11th panther road death sets grim record
Associated Press

NAPLES -- The death of a 130-pound Florida Panther on an isolated Collier County road recently was the 11th killed by a vehicle in the state this year -- a new record.

The death of the panther, whose body was found Tuesday, was a macabre milestone in the state and federal campaign to bring the species back from the verge of extinction. There are fewer than 100 of the cats left alive in Florida.

Some panther experts chose to look on the bright side, saying the uptick in deaths underscored the success of a breeding program begun a decade earlier. Others saw it as a consequence of allowing new subdivisions and roads to march into panther territory.

"It's just a tragic result of the increased development in the area," Elizabeth Fleming of the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife told the Naples Daily News. "The only place in the world where Florida panthers are found is one of the fastest-growing areas of the country."

Toll Roads May Tie to Land Plans
By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

BARTOW - Proposals to slice through the region with two new toll roads could offer the first-ever opportunity to link land planning and road planning, Pat Steed told the Central Florida Regional Planning Council on Wednesday.

"Land-use planning and road planning have never come together before,'' said Steed, the council's executive director and a longtime transportation planner.

She said the five-county region the council oversees - Polk, Highlands, Hardee, DeSoto and Okeechobee - will face more impact from these roads than any other region.

"We have a huge job ahead of us,'' she said.

The planned roads are the Heartland Coast-to-Coast and the Heartland Parkway, said Pam Richmond, special projects manager for planning for the Florida Turnpike Enterprise.

The Heartland Coast-to-Coast is a 150-mile east-west toll road between Port Manatee and Interstate 95. Its current estimated price tag is $4 billion.

The Heartland Parkway is a 110-mile toll road running from State Road 80 near Fort Myers to Interstate 4 near Kissimmee. Its estimated cost is $3 billion.

Either road - if they're built - is expected to influence development patterns along its route.

Steed and Richmond said one of the issues is to determine whether local residents ultimately want the road and whether it fits with their regional vision.

Richmond said at the moment the projected traffic volume may not be enough to justify the road, but any construction would be perhaps 25 years away and conditions could change.

Steed said it's possible the roads could be built in segments, based on traffic demand.

Ben Walker, a Florida Department of Transportation planner, said the new road corridors could be used to plan extensions of railroad lines and electric powerline corridors, adding that railroad companies and utilities could help to share the cost of acquiring right of way for the projects.

Richmond said there are a number of environmental issues either route will face.

They include protection of endangered species and their habitats along the Lake Wales Ridge and the Kissimmee River Valley.

Environmentalists are already questioning the effects as well as the justification for the roads.

Walt Thomson, The Nature Conservancy's Central Florida director, said the private conservation organization is participating in the debate because it's involved in the protection of rare habitat and species along the corridors on land it either owns or manages.

The roads could affect habitat occupied by bald eagles, Florida scrub-jays, gopher tortoises, Florida panthers and other protected species.

He said claims that there is demand for the roads are based on population growth projections he questions because he thinks the growth rate will not be as constant as state figures indicate.

In addition to the destruction of the habitat itself, environmentalists are concerned the new roads will encourage development of rural land and make it harder for rural landowners and environmental land managers to use prescribed fire to manage their land because of the effect of smoke on highway visibility.

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com

FDOT puts Lake road projects on hold

Joshua Davidovich
Staff Writer

TAVARES - Lake County drivers will have to wait a few more years for road congestion relief, the Florida Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

Various road projects in the county have been pushed back due to funding problems.

Two high-profile road widening projects - State Road 50 from Florida's Turnpike to Hancock Road and U.S. Highway 441 from Perkins to Griffin Road - will have to wait because of the cost of obtaining the rights of way and funding construction.

Commuters will have to wait until 2008 to see any activity on S.R. 50, instead of in the next year. The U.S. 441 project was also pushed back a year, from 2008 to 2009.

"These cost increases have begun to directly impact our five-year plan," FDOT District 5 Secretary Noranne Downs told a sparse crowd at a Tavares information session.

In the past two years, the cost of building a road has more than doubled. Many projects are getting only one bid, making it nearly impossible to keep up the pace of work, officials said.

The news wasn't all bad, however. FDOT introduced several smaller resurfacing projects and a $37 million project to add lanes on U.S. 27 from S.R. 50 to Lake Louisa Road in 2012. U.S. 301 in Sumter County is also on the list for widening in 2009.

Several resurfacing and trail projects were also added to the plan.

District 5 covers most of the Orlando metro region, including Lake and Sumter counties. Last year, it was the only district in the state to not have to cancel or delay any projects. This year, the district was not so fortunate.

Scheduled widening of S.R. 48 in Sumter County was pushed from 2010 to 2012, and the southbound lanes of U.S. 301 are now set for resurfacing in 2009 instead of 2008.

Two projects in Sumter County were also canceled: a sidewalk project on County Road 475 in Bushnell and the widening of 441 from Buenos Aires to the Marion County line.

"The rising costs are going to have to push out projects," District 5 Transportation Development Director George Lovett said.

Lovett said he hoped the costs would begin to stabilize, making new projects more feasible next year.

"We're already seeing right-of-way costs level out," Lovett said.

Lake Sumter Metropolitan Planning organization Director T.J. Fish said though he hopes the costs would go down, building roads will never be as cheap as it once was.

"We are hoping it will stabilize," he said. "Maybe not down to where it was two years ago, but a percentage of it."

Rural residents dismayed at wider Tomoka Farms Road

By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The question Wednesday night for about 50 property owners along Tomoka Farms Road was not so much if, but how.

It might be 10 or even 20 years, but county officials expect the two-lane road, flanked by horse and cattle farms, rural estates and palm trees, to be widened, largely to accommodate traffic between Seminole County and southwest Volusia and Daytona Beach.

At a meeting at nearby Samsula Elementary School, property owners along a roughly 10-mile stretch between State Road 44 and U.S. 92 got their first real glimpse of how the project -- roughly estimated to cost close to $100 million -- might impact them.

"This would be about 10 feet from my front door," said Mary Anne Fidler, who lives in a house homesteaded by her family in the 1930s, as she looked at a large map showing possible alignments. "... I don't think it's right." she said.

She was not alone in her reaction as county staffers and consultants presented possible alignments for a project they said was years from becoming a reality.

The county has not put the road in its 10-year road plan. Jerry Brinton, county engineer, said it's unlikely to jump more immediate needs that also haven't been scheduled.

But identifying an alignment would allow the county to better work with developers to secure rights of way when it's likely cheaper and less painful -- before new homes are built.

Last year, the County Council directed staffers to find that alignment for a four-lane road with a grass median and 200 feet of right of way -- a design officials said best matches the more rural style of living many area residents have lobbied to keep. One possibility would generally extend 100 feet from the existing center lane. Another would put the right of way to either side of the road. The third would "weave" back and forth.

Officials asked property owners at the meeting to send input to the county on what they think would work best -- including possible tweaks that might deviate from the 200-foot plan. The preferred alignment will be presented to residents in another meeting in February before it goes to the County Council.

The options left a bad taste for many at the meeting who said their property values would go down as soon as the alignment was announced.

Some feared undesired development along the road, which slices through Tomoka Farms Rural Village.

Rural Village president Kathy Turner said, "I try to be upbeat, but I think it's incredibly sad."

james.miller@news-jrnl.com

State could OK purchase of St. Joe land Tuesday
Price tag for 2,843 acres: about $4.9 million

By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

The governor and Cabinet next week will consider the purchase of 2,843 acres of St. Joe Co. land west of Apalachicola.

The land is along the south shore of Lake Wimico and is close to St. Vincent Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. The state would buy the land in Franklin and Gulf counties for about $4.9 million.

The purchase would help protect the coastal area from growth and provide public recreation, said Eva Armstrong, director of the Division of State Lands at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

"It's gorgeous out there," she said.

Hunting, fishing, hiking, canoeing and wildlife viewing are some of recreational opportunities that could be provided, according to DEP.

The proposed purchase area also lies within the Northwest Florida Greenway, which involves a partnership of the military, government agencies and nonprofit groups, according to The Nature Conservancy. The greenway protects one of the most biologically diverse regions in the United States and prevents development below the flight path of planes flying into Eglin Air Force Base.

The parcel also is adjacent to the 8,043-acre Box-R Ranch purchased from St. Joe by the state in 2003. The forested ranch is now managed for hunting by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

What: Cabinet meeting

When: 9 a.m. Tuesday

Where: Capitol, Cabinet meeting room on the Lower Level

For more information: Call 245-2112

Water district to help fund conservation corridor purchase

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Staff Writer

The regional water management agency has agreed to help preserve another big chunk of the Volusia/Flagler Conservation Corridor, basically securing the northern half of the project in Volusia County.

The St. Johns River Water Management District board Tuesday voted to pay $4.3 million of the $10.7 million cost of the 2,251-acre tract with Volusia County. The County Council agreed to the partnership in November and will pay the remaining $6.4 million.

"This is a stellar partnership, especially on this strategically located piece," said Doug Weaver, the county's director of land acquisition and management.

The land is north of State Road 44 between DeLand and Samsula, about seven miles west of Interstate 95. It is surrounded on three sides by other publicly owned land, including land owned by the county and the city of Port Orange.

 

Governing board member Ann Moore said in a prepared statement: "I think it's a wonderful addition to the corridor we're working to establish."

The district's $4.3 million is half the average appraised value of the land and is expected to come from money the Florida Department of Transportation pays into a fund in exchange for impacts made to wetlands during road construction.

The 80,000-acre corridor is planned to preserve and protect water, animal and plant resources, leaving a pathway for the movement of large animals such as bears and panthers.

But the section of the corridor south of S.R. 44 has proven more difficult to acquire. Its boundaries stretch from S.R. 44 south to the St. Johns River. The county has acquired several thousand acres, but more than 8,000 acres in two large tracts between County Road 415 and S.R. 44 are under consideration for development.

"That's going to be more difficult," Weaver said. "We're going to continue working, but this was the last big piece in our immediate future."

When closing papers are signed on this tract, the county will have acquired ownership of/or development rights to more than 26,000 acres since voters approved the Volusia Forever land-buying program in 2000.

In other business, the board approved a stormwater management permit for the 453-home residential, commercial and golf course community called Hammock Beach River Club on 1,995 acres in Flagler County.

dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

Weather: Wetter is better

By Terry Witt

The weather should turn wetter during the next few days, leaving one question.

Will the predicted rainfall break the dry spell that has lowered water levels in the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes 3 to 5 feet?

For the answer, stay tuned.

Hydrologists at the Southwest Florida Water Management District say the northern region has received 15 inches less rainfall through November than normal.

That includes Citrus.

On the brighter side, the National Weather Service is forecasting a warmer and wetter winter as a result of El Nino-related water conditions in the Pacific Ocean off South America. The warmer ocean waters generate wetter winters in this area of Florida.

NWS Meteorologist Jennifer Colson said rainfall should be above normal this winter, but how much is an unknown. She said the effects of the El Nino have not been felt thus far, and the predicted moist weather this week is largely the result of a trough above the Gulf of Mexico that will slide across Florida.

So where does that leave Citrus County?

Florida normally has dry spells like this one, but some lake levels have reached the point of becoming worrisome, said Granville Kinsman, hydrologic data section manager for the district.

The district’s governing board has authorized Executive Director David Moore to implement additional water conservation measures between now and the end of January if he deems it prudent. The board won’t meet until late January. If the El Nino is weak or kicks in late, he has authority to force water conservation or encourage voluntary measures.

Kinsman said he anticipates water levels in the Tsala Apopka chain this spring could approach those of 2001. The drought conditions that year left docks dry and parts of the Floral City pool looking more like a prairie. The other pools also lost a significant amount of water.

When lake levels begin to drop, Kinsman said it generally takes quite a bit of rainfall to halt the descent, much less to cause the lakes to recover.

“We all are holding our breath waiting for rain,” said Kinsman said.

Mine expansion worries town

By Terry Witt

Inglis town commissioners approved a letter Tuesday opposing expansion of a limestone mine in northern Citrus County they believe could pollute the city’s water.

Mine owner Dixie Hollins withdrew his application in May for a special district that would have allowed him to expand the mine and develop a portion of the property commercially.

But Hollins is seeking a state environmental resource permit from the Bureau of Mines for the same piece of property. The county says the permit is actually for the same project.

In the letter written by Commissioner Betty Berger and approved by the full board, commissioners said expanding the Hollins mine by 30 percent would bring the blasting operations significantly closer to Inglis and its municipal water wells.

The Hollinswood Ranch property lies between the Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Withlacoochee River. Inglis is built on the northern bank of the river.

Maps of the proposed mine expansion show rock processing and loading operations within one mile of the town center and two miles from the city’s wells, the letter stated.

“The potential for negative impacts on our citizenry is real and virtually certain,” the letter stated.

The letter went on to say that the barge canal brought saltwater 11 miles inland, and blasting limestone for mining operations could allow saltwater intrusion into the city’s water supply.

“Florida Rural Water (Association) is very concerned about the Hollins Mine expansion and states that Citrus County’s ground water is very vulnerable,” the letter stated. “Blasting could open up sinkholes near public water supplies. Some private wells on West River Road already have some saltwater intrusion.”

Hollins’ attorney, Clark Stillwell, said the concerns expressed in the letter are nothing new, “and they are going to be answered.”

“We haven’t filed anything with the county to expand the mine,” he said.

However, Stillwell acknowledged that an application for the Hollinswood Ranch Special Area Plan was filed previously and withdrawn.

He said the ERP requested of the Bureau of Mines addresses stormwater and wetlands issues related to the entire 1,550-acre Hollins property. He said the Florida Legislature has given the Bureau of Mines authority over wetland and stormwater issues related to mining.

About a related issue, Stillwell will attend the Citrus County Planning and Development Review Board meeting on Dec. 21 to speak against a land development code amendment that would forbid mining operations within 3,000 feet of a residence.

Stillwell said the county has no authority to establish setbacks beyond those allowed by the state, which is now 200 feet. He said, historically, the 3,000-foot setback was related to noise vibration and overblast, but he said the state has pre-empted the county from establishing its own regulations for vibration and overblast.

Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said he is aware of Stillwell’s claim, but he disagrees that Citrus County has no authority to protect is citizens from the ground shock waves and vibration caused by mining operations.

“We have the right to protect our citizens in many ways,” Maidhof said.

Development Firm Sues City Over Rejection
In a lawsuit filed against the city of Bartow, lawyers for the Highland Cassidy development firm claim that city commissioners are allowing a handful of people outside Bartow's city limits to control zoning issues.

The allegations came in a lawsuit filed in Circuit Court after city commissioners rejected Highland Cassidy's request to rezone 282 acres on E.F. Griffin Road in northwest Bartow.

"The denial was a clear example of the unreasonable influence a few individuals, who live outside the Bartow city limits, wield over the commission and reflected the commission's predisposition to yield to emotional pressure, unsupported by any basis in fact or expert testimony," states the lawsuit filed by the law firm of Peterson & Myers of Lakeland.

Last month, city commissioners voted 3-2 to reject Highland Cassidy's request to build a planned development on the site, now a citrus grove and pasture land.

During the Nov. 6 public hearing on the proposed development, neighbors said the 870 houses and town homes would destroy the rural nature of their community and overcrowd E.F. Griffin Road, which was built to be a country road.

Briny Breezes' neighbors bristle over development

By Eliot Kleinberg

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 14, 2006

BRINY BREEZES — Where this town's mobile homes, narrow streets and shuffleboard courts now stand, Ocean Land Investments founder Jean FranÁois Roy envisions a glittering jewel by the sea, with condominium towers, a hotel, shops and restaurants.

Bill Koch envisions "a horrendous amount of people."

Koch, 85, has spent a half-century in local real estate and four decades as mayor of adjacent Gulf Stream. He and others who live near the hamlet of 488 units with a peak population of about 1,200, are worried about the extra people, extra activity, and extra traffic new development would bring.

"We will vigorously oppose the development in the manner they are proposing," said Ken Kaleel, mayor of neighboring Ocean Ridge. "The infrastructure of the surrounding towns can't handle it. Forty-three acres of land and they want to stick 8,000 people in there, 5,000 people, whatever the case is. That's crazy."

Ocean Land says the hand-wringing is unwarranted.

"We certainly are not looking to dramatically increase that number (1,200 people) by any stretch," Ocean Land Vice President H. Logan Pierson said Wednesday. "We're realistic enough to know that you're not doing 5,000 to 10,000 people there. You're not."

The Boca Raton-based firm signed a contract Tuesday to buy the park for $510'million, making each homeowner in this mobile home park a potential millionaire. If residents ratify the deal in January, Briny would be mostly vacated by mid-2009. Pierson said Wednesday that Ocean Land might let some residents rent back their spots and stay while other parts are being built.

Development would occur over six to 15 years.

A lot will have to happen in the meantime

For one, the separate municipal government that oversees the park and the corporation would have to change its comprehensive plan, which now allows only for a mobile home park. But at some point, the government would have but one resident: Ocean Land. Even then, however, the change in the plan would have to be approved by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and then by the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

That would also require Ocean Land to submit a "Development of Regional Impact" study. Such a report would need input from agencies such as the South Florida Water Management District, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Florida Department of Transportation, as well as neighboring towns.

On top of that, Palm Beach County and the DOT would have to rule that the proposed development meets traffic caps for State Road A1A, the only major road through the area. Otherwise, Ocean Land would have to scale back. Both entities, as well as nearby Ocean Ridge, Gulf Stream and Delray Beach, said Wednesday widening the scenic coastal road to four lanes is not an option. Ocean Land agrees.

Briny Breezes lies in a three-quarter-mile-long strip on either side of State Road A1A that Koch has called "The Pizza." It's sliced up among no fewer than five governments: Boynton Beach, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and a coastal pocket of unincorporated Palm Beach County.

"They were so detailed in their offer and terms," Koch said. "But they were so vague about what they were going to do with the property."

Kaleel conceded that nearby Manalapan handled the 270-room, 7-acre Ritz-Carlton, and nearby Highland Beach absorbed three Toscana condominium towers, with 400-plus units in each. But, he said of Ocean Land, "They wouldn't be spending $510 million (just) to put up a Toscana or a Ritz."

A sprawling development at Briny Breezes wouldn't have a direct impact on Delray Beach, about 2 miles down the road, City Manager David Harden said Wednesday.

But, he said, "We're wondering how they're going to get services. There are state limitations on density increases on barrier islands."

Boynton Beach's water system, which supplies Briny Breezes, is near capacity, Assistant City Manager Wilfred Hawkins said. He said the city is working to get state approval to expand, but a lot of that will go just to serve the increasing population of Boynton Beach.

"Boynton's not done growing," Hawkins said. "We do have a number of strategies we are putting in place."

Ocean Land has said it doesn't want to reveal specifics of its plans until the January vote. But, Pierson said, "We want to sit down and speak with all the folks from all the entities and agencies. We're not going to come to them and say, 'This is what we're doing.' No. This is a give-and-take."

Advisory board blasts plan for development near equestrian area

By Kelly Wolfe

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 14, 2006

WELLINGTON — The village's Equestrian Committee voted against a land-use change Wednesday that would make way for a 96-bed assisted living facility and 30,000 square feet of commercial space and office space at the gateway to the equestrian preserve. Developers also had asked the committee to take the property out of the equestrian preserve and the board voted against that, too.

Both votes were 10-1, with Melissa Busie voting to support the project. George Banks, who is an investor in the project, did not vote.

"This project disturbs me," said board member Victoria McCullough. "I would love to see the project in Wellington, but I do not agree with this location."

McCullough said the site could be used for a grand prix field, or other equestrian uses. Board member Don Dufresne agreed. He said if Wellington wants to continue to attract equestrian sport, the village has to leave room for the events to actually take place.

"Once our open spaces are gone, they're gone," he said.

The board's vote is a recommendation. It doesn't mean the project is dead.

This development, called Hospitality Shoppes, has been before the Wellington Village Council twice. It was also tabled twice. It was sent back to the equestrian committee in November, because developers tossed in an idea for an assisted living facility at the last minute to make the project more palatable. Before that, it was 80,000 square feet of commercial and office space and 15 homes.

Dean Turney, executive director of the Wellington Equestrian Alliance, said the developers were playing a "shell game."

"It is the historic gateway to the equestrian preserve," Turney said. "Should the community sacrifice its wellbeing to make their project more profitable?"

If built, Hospitality Shoppes would be directly north of another development called Equestrian Shoppes on South Shore Boulevard. The projects are moving through the system individually, and yet are tied. Developers expect they will share a parking lot. And there is some investor overlap. For example, Banks is an investor in both projects.

In fact, Melissa Busie's husband, Robert, is an investor in the Equestrian Shoppes. Although the Equestrian Shoppes was not on Wednesday's agenda, board members wondered whether Melissa Busie should abstain from voting, as Banks did. She said she had no financial interest in the Hospitality Shoppes, and chose to vote.

The discussion involving Hospitality Shoppes began with Michael Whitlow defending himself against accusations he violated Florida law and contacted another board member to discuss Hospitality Shoppes outside of a public forum. He said when he discussed the project, he didn't realize it was going to come before the board.

Melissa Busie said Whitlow contacted her to tell her he "would do anything in his power" to stop the project from moving forward.

Busie said the corner of Southshore Boulevard and Pierson Road has the potential to be the downtown of Wellington.

"A small Mizner park," she said.

Progress Energy eyes area near Dunnellon to build new plant
A Nuke for a neighbor

BY RICHARD CONN
STAR-BANNER

LEVY COUNTY - Progress Energy officials have selected a 3,000-acre tract in southern Levy County as the site for a nuclear power plant if the company decides it has to build one to meet the demands of its rapidly growing service area.

The site is about seven miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and eight miles north of the company's Crystal River Energy Complex in Citrus County, where Progress Energy operates a nuclear power plant as well as four coal-fueled units.

"While it is not a decision to build, it is an important and major step forward as we lay the groundwork in meeting our customers' future energy needs," said Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida.

The plant would cost between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion and would produce anywhere between 1,100 and 1,600 megawatts of usable energy that could service about 700,000 homes, Lyash said.

After looking at more than 20 locations throughout the state in the past year, Lyash said the company chose the site because of the company's familiarity with both Levy and Citrus counties and because it would allow the company to share resources for refueling outages, as well as facilities for training and housing supplies.

"We have a 30-year relationship with both Levy and Citrus counties; our employees live and work in these communities," Lyash said. "This is just the place we'd like to be."

Lyash said the decision on whether to move forward with building the plant would not be made for at least another year.

But Progress officials said the need is clearly there. The company expects demand for electricity in its 35-county service area - which currently includes more than 1.6 million customers - to grow by more than 25 percent in the next 10 years.

The 3,000-acre tract is owned by Rayonier Inc., a global supplier of timber, performance fibers and wood products. But Lyash said he expects Progress to complete the purchase of the property sometime early next year.

During the next 18 months, Lyash said company officials would prepare construction and operating license applications to submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2008. If Progress officials make the decision to build, then construction would begin sometime between 2010 and 2011, and the plant would become operational by 2016.

"Then separately, but in conjunction, we'll make a decision on whether to build a second unit," Lyash said, adding that a second reactor would be a less "capital-intensive venture."

The footprint of the plant would be about 300 acres, while the remainder of the property would be used as a buffer to the surrounding environment. The plant would use the Cross Florida Barge Canal, which is about two miles north of the property, as the source for its cooling waters, Lyash said.

The power plant would employ some 500 people, and the facility would create the need for about 2,000 construction jobs.

Martha Barnwell, vice president of Progress Energy's North Coastal region, said Marion County also would reap the benefits if the power plant is built.

"Marion County will be a feeder for not only construction jobs but for permanent positions at the plant," Barnwell said. "We'll see some nice benefits here in Marion County."

Lyash said that while he expected some opposition and safety concerns about the proposed plant, he urged the public to not focus on power plant accidents such as those that occurred at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Instead, he asked that surrounding residents concentrate on what he called a "50-year exemplary record" of safety and efficiency in the nuclear power industry.

"It's a striking record, and by striking I mean in a very favorable way," Lyash said.

While the company hasn't made any forecasts about just how much the plant would mean for Levy County's economy, building the plant would at least double the county's tax base, said Buddy Eller, communications manager for Progress.

Levy County Commission Chairman Nancy Bell said that while she was excited about the potential economic impact, she said the project was not without some concerns.

"I do hope that we can maintain our rural character," Bell said.

A self-described environmentalist, Bell said she had met with Progress officials on several occasions over the last few weeks.

"I can't say I don't have any concerns, but I know they will work with us to keep it as environmentally safe as possible," Bell said.

Lyash said the company selected the site with the intent to build the plant, but there needed to be more study done on the site and a re-evaluation of the needs of the company's customer base before a final decision is made.

"On behalf of our customers and our shareholders, we need to be careful and do our due diligence," he said.

Richard Conn may be reached at richard.conn@starbanner.com or 867-4045.

What did board get for $1.6M on P.R.?

MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published December 14, 2006

TAMPA - Over the past two years the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority has had an elevated highway collapse, two executive directors quit, and been investigated by the state and FBI over ethical improprieties.

Coping with this public relations nightmare has been difficult and expensive - a cost that has, itself, been a source of criticism.

So how much is the agency, which is hiking tolls by 50 cents a trip in January, paying for positive spin?

According to agency records, at least $300,000 a year.

A report by Florida's Auditor General's Office last month chided the Expressway Authority for its spending on consultants, specifically highlighting the agency's public relations expenses as highly questionable.

