties lost
to foreclosure around here are in
rural towns that are changing,
perhaps forever, because of the
housing meltdown.
Although news about the mortgage
crisis often focuses on cities and
booming suburbs, rural America also
has been hit hard. Research by the
Housing Assistance Council, a
Washington-based nonprofit
organization that helps build
housing in rural pockets of the
country, has found that foreclosures
are at least as prevalent in small
towns as in cities.
"It's happening all over," said
Moises Loza, HAC executive director.
Rural Situation May Be Worse
The foreclosure problems in
small-town America may be even more
widespread than in cities. Mobile
and prefab homes make up at least 15
percent of the nation's rural
housing, and three-quarters of them
were financed with installment or
personal property loans rather than
mortgage loans, according to the
HAC. When the owners default, it
leads to repossession rather than
foreclosure, and these defaults are
not included in the foreclosure
data, Loza said.
Rural residents often have fewer
banking institutions to choose from
than city dwellers and can fall
victim to high interest rates and
predatory lending practices. But
precise mortgage statistics for
rural areas are hard to come by,
because while large banks in
metropolitan areas are required
under federal law to report lending
activity, many small, rural
financial institutions are not.
Merced is one of three adjoining
counties near the top of the latest
national foreclosure rankings issued
by RealtyTrac, a real estate data
firm. Merced County was No. 4. San
Joaquin County, which includes the
town of Stockton, was No. 2, and
Stanislaus County, which includes
Modesto, was No. 3. (No. 1 was Fort
Myers and Cape Coral.)
In these three California
counties in February, foreclosure
proceedings were started on more
than 3,100 properties and nearly
1,300 houses were repossessed,
according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure
filings were made against about one
in every 100 properties in the three
counties, compared with one in 557
properties nationwide.
Merced County, population
246,000, underwent a housing boom in
the past few years that saw
developments spring up on what used
to be farmland, said U.S. Rep.
Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat from
Merced. Now, in towns like Atwater,
housing values have dropped as much
as 50 percent, the congressman said.
"The impact on these small towns
and cities is huge," Cardoza said.
"In my district, I believe we are
already in a recession."
In Merced County towns like
Planada, no one needs statistics to
tell them that the foreclosure
crisis has hit hard.
The landscape is filled with
for-sale and foreclosure signs,
vacant houses with weedy front
lawns, and graffiti on boarded-up
windows. The skeletons of houses
where construction stopped when the
market went bust stand across a
development where houses that sold
for $400,000 just three years ago
are now going begging at half the
price.
Driving around depressed
developments ringed by almond
orchards, John Pedrozo, a Merced
County supervisor who represents
Planada, could not contain his
distress.
"I've lived here 50 years, and
I've never seen anything like it,"
said Pedrozo, who grew up on a dairy
farm. "Businesses are closing,
people going bankrupt. And the empty
houses are vandalized." A common
problem, he said, is that on
weekends, vacant, foreclosed houses
are crashed for wild parties and
trashed.
Losing A Community
In small towns, even one or two
foreclosed properties can have a big
effect on the community, Pedrozo
said. "It's not just that property
values go down," he said, "but also
that people lose their neighbors and
their community."
Janice and Joe Pimentel, who are
52 and 58, respectively, decided to
follow their families' dairy farm
tradition when they bought their
25-acre property in Atwater two
decades ago. Their sons, now 21 and
30, decided not to go into the
business, and the Pimentels thought
they would retire one day and
convert the farm into an almond
orchard.
How they lost their farm, once a
thriving business with some 200
cows, is not a simple subprime
mortgage story. It has to do with a
drop in the price of milk, a spike
in the cost of feed, some bad luck
and, yes, a five-year refinance loan
with an interest rate of 12 percent.
On top of their financial
problems, in 2007, Joe's father
developed cancer. With such a heavy
personal and financial burden, the
Pimentels could not give the farm
the attention it required.
"At 58, I'm starting over," said
Joe, who has started working for the
county's agriculture department
setting pest traps.
The farm is a ghostly sight, with
its empty stalls, the flapping roof
on the main barn, and weeds where
flowers used to grow. Soon the
Pimentels will take their pets - two
horses and three dogs - to the
modest house Joe's father left them
about a mile away.
The Pimentels doubt their
property will ever be a family dairy
farm again. Maybe a developer will
grab it, Janice said, "for when
housing grows again in Merced,
someday."
Silt In Wetland Now A Concern At
Mall Site
By KEVIN
WIATROWSKI
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April
12, 2008
WESLEY CHAPEL - State regulators
said Friday that they found no
evidence Cypress Creek Town Center
polluted the nearby creek with muddy
runoff this week - but they stopped
short of letting the developer off
the hook.
Inspectors from the Southwest
Florida Water Management District
visited the 510-acre site straddling
State Road 56 this week in the wake
of Sunday's heavy rains.
Investigators found silt-laden
water running through a box culvert
into a wetland at the southeast
corner of the site under development
by mall builder Richard E. Jacobs
Group. The problem area was near
where Cypress Creek passes under
Interstate 75.
While the polluted runoff didn't
reach the creek, Jacobs still may be
liable for polluting the wetland,
said Robyn Felix, spokeswoman for
Swiftmud, as the water management
district is known. The matter has
been sent to Swiftmud's attorneys to
decide, she said.
If the lawyers determine Jacobs'
site was the source of the dirty
water reaching the wetland, Swiftmud
will add that location to the list
of repairs it has ordered Jacobs to
make on its site, Felix said.
Jacobs this week urged federal
regulators to lift their ban,
imposed in February, on construction
on 54 acres of filled wetlands. The
ban blocks Jacobs from installing
underground drainage lines that
would help solve many of the
problems, said spokeswoman Deanne
Roberts.
Reporter Kevin
Wiatrowski can be reached at (813)
948-4201 or
kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
Acquiring Aquifer Data
By TONY
MARRERO
Published:
April 11, 2008
BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE -
Larry Rivenbark drops the tape
measure down into the black
depths of the narrow pipe.
The tape, weighted by a
cylindrical moisture sensor that
looks a lot like a garden hose
nozzle, falls 10 feet, then 15
and then beyond 20. At nearly
24.5 feet, the sensor sounds a
steady beep.
Rivenbark, a field technician
for the Southwest Florida Water
Management District, has hit
water.
He makes a note on his pad,
does a quick calculation and
then enters the figure into a
laptop computer that looks
sturdy enough for a war zone.
It turns out the water level
in this monitor well along U.S.
41 just south of County Line
Road is at about 44 feet above
sea level — down a little bit
from the last check and only a
few feet above the lowest point
ever recorded there.
But the well, known as
Masaryktown Deep, is just one of
some 160 wells in the district's
northern region, which runs from
Hernando County to portions of
Levy and Marion counties.
As Rivenbark put it: "You
can't judge everything by just
one hole in the ground."
The water management
district, commonly known as
Swiftmud, does weekly checks of
the wells and compiles the data
to come up with an average
groundwater level for Floridan
aquifer that flows beneath our
feet.
Overall, district officials
say, the news is encouraging:
The aquifer is already
rebounding from months of
below-average rainfall — and
doing so quicker than expected.
"It's incredible what's
happened, and it's happened in a
short period of time," said
Granville Kinsman, manager of
the Swiftmud's Hydrologic Data
Section. "The surprising thing
is through this period we expect
water levels to fall. We've
actually seen levels stabilize
or even rise."
Above-average rainfall in the
last three months has helped.
That was unexpected, Kinsman
said, as forecasters had called
for a drier than average spring
season.
The district's 16 counties
have seen 11 inches of rain
between January and March.
That's more than an inch above
the historic average.
By April each year, toward
the end of the dry season,
officials expect groundwater
levels to be low. That has been
exacerbated, however, by drier
than normal summers the past two
years.
In 2006 and 2007, the
northern region received 23
inches less than the historic
annual average.
The district gauges
groundwater levels using a
normal range between zero and 4
feet.
By April of 2007, the aquifer
had dropped to more than a foot
below the normal range.
On Friday, the level was .68
feet.
It's a good place to start as
the rainy season approaches,
Kinsman said.