But the report gave no details as to what these expenses included. A review of agency records since February 2002 shows $1.6-million spent on P.R. covered an array of expenses, including preparations for a holiday party; the ghost writing of a magazine article; and a $10,000-a-page flier touting a troubled roadway project.

At least one Expressway Authority board member said the agency might not have properly questioned the spending for public relations because of recent problems.

"There's a possibility we haven't scrutinized it close enough," said Robert Clark Jr. "When (Ralph Mervine) was director, he was concentrating on getting the project done rather than supervising things that should have been supervised."

Clark said when it came to P.R., Mervine's predecessor, Pat McCue, was even less accountable.

"He had his own thing going there," Clark said of McCue. "Even when the board tried to oversee him, quite often, what was authorized, Pat would find ways where he could extend it or enlarge the scope of what people were doing."

Mervine and McCue could not be reached.

A lot of the agency's image problems are beyond the control of its consultants. It wasn't the fault of a P.R. person when a pillar collapsed in 2004, spelling trouble for the elevated lanes at the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway and leading to the exit of McCue as executive director.

Nor could any spokesman control the blowback from a political dispute that exploded in August, sparking allegations of misconduct that prompted investigations by the governor's office, the auditor general and the FBI.

And no one could have predicted the resignation of Ralph Mervine, who stepped down as executive director last month after it was learned he owned a gay porn company.

But the media expenses since 2002 raise their own questions.

Take Harold Aldrich. Even though the agency was already paying media specialists more than $400,000 to craft a public image, it paid Aldrich $541,000 during the same time period.

It made him responsible for many things. It paid him to attend board meetings and then listen to the same meetings on audiotape so he could write summaries of them for officials who attended those meetings.

And who exactly is Aldrich?

Aldrich's stint with the Expressway Authority reaches back to 1995. He was a reporter for the Tampa Times in the late 1970s.

As a consultant for the authority, Aldrich says his background will allow him to help staffers respond to the auditor general's critical report.

"A lot of people don't understand the circumstances surrounding the report," Aldrich said. "I know the history, so I can provide some of that context."

But the report, which didn't mention Aldrich, spotlighted spending it called questionable. A review of Aldrich's invoices show some unusual expenses.

For instance, Aldrich billed the agency $105 in December 2005 to plan a holiday party.

"Each year, the board has a December reception for former board members," Aldrich said in an e-mail Wednesday. "As I recall, the person who normally organized the event and sent out the invitations was sick, and I was asked to do it in her place."

He charged the agency $800 in 2004 for researching and writing an industry magazine article.

"Civil Engineering Journal asked Mr. McCue for an article on the innovations of the reversible express lanes," Aldrich said. "He asked me to write it."

Aldrich charged the agency $4,600 for a staff retreat in 2002, which he said was approved by McCue. And in October, he billed $2,012 to write a history of the agency.

Other agencies may spend more on public relations and communications.

For instance, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, which runs the county's bus service, spends about $1.8-million a year. But that includes the salaries and benefits of customer service representatives at bus stations, as well as advertising and bus schedules and maps.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which oversees the Tampa International Airport and three county airports, spends about $1.7-million for advertising and 17 customer service representatives.

But no other Tampa Bay agency has had its public relations spending so scrutinized by the state. And at the Expressway Authority, Aldrich wasn't the only consultant to get paid lucrative sums.

A Winter Park firm called Patterson Bach was paid $618,667 between July 2002 and June 2006. It was paid $308,789 for a series of eight newsletters that had articles on car giveaways, the construction of a street median and a lawsuit between the Expressway Authority and a contractor.

It was a good value, said Tim Bach, the firm's president.

"The $300,000 covered everything, the writing of it, the postage, the photos," Bach said. "The job of the newsletter was to promote interest in the (Lee Roy Selmon) express lane project. I think it achieved its purpose."

Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Janet Zink and Bill Varian contributed to this report. Michael Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3402.

Pecora: Toll chief finagled tickets

Christopher Sherman and David Damron
Sentinel Staff Writers

December 14, 2006

Expressway Chairman Allan Keen used his position at the toll-road agency to get $2,600 worth of free theme-park tickets for his family, the agency's fired public-relations consultant said Wednesday.

Consultant Ron Pecora told the Orlando Sentinel he provided the tickets to Keen just five months before his firm Pecora & Blexrud was fired over the growing scandal at the agency.

Pecora on Wednesday produced a credit-card receipt showing his firm paid for the tickets he said Keen's staff asked for in May. Pecora said he billed Keen but was never repaid.

Keen called Pecora's account "erroneous" in an e-mail to the newspaper. He would not discuss the issue in detail and referred inquiries to his personal attorney.

But Mike Snyder, executive director of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, said Wednesday that Keen had told him, after inquiries by the Sentinel, that he owed Pecora for the tickets.

"The chairman has called me to let me know that that issue exists out there," Snyder said. "He has a ticket issue with Ron Pecora for his family that he owes Ron for."

Wednesday's allegations were the latest in an increasingly bitter war of words between expressway officials and Pecora, who played a disputed role in the authority's controversial hiring of political consultant Doug Guetzloe and who was fired in October after expressway officials said Pecora billed them for work that wasn't done.

Pecora said he didn't do the work because that job was put on hold by expressway officials.

Expressway officials in November asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate what they called potential billing irregularities by Pecora's firm.

Lawsuit considered

On Wednesday, expressway attorney Ken Wright said agency officials are considering suing Pecora in an attempt to recover "roughly" $300,000.

Pecora has denied any wrongdoing and accused expressway officials of seeking "revenge" by destroying his firm. He called the theme-park tickets an example of pressure that he said expressway contractors have felt under Keen's tenure to deliver outside their contracted services, whether it be attraction tickets or political fundraising.

"As soon as he [Keen] got in the seat, he started making requests," Pecora said.

Pecora & Blexrud had the authority's general-marketing and public-relations contract starting in the 1990s, billing the authority for more than $8 million during the past nine years.

Pecora said the culture at the expressway authority changed when Keen took over as chairman in 2002.

In May, Pecora said, expressway marketing director Bryan Douglas notified Pecora's firm that Keen's assistant told him the chairman wanted 12 passes to the Disney theme parks and another 12 to the Universal parks for his family members.

Douglas, who worked for Pecora & Blexrud before he was hired by the expressway authority, resigned in October. He would not comment Wednesday.

When he was told of Keen's request for the tickets, Pecora said, he suspected that Keen was looking for a gift. That impression was confirmed when more than seven months went by without repayment by Keen, he said.

Receipts show Pecora bought the tickets from Kissimmee's Billy Boy's Tickets. Pecora said he had an employee deliver copies of the receipts with the tickets to Keen's real-estate office May 18.

Pecora said he did not bill the expressway authority for the expense.

As expressway chairman, Keen serves as a volunteer. He is the owner of a successful development company and prominent philanthropic giver to such local institutions as Rollins College.

Keen wrote in an e-mail: "I assure you unequivocally that Mr. Pecora's recent statements . . . are erroneous," but he did not provide a detailed response. He referred further inquiries to his personal attorney, Robert Leventhal, who would not comment on the ticket allegations Wednesday.

"Mr. Pecora has a very strong motive for going on persistent attack," Leventhal said. "He wants to win the war of public opinion."

Keen, Leventhal said, is "not interested in waging a war of public opinion."

Snyder said it wasn't clear what policy or legal issues were involved with a board member's asking a consultant for tickets. He said he did not know whether the issue would be addressed at the toll agency's meeting Monday.

"That's Allan's business," Snyder said.

PR firm faces audit

Meanwhile the authority has hired an outside law firm to investigate and audit Pecora & Blexrud's work, Wright said.

Attorneys from the firm Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell have been poring over invoices and e-mails at Pecora & Blexrud offices the past two days, but expressway officials gave conflicting accounts of the nature of that work.

Laura Kelley, the authority's deputy director for finance, said it was all part of closing the contract.

"We're just working as we should to try to get the documentation that we should have," she said.

But Wright said Snyder and Kelley raised the prospect of pursuing a lawsuit to recoup potential "billing irregularities." Wright said the outside firm will make the call on whether such a civil suit makes sense, perhaps by Monday's meeting.

Wright, who is a close friend of Keen's, said he didn't want his firm to make that call.

Pecora said the Rumberger audit, which requested much of the information he had already provided to the authority, was an act of revenge for his comments to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office about the expressway authority's payment of $107,500 to political consultant Doug Guetzloe's consulting firm.

"They're trying to punish us for not being on their team anymore," Pecora said.

Christopher Sherman can be reached at csherman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6361. David Damron can be reached at ddamron@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5311.

JEA agrees to fine for spills

Cost could be $79,000 or more

By MARY KELLI PALKA , The Times-Union

JEA has entered into a settlement with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection after about 164,000 gallons of untreated wastewater leaked from several Jacksonville sewer pipes throughout the year.

The city-owned utility has agreed to either pay $79,000 in fines or spend $118,500 in an in-kind penalty on a project related to the environment.

The consent decree covers six spills totaling more than 160,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into local creeks between January and September. In each case, JEA posted signs in the area to warn of the leaks and also cleaned them up, according to the consent decree.

The creeks' quality levels are back to the same levels as before the spills, said DEP official Vince Seibold.

The cost of the cleanup wasn't immediately available. The utility gets its revenue from its customers.

As part of the consent order, JEA also agreed to pay $500 to cover DEP's investigation costs, provide the state agency with a copy of its Emergency Spill Response Protocol and give annual reports.

If JEA pays the $79,000 fine, the money would go into an Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund, which pays for some of DEP's projects throughout state.

JEA is leaning toward the $118,500 in-kind penalty, but officials are still reviewing possible projects, said Athena Mann, vice president of environmental services for JEA.

JEA said it maintains 3,200 miles of collection pipes and has systems in place to notify officials of leaks.

JEA is constantly working on finding enhanced ways to maintain its pipes and prevent future leaks, Mann said.

mary.palka@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-9104

 

Six spills, 160,000-plus gallons
JEA and DEP officials signed the consent order Monday that detailed the following spills of untreated wastewater, in gallons:

10,192
JAN. 11
From the Monterey plant system, released into Stawberry Creek

15,000
JAN. 24
From the Buckman plant system, discharged into Pottsburg Creek

21,120
MAY 6
From the Arlington East plant system, leaked into Pottsburg Creek

56,700
MAY 8
From the Buckman plant system, leaked into McCoys Creek

29,700
MAY 24
From the Arlington East Wastewater plant system, released into Jones Creek

31,500
SEPT. 17
From the Southwest plant system on 118th Street, discharged into Wills Branch

It's a long road to nuclear plant

By Times Staff
Published December 14, 2006

Here are some reactions to Progress Energy's plan for a new nuclear plant in Levy County.

Dixie Hollins: The sprawling 5,000-acre site north of Crystal River where Progress Energy's nuclear plant and four coal-fired plants sit is familiar territory for Dixie Hollins.

In the 1960s his family sold the land to Florida Power Corp. And his company, Citrus Mining & Timber, still owns more than 1,000 acres nearby, just north of the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

On Wednesday, Hollins said he was happy to hear Progress had picked a site in Levy.

"It will be a big asset to Levy County. I think it will also be a good asset to Citrus County. It will create a lot of jobs, and it will create some new industry," he said.

He said Progress Energy's plans to draw water from the barge canal won't get in the way of his plans to develop his property. Hollins said his plans for Hollinswood are now on hold, but he still hopes to build a marina or "some type of industrial manufacturing" there.

Hollins said he talked to Progress Energy about the possibility of building new transmission lines through his property last year.

"Whatever I can do as a landowner in Citrus County to help Progress Energy, whether it's the existing plant they have or the plant they're going to build, I'm very open-minded on trying to help that industry," he said. "It's a great opportunity."

Jim Eyster: His Nature Coast Landings RV park is only a few miles south of the proposed Levy County site, said he thinks the construction of a new nuclear plant will be good for property values and sales.

The 239-unit park still has 11 units available, he said.

"I think there will be people who buy a site there that are anticipating being at the plant, or people buying it as an investment and renting it to people who are working at the plant," Eyster said.

And he said he wasn't worried about Progress Energy's plans to draw 20-million to 25-million gallons of water daily from the barge canal - just 1,000 feet north of Nature Coast Landings.

"I don't think there will be any impact. There's a lot of water up there," he said. "And I'm sure that they have standards they will have to meet. ... I'm confident that the state agencies look out for the consumers' interests."

Manatees: Advocates for the gentle giants have a few concerns.

A big utility could bring increased boat traffic into the barge canal, which manatees use as a birthing area.

But Helen Spivey, co-chairwoman of the Save the Manatee Club, said she doesn't expect that a new nuclear plant would necessarily attract any more manatees into the barge canal.

Warm water from power plant discharges attracts manatees, which seek warm spots when gulf temperatures drop in the winter.

This is why manatees flock to Citrus County's warm springs - and to the area near Progress Energy's existing power plant - at this time every year.

Progress officials have assured the club's executive director, Pat Rose, that although the plant would draw water from the barge canal, it would not discharge that water back into the canal.

Spivey still has many other environmental concerns, such as how spent fuel from a plant would be stored and ongoing damage to sea life.

Protests? Spivey predicted that Levy residents will be concerned about the potential plant in their back yard.

"Levy County had a fit when they (officials from an other utility company) were just trying to put in a little hydro-electric plant, and we haven't heard from those people yet," Spivey said.

Betty Berger: An outspoken Inglis Town Commission member, Berger spent 10 years fighting that hydro-electric plant. But she's keeping an open mind about nuclear power.

"It would be good for the tax base and we're a poor county," she said.

Though she's not concerned about radioactivity, Berger said Progress Energy will have to be cautious when dealing with local water sources. She worries that running water from the barge canal to Progress' property could cause saltwater to infiltrate drinking water sources.

She said she'll have to hear more about Progress' plans before any protest.

"I'm not against it, yet," she said. "It's not worth being against it until you know what's coming up."

Union leader: Employees at Progress Energy's Crystal River complex officially heard the news Tuesday morning.

Joe Adams, business manager of IBEW System Council U-8 in Crystal River, said most of the workers probably expected the plant would be in Levy County.

"It was no big shock," he said. "It will be good for Levy County. They'll come to love it."

And he said it will be good for his union, which represents about 2,000 trade employees of Progress Energy in Florida.

"We'll get some jobs out of it," he said.

Federal regulators: Progress will need thousands of construction workers and hundreds of skilled plant workers if the company goes ahead with its plans to build a new nuclear plant in Levy.

But don't quit your day job yet.

Tuesday's announcement was the first step in a lengthy regulatory process. Progress Energy hopes to submit an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008.

The NRC's review alone could take more than 30 months. Florida's Public Service Commission and Levy County officials will also likely evaluate aspects of the proposal.

NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said nearby residents will have a say. Once Progress Energy submits an application, Burnell said, the NRC will notify the public "that they have the opportunity to intervene."

If members of the public submit legitimate objections, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board could hold public hearings, he said.

Also, about a dozen staffers at the NRC's new Office of New Reactors will likely pore over Progress Energy's application, Burnell said. They'll visit the Levy County site and collect information for an environmental review. And they'll ask Progress Energy for meteorological and geological data from the site.

"We want to understand the impacts of construction and operation on the environment, on wildlife, particularly marine biology," Burnell said.

City, county talk but a deal proves elusive

ASJYLYN LODER
Published December 14, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Like many a divorce, the two disillusioned parties eyed one another with skepticism and disappointment while the lawyers argued the particulars.

So went the joint meeting Tuesday night between the Hernando County Commission and the Brooksville City Council. Both sides said they would like to work together, but after nearly three hours, there had been little compromise in the intractable battle over development and annexation.

"I'm sure if we got the two attorneys to change places, they could argue this either way," new City Council member Joe Bernardini said wearily. "That's the way attorneys are."

There were four items listed on the agenda, but in the end only one question: Where does the city's right to expand end, and the county's right to control development begin?

The first issue was Majestic Oaks, a 600-home or 910-home or 999-home development on Mondon Hill Road, depending on which document you're looking at.

The city, county and developer have an agreement that calls for 600 homes plus 100,000 square feet for stores and restaurants. In the complex math of traffic impact, that roughly equals the impact of 910 homes.

So the developer has the flexibility to build more homes if it cuts the retail space, said Jake Varn, the attorney for Majestic Oaks.

Everybody agreed that's the plan. The city agrees. The county agrees. Varn agrees.

The dispute is where, exactly, that agreement ought to be written down. The city and Varn say the three-way agreement is the place to put it. The county says it should be put in the city's comprehensive plan.

The comprehensive plan currently calls for up to 999 homes and 100,000 square feet of retail.

The county suspects that either the city or Varn will later push for more density and overburden rural Mondon Hill Road, because future city councils aren't bound by the three-way agreement.

The county said it's willing to withdraw its legal challenges if the language of the three-way agreement - 600 homes and 100,000 square feet of retail - is added to Brooksville's comprehensive plan.

Varn said that if the city added the restrictions to the comprehensive plan, he might have grounds for a lawsuit.

The City Council and the County Commission voted Tuesday night to give their respective planning and legal staffs two weeks to come up with a compromise that will suit attorneys for all three sides.

"We all agree what the goals are," said new council member Lara Bradburn. "Let's just get it done."

With that impasse acknowledged and punted back to the staff, the two governing bodies turned their attention to the city's takeover of two properties totaling nearly 900 acres south of Brooksville. County commissioners had asked the City Council to hold off on that annexation until a joint planning meeting could be held, but the former City Council forged ahead.

The county filed a lawsuit challenging the annexation, arguing that it creates an "enclave" of county property trapped within the new city boundaries.

"This is more of a pocket, not an enclave," said Brooksville Mayor David Pugh.

"Well, it's possibly a pocket, but not an enclave," clarified Brooksville City Attorney David LaCroix.

Pocket or enclave, likely the courts will have to settle it, said County Attorney Garth Coller.

Bradburn agreed to work with new Commissioner David Russell to see if a compromise could be reached on that issue.

The three-hour meeting ended about 9 p.m. with all sides agreeing they will try to work together.

Staff writer Dan DeWitt contributed to this report. Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352754-6127.

Hearing Glen Lakes protests, county denies development

By DAN DEWITT
Published December 14, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - To residents of Glen Lakes, it was clear that a shopping center proposed for land to the south of their community's main entrance had no legal right to use the road.

"That's essentially taking private property for a common use," Rod Lane, who lives in Glen Lakes, said at Wednesday's County Commission meeting. "That's adding to the value of the shopping center's property and taking away from the value of our property."

The other side of the argument was equally clear to Don Lacey of Coastal Engineering Associates, who represented the developer, AG Armstrong Development LLC of Tampa.

The 19.5-acre tract to the south of Glen Lakes' main entrance, Glen Lakes Boulevard, was zoned for commercial use in 1987, he said. The subdivision was approved the next year with the understanding, he said, that the developer of the commercial property would have the right to connect its frontage road to Glen Lakes Boulevard by one of Glen Lakes' roads, Outer Banks Drive.

Not allowing that connection would undermine the integrity of the county's frontage road system, which is crucial for taking traffic pressure off major roads such as U.S. 19, Lacey said. County Engineer Charles Mixson backed him, saying the frontage road was needed for the development to conform to the county's frontage road ordinance.

But as happened before with such issues, the commission sided with a roomful of residents.

It voted 3-1 to deny the shopping center, which would have included room for one 64,000-square-foot store - probably a supermarket, Lacey said - and five parcels for smaller stores. Newly elected Commissioner David Russell cast the only vote against denying the development.

The proposal was similar to an earlier one from the owner of the parcel, Carmen Ceraolo. The commission denied his plan in September 2005; he has since sued, claiming the decision illegally prevented him from developing his land.

Earlier this year, the commission denied plans for a shopping center near the entrance of the Brookridge mobile home community that would have used Brookridge's entrance road. After the developer challenged the decision in court, the commission granted the developer the right to build with partial access to the Brookridge entrance.

Lacey said the decision Wednesday will set a precedent for other developments to deny frontage road access, potentially disrupting the system.

Commissioner Chris Kingsley, who introduced the motion to deny the project, disputed that, saying he knew of no other subdivisions having privately owned entrances flanked by developable parcels owned by outside interests.

"This is different," he said.

Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6116.

In other action

The Hernando County Commission on Wednesday:

- Approved a 408-unit apartment complex at the northwest corner of Cobb Road and Fort Dade Avenue on the west edge of Brooksville. County planners initially objected to the plan, saying the 40-acre site is too far from commercial districts and surrounded by an incompatible mix of uses, including mining and houses on large lots. Representatives for the developer, J.A. Padilla, persuaded the commission by saying the project would provide affordable housing.

- Approved Florida Crushed Stone Co.'s request for a comprehensive plan change to allow it to mine six parcels covering 500 acres.

- Postponed the hearing on the proposed Hickory Hill development east of Brooksville from Jan. 17 to April 26.

 

Click here for enlarged view.

Tribune Graphic

Frightening Vision Of Florida Should Shock Leaders Into Action

Published: Dec 13, 2006

The map that projects Florida's growth over the next 50 years should terrify every resident. It shows the Interstate 4 corridor smothered by development from coast to coast, nearly devoid of agriculture and wilderness. Save for the Big Bend area and the Panhandle, the state is little more than an expanse of subdivisions.

The map dramatically depicts Florida's urbanization if growth trends continue and if, as expected, the state's population doubles to 36 million in 50 years. What the map doesn't show is the crowded schools, gridlocked roads, water shortages and sky-high taxes sure to follow such overwhelming growth.

The frightening vision comes from the University of Florida's GeoPlan Center, based on research sponsored by 1,000 Friends of Florida, a nonprofit organization that promotes smart growth and whose membership includes developers and environmentalists.

The findings should serve as a wakeup call to citizens and elected officials. Is this the Florida we want for our children and grandchildren? A land without farms or forests? A land of endless highways and tax obligations?

And forget about going to the Keys to escape it all. The island chain will be completely overrun by development, the analysts predict.

Admittedly, the map is a worst-case scenario. The researchers did not try to guess how much land would be bought and preserved by state and local governments - an effort that clearly needs to be stepped up.

Nor did they try to predict whether economic downturns, higher taxes or even the occasional alligator attack might discourage people from moving here.

Floridians ignore the map at our state's peril.

Despite all the well-intentioned growth management laws, local leaders too often fail to take the long view. As a result, South Florida has allowed subdivisions to creep into the Everglades, Pasco and Hillsborough have sacrificed agricultural lands with scarcely a second thought, and counties throughout the state continue to encourage housing patterns that require people to drive long distances. Indeed, the state builds roads to open up natural lands to development.

It's impossible to stop growth, but leaders must get serious about better protecting the Florida of tomorrow.

A key first step is to fully implement a "pay as you go" system that prohibits development unless the necessary infrastructure is in the works to support it. The Legislature made some encouraging growth management reforms two years ago, but the restrictions are far from absolute.

Moreover, as 1,000 Friends recommends, state and local governments should identify where development should be directed and what lands should be targeted for preservation. It also recommends, as this editorial board consistently has, the expansion of the public land-buying program called Florida Forever. The program receives only $300 million a year - a pittance given what's happened to real estate values.

Charles Pattison, executive director of 1,000 Friends, says $1 billion a year would be more realistic.

A priority for elected leaders should be making sure 1,000 Friends' map does not become a reality.

Otherwise, 50 years hence, the people of a vastly different Florida will wonder why their leaders stood by and allowed paradise to be paved over.

Report: Florida's future doesn't look pretty

By MARK LANE
FOOTNOTE

Florida's going to be a pretty crummy place to live when I'm 104.

Of course, I'll be there. I take vitamin supplements and drink red wine.

It will be a crummy place to live because there will be 36 million people here, double last year's population. These people will gravitate toward existing roads and cities. They'll want to live near the shore. They always do.

The obvious result will be a solid wall of development from Atlantic Avenue in Daytona Beach to Gulf Boulevard in St. Petersburg. It might as well be one megalopolis. Call it I-4ville.

I'm getting this from "Florida 2060," a report released last week by the 1000 Friends of Florida. The 1000 Friends advocate sound regional planning. They urge land-use policies that preserve rural land by discouraging sprawl and encouraging denser development in urban areas that can accommodate it.

As a group, they have a generally more optimistic view of what sound planning and prudent urban design can accomplish than I do. They can still use the buzz-phrase "smart growth" without chuckling, as though it still has a meaning other than "permit approved."

Often their reports bring bad news because they make points like: If a whole lot of people move here, we're going to need to build roads and schools and stuff for them. Like: If we don't do something about saving agricultural land, nobody's going to be growing anything but condos here. Like: We might be setting ourselves up for water-supply problems very soon. Like: When you stick 18 million more people in a state, the population pressures are going to be intense.

In this report, they assume that growth will neither decrease nor accelerate and that people will continue flocking to the coast and places where there are roads. They calculate that 7 million acres of agricultural land, woodlands and undeveloped land will be turned into urban land by 2060.

Among the counties they expect to see most transformed is Flagler County, which will be four times more urbanized than now with a population of 274,000 in 2060. A little more than present-day Leon County. State Road 100 will pretty much look like Nova Road all the way across Flagler, but it won't be bad until 2020.

And with 943,000 people, Volusia will contain almost as many people as Pinellas County does now.

Looking at the projections, it appears that Deltona, Orange City, DeLand and DeLeon Springs will flow into each other as indistinguishably as Holly Hill, Daytona Beach and South Daytona do now. And it will all be one big satellite of Orlando, the center of I-4ville.

As I said, a pretty crummy place to live.