"It bodes well if we go into
our normal summer pattern on
time, so by the first couple of
weeks of June, we can expect
this trend to continue and build
on what we've already gotten,"
Kinsman said.
However, he added: "What I've
learned in 20 years is anything
can happen."
The pattern of dry and wet
weather extends beyond the four
seasons in a given year. A graph
that plots aquifer levels over
the last 12 years is a
rollercoaster ride of peaks and
valleys.
The highest point came in
early 1998, as the state came
off an El Nino year
characterized by record winter
rainfall.
Things changed quickly,
though, and the lowest point in
the 12-year period came just a
couple years later, at the end
of 2000, as the region dealt
with the worst drought in
decades.
Near the end of 2003, levels
almost climbed to those in 1998.
And by the end of 2007, the
groundwater level nearly dropped
to levels seen in 2000.
Such patterns, like the wet
and dry seasons seen each year,
are "just the nature of the
state," Kinsman said.
However, the district's data
will only become more important
as officials wrestle with
development requests and try to
decide how much pumping the
aquifer can handle, said Steve
DeSmith, a Swiftmud geologist.
"The more information we can
build now, as population and
development increases, the
better we'll be able to
determine if that growth is
causing impacts," DeSmith said.
Reporter Tony
Marrero can be reached at
352-544-5286 or
lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.
Overlooked oversight State agency
ensures development project receives
proper scrutiny
Gottfried Creek runs through open
country on a former cattle ranch
between Englewood and North Port in
southern Sarasota County.
Developer Stan Thomas proposes 5,700
homes on some 2,850 acres in the
creek's watershed, on a tract named
Gottfried Stewardship Village.
What happens there will affect
people in Sarasota County and
northern Charlotte County. They
should be grateful the state
Department of Community Affairs is
providing cautious and necessary
oversight.
Those residents should expect
similar oversight from the Sarasota
County government. But, judging from
the DCA's complaints, it's not clear
they've been getting it.
DCA concerns
In a recent report to the County
Commission, the DCA cited several
concerns with the project. Among
them:
The Gottfried development, part of
the expansive Thomas Ranch property,
could cause storm water to flow off
developed land and into the creek,
which is already prone to flooding.
That runoff could also harm the
Myakka River, of which Gottfried
Creek is a tributary.
The thousands of homes proposed
would increase the demand for the
region's drinking water and require
sewage treatment. The report says
the county has neither ensured the
development would be "compatible
with existing local and regional
water supplies, promote water
conservation, \[or\] protect
wetlands and surface and groundwater
quality," nor ensured proper
handling of waste water and storm
water.
Traffic would increase on River
Road, U.S. 41 and State Road 776,
but the county has not adequately
addressed the necessary road
improvements, the report said.
Comprehensive plan change
The DCA reviewed the development
proposal because the commission last
year gave preliminary approval to a
change in the county's comprehensive
plan that would allow the project to
have more than 1,100 additional
homes than are allowed under the
current land-use provisions.
Commissioners who backed the change
say existing zoning allows scattered
development and the use of septic
tanks.
The DCA, which can approve or reject
the change, said it needs more data
and analysis before it can make an
informed decision. Good for the DCA.
Jeff Boone, a lawyer for the
developer, contends that the DCA's
concerns are standard for a project
requiring a change in a
comprehensive plan. He says the
developer can provide much of the
data and analysis that the agency
seeks.
Thanks to the DCA, however, the
responsibility for demanding that
data, and for providing additional
information, is where it belongs --
on the shoulders of the Sarasota
County government
Resident: Canal 'Was Never Here'
By MIKE SALINERO
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 12, 2008
Updated: 12:23 am
TOWN 'N COUNTRY - As Frank DeAngelis steers
his 17-foot skiff through the muddy waters of
Rocky Creek, a dense green wall of mangroves
suddenly opens onto a canal.
DeAngelis angles his boat up the waterway,
which stretches more than 1,000 feet to a newly
constructed boat dock and three-story mansion.
"For 35 years we've been coming out here with
kids and grandkids and this was never here,"
DeAngelis said, gesturing at the arrow-straight
canal.