The point of these projections is to avert things. The 1000 Friends think this might be accomplished by better planning, stronger growth management, and buying up natural areas before it's too late.

Of course, there are things not in the report that might dampen growth: Several harsh hurricane seasons in a row combined with unaffordable storm insurance, widespread revulsion at just what an ugly, unliveable place the state is becoming, the cost of housing, and in 50 years, maybe even global warming and loss of shoreline due to sea-level rise.

But hey, I'll be 104. It won't bother me. I'll tell all the nurses I read the report and saw this coming, and professionals that they tend to be, I project they'll humor me.

mark.lane@news-jrnl.com

Interstate 75 through county is slated to gain four lanes

The two-phase expansion is still years away.

JONATHAN ABEL
Published December 13, 2006

The four lanes of Interstate 75 in Hernando County are going to double, albeit not in the near future, and tonight the Florida Department of Transportation is holding a public meeting to talk about it.

The widening project calls for an intermediate step where the highway would be six lanes - three in each direction - before reaching its ultimate size.

It would be the first expansion of this stretch of road since the highway was built in the 1960s, according to the DOT.

Project manager Manny Santos said the expansion is not funded - neither the six-lane nor eight-lane component- and it would be more than 10 years before construction could begin.

The project is slated to stretch from State Road 52 in Pasco to County Road 476B in Sumter, about 21.5 miles.

The state's project summary says the widened road could generally be contained within the existing right of way, but some land might have to be purchased for stormwater management.

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

Martin postpones pressing state on SR 710 standards

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Indiantown residents and developers asked Martin County commissioners Tuesday to stand up to state growth officials and fight to allow more cars and development on their community's main highway.

But commissioners decided instead to postpone a vote on the road until next year and to try to work out a peaceful solution with the state Department of Transportation to problems with State Road 710.

County officials and Indiantown residents have proposed lowering the standards for the highway to allow more traffic before the road would be deemed congested. Under existing traffic standards, a bridge on the highway is expected to be congested by 2009, which would force the county to stop approving new developments in Indiantown until the road is widened.

The state Department of Community Affairs, which must approve changes to the county's comprehensive growth plan, opposes lowering the standard and has said it would deny the change if the county were to approve it. But Indiantown residents and builders say they need more development and don't want the road or the state to get in the way.

"We need as a county to stand up to the state," said developer and former County Commissioner Tom Kenny. "Please don't roll over and say, 'We're afraid of the big, bad DCA.''"

Indiantown resident Bob Post accused the state of holding up the road change to try to get the county to pay more of the cost of widening the highway.

But County Commissioner Lee Weberman said forcing a showdown and an eventual administrative hearing over the traffic issue would probably not work in the county's favor.

"There are times you want to take a shotgun-gunslinger approach, and there are times that could backfire," he said.

County Commissioner Doug Smith said that another county, Polk, is in a similar situation and is trying to get the state to make an exception to its traffic standards for a road there. Martin County could learn from Polk County's experience and try to get the state to make an exception for SR 710, he said.

Commissioners voted to put off the vote on the traffic standards until April and try to persuade the state to grant an exception by then. Commissioners also decided to try to get Palm Beach County officials to help the county's efforts, because the road extends into their county, where it is called the Beeline Highway.

Two massive projects on eastside await attention

By MICHAEL D. BATES
mbates@hernandotoday.com


BROOKSVILLE — Perhaps no other major development has created more attention than Hickory Hill, a giant 1,750-home subdivision and golf course community slated for the Spring Lake area.

Sierra Properties LLC, the project developer, has pressed the county for months to set a date for a public hearing. The hearing will address concerns about the development raised by the Florida department of Community Affairs and the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council.

Sierra also needs to discuss with county planners the preparation of a development order that would, in effect, create the blueprint for development of that area.

County commissioners had planned to hold that hearing Jan. 17.

But now, Sierra is calling for a two-month delay to address “a number of local interests that have been raised,” said company vice president Sebring Sierra.

County commissioners will vote on whether to grant that extension at today’s land use hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 North Main St. in Brooksville.

“Our main concern is the amount of time available to review all of the material,” Sebring wrote in an e-mail to Hernando Today. “It is important to know that the staff report will only come out a week prior to the hearing and we feel that in order to completely review these materials, more time will be needed for everyone.”

The county is also handicapped by having a four-member board.

“It is likely better to have all five seated commissioners review the project so that everyone is assured they got a fair hearing,” Sierra said.

Hickory Hill isn’t the only large residential development on today’s Land Use Hearing agenda.

Commissioners will consider scheduling a public hearing date for Sunrise, planned for 1,385 acres near Interstate 75.

When completed, Sunrise would have 4,800 homes, 75 motels rooms, 365,000 square feet of retail space, 50,000 square feet of office space, a golf course and clubhouse.

Because of the project’s intensity, it is considered a development of regional impact (DRI) and subject to stricter state reviews.

The developer sent off an application for development approval for the DRI in May 2005. Since then, the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council has been reviewing that application.

Commissioners must set a public hearing to discuss Sunrise by Feb. 27.

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

Trailer park windfall: $510 million for Briny

By Eliot Kleinberg and Meghan Meyer

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

BRINY BREEZES — A link to South Florida's past saw the future Tuesday: It's big and splashy and comes with a lot of zeroes.

And, if shareholders in this oceanfront mobile home park give their blessing, a Boca Raton developer they'd already spurned once will buy their town, down to the last boardwalk, bench and bicycle rack, as early as March 2009. It would end an era.

Directors unanimously approved and signed a contract Tuesday for the sale of Briny Breezes to Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments for $510 million. Briny is a corporation whose residents own shares weighted by the location and size of lots; a vote equal to two-thirds of shares is required to ratify the deal. The vote is set for Jan. 10.

Ocean Land founder Jean FranÁois Roy said in a news release that tentative plans call for various residences, including high-end condominiums, townhomes, a boutique condo-hotel resort and a marina, as well as retail and commercial space, restaurants and parks.

And "the name Briny Breezes would still be in there somehow," Ocean Land Senior Vice President Mark Issenman said.

Ocean Land will team with the Related Group and Catalfumo Construction. Ocean Land and Related also are partners in several luxury projects in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Related also helped build CityPlace and is building a nearby condominium. Catalfumo is building the planned city hall complex in West Palm Beach and the proposed Ocean Mall redevelopment project in Riviera Beach.

Ocean Land said the project will take 10 to 15 years, but the first residences would be ready six years after the 2009 closing.

"We understand we're changing the lives of a lot of people," Roy said at midday Tuesday, outside the auditorium that more than 300 residents packed to hear the announcement. The meeting was closed to the public and the media.

"All right. We're doing a deal," Lori McCall of Philadelphia shouted as she left the meeting. She bought a unit two years ago for $66,000.

Retired art teacher and advertising executive John Sideris said, "I've got to find something to take its place. Waterfront property is very, very expensive. We have a few years to think about it."

During the past few years, the residents' relative age has dropped as children of residents inherited homes and other young and middle-aged couples moved in. One was John Connolly.

"I'm still confused. I'm sitting on the fence," he said.

Storms spur change of heart

"In the last year, we met many residents. We understand the lifestyle here. It cannot be replaced," Roy said. "It's sad. But if you have a hurricane, you cannot replace it anyhow."

The onslaught of three hurricanes in two years helped turn the minds of many Briny residents.

The park drew "tin-can tourists" as early as the 1920s, was bought out by its residents in 1958 and incorporated as a municipality in 1963. For decades, developers had courted the 43-acre park near Boynton Beach and its 600 feet of oceanfront and 1,100 feet along the Intracoastal Waterway. Residents had always waved them away, insisting no amount of money would be worth losing the unique lifestyle that had vanished from so much of South Florida.

Then Roy came along in October 2005 and offered the park a staggering half-billion dollars.

The town and Roy later parted ways when the town said it wanted to shop around.

"They were looking to try to get the best offer," Roy said. "I don't blame them."

Ocean Land said it never stopped talking to Briny Breezes.

When the park solicited bids in May, demanding a nonrefundable $20,000 deposit and a minimum bid equal to Ocean Lands' original $500 million offer, four developers qualified. The Duane Morris law firm, which Briny hired, then negotiated with the four before deciding on Ocean Land about a month ago. The other three will not be revealed because of confidentiality agreements, lawyers said.

In the end, Roy ponied up only $10 million more than his initial offer.

But attorneys said the difference between the October 2005 offer and this deal, and what gave Ocean Land the nod, was its agreement to do a "reverse merger." That meant Ocean Land was buying the corporation rather than the land, and residents should be facing only about 15 percent in capital gains taxes. The amount could have been as much as 40 percent for a difference of as much as $200 million.

At $32,478 a share, the deal would, on average, make instant millionaires of the park's 488 mobile-home owners, most of them retirees from the North and Midwest. Because units account for different amounts of shares, some will get more, some less.

The Palm Beach County property appraiser has said the deal probably would set a record for the county.

All the residents would be paid on the same day soon after the 2009 closing.

The town is also a municipality. Lawyers for Ocean Land said there are no plans to dissolve the government. Mayor Jack Lee said of the proposed deal, "I have a good feeling about it."

Traffic needs county OK

The deal must pass local and state hurdles before any shovel is turned.

Although the town government would be responsible for writing a new comprehensive plan and development rules, the changes in traffic patterns caused by the new development would have to meet county standards, said Barbara Alterman, executive director of county planning, zoning and building.

Ocean Land did not want to hold any discussions with county zoning officials until the deal was made, Logan Pierson, Ocean Land's acquisitions vice president, said Tuesday evening. But he said the firm has researched the issue and is confident it can get the proper zoning as well as the blessing of adjoining towns.

The company is "not reaching to build a miniature Manhattan either," Pierson said. "We're not looking for something that the neighbors are going to be aghast with."

Pierson also said the developer is confident its planned community will more than pay for its investment. In nearby Highland Beach, developers of Toscana built three 420-unit towers on 17.3 acres, a footprint less than half of that Briny Breezes.

The residents would have to be out around the time of the March 10, 2009, closing. But "we don't expect a bulldozer coming in the next day," Joseph Aronica of Duane Morris said during Tuesday's meeting.

Residents cheered Roy when he entered. Residents stuck around for more than two hours, peppering directors with who, what, where, when.

"It gives you a couple more seasons," Aronica told the crowd, "a few more seasons to determine what you want to do."

And as they straggled out, not all were as unanimous as their board had been.

"I've got to go home and think about it," said Henry Dombroski, a resident since 1957. Clutching in his hand a fact sheet that had been handed to residents, he said, "There's quite a bit here on the plate."

Tom Byrne had no such qualms. He wore a big white button with blue ink reading, "Save Briny. Vote no."

"I don't need the money," Byrne, who moved 20 years ago, said outside the meeting. "I admit it's an attractive proposition. But that's what you save your whole life for. A lifetime you can enjoy."

Water district backing away from $68.1 million land buy

By Robert P. King

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Think the art of the big land deal is dead? It isn't to Gerald W. Blakeley Jr.

Even during a stagnant real-estate market, companies controlled by the retired Boston developer and his family are looking to make as much as a 130 percent profit from selling farmland and polo fields near Port Mayaca to the South Florida Water Management District.

The district's board was set to vote this week on a proposal to pay the Blakeleys' companies $68.1 million for 2,270 acres east of Lake Okeechobee - even though water managers had no definite plans for how to use the tracts.

The price comes to $30,000 an acre, more than double the $13,000 per acre that one of the Blakeleys' companies paid for much of the land just last year.

But the agency's staff pulled the proposal late Tuesday, saying the money might need to go instead to efforts to protect the Herbert Hoover Dike or a court-ordered cleanup of runoff near the lake's south shore.

"We've got to sit back and look at it in light of all the new projects we didn't anticipate," said Ruth Clements, the district's land acquisition director, who had been prepared to go ahead with the deal as recently as Monday.

Clements said she was reacting partly to a federal court decision Monday in which a judge said the district has been illegally pumping polluted runoff into the lake without the required permits. It's unclear whether the district will have to buy land to comply with that decision, she said.

Tuesday's reversal also followed days of skeptical questions from environmentalists - alerted to the deal by The Palm Beach Post - who noted that the district already is straining to buy all the land it has pledged to acquire for restoring the Everglades, saving the Indian River Lagoon and protecting the dike.

Those costs could total in the billions of dollars. And Clements said she already has spent all of the $136 million in state land money the district gets for the budget year that started Oct. 1. That means the district probably couldn't have paid for the Blakeley deals until 2008 or 2009.

The environmentalists said the rationale behind the deal had them confused, even though the district said the land's location "lends itself" to possible cleanup or water storage projects to help the lake, the lagoon or the St. Lucie and Loxahatchee rivers.

"It's kind of odd to me to be buying land that might 'lend itself' to some kind of use sometime in the future," former Martin County Commissioner Maggy Hurchalla said - especially when projects already on the books are still begging for land. She cited the 1,840 acres that water managers once wanted to buy in Harmony Ranch west of Hobe Sound, until they agreed to let a developer build homes there.

"What are the priorities of the district?" former district board member Nat Reed of Hobe Sound asked Tuesday. Told last week of the proposed land purchase, he exclaimed: "Oh my God. That strikes me as a shockingly high price."

Audubon of Florida lobbyist Jamie Furgang said that "$30,000 an acre seems like a big hit."

"Just because some guy out there wants to sell his property, why should the district buy it?" she asked.

Clements originally had planned to ask the district's board for "conceptual" approval Thursday.

The Blakeleys' attorney in the deal, John Metzger, could not be reached for comment.

Blakeley once owned Boston's Ritz-Carlton hotel, is a former chairman of the century-old development firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and was divorced from former Palm Beach socialite Polly Davidson, who died in 2003. He also was a leader of the partnership that donated 100 acres in California for Ronald Reagan's presidential library, where the former president was buried two years ago.

One company owned by Blakeley and his family paid roughly $13,000 per acre in April 2005 for a little more than 1,000 acres involved in the deal, Martin County records show. Another Blakeley-owned company has legal rights to buy the rest of the land for an undisclosed price from Trucane Sugar Corp., a company owned by relatives of Palm Beach's Fanjul family.

Clements said the Blakeleys' companies have improved the tracts since buying the land last year, including putting two polo fields there. They have found other buyers who have committed to pay an average of $50,000 per acre for some of the land, she said.

The proposal would have allowed the price to drop to $52.7 million if the Blakeleys elected to take 1,098 of "surplus" land the district owns next to a planned reservoir east of Indiantown. The district's land would have been valued at $14,000 per acre, the price the agency paid for it last year.

Even if the board members had approved the concept, Clements would have had to bring a final price and contract back to them for approval. The price would have depended partly on the district's appraisals of the land, which are under way.

She couldn't say Tuesday whether the deal is dead for good. "If it becomes a must-have, it will be back before the board," she said.

Blue Spring buyout may get county support

By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER

Jackson County Floridan

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

 

For the second time, Jackson County Commissioners have declined to send the governor and his Cabinet a letter saying they support the state's effort to buy environmentally sensitive lands near Jackson Blue Spring.

They did, however, edge closer to taking that step Tuesday.

The board instructed County Administrator Ted Lakey to write such a letter to be considered at the next commission meeting. Being held a week early because of Christmas holidays, the next meeting is set for Dec. 19 at 9 a.m.

In drafting the letter, Lakey is to work with environmental activist Chad Taylor, who requested that the letter be sent.

The board was first asked to send the letter at a commission meeting two weeks ago, but declined to do so at that time, citing the need for more information.

Commissioners have since learned that the state is negotiating with the owner, who in a letter to several agencies expressed a willingness to sell 50 acres of the most sensitive lands in his roughly 500-acre parcel.

The state is interested in the entire package, and possibly another 500 acres that was once part of the parcel but has since been separated.

The land is veined with caves and its porous character leaves Blue Spring especially vulnerable to contamination from sources of pollution.

The owner has plans to develop a subdivision in the area, but the state is trying to prevent such development in order to protect the caves and spring.

Taylor said a letter of support from the county may go a long way toward encouraging the state to continue that effort.

County looks at site for gopher tortoises

Officials begin the slow, steady search for a permanent home for the protected animals.

JIM ROSS AND ELENA LESLEY
Published December 13, 2006

County commissioners took the first step Tuesday toward providing a permanent home for protected gopher tortoises displaced by county government construction projects.

Commissioners designated a 40-acre, county-owned parcel surrounded by the Withlacoochee State Forest to receive displaced tortoises.

The county will hire a professional to examine the site and make sure it's suitable. Then it will seek the state's blessing that gopher tortoises can be moved there.

But the commission acknowledged that the move was just a short-term solution. The site likely will accommodate only a couple of dozen animals.

So, what about the long term?

Gary Maidhof, the county's director of Development Services, set out two options.

The county could set aside other sites owned by or acquired by the county to house future relocated tortoises. Or it could contract with private companies that provide what he termed "gopher camps," or large tracts of land set aside for permanent tortoise habitat.

The in-house tortoise relocations would be less expensive but would require more county staff time in management. Suitable sites would have to be found and possibly purchased, Maidhof said.

Using a gopher camp could cost $1,100 per animal. Unlike summer camp for children, Maidhof quipped, "the gophers don't come back."

He also noted that, with the state's gearing up to raise the reptiles' level of protection from a species of special concern to a threatened species, those costs are likely to increase.

At some point the state is expected to remove an option now available: Developers can bulldoze over tortoise habitat without relocating the animals if they pay a state fee of $6,415 per animal.

More demand for the gopher camps could raise the fee to several thousand dollars each, Maidhof warned.

Another complicating factor: The state might someday require separate relocation spots for healthy tortoises and those with a respiratory condition.

Commissioners took no formal vote Tuesday on the long-term plan. Instead, they expressed interest in both finding other county sites and preparing a contract to relocate tortoises to private sites. They also urged Maidhof to explore partnerships with other landowners.

Maidhof said other government entities with large holdings were not interested in providing tortoise habitat because they were already managing their land for the wildlife there.

He did say there could be some potential for finding tortoise relocation areas in the McGregor Smith Scout Camp site in east Citrus, which is now part of the Flying Eagle Ranch, and at the Citrus County landfill and adjacent sheriff's firing range in Lecanto.

In related action, the commissioners agreed to an $18,400 increase in the contract to build the Withlapopka Isles Community Center. The site was found to have 10 tortoises that will have to be relocated.

They will go to a privately owned site.

Also at the commission meeting Tuesday:

Harbor Isle: Crystal River City Manager Andy Houston told commissioners he will work with the county to try to bring sewer service to this small neighborhood.

Harbor Isle residents, who are outside the city, want to replace their septic tanks with sewers for environmental reasons. But they say city officials have told them they can't receive such service unless they annex into Crystal River.

Suzy Carney, a Harbor Isle resident, said she didn't want to annex into a divisive city.

"We all know this kind of synergy does not exist in the City Council," she told commissioners. "I'm not interested in being part of such a city."

Complicating the situation, the Plantation Inn & Golf Resort, which borders Harbor Isle, has requested to annex into Crystal River. The resort plans to expand and wants to connect to city sewer service.

But annexing the Plantation without Harbor Isle could create an illegal enclave. The Crystal River council has given City Attorney Anthony Perrone permission to seek a Circuit Court opinion on the matter.

At the commission meeting Tuesday, county officials reminded Houston that Crystal River had been given jurisdiction over certain service areas, with the provision that the city not require annexation.

Houston said the council had told him it wants to renegotiate the service agreement with the county, this time requiring annexation for service.

"We don't have the money to do what people would like," he said.

He said council members also wanted to negotiate a more realistic service area for the city.

"I don't think we can be the regional service provider," he said.

More discussions on who will have jurisdiction over certain areas, whether Crystal River can require annexation and when Harbor Isle residents will get their sewers are to come.

"We're not looking for war, I assure you," Houston told the commission.

County seeks to move wildlife

By MIKE WRIGHT

Gopher tortoises will be relocated to land in Withlacoochee State Forest to facilitate Floral City development

Ten gopher tortoises will soon have a new burrow to call home.

The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday voted to move tortoises to 40 acres the county owns in the middle of the Withlacoochee State Forest.

The critters’ move is necessitated by construction of the Withlapopka Isles community center near Floral City. The cost is about $18,000.

Commissioner Vicki Phillips said that may solve the Withlapopka issue, but doesn’t take care of the problem that arises when public projects are held up while officials search for someplace to relocate tortoises.

Development Services Director Gary Maidhof suggested the county find a permanent site for relocation of gopher tortoises, or make arrangements with private property owners who have open land that are suitable for gopher habitat.

Maidhof said if the county had a permanent gopher tortoise location, it would allow a seamless protection of the species.

He said with development gobbling up prime gopher habitat space, relocating the tor-toises will become more expensive.

Philips said the county should find that location as soon as it can.

She said construction on ballfields at the Central Ridge District Park in Holder is being held up while the county finds someplace to relocate 50 gopher tortoises.

Levy selected for nuclear plant

Progress Energy chooses Levy County over Citrus as the possible site of a new plant.

CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published December 13, 2006

County officials looking forward to the economic jolt that another nuclear plant would bring to Citrus faced disappointing news Tuesday.

Progress Energy officials announced their selection of a 3,000-acre site in Levy County - about 8 miles northeast of the company's Crystal River complex - as their top pick for a possible new plant.

Federal and state regulatory officials still must okay the proposal. The utility hasn't submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or made a definite decision to build.

But if Progress Energy does build another plant there, millions of property tax dollars will head into Levy County's coffers. The plant will also create at least 500 permanent jobs and more than 2,000 construction jobs.

"I'm just extremely disappointed," Commissioner Gary Bartell said. "And I'm looking forward to finding out specifically what prompted their choice."

The announcement came more than a year after Progress Energy officials first told local officials they were considering building another nuclear plant at the Crystal River complex.

Since then, local elected officials and representatives from the Economic Development Council have lobbied for the plant. By the beginning of 2006, the County Commission and the city councils in Crystal River and Inverness had passed resolutions supporting Progress Energy's possible expansion here.

A Progress Energy's Web site Tuesday described the Crystal River site as "an excellent candidate for a new reactor."

The statement notes that support from local officials was clear. But that site already includes four coal-fired units in addition to the existing nuclear plant - about 3,140 megawatts, or 35 percent of Progress Energy Florida's generation capacity.

"It's a disappointment. We worked hard for a long time to try to bring it here," Citrus Economic Development Council executive director Brett Wattles said. "But still Levy County is a whole lot better than where it could have gone."

Commissioner Vicki Phillips said Citrus will still benefit.

"I'm grateful that it's just across our county line, and maybe we will reap some benefits from the close proximity to our border," she said.

Rusty Skinner, executive vice president of CLM Workforce Connection, said the benefits a new plant would bring are clear.

"It's going to provide some really top-notch jobs in terms of pay and skill," he said. .

But Bartell said the long-term economic benefit will be in Levy, not Citrus. "Once it's built, of course the tax revenues will end up going to Levy County."

Progress Energy is the largest contributor to the Citrus tax base, said Property Appraiser Melanie Hensley. This year the company shouldered more than 15 percent of the tax burden here, paying more than $27-million in property taxes.

Crystal River Mayor Ron Kitchen said the utility picked the "second best" location.

"It still benefits us more than if it were in Georgia," he said.

"Citrus really wanted it. It will be really interesting to see if Levy welcomes them with the same open arms," Kitchen said.

Levy commissioners haven't publicly discussed Progress Energy's proposal. One commissioner said a Tuesday phone call was the first he'd heard of it.

"I think it's a wonderful thing if Levy County happens to be the site they can build on," Commissioner Danny Stevens said.

He said most Levy residents wouldn't oppose the plant.

"Anyplace you go there's going to be concern, but the reality of it is we've got one right across the barge canal. A lot of the people here in Levy County work at the one in Citrus County," he said. "Any opposition would probably come from outside the state of Florida."

Commissioner Tony Parker said he wanted to learn more about details of the plan before he makes up his mind.

"There may be environmental issues we need to address," he said. "There's quite a bit really to look at."

Helen Spivey, a former Crystal River City Council member who previously opposed Progress Energy's construction of two coal-fired plants at the Crystal River complex, said she had several concerns about the proposal.

"I just hate the idea that they're even going to put another one here, because they haven't solved the problems with the first one," she said, pointing out that the company still stores spent fuel on site at the Crystal River facility.

And she said drawing water from the Cross Florida Barge Canal, as Progress Energy has proposed for the new plant, could also cause environmental problems for manatees and nearby residents.

Citrus County Commissioners Joyce Valentino and John Thrumston noted that if problems pop up with the Levy County site, Citrus could still be in the running.

"I was hoping that they'd choose us for their new home. But nothing's a done deal until it's a done deal," Valentino said. "We may not be out of the picture after all. We'll have to wait and see."

Times staff writer Elena Lesley contributed to this story. Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

Utility eyes Levy site for nuclear plant

By NATHAN CRABBE and KAREN VOYLES

Sun staff writers

Progress Energy Florida has chosen timberlands in southern Levy County as its preferred location to build up to two nuclear reactors.

CEO Jeff Lyash announced Tuesday the company would buy the 3,000-acre site next year as it pursued those plans. He cautioned that the company is not certain it will build a reactor, and it would take a decade or more before the reactor would be operational.

Rainier Co., a timber company, now owns the property, which is eight miles north of Progress' existing nuclear plant near Crystal River. Lyash said some plant employees live in Levy County and the company has a good relationship with community members, though he acknowledged there would likely be opposition.

"I think with a project of this scope and scale, we expect people to have some questions and concerns and possibly some opposition," he said.