DeAngelis alerted Hillsborough County
environmental authorities about the canal in
August. He says a homeowner without waterfront
access altered what had been an old mosquito
control drainage ditch to connect his property
to the creek, which eventually leads to Old
Tampa Bay.
Last week, the county assessed $14,548 in
fines against the owner of the home, Pedro
Olivera, for work he had done along his
property.
A pending consent order says Olivera
destroyed mangroves, a protected species, dumped
fill dirt in wetlands, and built a dock and sea
wall in wetlands without permits. All are
violations of state law and county regulations.
In addition to the fines, Hillsborough
environmental authorities say they had Olivera
replant 400 mangroves and fill in a turning
basin he had dredged on his property along the
canal.
Construction on the home appears nearly
complete, though it was unclear whether anyone
was living in it. A reporter left a business
card with a crew working on the dock earlier
this week and asked them to have Olivera call.
Several attempts to reach him on a cell phone
were unsuccessful.
The penalties and corrective actions don't go
far enough for longtime Rocky Creek residents
like DeAngelis. If Olivera signs the consent
order, the county would lose the ability to take
him to court for civil or criminal charges.
And though several agencies are
investigating, no one has ruled Olivera will
have to fill in the canal or that he is
prohibited from using it to get to the nearby
creek. Also, if he now has water access to the
creek and Bay, the increase in his property
value could far exceed the amount of fines.
Mangroves Appear To Have Been Trimmed
DeAngelis told environmental authorities that
Olivera not only altered the ditch on his
property, as county officials maintain, but also
altered the waterway through property he did not
own, namely the county's Rocky Creek Coastal
Preserve.
To prove his point, DeAngelis steered his
boat into the canal, where mangroves seem to
have been trimmed in a straight line leading to
the bare land where county inspectors say
Olivera dumped fill dirt.
"It's 4 or 5 feet deep at high tide now; in
the old days it was 10 inches," said DeAngelis,
who has lived on Rocky Creek for 35 years with
his wife, Loretta.
Mangroves are a vital part of estuary and
coastal ecosystems, protecting shoreline,
providing habitat for fish and other marine
life, and adding nutrients to the water. The
trees are protected, with only light trimming
allowed in special circumstances. Violators can
be fined or prosecuted; in severe cases, they
can be forced to fill in dredging that has
damaged or destroyed mangroves.
Scientists with the county's Environmental
Protection Commission say the section of the
canal from Olivera's back property line to the
creek was a pre-existing ditch dug in the 1960s
as a mosquito control measure. The EPC has
assessed no penalties for any work on the ditch
that occurred on the county preserve.
"We're saying the violation appeared
substantially, if not all, on his property,"
said Bill Inch, an environmental scientist for
the county. "If that turns out not to be true,
we will certainly look at it, but I don't know
how we could miss that."
That opinion doesn't jibe, however, with
observations by longtime creek fishermen Toby
Stroll and Don Edmonson. The two men, who work
at an auto air-conditioning shop on West
Hillsborough Avenue, say the canal was just a
small ditch overgrown with mangroves, barely
visible from the creek.
"I lived in this county all my life," Stroll
said. "That was always just one of those
mosquito creeks they dug way back. Now it's a
canal."
"It was very small," Edmonson said. "It
wasn't even as big as a drainage ditch."
No Private Access To Preserve Allowed
An official with the county Parks, Recreation
and Conservation Department said he would
investigate when asked about residents' belief
that the ditch had been altered.
"I definitely have to get that cleared up,"
said Forest Turbiville, who manages county
preservation land for the parks department.
"That would certainly be a major issue from our
end. We don't allow private access into a
preserve."
Neither the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, which enforces
wetlands violations and some dock permits, nor
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues
permits for all dredge and fill activities, was
aware of the work on Olivera's property. Both
agencies said they would investigate.
Environmental Protection Commission officials
said they have no plans to make Olivera fill in
the portion of the canal on his property. That
could change, however, once Olivera submits
drawings of the dock and sea wall he built
without permits, said Deborah Sinko, general
manager of the EPC Wetlands Division.
Sinko said she was concerned about reports
that workers were installing pilings Wednesday
for a boatlift on Olivera's dock.
Sinko said Friday that she would send
inspectors to the site to check out the report.
"I am concerned about this work continuing
while he's under enforcement action," Sinko
said. "That's problematic."
Turbiville said he was surprised the EPC was
not making Olivera fill in the canal.
"It's not like the house had access to the
Bay; he created that access to the Bay,"
Turbiville said. "As a regulatory issue, I would
think we would want to make him fill up the
ditch."
If the county allows the canal to stay and
Olivera to use it, DeAngelis said, landowners
who built in the wetlands around the creek might
create their own canals through the refuge so
they can access Old Tampa Bay.
"That preserve isn't their property,"
DeAngelis said. "That's your property and it's
my property."
Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached
at msalinero@tampatrib.com or
(813) 259-8303.
An Era Ends: Zephyr Has Lost
Its Hill's
The Tampa
Tribune
Published:
April 10, 2008
Jane Lamley took a last walk
Wednesday through Hill's Grocery
& Coffee Shop's kitchen and
dining room, as auctioneers sold
off the last of the longtime
establishment's fixtures.
After spending 10 years
waitressing, cooking and washing
dishes at Hill's, Lamley said
what she would miss the most
would be the people she has met
over the years.
Hill's, which has been at
State Road 54 and Morris Bridge
Road in Zephyrhills for more
than 50 years, soon will be torn
down to make way for a CVS
pharmacy. Kruth "Kurt" Sombutmai,
who bought the business in 1990,
said he plans to open a bigger
restaurant somewhere else.
As Wednesday's auction was
winding down, only a lone bar
stool and single picture of John
Wayne remained in the barren
dining room. Most everything
else - dining room tables and
chairs, food and shelving,
kitchen utensils, plates and
whatever was left from the
grocery store - was sold.
Hill's became an institution
here, both under Sombutmai - a
former Buddhist monk who became
Zephyrhills' best-known John
Wayne fan - and the Hill family
that opened the business.
Legions of winter residents
flocked here every season for
the cheap, hearty fare and its
signature "Kurtski" burger.
In the coming months, a
13,000-square-foot drugstore
will rise in place of Hill's,
the latest chain to set up shop
at the increasingly busy western
edge of town.
Fred Bellet
'King Corn' is a sobering look at what we eat
By
Laura Reiley, Times Food Critic
Published Monday, April 7, 2008 3:54 PM
an Cheney and Curt Ellis graduated from college at the turn
of the millennium. Their post-collegiate goals didn't seem too
fleshed out. In summary: "We want to live as long as our
parents."
For most American generations, this isn't wildly ambitious.
But in this era of rampant obesity and record numbers of
diabetics, their prospects aren't sunny. Both of hearty Iowa
farm stock, the two men decided to get in touch with their
roots, returning to Greene, Iowa, where their great-grandparents
had worked the soil three generations ago.
The two Yalies sent a letter to one very skeptical farmer,
Chuck Phytt: "We're writing with a strange proposal. We want to
move to a single acre of your land to grow corn." The results
are chronicled in the documentary King Corn, airing
Tuesday on WEDU-Ch. 3.
Part Michael Moore polemic, part Morgan Spurlock (Super
Size Me) gonzo journalism, King Corn takes a hard
look at major agribusiness, the farm bill and all the factors
that have dramatically changed the way we eat in recent decades.
There are consequences to $1 hamburgers washed down with cheap
72-ounce sodas, both made with corn. Sure, they're filling and
inexpensive (we spend a smaller percentage of our income on food
than any other developed nation), but in a sense, the adage is
true: We are what we eat.
At the start of the film, scientist Steve Macko performs a
hair analysis on Cheney and Ellis — both are big fast food
eaters — declaring that much of the carbon in their bodies comes
from corn. Despite its growing use as a fuel source (ethanol),
America's most subsidized and productive grain finds its way
into nearly everything we eat. High-fructose corn syrup,
corn-fed meats and corn-heavy processed foods make up much of
the American diet.
The crop that was once a native grass of many varieties has
been narrowed to essentially one genetically modified breed, a
monocrop that is not nearly as nutrient-dense as its
predecessors. Thus, the sodas, animal feed and processed foods
that are made from it are nutritionally skimpy and
"energy-dense" (that means highly caloric).