The company is initially moving forward with plans for just the first reactor, leaving open the possibility of the second at some point in the future. The reactor would cost $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion to build and produce at least 1,100 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 700,000 homes.

Some environmental advocates say the investment would be better spent on renewable energy, which doesn't produce dangerous waste. But Levy County Commission Chairwoman Nancy Bell was among county residents enthusiastic about the economic potential of the plant.

"I am a leftover '60s flower child and my first reaction when I heard about this was to pick up a sign and march, but I did due diligence and now I am excited for the county," Bell said.

"I think we can have something like this and not lose the rural character we have in Levy County and still have a power plant that provides a lot of jobs," she said.

Lyash said more than 2,000 workers could be needed for construction and more than 500 permanent workers to operate the plant. University of Florida engineering students would likely be sought for many of those jobs, said Alireza Haghighat, chairman of nuclear and radiological engineering at UF.

"Progress Energy will need a significant number of people to get involved in the whole process to build such a plant," he said.

North Carolina-based Progress Energy serves 1.6 million customers in 35 counties in Florida, including parts of Alachua, Gilchrist and Levy counties. The plant would be the first in the state since 1983.

Lyash said other utilities could be partners in the plant, as was the case with Crystal River. Gainesville Regional Utilities helped pay for the Crystal River reactor and gets 11-13 megawatts of power from the plant, or about 4 percent of the energy in its system.

GRU would consider also investing in the new plant, said Chip Allen, the utility's assistant general manager of energy supply.

"GRU's position is we're always interested in looking at generating options," he said.

Rob Brinkman, chairman of the local Sierra Club group, said he would oppose any involvement by GRU in the new plant. The investment in nuclear power would be better spent on renewable energy such as harnessing the power of wind and the ocean's current, he said.

"To me, nuclear is a dead end," he said.

Progress officials said the plant is the only one of the 31 being proposed nationwide that would be constructed on undeveloped green space. The plant would mean building over 30 acres of the 3,000-acre wooded property.

The site gives the company flexibility in designing the plant, said project manager Garry Miller.

"You can start with a clean slate," he said.

Officials said the reactor would be located seven miles from the Gulf of Mexico, providing increased safety from hurricanes. The site is two miles north of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal, which would be connected by pipeline to provide the water crucial in the nuclear cooling process.

The plant wouldn't interfere with the use of lands around the defunct canal project as recreational areas, Lyash said.

The nearest community to the proposed site is Inglis, a town of about 1,900 residents less than two miles south. Town clerk Sally McCranie said her father-in-law was killed in a construction accident in the 1960s during preparations to build the Crystal River plant.

"There will definitely be people who will fight this - there are a lot of people concerned about having two plants so close together," McCranie said.

Lyash said the company had concerns about concentrating its energy generation in such close proximity, but they were outweighed by the benefits of being in a familiar community.

The proposal would be part of the first wave of new nuclear plants proposed in the U.S. in decades. Since the Three Mile Island nuclear plant suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, no new nuclear plants have been constructed in the country.

Lyash said the nuclear industry's good safety record since the incident and the lack of emissions in nuclear-power generation have built support for the industry's expansion. While the production and transportation of nuclear fuel can create greenhouses gases, the generation of nuclear power creates only steam as an emission.

"I think the time, the performance of the industry and the recognition of the environmental benefits of this energy source have brought us to where we are today," Lyash said.

But some environmental advocates say they're concerned about safety, terrorist threats and continued problems with storing nuclear waste.

The U.S. Department of Energy has long proposed storing waste in Nevada's remote Yucca Mountain, but the project has been entangled in political battles. Lyash said he hopes those battles end, but in the meantime the company will store waste on site.

It makes little sense to invest in more nuclear plants until the storage issue is resolved, said Holly Binns, field director for the Tallahassee-based nonprofit Environment Florida. She said the issue is particularly important given the state law allowing utilities to pass construction costs to customers before the plant is completed.

"We're talking about investing billions of dollars of their customers' money to construct a power plant that's going to create more dangerous radioactive waste," she said.

Safety is another concern, but Levy County is already familiar with the issue. The rural county's proximity to the Crystal River plant has meant its is under a federal mandate to test its emergency workers annually, ranging from rookie volunteer firefighters through county commissioners.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission grades the county every other year during a weeklong exercise involving a mock incident test. In April, federal officials tested how Levy County would respond if there was a need to decontaminate people and assist in an evacuation.

At the end of the week, federal examiners told county officials they had done an "excellent" job in preparing and performing their responses. Levy County Director of Emergency Management Mark Johnson said emergency workers have done well in the test because safety training for a wide range of emergencies is a regular and routine activity countywide.

Among those likely to feel the first economic impacts if the plant is built are those who can provide basic services to construction crews, including food and housing.

But Roy Fantelli, who owns a nearby RV park, predicts legal battles will await Progress Energy.

"Anybody can stop anything as long as they have enough money to keep paying the lawyers," he said.

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

Negotiation begins with landowners

The county tells its staff to start working on two Lecanto retail projects.

By JIM ROSS, Times Staff Writer
Published December 13, 2006

LECANTO - The southwest corner at County Roads 486 and 491 is set for major retail development.

The area near the northwest corner will eventually be developed as well.

On Tuesday, the County Commission took a step toward planning for that growth in an orderly way.

The commission authorized staffers to negotiate development agreements with the landowners and developers.

That means the county and the private sector experts will examine that area's needs for roads, utilities, drainage and so on.

They eventually will hammer out proposed agreements that explain the respective sides' deadlines, responsibilities and financial obligations.

Gary Maidhof, the county's director of development services, emphasized that these negotiations are just a starting point and don't obligate the commission to anything. Commissioners will review the proposed agreements and go from there.

He said this method of planning was ideal because it allows for public input (at the planning board and later at the County Commission) and allows the county to take a comprehensive look at the issues instead of taking a step-by-step approach.

The votes to negotiate were unanimous. But Commissioner Joyce Valentino said she wants agreements to ensure that commission approval is required for modifications or time line changes.

Maidhof said this approach is favored by the landowners and developers because, when all is said and done, they will have a clear picture of what the county expects of them and an assurance that the infrastructure they need will be in place.

Possible tenants for the southwest corner could be national chains. And those outfits don't make a commitment "unless they know exactly what they're getting into," Maidhof said.

Proposed retail center raises traffic red light

BY WAYNE T. PRICE
FLORIDA TODAY

A Tennessee development group is in the early planning stages for building a large shopping center off Interstate 95 and Palm Bay Road in West Melbourne that promises new retail venues and hundreds of jobs for south Brevard County.

The project's developer is the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates -- working under the name Hammock Landing/West Melbourne LLC. It is proposing a 750,000-square-foot retail development on almost 79 acres that would be one of the largest retail projects in Brevard.

Hammock Landing developers have submitted pre-application paperwork to the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council in Maitland. In that document, the developers said they want to complete the project in two phases -- 390,000 square feet by 2008, and another 360,000 square feet by 2010.

The site plan -- while preliminary -- indicates the project will have six anchor tenants, as well as a number of smaller stores and outparcels, more along the lines of open-air The Avenue Viera, rather than an enclosed mall like Melbourne Square or Merritt Square Mall.

Geoff Smith, vice president of development at CBL & Associates, declined to discuss specifics about the project, including the cost and potential retailers.

"We're determining what type of retail demand there is," Smith said.

Public officials and some residents living near the proposed Hammock Landing see nothing wrong with additional development. But they are worried about traffic increases the development might bring to an area already strained with congestion.

Mary Raether of Palm Bay, who lives just east of the proposed development, admits she'd enjoy additional shopping venues closer to her home, but "traffic will be a problem, because it's already a problem."

Hammock Landing's size requires the project to be designated what is known as a "development of regional impact" or DRI. That means it must get the OK from the East Central Regional Florida Regional Planning Council and the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Traffic and environmental issues will be part of the review.

It also means officials from the county and neighboring municipalities -- Melbourne and Palm Bay -- can raise concerns about the project.

And, finally, because the land currently is zoned residential-
agriculture, West Melbourne officials would have to change the zoning to commercial.

Already in Palm Bay, there is some feeling of too much burden and too little benefit from the Hammock Landing project.

It would offer more convenient shopping venues for Palm Bay residents and provide hundreds of retail and service-sector job opportunities.

But, without major road improvements, the fear is the project will create a traffic nightmare on nearby streets, most notably Palm Bay and Minton roads. In addition, six people have been killed this year in traffic accidents along Palm Bay Road east of the Hammock Landing site, including five since Nov. 28.

"I don't want this sounding like the city of Palm Bay is trying to kill a project in another city," said Chris Norton, Palm Bay's economic and neighborhood development director. "We're not. It's just that, given the size of that project, the biggest concern will be traffic and the impact on Palm Bay Road."

The Hammock Landing plans are yet another sign of Brevard's growing popularity among developers and national retailers, particularly in areas near major traffic arteries.

Palm Bay is particularly attractive, because it's Brevard's largest municipality, with a population topping 105,000 residents.

Leonie Boyd, who lives in Palm Bay, just south of the planned shopping center, said she was on the fence about a major retail complex being built so close to her house.

Boyd said she would shop there.

"It's so close, I can walk," Boyd said.

Contact Price at 242-3658 or wprice@flatoday.net.

Wal-Marts near; neighbors mad

Area residents take issue with how the county has conducted the process.

DAVID DeCAMP
Published December 13, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - Two hotly contested Wal-Mart Supercenters could be closer to being built in Pasco County after key decisions this week.

A store planned at State Road 54 and Grand Boulevard won approval Tuesday after a 31/2 hour meeting by the county's Development Review Committee. Neighbors complained traffic will be too much, and argued the county failed to follow proper procedures - all but guaranteeing an appeal.

Farther north near Hudson, Wal-Mart officials want Beacon Woods residents to back a compromise tonight to win state approval for another store. The county has approved the plans for a supercenter at the abandoned Bayonet Point Mall at U.S. 19 and Beacon Woods Drive. But the Florida Department of Transportation wants another opening allowing cars to turn into the store from Beacon Woods Drive. A decision is due at a Dec. 28 meeting.

But progress on the projects did not sit well with some neighbors, particularly Tuesday's decision on the New Port Richey store.

"I always thought the county was supposed to be on the side of the people. Today they were on the side of developers," said Cynthia Besio, a Colonial Hills neighborhood organizer.

Neighbors wanted the DRC to stop Wal-Mart's 205,000-square-foot project. It was the second time the board reviewed the proposed store because the county failed to notify the neighbors when it originally approved the plans in May.

Opponents led off with an 11-point critique prepared by Wal-Mart critic Schuyler Ellis of Tampa. Ellis argued that the county failed to require that Wal-Mart receive variances and follow other development standards. They included the path of an access road on property Wal-Mart didn't own, the distance between entrances and a shortage of four required parking spaces.

As he spoke, white shirt untucked but arguments hewn to exact code citations, county development director Cindy Jolly and other staffers rustled through code and planning documents.

At the least, other approvals were necessary before the county green-lighted the project, said Ellis, 22, a full-time worker for Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now.

While acknowledging the plan fell short on some points, county officials tweaked the development agreement to add conditions to solve shortcomings. The DRC deemed it unnecessary to require variances, which trigger a whole new approval process.

County Administrator and DRC chairman John Gallagher said the changes were minor enough to not require variances, and conditions are often added. Wal-Mart's 26 acres are zoned already for commercial use.

Other neighbors complained another Wal-Mart was unnecessary with stores about 5 miles away. The New Port Richey City Council also opposed the location, which is just outside city limits.

In an e-mail to the county, council member Marilyn deChant noted "the negative impact that Wal-Mart brings into a community; cheap prices cheapens a community's image of itself."

With Tuesday's approval, Bezio said residents plan to appeal to the County Commission.

Seeking compromise

In Beacon Woods, Wal-Mart attorney Glenn Smith said the retail giant wants to continue with a plan that allows an exit-only driveway on Beacon Woods Drive. Wal-Mart, however, will offer a contingency plan: If agency officials later decide another entrance is needed, the driveway on Beacon Woods Drive would be altered to allow traffic to turn into the store.

Without that access, state engineers said, motorists might clog the highway waiting to turn into the store from two other driveways on U.S. 19.

If the extra traffic on Beacon Woods Drive causes problems for the neighborhood, Smith said, Wal-Mart would create a cul-de-sac or gated entrance to keep outside traffic from cutting through Beacon Woods.

Ann Bunting, president of the Beacon Woods Civic Association, supports that approach. But some other residents, led by opponent Dan Meahl, want the gated entrance or cul-de-sac added as part of any deal.

Wal-Mart needs the neighborhood's blessing to help convince transportation officials to back its 203,000-square-foot store, Smith said.

David DeCamp can be reached at 727 869-6232 or ddecamp@sptimes.com.

Planners: We Need Law to Limit Growth

By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

BARTOW - Polk County planning commissioners Tuesday voiced their frustration about knowing that they're approving a development that will further overcrowd local schools yet being unable to stop the damage.

The debate occurred during consideration of a planned 440-unit multi-story apartment complex on U.S. 192 proposed by Sundev Properties of Orlando.

Tom Cloud, the lawyer representing project backers, said the proposed Apartments at Four Corners project fit into the area and had dealt with most of the growth issues.

"We're vested for water, and we've got half of the sewer capacity we need,'' Cloud said, adding the developer has also worked out most of the traffic issues.

He argued that the high-density development - 21 units per acre - provides "work-force housing" that's needed in the area.

"Without residential, you're stuck with nothing but linear commercial," he said.

But Commissioner John Ryan said he was troubled by the fact that the schools serving the new development are operating at between 104 percent and 147 percent of capacity.

The School Board recommended that the project be denied.

Larry Helton, the non-voting Polk County School Board representative on the commission, said an elementary school is planned for the area, but no middle school or high school, and the existing elementary school has 20 portables.

Commissioners were sympathetic, but said they couldn't do anything about the problem.

"Until the new law takes effect, we can't turn down developments based on school concurrency alone,'' Chairman John Webb said, referring to new state growth regulations.

Assistant County Attorney Ann Gibson confirmed that, explaining the Planning Commission can do nothing until the County Commission approves a measure to implement school concurrency.

State law doesn't require the system to be in place until 2008, but county commissioners said earlier this year they hope to have it in place before the end of 2007.

During Tuesday's debate Helton said school officials have been trying unsuccessfully to get figures from county planners on the cumulative impact of approved development on the school system.

"We look at each development separately, but it doesn't show what's already been approved," he said.

Mark Cunningham, Polk's land development director, said afterward that county planners need information from the Polk County School Board on the effects of new development on capacity because the growth is not only coming from unincorporated areas of the county, but also from within the cities.

In an interview after the meeting, Helton maintained that putting together those numbers is the county's job, arguing the school system doesn't have the staff to track those numbers.

He said he is working with county and city planners to develop a system that will track capacity to implement the state-required growth-management requirement to require school concurrency by 2008.

That means that school capacity will have to be considered the same as water, sewer and traffic capacity is today.

Helton said planners are still working out the technical details, but said one of the results may be to initiate the move to change the boundaries of school attendance zones further in advance of the opening of new schools.

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com.

VillaMar residential project would cover 400 acres

WINTER HAVEN - Winter Haven commissioners considered several ordinances dealing with land development and property in the city.

A local development company, Highland Cassidy LLC, was approved to establish the VillaMar Community Development District. The area covered by this request is about 400 acres. Located south of Eloise Loop Road, it is west of Lake Cunningham and east of the CSX Railroad Tracks.

According to staff reports, the VillaMar project will consist of a five-member board of supervisors, which will have the authority to oversee the installation of infrastruce improvements and public services.

Total infrastructure costs are expected to be approximately $38 million, which will be financed through special assessment bonds. The city will not be required to accept ownership or maintenance of the road rights-of-way, stormwater management and drainage systems.

DGB Properties Inc. was allowed to assign residential-medium density and conservation future land uses to an annexed parcel. This area is located north of Recker Highway, along the southern shoreline of Lake Deer. The area covered by this request is 19 acres.

According to city staff members, the parcel was annexed into the city in 2006. The developer wants to turn the parcel into approximately 120 multifamily units. The area currently sits on floodplains and wetlands.

Another developer requested the Commission to assign residential-medium density housing to seven annexed parcels of land. The parcels are located near the south side of Eagle Lake Loop Road, east and west of the CSX Transportation railroad tracks.

This area is about 65 acres. The petitioner wants to build 650 multifamily residential units, which will be marketed for future employees of the CSX Transportation Integrated Logistics Center.

Development likely will begin within two years, according to staff members. Currently, the property consist of citrus groves and semitrailer storage.

After hearing from public ordinances, commissioners approved the interlocal funding agreement with the Polk County commissioners for the Lake Hartridge Nature Park.

Winter Haven started the first phase of the nature park in northwest Winter Haven in August 2006. This phase included construction of the storm water treatment, a paved walking trail, parking facilities and landscape improvements.

In October, the board of county commissioners approved an allocation of $30,000 for recreational elements in the second half of the project, which includes a playground area, picnic pavilions and a fishing pier.

jessica.levco@newschief.com
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County says no to Mariana Oaks development
Residents had complained about site

By Jeff Burlew
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Leon County commissioners once again have turned down the proposed Mariana Oaks subdivision on Old St. Augustine Road.

Commissioners rejected it during a public hearing on Oct. 24, but they later agreed to have another hearing, which took place Tuesday. After hearing from a number of residents, they voted to deny it 6-1.

Though opponents won another victory, the battle isn't over. After the first denial, the developers sued the county. Helios Investment Group is developing the property; its registered agent is listed as Casey Meeks.

The hearing was a rare, courtroom-like proceeding with commissioners acting as judges. At one point, attorney Rick Bateman, who represents the developer, asked to swear-in and cross-examine residents who were testifying during the hearing. But that didn't happen.

Cheryl Porgal, who lives near the site, said the development is too dense. It is located a quarter-mile east of Williams Road. While nearby lots range in size from 2.5 acres to 100 acres, Mariana Oaks would have about 50 homes on about 50 acres. She said that would cause an increase in traffic and noise and hurt Old St. Augustine Road, which has a special surface allowing water to seep into the road.

"If you disapprove this development, you will be sending a message to developers" that they need to work with nearby property owners, she said.

Bateman said the development meets the Comp Plan and county regulations and that it should be approved. Realtor Bert Bevis agreed.

"Let's apply the rules and apply them equally," he said, asking commissioners to approve it.

Commission approves oil executive's helipad

By Wire services
Published December 13, 2006

One month after taking office, the newly constituted Hillsborough County Commission has approved an oil executive's request for a helicopter landing pad at his Lake Magdalene area home.

The rezoning passed Tuesday in a 4-3 vote. The four commissioners who favored the zoning change received a total of $15,500 campaign contributions in the last election from the executive, and his family, friends and associates.

Commissioners who voted for allowing the helipad were Mark Sharpe, Kevin White, Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham.

The commission candidates who got donations from Tony Ferguson and associates were Sharpe, $8,000; White, $5,000; Norman, $1,500; and Higginbotham, $1,000.

White, Norman and Higginbotham did not respond to requests for comment.

Sharpe said campaign contributions were not a factor in his decision.

Grand jury says Masilotti, crony scored big with diocese land deal

By Tom Dubocq

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

For muscling the Catholic Church and county traffic engineers, former County Commissioner Tony Masilotti was rewarded with gambling chips, a grand jury says - $39,000 worth delivered at Atlantis, the grandest casino in the Bahamas.

The chips, in stacks of $17,000 and $22,000, were fed to Masilotti during a two-day gambling spree, according to a corruption indictment released Tuesday. The payoff, the grand jury filing alleges, came from Daniel Miteff, a low-profile Wellington land dealer who flips property to builders after obtaining development approvals for their projects.

Masilotti, the grand jury found, helped Miteff with a big score: a $1.3 million profit from a real estate flip two years ago in Royal Palm Beach. The gambling chips represented just a portion of the commissioner's cut, grand jurors wrote.

Masilotti was charged in October with honest services fraud and issued a public apology saying he will plead guilty to his criminal role in that land deal and two others. For his cooperation, the former commissioner faces no more than five years in prison and $10 million in penalties.

Not so, Miteff. He is charged with witness tampering, lying to federal authorities, money laundering and a string of other crimes - 19 counts in all. Stacked like gambling chips, the multiple prison sentences upon conviction amount to 275 years, federal prosecutors pointed out - making it likely that if convicted, 55-year-old Miteff would spend much, if not all, of his golden years in a federal lockup. The feds also are seeking $1.3 million in forfeitures - and intend to confiscate his family's home in Wellington's Greenview Shores neighborhood if he can't come up with the cash.

"We will continue to aggressively investigate Masilotti's corrupt transactions and prosecute those individuals involved in his get-rich schemes," U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a prepared statement announcing Miteff's indictment.

Miteff is a governor's 2005 appointee to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. He also had chaired a now-defunct Palm Beach County traffic study panel.

Michael Busha, executive director of the 28-member regulatory council, said Tuesday that he alerted the governor's office about Miteff but hadn't heard back. Typically, Miteff, whose term expires in October, would be suspended pending the outcome of his case.

"I just don't know what the world is coming to," Busha said of Miteff. "He always was square and fair in discussion and debate. He participated and attended meetings regularly."

Miteff was arrested Monday by the FBI and is scheduled to appear this morning before a federal magistrate in Fort Pierce. Because Miteff is accused of trying to obstruct their investigation, federal prosecutors want him in custody until trial.

Miteff is the third defendant to be charged in the Masilotti case. William Boose III was charged last month with concealing Masilotti's secret role and $1.3 million profit in a Martin County government land deal.

Boose had negotiated a deal with prosecutors in which he would serve no more than three years in prison. But, apparently, he has changed his mind. His attorneys contacted Senior U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp's office, saying they may cancel a Thursday hearing set for Boose to enter a guilty plea, according to a judge's assistant.

Attorneys for Boose and Miteff did not return calls seeking comment.

According to Miteff's indictment, Masilotti pressured the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach to sell 49 acres to a company Miteff headed. The commissioner also pushed county engineers to approve permits to build 218 homes on the property - despite concerns that its traffic would aggravate snarls at the nearby Southern Boulevard-State Road 7 intersection. Miteff then flipped the purchase contract for the property to GL Homes, which has all but completed its Nautica Lakes subdivision on the property.

Masilotti promoted the church land sale throughout 2003, meeting twice with then-Bishop Sean O'Malley and writing letters on Palm Beach County stationery that urged the sale, records showed. In conversations with Daniel Lewis, the diocese's real estate broker, Masilotti made a threat: Choose the buyer willing to provide 15 acres for a park or he would block development of the property.

Miteff's company, Community Preservation of Palm Beach County, offered the only bid that included a village park. But once the church awarded the property to the company, the promised park disappeared.

Around Jan. 30, 2004, GL Homes made its first $750,000 payment to Miteff, according to his indictment. Days later, Miteff wired $50,000 to an Atlantis casino bank account. Miteff and Masilotti then flew to the Paradise Island resort on Feb. 6, 2004.

Later that day, Miteff forked over $17,000 in gambling chips. On Feb. 7, the indictment alleges, Masilotti took the second, $22,000, stack.

County OKs Fred George land buy
Commission to seek sales-tax money to buy more property

By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

The Leon County Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to buy half of a proposed 156-acre development at Capital Circle Northwest and Fred George Road to protect water quality and wildlife.

Agreeing with environmentalists and residents that the entire site needs to be preserved, the commission also agreed to seek joint approval with the city to use money from a 1-percent local sales tax to buy the rest of the property.

The area lies within the Fred George Basin, which drains into a sinkhole just north of the property. Development has spread rapidly although the city and county years targeted the area for conservation more than five years ago.

"Congratulations, we've saved Fred George Basin," Commission Chairman Ed DePuy told purchase supporters as they applauded the commission action.

The purchase could cost Leon County about $4.2 million. The county agreed to buy the eastern half with the most floodplains and wetlands for about $1.6 million, even if the city doesn't agree.

The project is on the Blueprint 2000 list of projects identified by the city and county for purchase. But it is on the lower tier list of projects that doesn't have money for purchases.

Supporter Misty Penton has filed legal challenges to block the rezoning of the property. But the landowners, James Maples and R.P. Properties LLC have agreed to the purchase to resolve the dispute.

Planning Department Director Wayne Tedder pointed out that developers contend there is not enough land available in the Tallahassee area for new homes. He also noted there are alternatives to buying the land, such as setting aside about 70 acres for conservation.

"Regardless of what the property is zoned, these same environmental features will be protected," he said.

But residents said the purchase would prove to be a deal for the county if it needs a small portion of the land to widen the adjacent roads.

They also said the buy would provide a needed park and protect habitat for wood storks and other threatened species. And they said it would protect water quality, citing a federal study that shows that up to 24 percent of the water being pumped into one city flowed into the Fred George Sink.

"We'd like that water to be clean," said neighborhood resident April Penton, who is Misty Penton's mother.

Commissioners voiced support for the residents who wore "Save Fred George Basin" T-shirts. But Commissioner Brian Desloge also said he was concerned about the county could have to pay the full cost of the purchase.

MINNEOLA BUYS INTO ITS HISTORY

The city purchases its first schoolhouse as part of a focus on preservation.

Robert Sargent
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 13, 2006

MINNEOLA -- The city has purchased a small piece of its past hidden inside an aging structure on Main Avenue and Pearl Street.

The tiny, wood-sided home tucked away in a quiet neighborhood next to Minneola's former City Hall has been heavily renovated over the years. But look closely beyond its carport and dilapidated porches -- behind all those additions is an original building that started as the city's first schoolhouse more than a century ago.

City officials don't see just a house. They see history.

They bought the building for $150,000, closing the deal Friday. Now they are seeking state grants to restore its appearance as a schoolhouse.

The old building is the first historic property purchased by Minneola. When renovations are completed, it will become a museum celebrating a history nearly forgotten amid the city's tremendous growth.

"There are very few old buildings left in Minneola -- I think this is preserving a vanishing heritage," said Mary Jane Lange, the city's utility billing manager and an avid historian.

When Minneola was founded in 1884, the city was part of Sumter County. Town children attended school at a church on Main, and a few years later residents built the schoolhouse, which also was used for church services.

The small building had one or two classrooms and a bell tower. Much of the exterior wood siding and interior heart-of-pine floors still exist today.

Lake County merged schools in 1915. Minneola's schoolhouse closed, and a large new elementary school was built in nearby Clermont.

The old schoolhouse was converted into a home, and owners later added enclosed porches. Inside, the building was modified to create a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms.

Lange said details of the past are located almost everywhere. Glued onto the floor of a closet are newspapers from the 1920s, she explained.

Mayor David Yeager said he is pleased the city finally decided to buy one of only a few remaining historic spots.

"We don't have a whole lot of history like Clermont," he said.

City officials did not take the opportunity when the home was put up for sale at $59,000 a few years ago. Minneola turned down the purchase again four years ago when the house was priced at $75,000.

The city hopes to find local residents to help with some of the renovations and to contribute any historic items to possibly display in the planned museum. Officials also are seeking historic-preservation grants of $400,000 or more.

Lange said the city may remove the porches and carport to restore the building's original look. The city also may rebuild a bell tower on top of the building.

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

Officials eye tools to track growth

By Terry Witt

Citrus County government is undertaking the most sophisticated development planning effort in its history.

County commissioners will get their first look today at two ordinances aimed at giving their planners greater ability to track and manage growth and control the effects of new developments on public services and facilities.

One ordinance would give the county the tools to gather real-time information about how traffic might be building on a road where a developer has proposed a subdivision. The information would ensure the road could carry the additional vehicles.

Planners also could use the new computer-based tools to assess the capacity of existing water and sewer lines to determine in advance what effect new connections might have on utilities in the area where new development is expected.

The idea is to plan in advance for the impact of new development to ensure that public facilities like roads and utility lines have the capacity to handle the additional people, a process known as concurrency. The Florida Senate passed legislation in 2005 requiring counties and cities to shore up their concurrency planning.

The second ordinance commissioners will consider would give developers the option of paying their fair share for road improvements if advance studies show the highway lacks the capacity to handle the traffic from a proposed development.

County planners have been collecting this type of information for a number of years, but not to this extent.

“We have been doing this up to this point, but we’re becoming more sophisticated,” said Kevin Smith, director of community development, the county division that processes development applications and zoning requests.

The county has hired the firm GMB Inc., an Orlando company, to provide it with the computer models to collect and analyze traffic data.

Smith said the county will add schools to the concurrency planning in 2008. Planners will determine if new developments will impact schools. If a development was expected to add students, the developer might have to pay for the impact to the schools.

As always, the devil is in the details.

Clark Stillwell, an attorney who represents the Citrus County Builders Association, said the two ordinances are some of the most complicated he has seen. He said he would prefer not to rush into this concurrency ordinance.

Stillwell said Hillsborough County recently adopted its new concurrency ordinance and he would like the Citrus County to take a look at the ordinance and see how it works out before trying to adopt its own version of the law.

“It’s something that needs to be done. We need to get it in place, but I don’t want to push,” he said.

Critics blast Bradenton coastal land plan

By ANTHONY CORMIER

anthony.cormier@heraldtribune.com

BRADENTON -- City officials are considering sweeping land-use changes that may bring greater density -- such as high-rise condominiums -- to miles of ecologically sensitive coastline.

If amendments to the Bradenton comprehensive plan are passed, developers would be free to build larger, higher-density projects in areas already vulnerable to storm surge and hurricane-force winds.

Critics, including a state agency and a local environmental group, say the amendments would give developers free rein to build on some of the most fragile habitat on the Manatee River, Palma Sola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bradenton City Council and the public get their first look at the proposed comp plan amendments Wednesday. A comprehensive plan is a long-term blueprint for how and where municipalities will grow; they must be re-evaluated every seven years.

City leaders say the latest changes are a way to straighten out varied land-use codes, and Bradenton's chief planner says the amendments would not necessarily allow greater densities.

But some wonder why the city would eliminate density rules in coastal areas such as Perico Island, where a controversial condo project was met by lawsuits over its density.

"We're trying to be very sensitive about heights and density," said Tim Polk, Bradenton director of development services. "We want to be able to identify what the caps will be, as sort of a tale of the tape for developers."

But environmentalists are worried.

The group Manasota-88 once sued to stop the Perico development called SevenShores, currently being built on the island's northern portion.

Now, the group is gearing up for a new fight.

"I think it's ridiculous," chairman Glenn Compton said Monday. "If they say they want to limit growth on the coasts, why are they removing limitations on density?"

Critics may have two powerful allies: the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

DEP leaders said the changes contradict a trend restricting development on Florida's coast; SWFWMD, meanwhile, said the proposal could expose "more development and infrastructure to natural hazards."

This round of comp plan amendments seems to have grown out of the contentious period in 2000, when city and county leaders were at odds over an Arvida condo project on Perico.

That year, Manasota-88 joined with Manatee County officials to sue the city, which approved a plan to build 898 units on the island. Opponents complained the buildings were too tall and put too many people on a primary hurricane evacuation route.

Manasota-88 and others eventually dropped their lawsuits, and Arvida -- the development arm of the St. Joe Co. -- scaled back the project to 686 units, and restricted buildings to 12 stories. Some fear that density changes on Perico could lead to more condos there and in Bradenton.

"There are tremendous environmental issues here," said Marilyn Stasica, a Bradenton resident and member of the county's planning board. "The coastal area is a filtration system to the oceans, the rivers, the bays. If we destroy that we're not doing ourselves any good."

The City Council meets Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. at 101 Old Main St.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Water district violated federal law, judge rules

In a case with national implications, a federal judge found state water managers in violation of the Clean Water Act for pumping polluted runoff into Lake Okeechobee.

BY CURTIS MORGAN

cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

• Document | Federal judge's ruling

A Miami federal judge on Monday found South Florida water managers in violation of U.S. water quality standards for pumping billions of gallons of polluted runoff from sugar farms into Lake Okeechobee without a federal permit.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga rejected an array of defense arguments from the South Florida Water Management District, including that a permit wasn't needed because the state agency wasn't the source of the tainted water, but was simply moving it between two similar places -- the giant lake and the drainage canals crisscrossing the vast farming area to the southeast.

The judge, in a 107-page ruling, found the district's legal positions and long-controversial practice of backpumping ran afoul of the ''unambiguous'' congressional intent in crafting the Clean Water Act to reduce pollution in U.S. waters.

''In the absence of an extraordinary event, backpumping is the primary means by which pollutants from one body of water (the canals) enter another, distinct body of water (the lake),'' wrote Altonaga.

WIN FOR ENVIRONMENT

The decision was a clear victory for environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which for decades has warned that backpumping water containing phosphorous, pesticides and other farm chemicals had harmed fish and wildlife, triggered massive algae blooms and compromised drinking water quality, particularly in small towns such as Pahokee and South Bay that draw directly from the lake.

Altonaga ordered more hearings to decide what to do next, but added a caution that a federal permit would not necessarily ``solve these problems or even substantially contribute to a solution. . . . The problems facing Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades are far from simple.''

Still, environmentalists embraced it as a critical step toward cleaning up the lake, a wildlife haven and renowned bass-fishing destination that is ailing under its additional roles as a flood-control basin and water-storage reservoir for farms, cities and suburbs.

''It's going to require people to roll up their sleeves and work together to find common solutions,'' said David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice, which represented the Florida Wildlife Federation, one of the plaintiffs in the case. The federation joined the Friends of the Everglades and Miccosukees in filing the 2002 lawsuit.

In a written response, state water managers called the ruling ''troubling,'' saying obtaining federal permits for three giant pumping stations on the lake's southern shore would complicate the ability to make critical decisions. While most of the water and pollution in the lake flows from the north, the district has periodically backpumped since the 1970s to control flooding in the Everglades Agricultural Area and, in some cases, to supplement the lake during droughts.

ATTORNEY'S WARNING

Nicolàs Gutierrez, a Miami attorney and member of the district's governing board, warned the process would also siphon time and money from other efforts, including the $11 billion state-federal Everglades restoration effort.

''We respect the court's decision; however, we are disappointed with the ruling,'' said Gutierrez in the statement. ``Not only will it hamper our ability to routinely move water for the benefit of the public, it has the very real potential of slowing our positive progress on restoring America's Everglades.''

The ruling also could have national implications, both on a similar pending federal case involving another giant pump in western Broward County, the S-9, and on a rule the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed in June to exempt such ''water transfers,'' which was crafted in direct response to the Florida legal challenges.

The EPA has defended the rule, introduced after arguments in the case had been concluded, as a way of clarifying ambiguity in the Clean Water Act about water transfers.

The agency, which supported the district in the lawsuit, also said it would eliminate red tape and allow states to maintain control of water movements and allocations. Both Florida cases have been closely watched nationally, particularly in Western states, where such transfers are common.

But Guest and David Reiner, president of the Friends of the Everglades, called the EPA effort nothing more than an attempt to end-run around a federal judge.

If so, Altonaga blocked the move, specifically rejecting the EPA interpretation as counter to what Congress wanted.

''That puts a dagger into the heart of the rule,'' Guest said.

ARGUMENTS DISMISSED

The judge dismissed arguments that a federal permit would interfere with a state's rights to allocate water and that it prove ''prohibitively'' expensive, citing one state, Pennsylvania, that already requires them.

A permit wouldn't necessarily halt all backpumping but environmentalists intend to argue it would impose limits and force the district to find options for moving, treating or storing flood waters, including in reservoirs already under construction.

Altonaga also tackled an unresolved question raised by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago when it sent a similar case back for new hearings involving the S-9 pump in western Broward -- whether there was a ''meaningful difference'' between where the pump draws from and where it spills into, the canal system south of Weston and a water conservation area that is consider part of the natural Everglades.

Charlotte considers emergency rate hike

By SARA LUBBES

sara.lubbes@heraldtribune.com

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- Facing the possibility of a very dry winter, Charlotte County is the first local government to make a bold move to prevent water shortages.

The County Commission will vote today on plans to enact new emergency rates for water use starting Jan. 1. The new rates would come on top of a general 8 percent water rate hike just a few months ago.

Like the county's standard prices, the emergency rates put a heftier burden on customers who fail to conserve water. Those who use the average amount of water would see no rate hike at all.

"It is a proven fact that the way you get conservation is you touch people's pocketbook," said Commissioner Tom Moore.

Charlotte customers already pay more for water and sewer service than those in other Southwest Florida cities and counties.

The probable increase comes a week after the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority warned of a possible water emergency because of low flows in the river and a lack of rain. The authority provides 95 percent of Charlotte's water.

Under the proposed rate hike, big-time water users -- those using five times the average amount per month -- could see as much as a 50 percent increase in their bills.

The county had a different, lower emergency rate in place during the 2006 dry season.

Under the proposal, customers who use 5,999 gallons of water or less per month -- about the county average -- would continue to pay about $4 for every 1,000 gallons.

But customers drawing 26,000 gallons a month from the tap would pay a whopping $12 for the same amount of water, about $4 more for every 1,000 gallons than they currently pay.

Rates for sewer use and other fees would stay the same.

The proposal comes after the regional authority warned its customers -- Manatee, Charlotte, Sarasota and De-Soto counties -- that it has been unable to skim enough excess water off the Peace River to set aside its typical 200-day water supply this year.

The water is set aside to supply customers in Florida's dry season. Even though the supply is short, the authority still has enough water set aside to last about four months, said Ray Pilon, the authority's government/community affairs coordinator.

In addition, weather officials are predicting an El Niño effect could dump an above-average amount of rain on Southwest Florida next year.

The last time the area experienced an El Niño, 12 inches of rain fell in less than 12 hours. El Niño warms Pacific waters, driving away hurricanes in the storm season and creating wet winters when Florida typically is dry.

"As they say, 'It's all good,'" Pilon said.

But regional and state officials say they can't count on the extra rain and still want local governments to prepare, said Michael Molligan, spokesman for the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

"Things are very dry," he said.

Other counties in the regional water authority have not proposed raising rates to deal with the possible water shortage, however.

Manatee and Sarasota have several water sources independent of the authority and do not even have emergency rates on the books.

A good deal on oil drilling

A St. Pete Times Editorial
Published December 12, 2006

A few months ago, a bipartisan compromise on offshore drilling worked out by Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez appeared to be the best outcome for the state. The Republican-led House wanted less protection for Florida beaches and refused to accept the Senate's offer. Then a funny thing happened in the recent election. Republicans lost control of the next Congress, so House leaders were suddenly ready to deal.

Despite objections from some Democrats and environmentalists, the Senate bill passed both chambers as the lame-duck session ended Saturday and will become law with President Bush's signature. Did Florida win or lose?

Mostly, it won. While some of the eastern gulf will be open to oil exploration, that was inevitable. The question has always been where to draw the line. If prodrilling forces had gotten their way, and they almost did when Gov. Jeb Bush backed their efforts, oil rigs could have been erected as close as 50 miles of Florida's coast.

Nelson and Martinez pushed that boundary back to 125 miles off the Panhandle and 235 miles off Tampa Bay area beaches. They also got the moratorium on drilling inside that boundary extended 10 years to 2022. Finally, the current ban on offshore drilling elsewhere in the United States will remain in force until 2012.

Some antidrilling critics of the bill suggested that lawmakers wait for Democrats to take control of Congress next year and then try to ban all offshore drilling. That wasn't a credible plan. Some of the oil industry's strongest supporters on this issue are Democrats. In fact, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who will be the next chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, supported drilling much closer to Florida.

Drilling has gotten safer when it comes to offshore spills, though environmental watchdogs need to remain vigilant. If a spill occurs, the added distance from Florida should help protect the coast. And yes, it was a trade-off. The region opened to drilling is expected to supply large quantities of natural gas, a critical component of the nation's and the state's economy.

Where Congress came up short was in support for two other keys to energy independence: conservation and alternative fuels. The quickest way to relieve the demand for oil is through improved fuel efficiency in passenger cars and trucks. Both Democrats and Republicans have backed down from forcing higher mileage standards on the automobile industry. As for developing a viable alternative-fuels program, more is needed than feel-good rhetoric and selling out to corn producers.

It was easy enough to criticize Republicans for lacking a comprehensive energy plan. Once Democrats are in charge of Congress, however, they will need to find a balance between weaning the nation from foreign oil and providing for our energy needs - all while protecting the environment and keeping prices within reason. That task will be more difficult than drawing a line in the gulf.

Judge rules Okeechobee pumping is illegal

Florida water officials say the court order could hinder restoration efforts in progress in the Everglades if they have to focus on permit processing.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 12, 2006

MIAMI - A federal judge ruled Monday that Florida water managers violated the federal Clean Water Act by pumping contaminated water from farmland into Lake Okeechobee and ordered further proceedings to determine what to do about it.

The 107-page order from U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga, following a trial that began in January, concluded that the South Florida Water Management District failed to obtain the necessary Clean Water Act permits.

The decision was a victory for Friends of the Everglades, the Florida Wildlife Federation and other environmental and conservation groups as well as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, which considers the lake and Everglades part of its ancestral home.

"The finding ... was that the statute, the Clean Water Act, has a plain meaning. The meaning is that backpumping like this - water transfers that carry pollutants - require permits," said attorney David Guest, with the nonprofit Earthjustice law firm.

"This is a great victory for the environment, Lake Okeechobee, and the Miccosukee Tribe," Dione Carroll, an attorney for the tribe, said in a statement.

Since the 1970s, the water district has pumped water from canals adjacent to sugar-growing lands into the lake for flood control and to keep up water supplies during drought. The water is polluted with agricultural contaminants and runoff from nearby towns, contributing to poor water quality in the 730-square-mile lake.

While the case was pending, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule that would effectively allow such water transfers without permits around the country. Altonaga's ruling throws the future of that rule into doubt.

EPA officials in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

The South Florida Water Management District issued a statement saying the ruling could make it more difficult to move water when necessary and add costs to the broader Everglades restoration effort.

"The judge's ruling is especially troubling in that it creates a definite distraction from our forward momentum with Everglades restoration," said Nicolas Gutierrez, the water district's governing board member. "We will have to refocus our efforts away from progress and action in order to, instead, comply with mandatory and time-consuming permit processing."

Altonaga said she would hold further proceedings to determine how to deal with the violation, which could include a range of options such as eliminating or reducing the pumping and creation of treatment systems. She cautioned that abruptly changing the decades-old practice will not be easy.

"There is no dispute that, at present (the water management agency) may not cease its backpumping operations because massive flooding would result," she wrote.

Hammock builders fined for clearing land

By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
Environment Writer

Two developers will be asked to pay fines today for clearing land before receiving the required permits from the regional water management agency.

Flagler County developer Ginn Clubs and Resorts must pay an $80,187 penalty for clearing trees without a permit at Hammock Beach River Club.

Hammock Beach is a 453-home residential, golf course and commercial development on 1,999 acres south of State Road 100 and straddling John Anderson Highway near Flagler Beach.

Ginn had a storm water permit pending with the St. Johns River Water Management District, but had asked for permission to do some mowing with a bush hog and other clearing before the permit was issued.

What happened next was a communication mix-up, said Bobby Masters, executive vice president for Ginn Resorts. Because the district had received a citizen's objection to the permit request, district officials decided to allow the mowing but not the clearing, but Ginn officials misunderstood, Masters said.

District officials inspecting the site on Nov. 10 found clearing had occurred. Subsequent inspections found clearing on more than 30 acres and that fill dirt had been hauled on to the cleared areas.

"It was just one of those things where the communication got crossed," Masters said. "We've been in the business for a long time. We don't do this type of thing. We stopped clearing, we met with them and we agreed to pay the fine."

Today the district board is scheduled to approve an $80,187 penalty for the land clearing and also approve the permit for the project.

Ultimately, Masters said, if the permit is approved today as recommended, all of the clearing done will be included in the permit.

The permit is expected to give Ginn permission to dredge and fill 2.22 acres of the 912 acres of wetlands on the property. In exchange, the developer will preserve 41 acres of wetlands on the property.

The development includes 1,000 acres of Graham Swamp, which is being donated to Flagler County. That will allow the district and county to eventually reconnect the flow of Graham Swamp on either side of S. R. 100, Masters said.

The second developer, Halifax Plantation, will be asked to pay a $6,889 penalty for some clearing done on a project site several years ago. The company is expected to receive a permit today for the project, which includes 390 single family homes on 259 acres between Interstate 95 and Old Dixie Highway.

In exchange for about five acres of wetland impacts on the property, the developer in 2004 donated a 146-acre tract to the state. The land is now part of the Bulow Creek and Tomoka state parks.

dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

Swiftmud could declare water shortage

News Chief staff report

BRADENTON - The Southwest Florida Water Management District Governing Board has given its executive director authority to declare a water shortage prior to the January 2007 board meeting if water conditions continue to worsen.

The board acted because of current dry conditions and the time span between the Nov. 30 through Dec. 1 meetings and the next planned meeting on Jan. 30.

"We may need to act before the next board meeting depending on rainfall and the state of our water resources," said David Moore, executive director. "We will continue to monitor water levels and respond accordingly."

Rainfall for the calendar year through November is down from nine to 15 inches throughout the District. Flow in Hillsborough, Withlacoochee and Peace rivers has been below normal since May. Although many hydrologic indicators are below normal, meteorological forecast predict a wetter than normal winter and spring, which would provide much needed relief.

"We're hoping that prediction is right, but we can't depend on it," said Moore. "We need to be ready for any possibilities heading into the heart of the dry season."

According to the official National Weather Service reporting station in Winter Haven statistics, only a trace of rainfall has been recorded since the start of December. In October, a total of .9 inches of rain fell, and in November, the total observed rainfall was 1.36 inches.

The district reminds residents to follow current watering restrictions and not to waste water inside or outside the home. Year-round watering restrictions in the district are the strongest in the state, and some cities and counties have even stricter local ordinances. The keys are education - reminding residents what the rules are - and enforcement of the restrictions by local governments.

If the executive director determines that additional District restrictions or other response mechanisms may be necessary, a public hearing will be held to discuss the proposed water shortage declaration. The date, time and location of any public hearing would be promptly posted in the Florida Administrative Weekly and on the district's Web site at watermatters.org. If a water shortage declaration occurs, the District will use newspaper advertising, letters to permit holders and other ways to communicate changes to the general public.

Forecast: State will see increase in orange crop

By JESSICA LEVCO

News Chief staff

LAKELAND - With the third crop forecast released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the citrus community will see an increase in the state's orange crop by five million boxes.

The first release by the USDA in October was at 135 million boxes, but now the orange crop estimate is at 140 million.

"It's still the lowest crop size we've seen since 1992," Bob Barber, an economist with Florida Citrus Mutual said.

Barber said he was surprised the USDA made a change with the estimate, saying that it's unusual for a crop estimate to change in December.

Will the 5 million additional boxes mean lower prices for consumers at the grocery store?

Probably not.

  "I don't think we can make that connection now," Barber said. "We'll probably see an increase in retail prices after the first of the year."

According to the press release by Florida Citrus Mutual, early-mids and navels account for the three million boxes of the crop increase, along with an additional two million for Valencias.

The forecast for grapefruit remained at 26 million boxes, with nine million white and 17 million colored. Estimates for specialty fruit varieties were unchanged at 1.1 million boxes of tangelos, 2.4 million boxes for early varieties and 2.2 million boxes of Honeys.

The next crop estimate by the USDA will be released in January.

jessica.levco@newschief.com

COMMENTARY

Nature for sale in Loopy Seuss oak tree tale

Mike Lafferty
COMMENTARY

December 10, 2006

Plenty of writers have waxed eloquent about The Loop, that tree- canopied ribbon of road in northeast Volusia County.

Generally, these lyrical tributes are written after a few more of the scenic roadway's trees are lost to progress, as was the case last month when clearing crews made way for more homes on Old Dixie Highway.

I wonder what Theodor Seuss Geisel would have written about The Loop's destruction. I wonder if the opening pages of Dr. Seuss' children's book, The Lorax, might have come out something like this . . .

At the top of the county where the St. Augustine-grass grows and the wind smells of sawdust and dirt in the day and no birds ever sing not even a blue jay . . . is the street of the Lost Loop.

And deep in the St. Augustine-grass, some people say, if you look deep enough you can still see, today, where the Loop once stood just as long as it could before someone took the Loop away.

What was the Loop?

And why is it there?

And why were its trees felled and taken somewhere from the top of the county where the St. Augustine-grass grows?

The Develop-er still works here.

Ask him. He knows.

You won't see the Develop-er.

Don't knock at his office door.

He stays in the public hearings and counts votes till he has four.

He stays in the public hearing, warm with his friends,

where he makes up the rules

to reach his own ends.

And on dank afternoons in June,

he peeks out of the 'dozers

and sometimes he speaks

and tells how the Loop was taken for granted.

Then he grunts, I will call you by cell line,

For the secrets I tell you are best told out of the Sunshine.

Now I'll tell you, he says, with his teeth sounding bleached,

How The Loop got mowed down for streets.

It all started way back . . . such a long, long time back . . .

Way back in the days when The Loop was still green

and the swamps still clean,

and the song of the mockingbirds range out in space . . .

One morning, I came to this profitable place.

And I saw the oaks! The Live Oaks!

The broad branches of the Live Oaks.

Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.

All my life I'd been searching for trees such as these.

I felt a great leaping joy in my heart.

I knew just what I'd do!

I unloaded my survey equipment.

In no time at all, I had drawn some big plans.

Then I chopped down a Live Oak Tree with one chop.

And with great skillful skill and with such marketing math,

I took the cleared land and I built a three-bedroom, two-bath.

The instant I'd finished, I heard a ga-Zound!

I looked.

I saw something pop out of the ground where the tree was that I'd chopped down. It was a sort of man.

Mister! He said with a sneeze,

I am the Gadfly. I speak for the trees.

I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.

And I'm asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs --

He was very upset as he shouted his demand --

What's that THING you've made out of my Live Oak land?

Look, Gadfly, I said. There's not cause for shouts.

I'm being quite useful. This thing is a house.

And it's yours, for 10 percent down!

Mike Lafferty can be reached at mlafferty@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7921.

The Nature of Things
	Silently Watching the Rivers Run

By Tom Palmer
tom.palmer@theledger.com

Five rivers or some of their major tributaries begin in relatively high land in Polk County and flow along their meandering paths before they reach the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean.

If you want to get an idea of how much water is flowing away, one place to start would be the network of stream gauges maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The gauges are relatively nondescript pieces of equipment that are often attached to bridges or similar sturdy structures.

I learned recently during a field trip with USGS staffers that some of the gauges have been fortified since the 2004 hurricane season. Some have been attached more securely to bridges and some have been moved out of the stream altogether and are connected by sensors in the stream.

I also learned more about how the gauges work.

Before going any further, it might be useful to explain what a stream gauge is.