"What we didn't know was that we were growing an acre of
sugar," lament Cheney and Ellis near the film's end, their corn
looking abundant behind them. "We thought we were growing an
actual crop destined to be eaten by actual people. Instead, we
were growing fast food."
Despite its gloomy outlook on America's No. 1 crop, King
Corn is a breezy, entertaining buddy flick — two city boys
fumbling their way through tasks farmers have mastered for
generations in America's farm belt, its underlying message laid
out simply and persuasively.
Growing concern
The beginning of the experiment — the actual planting of the
crop — is underwhelming. Because of advancements in farming
technology, it takes 18 minutes to plant 31,000 kernels of
genetically modified corn on their tidy acre. And using ammonia
fertilizer and powerful herbicides means they can grow four
times as much corn as their grandparents (its disturbingly
robust progress is tracked with stop-action photography).
While they wait for their bumper crop to mature, Cheney,
Ellis and the film's director, Aaron Woolf, have a lot of time
on their hands. Naturally, their thoughts turn to where and how
their kernels will enter the food system. This is where King
Corn becomes a monster movie every bit as sinister as
King Kong.
Today, the Corn Belt produces nearly 11-billion bushels (that
number was 7.1-billion in 1987, but experts expect a downturn in
acreage planted in 2008). Cheney and Ellis wonder, is all this
corn a good thing? To find out, they turn to corn's arch
nemesis, author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma).
A vocal opponent of all the sneaky corn in our diet, Pollan
explains that because acreage and productivity skyrocketed over
the past three decades, we had to figure out what to do with all
that corn. Thus, the corn sweetener industry was born.
And though some studies indicate that a sweetener is a
sweetener, meaning calories from table sugar are the same as
calories from high-fructose corn syrup, others disagree. A
recent study at Rutgers University tested soft drinks and found
that those sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup contained
compounds called reactive carbonyls, compounds linked to
diabetic complications.
Fruits of their labor
In Park Slope, Brooklyn, the filmmakers chat with a cabbie.
The camera pans down a convenience store aisle of colorful sodas
and juices as the cabbie says, "Just by stopping drinking soda,
I lost about a third of what I weighed. I was at high risk of
Type 2 diabetes." A New York doctor then says that one in eight
New Yorkers has diabetes.
Cheney and Ellis have another seemingly chance encounter in a
McDonald's with a man who talks about confinement feedlots, a
description that leads them to visit Bledsoe Cattle Co. in
eastern Colorado, where 14,000 to 16,000 cattle are "finished"
each year.
We learn that grass-fed cows take several years to reach
market weight. Though corn-fed cows are fattened more quickly,
cattle weren't meant to be on a corn diet, so they often succumb
to acidosis (symptoms are varied, from immune problems to liver
abscesses). To combat potential illnesses, livestock consume 70
percent of the antibiotics in this country. And then we consume
the livestock.
After the first crop's harvest (government subsidy: $28), the
documentarians decide to call it quits. They buy the acre of
land and let it go fallow. Amidst acre after acre of bobbing
ears of corn is a shaggy, weedy square in which they play Wiffle
ball.
VILANO BEACH - U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., and St. Johns
County officials announced Friday afternoon that five Vilano
Beach homeowners can install permanent seawalls to stop their
homes from toppling into the ocean.
To Martha Thomas, who owns one of the oceanfront homes, the
news was a blessing.
"I'm relieved. They've saved my home," she said, hugging Mica
and St. Johns County Engineer Press Tompkins.
Earlier in the day, Thomas and the other homeowners had been
caught in a state regulatory bind. They had been told that they
could not build permanent seawalls, but were limited to using
sand or sandbags.
Tompkins said that state regulators agreed to allow the
homeowners to apply for variances from the regulation. He called
that "very rare."
Early Friday, Florida Department of Environmental officials
said that because the homes were built after 1985, they are
considered "conforming" structures that can withstand severe
storms. That meant no seawalls of vinyl, concrete or other
materials, like those that were installed at older homes in
South Ponte Vedra Beach last year.
"These homes are not eligible for seawalls because they are
built to much higher standards to withstand stronger storms and
winds," Sarah Williams, a DEP spokeswoman, had explained.
Thomas said she has no sand left between the her home's
foundation and the dune and she didn't think the home would
stand if the beach further erodes. She said her neighbor, Gerry
Stokes, spent about $47,000 this year on sand to stop the
erosion and that it all washed away within two weeks.
This week's emergency was caused by heavy weekend storms that
increased the area's beach erosion.
Atlantic Ocean currents generally head southward along the
coast, pushing sand with them. If too many seawalls are
installed, the natural exchange of sand between the ocean and
the beach is interrupted, Williams said. So instead of moving to
the south and constantly replenishing beaches there, the sand
gets trapped on shore.
Seawalls on the beach also change the natural habitats for
sea turtles and other species and alter the shoreline's natural
slope, DEP officials said.
Mica said he's trying to look at the larger picture. He said
he's secured funds to have the Army Corps of Engineers study why
the beach is eroding and what the long-term solutions are. He
said that, in the past, they have lost portions of Florida A1A
in southern St. Johns County and northern Flagler County because
of flooding.
"We're just starting the [hurricane] season. ... I think
eventually we're going to lose parts of A1A in St. Johns
County," Mica said.
TALLAHASSEE | The push to bring commuter rail to Orlando, and
increase freight train traffic through north and central
Florida, picked up momentum Friday as a House committee
overwhelmingly approved the plan.
But the passion surrounding one of the Legislature's most
emotional debates this year was clear as lobbyists and lawyers
were turned away from a standing-room-only meeting Friday
morning.
Opponents of the plan, led by Lakeland-area businesses and
residents upset about increased freight traffic in their city,
argued that they had no say in the project.
But supporters, primarily from Orange County, said the $641
million cost is a good investment to prevent more expensive
widening of I-4 to handle traffic and to reduce pollution with
more efficient mass transit.
"We just cannot afford to not complete this project," said Rich
Crotty, Orange County mayor. The rail service is planned to
begin in 2010.
The bill approved by the House Economic Expansion and
Infrastructure Council by a 13-1 vote Friday is 130 pages and
contains a mish-mash of transportation-related changes to laws
ranging from drunken driving penalties to the size of farm
vehicles allowed to drive on roads.
LIABILITY DEBATED
But a tiny provision that would exempt CSX Transportation from
accidents involving passenger rail service on the proposed
61.5-mile commuter line between DeLand and Poinciana caused more
than two hours of debate Friday morning.
In 2007, the Florida Department of Transportation signed a deal
purchasing the rail line from CSX at a below-market rate. But to
make up the difference, the state agreed to pay for improvements
to CSX freight lines running from Jacksonville through
Gainesville, Ocala and Lakeland to accommodate traffic displaced
from the state-run commuter line. The state also is paying for a
new CSX hub in Winter Haven.
The price tag has grown to $641 million because of increased
costs of land and construction. The Florida Senate last week
narrowly defeated a push to take some of the money away from the
CSX project amid angst over plummeting state revenues.
CSX will pay the state to continue using the commuter rail line
for up to 12 hours a day. The Jacksonville-based company has
insisted on a change in law that will remove any liability for
accidents involving passenger trains even if CSX is at fault.
Accidents involving CSX-run freight traffic would still be the
company's responsibility.
The debate over who is legally responsible for accidents has
become a proxy battle for the entire project.
TRIAL LAWYERS HAVING THEIR SAY, TOO
The fight has brought the powerful Florida Justice Association,
the lobbying arm of trial lawyers in the state, into the fray.
While they did not mention the limits on legal settlements that
could arise from the deal, they did say that making the state
liable for CSX-caused accidents removes any incentive for the
company to be safe.
"Safety only and always follows accountability," said Jamie
Holland, a lawyer specializing in rail law. "This is a
no-accountability proposal. The citizens would pay and they
should not."
But CSX, the state transportation agency and supporters say the
company should not be held responsible for commuters and
passenger trains that would operate on the line only because of
the agreement.