The gauges measure the water level in the stream and use that to calculate the volume of water flowing past the gauge.

As you can imagine, at the moment, the gauges around here don't have a lot to measure, a sharp contrast from two years ago when they had plenty.

The gauges, most of which are in relatively remote locations, are powered by solar panels, which run the data-gathering equipment as well as the transmitter.

The transmitters are a great technological advance. They provide scientists with timely information - the readings are taken hourly - on stream conditions, eliminating the time and expense of manual readings.

The majority of the gauges are part of the what's called the realtime network, which is available online. That network includes 500 gauges throughout Florida, 12 of them in Polk County. There are an additional 100 gauges that are still read manually during periodic visits. Polk County has a couple of those, too.

In addition to the stream gauges, there is another group of gauges that measure lake levels, bringing the statewide total to about 750.

So, is there any value to this data besides satisfying the idle curiosity of some government scientists and water geeks browsing the Internet?

As it turns out, there are.

For one, there's road and bridge design. Engineers like to build roads and bridges high enough so that the rivers they cross will remain beneath them.

Another benefit, in cooperation with the National Weather Service, is providing an early warning system for flood hazards to residents downstream of the gauges. For instance, when you see high water near your riverfront home during a wet period, the data can tell you whether the river has crested.

Additionally, the gauges help provide data to map floodplains, which helps to steer development out of flood-prone areas.

The streamflow gauge system also benefits wildlife conservation by helping managers to calculate how much fish and other aquatic wildlife need to thrive.

Finally, it's an important piece of information in setting pollution thresholds for streams, under the sometimes controversial "the solution to pollution is dilution" idea that holds that if there's enough water flowing down a stream, it will flush the pollution, though its ultimate destination is a separate issue.

As an aside, I asked the USGS folks whether there was a way to use the readings on the gauges to plan a canoe trip on a section of river. They said there wasn't a sure way to predict when flow changed from impassable to passable, at least not in Florida, which has sandy creek and river bottoms that change and form sandbars that hinder navigation in unpredictable ways.

POLONIUM IN POLK

The radioactive element polonium allegedly used in the murder of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is found right here in Polk County.

Polonium 210 is a radioactive isotope of one of the elements that is produced by the decay or uranium. It occurs in small amounts - usually too small to measure - as a result of the uranium that is part of the local geology within phosphate deposits.

Even though it can't always be measured directly, scientists know it's there because it is part of the natural radioactive decay process for uranium.

BIG LIST, BIG BOOK

If you're one of those people who travels around the country observing wildlife and always wanted a single place to record all of your observations, you're in luck.

Just published is "Wildlife of North America, A Naturalist's Lifelist" by Whit Bronaugh (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 565 pages, $29.95).

A lifelist is a list of everything in a particularly category one has seen so far.

Birdwatchers are notorious for keeping such lists, but this book allows the fever to spread to other life forms.

Within these pages you can check off and include dates and locations of any squirrel, whale, fish, frog, snake, butterfly or dragonfly you encounter anywhere in North America.

If you want to keep track of any invertebrates besides butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, I suppose you'll have to wait for the next volume, which would have to be much larger.

The author, who is an Oregon nature photographer, includes quite a bit of information in the books' introduction to provide context for the lists that follow.

The book begins with chapters on conservation, biodiversity - how many creatures are there and where they are - and a tribute to departed friends, the extinct species that formerly were part of North America's biodiversity.

The value of this book is that it's more than simply a long checklist. It offers perspective as well.

When you see the list, it also may give you the motivation to see something new in nature the next time you travel around the country.

Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer @theledger.com.

Mote scientist Buck studied dolphins

By MARK ZALOUDEK

mark.zaloudek@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA -- Dr. John Buck looked at sick dolphins and red tide as puzzles that challenged his scientific mind.

Buck, a senior scientist at Sarasota's Mote Marine Laboratory who specialized in microbiology and bacteriology, helped advance research into human pathogens in the marine environment and microbial diseases of marine mammals, particularly dolphins, whales and sharks.

His latest research on variations in the health of wild dolphins in Sarasota Bay and off the coasts of Texas and North Carolina was published recently in The Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

"We talk about bottlenose dolphins being sentinels of the marine ecosystem, and what happens to the large mammals in our bays could potentially happen to humans down the road. John took that one step farther by looking at the microbiology, the microorganisms that were associated with the health of wild dolphins," said Dr. Randy Wells, director of Mote's Center for Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Research.

Buck compiled 12 years of health data on Sarasota's wild dolphins, Wells said.

Buck, who also was professor emeritus of marine sciences at the University of Connecticut, where he taught for more than 40 years, died Dec. 6, 2006, following a stroke. He was 71.

"He loved teaching, but he also loved working with the animals. He enjoyed being able to find what was the matter with an animal and making it better," said Patty Buck, his wife of 46 years.

Mote President Kumar Mahadevan praised Buck's skills as a scientist and mentor.

"John was a great asset for our red tide and marine mammal programs and mentored many of our young scientists. He was also a wonderful personal friend of mine and helped me understand the importance of microbiology for many of our research programs," he said.

Born Oct. 3, 1935, in Hartford, Conn., Buck attended the University of Connecticut, where he received a bachelor's degree and a master's with honors and distinction in bacteriology.

He taught for 43 years at the university's Storrs campus and the Avery Point branch, and continued to teach part-time after retiring 14 years ago. He received a doctorate in marine sciences from the University of Miami.

In recent years he and his wife divided their time between Groton Long Point, Conn., and Longboat Key.

Buck served on the board of governors of the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Conn., where he also chaired its advisory board. He also was a member of the board of trustees of the Sea Research Foundation and a member of the Council of Scientific Advisers for the While Study Center.

His hobbies included the history of the American circus, the Civil War and lighthouses, particularly the East Chop Lighthouse on Martha's Vineyard, for which he was a docent.

"We went to Martha's Vineyard for six weeks each summer. That was really his down time. He read 30 books this summer. He was a fast reader," his wife said.

He also was an avid Boston Red Sox fan.

Buck first became affiliated with Mote during the 1980s, while on sabbatical from the University of Connecticut. He worked at Mote full time since 1992.

"You'd start out a conversation talking about microbiology and you'd end up talking about the Red Sox, and he'd never end a conversation without telling you his latest joke," Wells recalled.

He was a member of the Noank Baptist Church in Connecticut for 40 years and served on its board of deacons and as chairman of its board of trustees. He also was a charter member of the Christ Church of Longboat Key.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children: John of Niantic, Conn., Bethany Buck of Manhattan and Groton Long Point, and Kristin Desautelle of Darien, Conn.; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service was held Sunday in Connecticut. Plans for a service in Sarasota are pending.

Memorial donations may be made to the Dr. John Buck Memorial, c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236.

Hills back before council
Latest appearance by development's reps will include interchange details

Roxanne Brown
Staff Writer

MINNEOLA - Minneola City Council members will discuss what happens next with the 1,850-acre Hills of Minneola site at today's meeting.

The development of regional impact could bring approximately 4,000 homes and a

22-acre town center to the area.

The site, owned by Gregg Family of Family Dynamics, was annexed into the city over the summer. In addition to the homes and business proposed on the site, an exchange with Florida's Turnpike is planned.
Mary Raulerson from planning firm Glatting-Jackson will update the City Council tonight on the proposed turnpike interchange.

"That (the interchange) is the main thing, really," said Community Development Director Carl Gosline.

Mayor Dave Yeager said previously that the interchange is is of great interest to the city and its residents.

Also on the agenda are a few items that need minor adjustments for the development to move forward.

In June, council members sent the proposal to the state Department of Community Affairs for review.

Minneola Attorney Scott Gerken said the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council has produced a report on the application. The City Council is slated to discuss that report tonight.

According to Gosline, once the council discusses the state's findings, the application still has to go back to the state for another review.

"It's what's required of large projects because they affect a lot of people," Gerken said.

In addition, council members will have a first reading on adopting a mixed-use land classification for Minneola. Gerken said Minneola has never had a mixed-use land category, so when the application was submitted to the state, it was classified as single-family.

The state recommended the city adopt a mixed-use land category to accommodate the entire project. Once the zoning hurdles have been cleared and the state has rubber-stamped the concept, Family Dynamics will be able to bring the actual proposal to the council.

"Annexation is one thing. This is the next process and everything all has to be approved by the council for the project to go forward from here," said Yeager.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Minneola City Hall.

State Road 7 extension

Chosen route irks residents

Many preferred path through wetlands

By Mitra Malek

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The tension had been building for months. Some would say years.

The much anticipated path to extend State Road 7 — the road that's long made traffic engineers groan and residents wring their hands — sends it swerving west, then hooking back east, between Okeechobee and Northlake boulevards.

The option that hundreds of residents hoped for has gotten the ax: a straight shot through wetlands between Okeechobee and Northlake.

The state's recommendation, which went to the Federal Highway Administration, is known as proposal three and follows the county reliever road that will be built along the east edge of The Acreage and Royal Palm Beach.

That path makes more economic and environmental sense than the straight route, commonly known as the rangeline proposal, state environmental and transportation officials said.

The state's route selection was no surprise to residents and elected officials of nearby communities. But that doesn't mean it makes them happy.

"I just think the state took the easy way out," said Reg Miller, vice president of Bay Hill Estates Property Owners Association Inc.

Not really, state officials said.

Expense is one major factor: Construction costs for the recommended route are about $143 million, as opposed to $272 million for the direct route with a raised bridge.

Despite that, the Department of Transportation floated ideas for the direct route, but the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shot them down, said DOT project manager Beatriz Caicedo-Maddison.

Indeed, the rangeline proposal would disturb more wildlife and wetlands — especially because that path requires east-west connections all the way to several Acreage roads, said Anita Bain, director of the district's natural resources management division.

And that route would have a bigger chance of polluting the West Palm Beach Water Catchment Area. For example, a truck crash could send oil, fuel or other contaminants spilling into the catchment area, which supplies West Palm Beach's drinking water.

But some residents don't buy that argument because another road, Northlake Boulevard, runs right through the catchment area.

Dana Ippolito moved to 110th Avenue six years ago in part to escape the hustle and bustle of Broward County. The State Road 7 extension would be about a football field's length away from her Acreage home.

"We do need another road out here," she said. "It's hell getting out of here in the morning."

But she adds, "I just don't want it to be at my house."

Indian Trail Improvement District, which governs parts of The Acreage, early this year backed the straight path.

"If I had a wish list I would have it on the rangeline," board President Michelle Damone said. "But I support the other route. ... I would rather get cars off the interior of The Acreage."

With the exception of Damone, Indian Trail now has a new board, which this month will consider whether it wants to maintain its old position on the extension. Indian Trail also is considering legal action to fight permitting for the county reliever portion of the extension.

The state's choice comes after a decade of planning, which started with 25 proposals and was narrowed to two this summer. Hundreds of Acreage, Bay Hill Estates and Rustic Lakes residents this spring and summer raged against the DOT when word got out that one of the final three proposed extensions would have knocked down about 25 homes in Rustic Lakes and The Acreage.

They feverishly filled out feedback forms at a forum the DOT sponsored, doubting transportation officials would listen to them.

But the state did listen, knocking out what's known as proposal one.

That left proposal three and the rangeline proposal. After the Federal Highway Administration weighs in on proposal three, probably in January, the DOT will hold a public hearing and look more closely at design and impacts.

Staff writer Dwayne Robinson contributed to this story

Plan omits new turnpike exits for Boca traffic

By Chuck Mcginness

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH — More than $55 million has been added to the state's five-year road building program in Palm Beach County to complete the widening of State Road 710 from the Port of Palm Beach west to Military Trail.

But no money was budgeted to build new exits on Florida's Turnpike in suburban Boca Raton to relieve congestion at the busy Glades Road interchange.

The work program was presented Monday to the county's Metropolitan Planning Organization. It now goes to Tallahassee, along with plans from other parts of the state, for a public hearing and then to the Florida Legislature for approval.

The money for SR 710 closes a shortfall in the $138 million project to widen the road to four lanes. Work on the section west of Congress Avenue is set to begin next year, but widening of the eastern stretch won't get under way until 2011-12.

For the past couple of years, the board has been pushing the state to find the money to complete the Beeline Highway widening, the county's top road priority. A big chunk of the new money will come from Gov. Jeb Bush's $8 billion growth-management initiative, approved last year.

"It must be the holidays," board Chairman Jeff Koons said. "It's now fully funded."

Another SR 710 project - the connector over the Florida East Coast Railway tracks to the port - moves to the head of the priority list. First, the board has to settle a dispute over whether the connector will be a high-rise bridge or an at-grade crossing. A meeting to review the alternatives will be held in February.

The SR 710 widening was just one of several projects plugged into the fifth year of the road-building program. A 50 percent increase in the cost of construction materials over the past two years once again forced the state to make sure there is enough money to finish the projects in the first four years of the plan, Florida Department of Transportation District Secretary Jim Wolfe said.

The situation on the turnpike is no different.

A study identified possible new interchanges at Clint Moore, Yamato and Palmetto Park roads to absorb some of the 66,800 cars a day projected to pass through the Glades Road toll booths in 2030.

Because of the hike in construction costs and Bush's veto of a bill that would have increased the amount of money the turnpike can borrow, no new projects were added to the turnpike's work program, planner Kent Rice said.

The turnpike's plan includes $138.4 million to widen a 5-mile section from the Lantana toll plaza to the Lake Worth exit; $76.7 million for interchange improvements at Lake Worth; and $3.7 million to rebuild the 45th Street bridge over the turnpike in suburban West Palm Beach.

Other highlights of the program:

• Construction of the new Southern Boulevard bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway was pushed back to 2011-12 so it will not be done at the same time as new Flagler Memorial bridge. The state plans to hold community meetings to discuss the design of the two bridges.

• There is no change in the Interstate 95 widening project. The next two pieces - between PGA Boulevard and Indiantown Road - remain on schedule for 2007-08.

During Monday's meeting, Koons said he was concerned about a drop in state money coming to Palm Beach County for road construction. It creates a real problem in planning new development, said Koons, vice chairman of the county commission.

But it's an issue that affects the entire state, Wolfe said. During the next 25 years, the state will be able to build only one-fourth of the roads needed to keep up with growth.

"It's a very grim picture," Wolfe said.

Local governments will have to take up some of slack in paying for transportation improvements. And mass transit will have to play a bigger role in moving people, Wolfe said.

"This is a real serious issue for us going forward," Koons said.

St. Lucie preservation dispute may go to court after deal nixed

By Jim Reeder

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

FORT PIERCE — A proposal attorneys hoped would settle a dispute over land preservation in The Reserve was rejected by St. Lucie County commissioners Monday night.

It would have forgiven developers of the 2,700-acre project for failing to protect 490 acres of native upland habitat and settle for 365 acres instead.

Original developers of The Reserve agreed to preserve 490 acres of upland habitat, but the county didn't enforce that requirement as golf courses and home sites were built.

Commissioner Charles Grande said he's not bothered by the possibility a judge will settle the dispute.

"The court might do less damage than the county has," Grande said.

Members of the Property Owners of The Reserve Inc. objected to the developers' failure to protect 490 acres, setting off a lengthy review and hours of discussion at commission meetings.

The 490 acres were identified on a map, but there were no deed restrictions or other legal documents to ensure the land would be preserved, Growth Management Director Bob Nix said.

County officials did little or nothing to enforce the requirement until now.

The 490 acres are divided among golf courses and hundreds of home sites, making it difficult to enforce preservation requirements for that much land. Peter Perry, a resident who favored the settlement proposal, accused his opponents of trying to gain control of The Reserve.

"They're trying to impose their will on everyone," Perry said. "If you take on the cause of the environment and purity, you can gain traction on any issue.

"If it weren't upland preservation they would hitch their wagon to some other cause," he said.

Pam Hammer, spokeswoman for Property Owners of The Reserve, said residents are entitled to have the 490 acres preserved.

After rejecting the proposed settlement, commissioners began debating whether to rescind a 2004 resolution that erroneously said the 490 acres had been preserved.

The county never submitted that resolution to the state Department of Community Affairs.

County officials said the resolution should be rescinded because several errors negated its adoption

St. Johns again considering county charter

A "home rule" government would give the county more power over how it governs.

By ANNE MARIE APOLLO , The Times-Union

In 1998, voters defeated it.

A year ago, the climate on the County Commission seemed unfavorable.

Now, with two new members who supported the change during their campaign freshly seated, the St. Johns County Commission will examine a draft charter at a workshop this morning, a first step toward putting the measure on the ballot again for the second time in a decade.

Charters Several Northeast Florida counties have charters, including: Alachua (1987) Clay (1991) Duval (1967) Volusia (1971) Source: Florida Association of Counties   What's different? Some of the differences between charter and noncharter governments include the ability to levy utility taxes and the ability to structure their own government based on individual needs. Structure of government Charter: Structure specified in charter as approved by the electorate. Structure can be tailored by the local electorate to meet the needs of the county. Noncharter: Specified in state constitution and statutes. Only amending constitution or state law can change structure. Self-government Charter: Counties have all powers of self-government unless they are inconsistent with the constitution or with state law. Noncharter: Powers of self-government as prescribed by the Legislature Initiatives and referendums Charter: May provide for initiative, referendum and recall at the county level. Noncharter: Statutes do not provide for initiative, referendum or recall of county officers. Administrative codes Charter: Charter can require administrative codes detailing all regulations, policies and procedures. Noncharter: Statutes do not require administrative codes. Taxing Charter: County can levy a municipal utility tax in an unincorporated area. Noncharter: County cannot levy a utility tax in an unincorporated area. Source: Florida Association of Counties

Supporters hope it will be the last time they have to try.

"This time around we feel the changes that are made are significant contributions to improving government, making it closer to the people," said Tina McGough, who headed efforts to write the document as chairwoman of the Ponte Vedra Beaches Coalition's subcommittee on charter government.

The measure, sometimes called "home rule" government, gives counties more local power to refine the way they govern. It already has been approved in Duval and Clay counties.

In St. Johns County, charter supporters say they hope it would keep commissioners in check and increase their responsiveness to the public.

McGough would like to see the charter make it to a vote in 2007 or 2008 if commissioners agree to send the draft to the Legislature for adoption by special law.

McGough said her committee, which represents a coalition of 20 homeowners associations in St. Johns County, spoke with counties that have charter government already in place as well as legal experts, university professors and former county employees while drafting the document.

The resulting charter outlines a procedure for recall, term limits and residency requirements. It calls for electronic filing of campaign finance reports and pushes back by 48 hours the final date by which such forms must be filed.

The charter already has the support of Commissioner Ben Rich, who was for the idea when it first was floated during his campaign two years ago.

He was in the minority on the commission then. Now he is its chairman.

Moving to charter government would give the county more flexibility to deal with massive growth on its way to St. Johns, Rich said. More homes are being built or have already been approved there than exist now in St. Johns, he added.

"We have a very serious problem involving handling that growth and not being able to deal with it with local solutions that can be brought to bear very quickly," he said. "The charter is going to be needed in the years ahead and the sooner it gets approved, probably, the better."

Florida already has 19 charter counties. They occur mostly in heavily populated areas; three-fourths of the state's residents live in home-rule governments, according to the Florida Association of Counties.

"We call them mini constitutions, specifically to govern that county," said Kristin Vallese, the group's communications director.

Charters doesn't usurp state law, but they give residents some additional say about what they want to happen in their communities, she said.

Once a charter government is in place, it can be changed by voters by a process outlined when it is created, she said. Clay County recently approved three charter amendments, including those on ethics and specifying noninterference with county employees.

In that, those urging on the charter in St. Johns County and those shifting it in Clay had a common motivation: Both said they're looking for increased accountability for commission members.

annemarie.apollo@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4470

Commissioners map out fees battleground

By GREG HAMILTON, Citrus Times Editor of Editorials
Published December 12, 2006

County commissioners talked from morning into the night on Thursday about the hot-button topic of impact fees. While no formal decisions were made (it was a workshop, so real votes were not allowed), the members did signal several areas of interest, making it easier to predict how things will go on the real day of reckoning, Jan. 25.

For starters, none of the commissioners bit on the predictable pleas from the building community to scale back the proposed increases or face the death of the local economy. That includes newcomer John Thrumston, portrayed by foes during the recent election as a bought-and-paid-for shill of the development interests.

The closest they came was to back a suggestion by Commissioner Gary Bartell to phase in increases in the two largest fee categories - roads and schools - over two years to offset the "sticker shock" of a $16,275 impact fee for a single-family home.

*Under Bartell's plan, the fees would hit 100 percent of the consultant's recommendation by January 2008, meaning the phase-in time frame would actually be closer to 18 months.

Commissioners Vicki Phillips and Joyce Valentino stayed true to their belief that any delay or reduction in the fee increases shifts the financial burden onto the property taxpayers, a point supported by the consultant's estimate of how much revenue the county would lose in a phase-in.

Phasing the fees in

Increasing the rates on the two categories by only half of the suggested amounts for a full year would cost the county and the school district a total of $19.6-million. That would drop to $10-million if the phase-in period were 18 months.

Phillips pointed out this money is needed for county and school capital improvement projects. Slow down the income and you delay the projects, likely raising their costs while shifting the bill to existing property taxpayers.

Bartell, however, found allies in Thrumston, who sought a three-year phase-in, and Dennis Damato, an indication that the idea will fly next month.

The commissioners staked out their individual areas of concern with Damato focusing on school funding, Bartell zeroing in on cutting the costs of road projects, and Thrumston pressing for more state money for roads.

Phillips and Valentino steadfastly reject the notion that higher impact fees will cripple the economy, noting that the same fears were howled in 2004 when the fees doubled. All that followed was the best year that the local building and development community has ever had, proving that outside forces such as the nationwide real estate boom steer the local market much more than do impact fees.

Damato wants to know how much the school district got after the last fee increase and how the money was spent.

Bring it on, school superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel told him, challenging anyone to find waste in the district's budget.

Building costs on rise

It is hard to argue that the meteoric rise in construction costs is driving the need for more school funding. The district built Forest Ridge Elementary School in 2000 for $8.5-million. Earlier this week, it broke ground on a new elementary school that will cost at least $22-million. Citrus needs a new high school, and the price now is an estimated $70-million.

Enrollment is growing by about 150 students a year, and Himmel said she has to provide space, and teachers, for them all. State funds are simply not keeping pace with these realities.

Damato also called for allowing people to prepay impact fees, to give doctors a 50 percent break on fees if they move here, and to give the same discount to existing businesses wishing to expand. His ideas met with lukewarm responses, leaving him with a big sales job for Jan. 25.

Bartell took the lead in calling for more accountability for the cost side of the equation. He wants the county to cut the costs of its road projects, citing the "exorbitant" amount of money Citrus has spent on right of way acquisition for County Road 486 widening and other projects.

Thrumston hopes that Citrus can tap into state grants that are available for regional road systems, potentially cutting the impact fees for new roads.

The problem is, Citrus is not yet at the point where it will qualify for such grants. Plus, it will mean competing with congested counties such as Pinellas and Hillsborough. The grants, while possible, are long shots.

Also, it was noted that Pasco County qualifies for the grants, and still charges a $13,000 transportation impact fee.

Concerned about fees

All of the commissioners expressed concern, to varying degrees, about the economic impacts of boosting the fees, but they stopped short of doing anything about it.

There was talk of having the Economic Development Council use some of its public dollars to evaluate the impacts, but such a study could not be done by Jan. 25.

There is great merit, however, to having the county take the money from the EDC budget and hiring an outside entity, such as the University of Florida, to study the question. The information would be very beneficial going forward, but only if it comes from an unbiased source.

Once again, building community representatives asked the board to create a citizens committee to review the impact fee proposals. And, again, the idea died a quick death as an unnecessary layer of study (the county's Planning and Development Review Board is supposed to perform this function) and as a thinly veiled way to delay increasing the fees.

However, after nearly 10 hours of maddening debate laced with conflicting numbers from dueling experts on costs, revenues and methodologies, the notion of having one set of reliable facts and figures to base a decision on seemed pretty appealing.

But there is a group already charged with sifting through the competing information and finding a consensus that is best for the county.

It's called the County Commission.

The public may not know for sure until Jan. 25 just how commissioners will vote, but they did a pretty good job of telegraphing their intentions on Thursday.

Mortgage Defaults Threaten Dream

By MARCY GORDON The Associated Press

Published: Dec 12, 2006

WASHINGTON - Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates are on the rise, and the effect could be greatest on low-income families that took out higher-interest loans for risky borrowers, some experts said Monday.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government wants to issue guidelines to banks and savings and loans that will allow people to get home loans "without taking unnecessary risks."

"Expanding opportunities for more people to buy a home is a good thing. But we do not want Americans to become overextended and see their dream end in foreclosure," Paulson said at a conference on the housing market organized by the Office of Thrift Supervision, a Treasury Department agency.

Some experts are concerned that the increase in mortgage foreclosure rates could affect the banking system's financial health.

There have started to be "early signs of credit distress" in financial institutions' holdings of so-called "subprime" mortgages, especially in California, Richard Brown, chief economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said at the conference.

In the sizzling housing boom that waned in the latter half of last year, many people took out subprime mortgages - higher-interest loans for people who have blemished credit records and who are considered higher risks - with adjustable interest rates.

Creating A Financial Strain

When interest rates rise, as happened last spring, it can raise monthly payments for people with adjustable-rate mortgages, potentially creating a strain if they stretched to buy a home and don't have a financial cushion in their savings.