The legal debate was overwhelmed by concerns about increased
freight traffic in Lakeland. The plan, depending on who is
making the claim, would bring at least four additional trains
through the city's downtown daily or as many as dozens more.
Julie Townsend is the executive director of Downtown Lakeland
Partnership representing local businesses. She told the
committee that Polk County is "treated as an afterthought and a
place to dump things."
"We are begging you that the state of Florida not succumb to the
pressures of the rhetoric of the rich and powerful voices you
hear every day telling you that this is our only chance for
commuter rail," she said.
Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, successfully changed the bill to
force DOT to draw up a plan for commuter rail in the entire
state. The change also would require the agency to study
alternative routes for freight trains around Lakeland.
"I think we've done a good job communicating Lakeland's
concerns," McKeel said.
Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, agreed that Lakeland officials
were not consulted early enough and promised to keep working to
alleviate the problem.
"You were just ignored," he said. "There are some alternative
routes we are looking at. It's not forgotten."
But Townsend said that was "a hush-up tactic to keep us quiet so
we'll go along to get along."
"Do you really think that the citizens of Florida are going to
say, 'We want to spend another $300 million to re-route the
trains out of Lakeland?'" she asked.
At least one lawmaker said he appreciated being stopped by
freight trains in his hometown.
"When I stop and sit there and watch the freight trains go by, I
see money moving," said Rep. Pat Patterson, R-DeLand. "I see
people that are at work. I see things that are happening."
And a representative from the Florida Council of the Blind told
lawmakers the train would make it easier for the blind to shop
and work.
The massive transportation bill is, ironically, called a "train"
in Tallahassee parlance because of all of the unrelated
provisions it picks up along the legislative trail each year.
House Bill 1399 faces one more House council vote before the
full House considers the bill. The Senate, where hostility to
the CSX plan is more pronounced, also will have to approve the
bill.
Traditionally, the "train" is one of the last bills considered
in a legislative session. This year's session is scheduled to
end May 2.
Franklin County students get an
environmental lesson through photography
By Gerald Ensley
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
EASTPOINT — From the firetruck boom 95
feet in the air, photographer Daniel Dancer told the colorfully
garbed students arranged on the soccer field below that when he
counted to three, he wanted them to shout, "Get your sky sight
on!"
He did. They did. And, bingo, all 1,200 K-12 students in
Franklin County were part of a bird's-eye portrait of their new
school logo: a seahawk.
Said Franklin County High 10th-grader Cory Lee, "It was
weird. It was cool. It was definitely different."
It was also instructional. Dancer, 56, an Oregon
environmental photographer, travels the nation teaching students
about the environment. His signature is creating "Art For The
Sky" by arranging big groups of people into mosaics of birds,
fish, animals and trees that he photographs from above.
He spent three days this week teaching Franklin students his
six tenets about the environment: "Intention," "Sky Sight,"
"Collaboration," "Impermanence," "Gratitude" and
"Inter-Connection." Thursday, he orchestrated the giant photo
shoot of students clad in black, white, red and other color
T-shirts. Today, he will host assemblies (and a 7 p.m. public
reception at Apalachicola's West Campus auditorium) to show a
15-minute video of the photo shoot. Each student will receive a
"sky card" of the photo and his six tenets.
Though Dancer tries to build an appreciation for all nature,
he focuses on the threats of global warming. He began "Art For
The Sky" in 2000 and has taken 60 mosaic photos.
"I do (the photos) so students will experience the art and
all the teaching that goes with it," Dancer said. "Global
warming is the biggest issue humans face, and students are not
learning about it. I don't want to scare anyone, but we need to
talk about it and then it will filter up to our leaders."
Thursday's photo shoot also represented an unofficial
introduction to Franklin's new consolidated K-12 school, on U.S.
Highway 98 near Eastpoint. This fall, the county will close its
three existing schools and move all its students into the
$52 million facility now under construction.
It is believed Franklin is the only Florida county to
consolidate its students in a single school. The school is 11
miles from each of the rural county's two cities, Carrabelle and
Apalachicola, on land donated by the state.
"Everyone is very excited," said elementary teacher Carol
Weyrich. "It's quite an experience for all the students in the
district to see the new school. It's quite an experience even
for the teachers."