William Longbrake, a senior policy adviser to the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group, said he is among a minority of experts "who believe the worst is still ahead in the housing market" for home prices to continue to fall.

"There is worse to come. &hellip The bottom is probably still many months ahead," Longbrake said.

He said that the rise in delinquencies and foreclosures in subprime mortgages particularly affects low-income families.

Mortgage defaults could snowball in the coming months, a situation that bears close watching, he said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported in September that mortgage foreclosures climbed in the second quarter as higher interest rates and energy prices made monthly payments harder for some homeowners.

The percentage of mortgages that went into the first stages of the foreclosure process in the April-to-June quarter rose to 0.43 percent, up from 0.41 percent in the first quarter and the highest level in slightly more than a year. Foreclosure rates were highest for subprime borrowers.

Risks Must Be Explained

Also in September, the federal banking regulators directed financial institutions to properly explain the risks posed to borrowers from interest-only and other nontraditional mortgages.

The regulators also said banks must make sure the loans they made were "consistent with prudent lending practices, including consideration of a borrower's repayment capacity."

Paulson said Monday the Treasury Department wants to "make sure that we have the right guidance in place to help people access home financing without taking unnecessary risks."

Traditions of Tarpon at stake

Leaders brainstorm ways to preserve the city's key industries: tourism and fisheries.

TARPON SPRINGS - Condos are not likely to draw a lot of sightseers.

It was this image - a jarring yet improbable juxtaposition - by George Billiris that perhaps best captures what is at stake in the city.

"Tourism, fisheries and condos don't mix," said Billiris, a third-generation sponge proprietor and owner of what he said is Florida's oldest existing tourist business.

The fates of the fishing and tourism industries are inextricably entangled, Billiris told three dozen people who gathered for a hastily convened brainstorming session Monday at City Hall.

Neither Billiris' role as instigator nor his doomsday warnings are particularly new. In fact, he readily rattles off a list that dates back decades of his ill-fated efforts to forestall impending doom of Tarpon's historical sponge dock district.

Yet at least two factors made Monday's meeting different from past initiatives.

This time, the most immediate threat is the real estate boom, a familiar force that has already left plenty of fallout in the march of condominiums up the Pinellas coastline.

Also noteworthy were the Pinellas County commissioner and several high-level county staffers in the room Monday, suggesting that the situation has become urgent enough to thaw the city's notoriously chilly relationship with the county.

There is no doubt that Tarpon's sponge docks rank as one of the county's main tourist attractions, said Carole Ketterhagen, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. Ketterhagen said the sponge district thrives because of its long-established reputation as an authentic working port.

That is precisely what Billiris warns is on the verge of extinction.

By Billiris' estimates, Tarpon Springs is home to about 200 tourism and fishing businesses - about 125 gift stores, 25 restaurants and 50 boating and supply outfits - that employ about 1,500 people. Together, they draw an average of 800,000 to 1-million visitors annually and generate $60-million of revenue.

Still, it would not be the first time that wrecking balls were looming over the Sponge Docks.

Old-timers still recall how judges, state legislators, even then-Gov. Bob Graham were enlisted by the Billiris family in the early 1980s to block the demolition of the original Sponge Exchange, a working auction house that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. An outdoor mall of gift shops and resort wear dubbed the Sponge Exchange was ultimately erected in its place by the Pappas family, a rival clan that owned a landmark restaurant bearing the family name until its closure last year.

Family friction and market pressures have always threatened to tip the tenuous balance of tourism and commercial fishing underpinning Tarpon's economy.

But several on hand Monday said only a handful of spongers, shrimpers and fishermen remain now, mostly stalwarts trying to keep family traditions from becoming family history. The survivors, they said, are fragile, just barely coping with insurance costs, energy prices, international competition.

Despite these pressures, several riverfront property owners in the room said their core business models are still viable and they do not want to give up.

On the other hand, Billiris said nobody wants to be the lone holdout among rows of mostly empty condos fighting for the scraps of an ever-shrinking pot of tourist dollars.

"It might be too little too late," said John Cox, owner of Cox Seafood. "Now we have outside forces trying to run us off our property."

Monday's two-hour meeting resulted in several potential solutions and sketches of a new city-county task force on the issue.

David Bolton, a candidate for the City Commission, suggested that they look at areas where working ports are thriving alongside the tourist trade, such as perhaps coastal Maine, which might offer models or at least tactics.

Mayor Beverley Billiris, George's wife, said another strategy might be looking at the business and government co-ops popular in Greece and Mexico.

Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt said the county and the city could lobby Congress and state legislators for preferential tax treatment and relief from trade pressures.

But the most immediate approach for halting the incipient spread of development would be through land use and zoning initiatives, maybe by creating an overlay district.

Staffers in the city's Planning Department reported that they have already been working with property owners for the past year hashing out a blueprint for a waterfront development district.

"I'm satisfied that we got everyone in the same room," George Billiris said after the meeting. "Now let's just keep walking."

Robin Stein can be reached at 727 445-4157 or rstein@sptimes.com.

Real estate slump stalls New Port Richey's tax flow

By annexing two valuable properties, the city was in line to collect tax dollars on the high-priced condos and townhomes that were to be built there. Then the market cooled, and now the projects are in limbo.

NEW PORT RICHEY - A year ago, the city marked two achievements in its effort to generate revenue for the stagnant general fund.

Two valuable pieces of land, one slated for 500 condominiums and one for nearly 65 luxury townhomes, had been annexed into the city. The big deal? Hundreds of thousands of dollars for the general fund, which had not grown since 2001.

Then, the real estate market intervened.

Now it is unclear whether construction will begin on those two major properties. In both cases, developers or real estate brokers have cited this year's slump in the market.

Ryland Homes tried to walk away from its 500-condominium Venetian Isles project, listing the property with Tampa broker Bill Eshenbaugh about six months ago.

Like other national companies, Ryland was trying to sell off land it bought during the boom years, Eshenbaugh said. The asking price: $12.5-million, or $25,000 per potential condominium.

There were no takers, and Ryland chose not to extend its listing agreement with Eshenbaugh. A company spokeswoman would not describe Ryland's plans.

The lack of interest reflects the times, not the price, Eshenbaugh said.

"It had the word 'condo' in it," he said, "and that's like screaming 'fire' in a theater."

Still, two smaller-scale projects on properties annexed in 2005 are moving forward. Accent Homes has built nine of the 17 planned homes in Taylor Heights, a small development between Indiana and Florida avenues. Construction starts on each custom-built home once someone buys it.

And construction on a 33-townhome project on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue, east of Congress, is scheduled to begin early next year. Chris Cursey, who works for developer Tampa Residential LLC, said he thinks the project has something in its favor: It is filling a need for affordable homes for working families.

"There is a little bit of a slowdown," he said, "but we're definitely going ahead."

Annexation is seen as the answer to New Port Richey's stagnant general fund problem, which stems from the city's 2001 designation as a Community Redevelopment Area. That designation means that all tax money generated by increases in property values after 2001 is diverted to the redevelopment trust fund. The effect: General fund revenue is essentially frozen at 2001 levels, even as expenses continue to rise.

Annexed properties, however, are different. All of their tax money goes straight to the general fund.

Last year was a banner year for the annexation effort: The city brought in 45 acres.

By contrast, 2006 was not nearly as hot. Only a 1-acre site was annexed.

When pitching annexation to developers, city officials emphasize the ease of doing business at City Hall as well as the escape from hefty county impact fees, says city planner Lisa Fierce.

But in the end, she said, "The market is what drives it."

Jodie Tillman covers the city of New Port Richey. She can be reached at 727 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com

Eviction upsets Blue Villa residents

SOUTH DAYTONA -- At a time of year when most families are preparing for the holiday season, Blue Villa Mobile Home Park residents are being evicted by property owner/developer Gus Spreng.

Spreng, who would not comment for this story, is selling the park's 8.7 acres at 750 Reed Canal Road to the city for more than $2.4 million for use in a stormwater drainage project.

City officials have hired a local realty service specialist who will receive $10,000 to help the park residents relocate.

But some of the residents don't think it's money well spent.

Blue Villa resident Harold Gray said the city paying $2,000 a month for five months to Sherry Tarr of All Florida Realty Services, Holly Hill, is "just about dirty and contradictory." Gray will only receive $1,375 to leave his mobile home.

"I really don't think she is going to be of any help at all, and under the circumstances, I don't think the money is well spent," Gray said. "They could have put that money toward paying us a few hundred (dollars) more each."

He added: "I think there is a conflict of interest," since Tarr is a real estate sales associate.

Tarr, meanwhile, said "there are no additional fees" paid to her for helping people relocate their mobile homes or move into apartments, but that she would be paid an extra commission above the monthly $2,000 if any of the mobile home owners "purchase a site-built home."

Ruth DeVault, who owns a mobile home at Blue Villa with her husband Richard, said the All Florida Realty Services associate may be doing her job, but "her job isn't as much as we need."

Instead of paying Tarr, DeVault said the city "should have given (the money) to the people."

Theresa Vargo said she and another Blue Villa resident tried to get an attorney's help to fight for more money and additional time but were told "we don't have a leg to stand on by law." She complained that City Attorney Scott Simpson also represents Spreng.

Simpson said he does not see that as a conflict of interest.

Tarr, who previously helped relocate mobile home owners at Halifax Mobile Home Park in Port Orange, said she's being paid to meet with Blue Villa residents monthly at the Piggotte Community Center and be available for individual appointments.

"You basically have a period of five months to relocate," Tarr told more than a dozen residents who showed up to the first meeting Dec. 5.

"Four months now," came a remark from the audience.

"If you can't move your mobile home, do you want to spend your energy being upset?" Tarr said.

She presented a folder with information on apartments at Louttit Manor, Olds Hall Good Samaritan Center and Casa San Pablo Apartments for residents over 62.

Some residents complained they were not interested in that type of senior living and valued owning their own home, although not the land.

Also listed in Tarr's handouts were area mobile home parks with vacant lots.

Blue Villa resident Ken Fuqua, 69, said he may have already found a new lot for his mobile home, and believes the eviction "is the most unfair thing I have ever seen."

Assistant Community Development Director Helen Wert said city officials "understand the concerns, needs and stress of locating alternative housing," and therefore hired Tarr, a resident of 22 years in the Edgewater/New Smyrna Beach area.

"I think the meeting went well. I was pleased to see such a nice turnout from the residents. I think they are getting some help and guidance. We will get back to them on some of the questions they had," Wert said.

One such question came from a resident who already had relocated his mobile home to another site but was told it would be "two or three weeks to do the proper licensing" before he could move in, and all this was causing him great expense.

Wert said she would look into expediting the permits needed.

Another question from residentswas whether mobile home owners would be able to remove recently installed appliances, flooring and bathroom fixtures before turning in the title of their mobile homes.

Tarr said she would "call the state," to find out the answer.

Residents also complained that the park manager was no longer responding to calls because she is now "working for Spreng at Seabird Island in Port Orange," which also is facing a possible redevelopment.

audrey.parente@news-jrnl.com

Mobile home park evictions scrutinized

By JEFF ADELSON

Sun staff writer

Fears of closing trap seniors in park

Beach Motels Sue Over Taxes

By CARLOS MONCADA The Tampa Tribune

Published: Dec 12, 2006

CLEARWATER - Saying escalating property taxes are driving them to the brink of extinction, several "mom-and-pop" beach motel owners are suing Pinellas County and the state over how their properties are assessed for tax purposes.

The eight motel owners in Indian Shores and Indian Rocks Beach are contesting their 2006 property taxes, arguing in a lawsuit filed Monday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court that their tax bills are based on unfair appraisal practices.

"It's just becoming too expensive," said Mary Lois Harrison, 80, owner of the seven-unit Victoria Apartments in Indian Shores, whose taxes have jumped to $36,477 this year from $18,769 five years ago.

"I have borrowed money for my taxes the past two years and will probably have to borrow money again this year," said Harrison, who bought the business with her late husband in 1974. "That cannot go on."

She and other motel owners blame Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith, among the defendants in the lawsuit, who also include Pinellas County Tax Collector Diane Nelson and James Zingale, executive director of the Florida Department of Revenue.

The lawsuit contends Smith has not followed Section 4, Article VII of the Florida Constitution in assessing their properties and has made arbitrary decisions that are costing owners their livelihood.

Soaring property taxes most often are cited by mom-and-pop operators as the reason they decide to sell their longtime businesses, along with rising property insurance costs.

"It just seems like they're all going to be extinct," said Liz Barrett, 38, whose property taxes this year have soared to $39,000 from $14,000 when she bought the five-unit Lizard Beach Bungalows in 2001.

"Eventually, this kind of accommodation will be gone," she said. "There'll just be huge high-rises all along the coast."

Smith was in Orlando on Monday and said he had not seen the lawsuit, but he denied that his office assesses beach property primarily according to its "highest and best use," or a piece of land's most profitable use within legal and physical bounds.

In recent years, that has meant pricey condominium developments, which have gradually replaced many small, quaint and colorful beachfront lodges that for decades have served as vacation spots for budget-conscious tourists and local families.

The trend was the subject of a Tampa Tribune and TBO.com multimedia package in May, "Lost in Transition."

"We don't value property on what we think it's going to be or what we think it might be tomorrow," Smith said.

"We value it on the sales of the prior year primarily. To be fair and equitable, you have to do that," he said.

Since the once red-hot real estate market has cooled, some mom-and-pop owners worry they will not be able to find a buyer if they must sell and fear losing their properties to back taxes. Many have been forced to refinance just to pay their tax bills.

"It's hurting the tourists who have been coming here for years," Harrison said. "No. 1, the rates are going up. No. 2, there are fewer and fewer places for them to vacation."

News Channel 8 reporter Rod Challenger contributed to this report. Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 823-3412 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.

Legislative Agenda

SEBRING — On the weekends, all-terrain vehicles are the No. 1 complaint at the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.

ATVs, said Sheriff Susan Benton, tear up the environment, which are often state-owned properties.

Sometimes, they race down county roads. Once, they collided side-by-side at 70 mph, and one of the occupants had to be airlifted to Tampa.

“It’s a quality-of-life issue for people who live around there,” said Benton, who was addressing three state legislators at the county-wide meeting with the legislative delegation, county officials and citizens. “They’re constantly hearing that roar of ATVs outside their windows.”

She planned to meet Monday afternoon with the homeowners of Highlands Ridge. Sometimes, shooting sounds are reported, Benton said. Residents who complain are, she said, “in fear of their lives if they tell us.”

Hank Kowalski, the conservation chairman of Highlands County Audubon Society, agreed: “Citizens who are known to the ATV operators as being vocal regarding the problem have been singled out, threatened with violence and harassed unmercifully.”

When deputies answer the calls, ATVs – which are 4-wheeled motorcycles – often run into the woods, knowing they can’t be followed by ordinary squad cars or even 4-wheel drive sport utility vehicles.

“There is no visible tag,” Benton said. “These folks don’t tend to stop for law enforcement.”

The sheriff wasn’t sure what the Legislature should do. “The state is not managing those properties to where we have the elements of the crime for criminal trespass.”

“The state had done such a great job of purchasing these natural resources, and now it seems they’re abandoning their responsibilities,” Benton said. She encouraged the Legislature to comprehensively analyze all the laws with an eye toward enforcement.

“The proliferation of these vehicles has reached almost epidemic,” Kowalski said.

The Legislature needs to act, Kowalski said. “This is a statewide problem, with the rural areas bearing the brunt. Environmentally sensitive areas, set aside to protect animals and plants found nowhere else on earth, are being torn up on a regular basis.”

Unfunded mandates: Highlands County Commissioner Guy Maxcy and Avon Park City Manager C.B. Shirey asked the Legislature not to pass laws which require counties, cities and schools to perform a service the state does not fund.

• Civic centers are needed in Sebring and Lake Placid, and they need to be strong enough to resist a hurricane, Maxcy said.

   

• Last week, Highlands County was told a privately owned wastewater treatment in northwest Sebring might be bankrupt. The county might be required to take over the plant. Maxcy asked the Legislature for help with the costs, and to examine the law which requires counties to assume old sewer package plants.

   

• Higher insurance premiums are also hurting schools, said Superintendent Wally Cox. Schools are paying higher prices and getting less insurance these days.

   

• Schools may not be able to meet class-sized mandates by 2010, Cox said, because they can’t build classrooms fast enough. “It is really scary. We’re just asking you to give us as much flexibility as you can, for a long as you can.”

   

• Kowalski also asked the legislative delegation to consider the effects of a coal-burning power plan at Lake Okeechobee. The Moore Haven plant would dirty the air and affect the birds, fish, eco-tourism and the people, he said. “Hundreds of coal-carrying trains will have to pass through Highlands County on almost a daily basis in order to feed the fires of this plant.”

   

• Gaye Williams of Central Florida Health Care Inc. asked for money to make health care records electronic. She said health care providers are running our of places to store paper records.

   

• Florida jails and prisons have become default mental health care facilities, said Charlie Stroup, an outreach counselor at Daybreak Counseling Center. It costs $45 a day to house Highlands County inmates; 14 have tried to commit suicide this year, she said.

   

• Rising property values have meant higher taxes, and more revenues for county government. Avon Park attorney Warwick Furr II asked the legislators to cap real estate assessment increases and decreases at 4 percent per year.
  

  ATV trails may be scaled back
  Forest Service: Vehicle riders should not have run of entire Apalachicola Forest A Forest Service proposal to limit vehicles to a network of designated trails includes expanding the Munson Hills bicycle trail south of Tallahassee. The bike trail, located
  
  By Bruce Ritchie
  DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

  The U.S. Forest Service is proposing a network of off-road vehicle trails in the Apalachicola National Forest around Tallahassee to reduce forest damage.

  The agency is proposing 80 miles of motorcycle trails and 141 miles of trails for all-terrain and small utility vehicles. Those who ride off of the designated trails could be ticketed and fined.

  "We will still have lots of places for people to ride," said Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Rains. "What we will no longer have are people riding anywhere and everywhere they want to."

  Don Williams, who likes driving a Jeep and other trucks off-road, said he's concerned because those vehicles wouldn't be allowed on trails.

  Only the all-terrain vehicles, which are like large scooters, and small utility vehicles that are like rugged golf carts, are allowed, said Cathy Briggs, recreation manager for the Apalachicola National Forest.

  The agency is asking for comments on the proposal by Jan. 5. Forest managers hope to have the trail system designated by September.

  Agency officials estimate there are 2,390 miles of numbered forest roads and 1,158 miles of undesignated roads and trails. With the proposal, 670 miles of numbered forest roads that are not maintained also would be closed, Briggs said.

  Forest managers say use of the maze of trails and roads disturbs other forest visitors and wildlife, contributes to illegal dumping and encourages mud-bogging that destroys shallow ponds containing rare amphibians.

  The Forest Service since 2004 has closed 18,410 acres around Tallahassee to vehicles. The agency closed 8,578 acres around Lost Lake and the airport in 1984.

  With the designation of trails in those areas, they no longer will be classified as closed, Rains said.

  Williams said he and most other vehicle riders want to protect the forest.

  "It's a shame they couldn't take part of the area they are looking at and make that for trucks and Jeeps as well as for motorcycles," he said.

  Other motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle users could not be reached for comment.

  Briggs said licensed trucks still will be allowed to use numbered roads. She said the network of roads may be more extensive and rugged than Williams realizes.

  Environmentalists have supported the recent decisions to close portions of the forest.

  Friends of the Apalachicola National Forest hasn't studied the proposal, said group president Todd Engstrom. But he and Brett Paben, staff attorney with the WildLaw environmental law firm, said they were glad the agency has begun designating trails.

  Paben said he has some initial concerns about how many trail miles have been designated.

  "There are good parts and some things we have concerns about," Paben said. "We hope to work those out."

  A map of approved trails and list of proposed changes. 2B

  A Forest Service proposal to limit vehicles to a network of designated trails includes expanding the Munson Hills bicycle trail south of Tallahassee.

  The bike trail, located 1 1/2 miles south of Capital Circle along the St. Marks Trail, now is about 8 miles long. It would be lengthened by 4 to 5 miles under the proposal.

  Bicyclists would use a closed motorcycle trail to the south of the existing bike trail. Forest managers say they proposal would not allow off-road motor vehicles between Crawfordville Road and Woodville Highway because of shallow ponds and other water features.

Big cat preserve proposal de-clawed

BROOKSVILLE — Tigers in Hernando County? Oh my!

That’s pretty much the reaction neighbors had to a proposal before the planning and zoning commission Monday that would have allowed a big cat preserve on Lake Lindsay Road.

The commission de-clawed the idea with a 4 to 1 vote, citing safety concerns about a facility that they said wasn’t compatible with the area.

Judy Watts and her fiancé, Bob Jones, sought a special-use exception to allow a preserve for tigers and other large cats on their 9.9 acre parcel about two miles east of U.S. 41. The area is zoned mostly agricultural.

The plan called for five wire enclosures, with at least one tiger or other large cat in each.

County staff recommended approval of the plan.

The cats have been raised in captivity and hand fed, Jones said.

They have been taken to schools and other functions to “educate the general public on the extinction of the big cats,” Jones said.

But several neighbors who live next to, or near, the property in the mostly agricultural area said they would be forced to live in fear, terrified of what would happen to their children, horses or cattle if one of the animals escaped.

“There will be many nightmares and sleepless nights if this petition is approved,” said Bob Musselwhite, whose property is adjacent to the parcel.

Joe Piermatteo invoked a recent incident at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, where zoo officials had to shoot a tiger that nearly escaped after a worker left a cage unlatched, and the name of performer Roy Horn, whose tiger nearly killed him during a performance in Las Vegas three years ago.

“If Lowry Park can’t guarantee (safety), and Siegfried and Roy can’t guarantee it, then these people can’t guarantee it,” Piermatteo said.

“I don’t want anyone taking chances with my kids’ lives,” said Richard Olsen, who lives next door to the property. “It only takes one mistake for a tiger to escape, jump a fence and maul someone.”

Watts, who sported a tiger-print blouse, said she understood the neighbors’ “fear of the unknown.”

Florida has some of the strictest rules to keep big cats, Watts argued.

She said all injuries from big cats are to owners, handlers or other people inside the cats’ domain. According to Watts, no big cat has escaped a preserve and injured someone since 1990, when she said records started being kept.

“That doesn’t mean yours won’t,” planning commissioner Anna Liisa Covell retorted.

“There’s always a possibility one of these animals will escape,” said planning commissioner Anthony Palmieri.

Covell asked Watts if she owned a gun and if she would shoot one her tigers if it escaped.

“Yes, I will,” Watts said.

Watts and Jones said they would be willing to provide a walkie-talkie or some other means of communication to neighbors to notify them if a cat escaped.

But it wasn’t enough. Neighbors were too close, commissioners said.

“I’ve been to South Africa and I think keeping these animals on a 9.9-acre tract is cruel to the animals and inhumane to the neighbors,” Covell said. “This is not the place to put them.”

Two people spoke in favor of the proposal, including one unidentified woman who said it would be “perfect” to have a cat preserve at the location. Commissioner Mary Preston was the lone supporter.

Silverthorn residents

win first round

against ‘invasion’

The commission recommended approval of a plan to allow up to 44 homes on 40 acres between the eastern edge of the Silverthorn golf community and the Suncoast Parkway.

The applicant, called Silverthorn Hills LLC but not affiliated with the existing Silverthorn, had included a request to connect the development to Silverthorn via a 15-foot wide cart path to allow residents access to the golf amenities, but commissioners shot that down.

A parade of Silverthorn residents spoke against that facet of the plan. They used words like “invasion” and “breach” to describe the effect the cart path would have on their gated community.

Palmieri and Preston voted against the entire proposal. Palmieri said he was concerned that the development does not have easy access to a major road.

In other action, the zoning commission:

— recommended approval for a rezoning to allow a cell phone tower on the Stage West Theater property, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd.

— recommended approval for a rezoning from agricultural/residential to multifamily for up to 16 residential units on a two-acre parcel on the west side of Barclay north of Smithfield Avenue.

— recommended approval for a rezoning from agricultural to highway commercial/industrial use for a parcel on the west side of U.S. 41 just north of Spring Hill Drive.

— granted a special exception request by St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church to allow overflow parking on two lots, one on the north side of Norvell Road roughly 900 feet east of Mariner Boulevard, and at Mariner and Noremac Street.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286.

Growth watchdogs fight looser definition of farming

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 11, 2006

Light Blight

The glut of artificial light at night takes a toll on health and wastes billions of dollars each year.

Middle of somewhere

It's a new world between Orlando, Tampa

Gopher tortoises might get help from county

Citrus County is proposing to add another layer of protection for gopher tortoises living in the path of its public construction projects.

In 2004, the board adopted an administrative rule that said the county’s first option would be to move tortoises away from county construction projects.

Commissioners will be given two options Tuesday establishing a formal relocation procedure.

The first option would be to develop a program to identify, pre-approve and manage some county lands as recipient sites for relocated tortoises.

A second option would be to pay the owners of private gopher tortoise preserves to take the animals and let them live on the land. It costs about $1,100 per animal to move them to an approved preserve.

State law allows the animals to be buried alive in their burrows if the landowner or developer pays the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission an incidental take fee, although the agency has relaxed its rules to encourage relocations. The permit revenue is used to purchase conservation lands.

Gopher tortoises are turtles that burrow into the ground and live in tunnels. However, they often live in areas where residential, commercial and government construction occurs.

FWC has voted to list them as a threatened species, which will give them more protection. But the agency is still formulating the protection rules.

The primary reason for uplisting tortoises is that development is destroying their habitat. Tortoise burrows serve as homes for many other species of animals and insects, making tortoises a keystone species.

Development Services Director Gary Maidhof said the proposed rule is an attempt to deal with tortoise relocations at the front end of county construction projects rather than the rear end.

Tortoises are common in Citrus County. The county has found them living in the path of road construction projects, public building construction projects and sewer facility construction.

At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners also will be asked to approve the relocation of gopher tortoises living in the path of the future Withlapopka Isles Community Building, which is slated for construction.

County staff also wants guidance from commissioners about whether they think the 40 acres of land the county owns in the Withlacoochee Forest should be managed as gopher tortoise habitat.

Amount Spent On Roads Amazes Official

Published: Dec 11, 2006

Slightly more than $1 billion has been spent on county roads, sidewalks and streetlights in Hillsborough County during the past three years.

Of that, $766 million was spent by developers, who are required to provide the infrastructure needed to support housing developments.

"I was amazed when I saw that," said Deputy County Administrator Wally Hill, who glimpsed preliminary findings two weeks ago.

A full report on the spending is expected to be presented to county commissioners in January.

My Head Hurts

Think it's time for an organizational chart? The recent push for mass transit has spawned calls for new agencies and task forces and added to an already crowded transportation arena.

Let's see, there's the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, the Regional Transportation Analysis, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, the Tampa Bay office of the Florida Department of Transportation, Bay Area Commuter Services, the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission, and several Bay area Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Need more? The Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners has announced plans for a 15-member transportation task force. Pinellas County Administrator Stephen Spratt is proposing a Regional Transit Organization to coordinate mass transit planning among Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is calling for a new eight-county regional transportation authority.

All this begs the question: Are there enough people around here to serve on these boards?

Which Way Is He Going?

Martin Stone, planning director for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, publicly supports rail and says it can co-exist with new highways.

Check out what he said on a Web site in Hawaii, though, where officials are contemplating mass transit options and have sought his advice:

"And yes, the mayor of Tampa is suggesting a light rail system. She isn't the first. They have been suggesting it here for almost 20 years - but the local politicians have decided not to tax their people into poverty to pay for a system that nobody else will pay for and that hardly anyone will use. We aren't that stupid."

Stone, one of three finalists for the top job at the expressway authority, insists he was referring to past rail proposals.

I-75 Widening

Listen up Pasco commuters: The Florida Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday regarding proposed Interstate 75 improvements.

The widening will run from State Road 52 in Pasco to County Road 476B in Sumter. Right-of-way acquisition in Pasco will start in 2010.

The meeting is at the Ridge Manor West Community Center, 6376 Windmere Road, Brooksville. Go to mytbi.com/content/ and then click on the meeting notices link for information.

Got a gripe about your commute? Contact reporter Rich Shopes at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com. Look for commuter news on TBO.com, Keyword: Shopes.

Gadfly is like bee in bonnet for Riviera city officials

By William Cooper Jr.

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 11, 2006

Rayonier completes St. Johns land sale
Staff Report

Jacksonville-based Rayonier Inc. announced Wednesday it has completed the sale of nearly 2,000 acres of land in St. Johns County to development company LandMar.

The $27.5 million agreement includes a provision that gives Rayonier the option to convert the transaction into a participation arrangement and share in the proceeds as the property is developed.

The deal was made by Rayonier's land development subsidiary TerraPointe, created in 2005 to take advantage of the real-estate boom in the region. Rayonier's holdings encompass approximately 200,000 acres of land from Daytona Beach to Savannah, Ga., with residential and commercial development potential. About 28,000 of those acres are in Flagler County.

The property sold to LandMar is between the St. Johns River and Interstate 95 and is adjacent to the Julington Creek and South Hampton residential developments. LandMar has not announced its plans or timetable for the property.

"This transaction reflects our strategy to maximize per acre returns of our high-value real estate properties by partnering with companies that have extensive entitlement and development expertise," said TerraPointe president Charles Margiotta in a news release. "We are particularly pleased to be working with LandMar due to its reputation for creating high-quality, financially successful developments."

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

A Good End To Four Years Of Work

Pasco Tribune editorial published: Dec 10, 2006

A comprehensive land use plan is one of those government tools that many people only learn about when they discover a shopping center or housing complex is going in next door. These plans, required by Florida law, are meant to guide future growth, and in many cases it's only after the fact that people discover others have done their county's planning for them, often to their disappointment.

For the past two decades, Pasco County's planning has been poor. The government and economy have been driven by development, and the results have been ugly - densely populated west Pasco, urban sprawl, overcrowded schools and highways choked with traffic.

But the new land use plan, cleared to take effect with the recent settlement of an administrative challenge by a group of northeast Pasco landowners, is a breath of fresh air. It is about protecting and enhancing quality of life instead of business as usual.

It took more than four years to produce, and the involvement of residents was extremely impressive. That wasn't the story in the late 1980s. Major landowners and development interests dominated the discussions. The result is what we see today.

The new comprehensive plan promises to be different. Rural areas and rural transition areas have been identified and pegged for protection, and employment centers have been targeted, among many other positives that will make for better balanced land use. If followed, the plan will ensure that the days of hodge-podge development and urban sprawl are numbered.

A story in this newspaper Dec. 3, "Developing Tolerance," provided an example of why a good land use plan is needed. Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski chronicled how people who love the rural life are being pushed out by increased development.

There should always be part of a county for people who want to raise livestock, have horses or simply live away from subdivisions, shopping centers and busy highways. It's a lifestyle choice, the same as the decision to live in a city or an area close to one. Rural protection measures in northeast Pasco, which is a haven for people who love the country, is one of the most appealing parts of the new land use plan.

Still, the plan will only be as good as the county commission's willingness to stick to it. This is where residents need to keep up their activism and closely safeguard their new road map for growth. And others new to the area should take great interest as well. For starters, residents should demand that commissioners adopt an ordinance requiring a supermajority - four votes out of five - to amend it.

Authority Won't Buckle On Beltway

By RICH SHOPES The Tampa Tribune

Published: Dec 10, 2006

TAMPA - After months of delays, the toll agency pushing to build a beltway around Tampa says it's pressing ahead with the project.

The Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority is working with a consultant to estimate how many cars would use the beltway, and it is making presentations to government agencies across the Tampa Bay area.

Hoping to break ground by 2010, engineers are using data from the Florida Department of Transportation and Hillsborough County's planning department to map out a route. The authority wants to open the toll road by 2015.

"I think it's safe to say we have continued to work on it," said Martin Stone, the expressway authority's planning director. "Some aspects were put on the back burner, but we continued to do technical work."

The proposal has divided politicians and rankled light-rail supporters and environmentalists.

Although conceptual at this point, the beltway would run from northern Manatee County, across eastern Hillsborough and loop through southern Pasco County and into Pinellas County.

The authority's consultant says preliminary estimates show from 33,000 to 53,000 vehicles would use the road daily in Pasco by 2015, about the same volume of traffic on North Dale Mabry Highway today, Stone said. The estimates put 34,000 to 46,000 vehicles a day on the beltway in eastern Hillsborough.

Traffic volume would jump dramatically in southern Pasco and eastern Hillsborough by 2025, according to the preliminary findings.

Wilbur Smith Associates, the consultant on the project for the past nine months, is trying to determine how much traffic will be diverted from local roads, such as the Veterans Expressway and Interstates 75 and 275, if the beltway opens.

To calculate its estimates, Wilbur Smith is using county and state figures on population and employment projections and commuting patterns. Its initial report is due in a few months.

Engineers want to build stretches of the four-lane toll road and patch them together to create a highway. If all the stretches are connected as envisioned, the road would extend about 120 miles.

Planner Says Clock Is Ticking

At first, the expressway authority seemed eager to discuss its plans with just about anybody who would listen.

Several talks with government agencies took place in July and August, but the presentations tapered off as the authority became embroiled in controversy over its contracts with lawyers and lobbyists. Then its executive director resigned, and several state lawmakers have called for the authority's abolition.

The agency has still pressed ahead with the beltway, Stone said. It must do so, he said, to keep ahead of rising construction costs and the competition for land.

"The potential locations for these roads and rights of way are shrinking every day," he said. "It is imperative for the counties to identify corridor locations for this new roadway. If they come back in a year or two, the opportunity in some of these places will be gone."

Environmentalists, including the local chapter of the Audubon Society, take another approach. They argue the beltway will encourage urban sprawl and threaten wetlands.

They are joined by rail advocates, notably Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who recently called the beltway idea "cockamamie" and said it would do nothing to help Tampa.

A regulatory showdown could occur. The authority will need approvals from, among others, local planning agencies, commissioners in the four counties, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Why Traffic Estimates?

The traffic studies are critical, Stone said, because they will offer a glimpse into how much money the toll road could generate. That in turn could persuade banks to back the road. Banks would finance the project based on toll projections. Its price tag could soar past $1 billion.

The studies also will try to justify to elected leaders the need for the road and to counter perceptions it will spur development and generate more traffic congestion.

Plant City commissioners on Monday are scheduled to hear about the road, which would skirt their community. Stone said the authority then will try to set up meetings with Pinellas commissioners and the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization, among other agencies.

"What we've tried to say all along is that we're looking at locations for new expressways to help the county," he said. "The county says we will need almost $3 billion in transportation improvements by 2025. This is a project that does not require the use of public tax dollars. This is about finding solutions."

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib.com.

Wetlands are a major hurdle to building

In soggy South Florida, school construction is complicated by environmental regulations.

BY NIRVI SHAH

nshah@MiamiHerald.com

Wetlands present a unique obstacle to South Florida school construction.

From the northeast corner of Broward to the southwest, the limestone that can support construction becomes buried under deeper layers of muck and peat. Drier land supports pine trees. Cypress trees, pond apples and sawgrass indicate wetlands.

Broward's construction history is a tale of draining and filling wetlands, which once covered much of the county.

''Everybody does it,'' said Mike Garretson, who oversees school construction in Broward. ``In Weston, if you look at a picture of the city, 50 percent of that whole town is lakes. In Southwest Ranches . . . every home has a little pond in front.''

STRICT RULES

Environmental rules require the preservation of wetlands. If some areas must be destroyed for construction, others must be created or preserved elsewhere, adding to the cost of building.

The school district has rejected several sites because of the size and quality of the wetlands they contain. But it paid $4.3 million for property in Southwest Ranches, even though its own soil testing revealed that most of the site was so wet, it couldn't accommodate a needed high school.

School Board members accused the town of selling without disclosing how wet the land is, which the town denied. Still, the town's offer to buy back the site has been ignored, probably because private developers have offered more than the district paid.

And now the district is looking at the site, at 190th Avenue and Sheridan Street, for Elementary F-4, Garretson said. But the district's difficulties in dealing with wetlands aren't over.

TROUBLES IN WESTON

At the moment, officials are having trouble locking in a site for planned High School MMM in Weston, because so much of the remaining land there is wet. The school would relieve Cypress Bay High, which has more than 5,000 students and houses freshmen on a portable campus.

To build on wetlands, the district first determines how much peat or muck covers the limestone -- the underlying rock that will actually support a building. If it's not too much, it can be pushed to one side of the property and formed into a berm. It could be mixed with clay to dry it out, then spread out and planted on. If there is too much wet stuff, it might have to be hauled away.

''Some areas it's like quick sand,'' Garretson said. ``You just can't do it.''

Congress gives energy companies more access to Gulf
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Congress approved expanded offshore drilling in its final hours, giving energy companies access to oil and natural gas deposits in a vast area once off limits in the Gulf of Mexico.

Horse show feud sires clash of titans

By Kelly Wolfe

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Tradition reaches end of trail

CATTLE DRIVE A tribute to Osceola's heritage may have 'vanished forever.'

Condo cash raises query

By Thomas R. Collins

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Zone Change Questioned

Residents to be forced out of trailer park

By Deborah Ball

Sun staff writer

Developer hits another wall

By Rachel Simmonsen

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Home Movies - Old Theater Is Just The Ticket

By NICOLA M. WHITE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Dec 10, 2006

ZEPHYRHILLS - Save for the lights from the shuttered furniture shops, few signs of life leak out onto darkened Fifth Avenue.

In the nippy Friday night chill, the Home Theatre fires up its neon marquee.

The small 1948 theater isn't an old-world Art Deco-style movie palace. There is no grand stage or velvet curtain. The theater is a no-frills joint, thick with small-town charm.

In a way, it's a bit like what its name suggests: home.

Many nights, sleepy Fifth Avenue delivers few customers. Some nights, when no one shows up, a worker turns out the lights, shuts off the popcorn popper and locks up.

Nonetheless, the theater, built as a one-screen movie house, perseveres.

Owner Larry Rutan, who owns the bigger Zephyrhills Cinema 6 on north Gall Boulevard, bought the theater in 1980 from his father-in-law. The bigger theater draws the weekend teenage crowds - and the revenue - while the downtown operation pretty much breaks even, he said.

For Rutan, the Home Theater is a labor of love.

"It's kind of a part of the history here. I'd like to keep it going," he said.

Storied Past

In 1948, lumber magnate and future mayor I.A. Krusen ventured into the movie business.

For his theater, Krusen chose a Quonset hut - one of those large, metal half-cylinders common during World War II - and added a brick façade, movie theater marquee and a sound-proof crying room. He built the theater on Fifth Avenue, the city's main drag.

According to newspaper accounts, the Home Theatre was billed as one of the most modern in the South. On opening day, ladies dressed in evening gowns, handed out carnations to female patrons and cigars to the men.

The theater's heyday came in the 1940s and '50s. In the 1960s, though, the theater changed hands and closed for a few years.

In 1969, Francis Potwin moved here from Woodstock, Vt., and spotted the empty building. The ex-logger had no experience running a movie house, but his wife pointed out the two upstairs apartments and the two ground-level stores that could bring in rental income.

"It was a disaster," Potwin recalled. "It was a rowdy town when I come in. They didn't want to see no movies. They just wanted a place to raise Cain."

The outdated equipment stank. There was no ice machine to cool down the Cokes. On the second night of business, the sound blew out. Potwin had to refund all his customers.

Eventually, the theater's fortunes changed.

"We got it going good after a while," said Potwin, 83.

He dropped the ceiling so the theater wouldn't be so cold in the winter and hot in the summer. He installed $14,000 worth of new seats; the kids kept ripping the vinyl ones with razor blades. In the late 1970s and '80s, movies such as "The Adventures of the Wilderness Family" and "E.T." brought in the crowds.

Less family-friendly movies, such as "10," which featured lots of Bo Derek in a skimpy bathing suit, drew the ire of local pastors. One pastor urged his congregation to stop going to the theater.

"This was a big church town, you know, and there was a lot of them that didn't want you to show anything other than Walt Disney," Potwin said.

That first year, admission cost 65 cents. Popcorn was a quarter.

Friday Night Lights

These days, the ticket prices have gone up to $7 - still a relative bargain compared to the $8.50 tickets at the New Tampa Muvico Starlight 20, the closest big theater to Zephyrhills.

In 1983, after Rutan bought the theater from Potwin, his father-in-law, he turned the Home Theatre into a two-screen twin and added more comfortable seats.

On weeknights, which usually draw a handful of customers, the theater has a 7:15 show only. On Fridays and Saturdays, when the crowds are slightly larger, a second show starts at 9:30 p.m.

A little past 7 on a recent chilly Friday night, nine customers had slid up to the ticket booth, handed over cash -there is no cash register, let alone a credit card machine - and walked through the glass doors to the poster-filled lobby.

Pen-and-ink pictures drawn by Rutan's wife, Ginny, adorn the walls. The subjects include Cher, Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" and Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring, "You'll Be Back to the Home Theatre."

"I like it because it's -whattayacallit? - not commercial, really," said Elaine Corsey, Ginny Rutan's sister.

The theater does not bear the hallmarks of the large chain theaters: piped-in music in the lobby, pricey popcorn, spacious bathrooms or machines to swipe the plastic.

Corsey has worked most Friday nights at the theater for four years, but her ties to the theater go back more than 30 years, to when her dad ran the place.

From her perch at the theater's single ticket window, Corsey makes marks on a notepad bordered with small flowers indicating how many people that Friday night chose "Man of the Year" over "Flags of Our Fathers." Tally: 15, with 11 choosing Robin Williams' "Man of the Year."

A single toilet and basin make up the ladies' room. A sign above the concession stand says the popcorn ($3 for a large) is made fresh: "Old Stuff Thrown Out - No You Can't Have Any!"

The stairs to the projection room creak.

"For the most part, it kind of freaks a lot of my friends out," said Ashley Tunker, 23, a University of South Florida student who props open her textbooks on the concession counter when the night gets slow.

She has been working here, on and off, for five years.

"They say, 'Oh, that place is haunted.' "

The place has a charm, though, and Tunker has been coming here since she was a kid. "I like that it's got character," she said.

So do customers, apparently.

"We drive over from Brooksville. It's not as jammed, not as crazy as the ones in Spring Hill," said Julie Arroyo, who came to see "Man of the Year" with her husband, Gus, and two friends. "I like it because we're from a small town [near] Key West."

The Home Theater definitely is small town. For local moviegoers in a growing city, this is part of home.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

Just one day 12.6.06

It was a day like many others. The sun came up. The sun went down. Here, in the form of moments seen and heard in the county where we live, is some of what happened in between.

Out on U.S. 301 in the county's rural east end, the bands of brush-stroke orange seemed to come from the tops of the trees and push the fog down close to the ground. The sun came up over the slow hills and the fat live oaks and the fences made of wire and wood. It was 7:14.

"Just the coffee?" said the clerk at the Circle K at 301 and State Road 50.

Wal-Mart semitrailer trucks came up Kettering Road from the distribution center and turned on 50. A man on an ATV on Hickory Hill Road took out his trash and put it by the mailbox. A school bus came down the loose limerock of Myers Road and through a tunnel made by the carved-out clay and the hanging branches overhead. It was 8:11.

On Spring Lake Highway, Joseph Gilmore used a roller in his yard to make the dirt flat and ready for the wild flowers he plants in front of his little yellow house. A docile hound dog named Bagel keeps him company. His wife died in '97. "She left me here by myself," he said. The flowers will come up early in the spring in reds and purples and blues.

Across the way Mike Catena rode his seal-brown quarter horse named Dixon Shoo. "Come on, girl," he said. Dixon Shoo ran and the thud of the hooves could be heard in the quiet of the open land. It was not quite 10.

Land and cattle, land and cattle, still some citrus. Pro Land real estate signs next to tight-wound hay bales. Tall white pillars on Old Trilby Road: GOD'S Country. Kimbrough Place. NOT FOR SALE.

At Rogers' Christmas House in Brooksville eight Red Hat ladies walked in at 10:43.

Outside on the lip of the lot a woman named Terri Moorbeck carrying a cup of cappuccino stopped at the steps and read out loud the words cut into the concrete: "Try to see this world with your heart and everything will look like Christmas."

"The chicken and dumplings we make from scratch," Sallie Rice told two women at a table at the Rising Sun Cafe at 11:08.

"I'll accept your plea, and I'll revoke your probation," County Judge Don Scaglione told a man on the monitor from the jail at 11:30.

Outside, across the street, Reggie McCloud sketched black lines on the tan wall on the side of the Broken Mold home decor store for a mural of latex paint. He just turned 50. "I tell you, man, time's flying. Scary," he said.

The sun was high and bright. Almost noon.

Now noon.

Hot grease on the griddle at the Nature Coast Cafe.

On the hip of waitress Kaleena Runge was a crocheted name tag made for her by a regular named Flo.

Three-and-a-half-year-old Amir Abdur-Rasheed slept across three chairs in his father's new Brothers Barbershop near the corner of 98.

Over on Fort Dade, under the oaks and the moss, around the curve.

Straight and fast on 50.

On Elgin in Spring Hill: US Home, Windward Homes, Sterling Hill, Sand Ridge. Now Selling. Grand Opening. On Mariner: 6 mos. no payments. HUGE SALE!

Five boys marched out from Springstead High School and took down the Florida flag and the American flag and folded them and marched back in. It was 2:10.

At Mariner Lanes, Ginger Strittmatter rolled a strike for the Jersey Magic team in senior league at 2:42. Trudy Kelly gave her a high-five at 2:43.

At the Wal-Mart up on 50 a small boy tried to rip a Name That Song Mickey out of the cardboard package in the toy aisle and his father in the blue adidas cap yelled at him in Spanish. It was 3:45. The line at the pharmacy pickup window was eight deep. An associate named Melissa yawned. The kid outside sitting next to the red Salvation Army bucket kept ringing that bell.

Across all the lanes of traffic, not quite 4, and 29 people stood outside Carrabba's waiting for someone to open the doors.

A black Kia minivan pulled up to the Dunkin' Donuts drive-through on U.S. 19 and ordered two hazelnut coffees with milk and sugar. It was 4:24.

A gold PT Cruiser honked at a maroon Honda that was going too slow. It was 4:45.

A man dressed in a navy blazer and blue jeans and a thin black tie put up his thumb on the side of 19. It was 4:46.

On the road out to the gulf, past the bait shops and the swamps with the reeds and the roadside stop that's good for gators, two people stood in a small boat and fished about 100 feet out from the palms in a line on the Bayport shore. They looked like black shapes set against the back of the disappearing light. The air got cooler and smelled like the sea. It was 5:19.

The sun started to dip behind some low clouds and haze and then peeked back through a slip of space and with a warmer tint that was finally almost sherbet-soft red. Then it was 5:33 and the sun was gone.

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

Cattle calls

Today's cow hunters feel drive to relive history

Once upon a time, weathered cow hunters rounded up wild Spanish cattle and drove them across vast Florida prairies, thick with saw palmettos and hip-deep wire grass.

Cattle left behind by Juan Ponce de Leon and other explorers thrived in great herds and became the leading industry for Indians and early settlers for more than 200 years. Florida supplied beef to both sides during the War Between the States and then resumed a thriving trade with Cuba.

Today, it's a heritage nearly forgotten in a modern world dominated by amusement parks and sun-loving transplants. Though the prairies of the past are criss-crossed by ribbons of asphalt and towering condos, a few historians are devoted to keeping alive the history born a century before the Pilgrims feasted with the Indians in 1621.

They're members of cattle and horse associations or the Florida Agriculture Museum in Flagler County, but they share an abiding love of the state's agricultural roots. Eleven years ago, they met to re-enact one of those great cattle drives of the past. And people couldn't stop talking about how much fun they'd had. So eventually the Florida Cow Culture Preservation Committee was convinced to do it again.

The four-day route was set -- through large family-owned ranches in rural Osceola County -- and recruiting began. By the opening day Tuesday, a group had gathered 500 strong, horses and riders and about a dozen wagons "in support of a dying lifestyle."

As a teenager, Yancey McDonald, a third-generation Samsula cattle farmer, traveled all over the state with his father, helping other ranchers pen cattle. Now at 47, he's seen the business change completely. He missed the first drive in 1995 and regretted it when friends in the Volusia Cattlemen's Association shared stories of the trip.

He wasn't about to miss a second chance.

He arrived in the pasture south of St. Cloud on Tuesday with girlfriend Nikki Ihrig of New Smyrna Beach, two horses and gear to pay homage to the heritage of his father and grandfather.

As a blush of sunlight crept into the sky on Wednesday morning, mist shrouded the prairie cow camp. Smoke from the previous night's campfires lingered in the air. Then the gunshot crack of a whip snapped the morning stillness. Horses whinnied and replied, stamping the ground, perhaps sensing the dawning excitement.

The group, which had bared and bowed their heads the night before in prayer for safe delivery of cattle, cow folk and wagons, saddled up for the day ahead.

A group of 22 cow hunters would oversee the herd of 574 steers. All the cow hunters either own cattle or work cattle daily on a ranch. The oldest was 74-year-old Al Johnson of Seminole County. The youngest was 8-year-old Jobe Johns, a descendant of the early Seminole Indians that rode cracker horses and traded cracker cattle.

Horseback riders with knotted bright bandanas, color-coordinated by region, rotated responsibility for helping drive the herd. The riders were a motley crew, a strange juxtaposition of old and new. Cow hunters on cell phones? Canvas-covered, horse-drawn wagons, stocked with coolers laden with ice and Bud Light?

Though most considered themselves roughing it, conveniences followed them from camp to camp each day -- a giant candy-striped dining tent, with bright lights and tables topped by red and white checked plastic, collapsible watering troughs for the horses and trucks and trailers laden with the riders' gear.

A television crew from The Food Network set a surreal scene Wednesday night, flying a professional chef to Orlando and giving him less than 12 hours to buy food and prepare it for 450 "hungry cow hunters." If nothing else, the filming was a night off for the catering crew preparing meals in the middle of the woods.

By the second night, chocolate, soda and beer were in hot demand. Showers were only a dream. But, the sweaty aroma of cowpokes or even steaming cow pies couldn't compete with the combination of smells inside the portable toilets.

It wasn't an experience for the faint of heart -- or faint of pocketbook. It cost the Edgar family of DeLeon Springs more than $1,900 for registration and food for Steve and Sue, their daughter Cera and son Sam, and portable pens for their horses.

On Thursday night, Sue Edgar said the trip was worth every penny.

"It's not Nintendo or the TV and not once has he said anything about it or missing it," said Sue, of her 11-year-old son. "It's about family. It's about sitting around the camp fire, telling stories, and hearing Sam say 'Daddy, tell that story when . . .' "

dinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

-- Staff Photographer Justin Yurkanin and Staff Writer Dinah Voyles Pulver spent two nights and days on the dusty trail.