A new nationwide report shows Florida is near the top in overall
spending by so-called "527 organizations'' this fall -- part of
a trend that finds these tax-exempt groups shifting from national
issues.
The study by the Center for Responsive Politics shows these murky
organizations -- which typically feature feel-good names but are
often responsible for the nastiest mudslinging -- have spent the
most in California, New York, Illinois and Florida campaigns so far.
Maybe it's no surprise, then, that even Gov. Jeb Bush has launched
one of his own. An early, $100,000 installment to his Foundation for
Florida's Future Action Fund, an arm of a similarly named charitable
organization he already established, came from The Villages and its
developer, Gary Morse. The Villages also has given $550,000 to
Bush's other nonprofit group.
Bush, though, isn't saying what kind of activity he plans for the
political committee. Campaign television spots and mailers are
typical spending.
Why does he have a 527?
"I don't know. I don't know yet," Bush told reporters last
week. "It's just intriguing for you all. That's why we're doing
it."
Asked if TV ads might be coming, Bush dodged but didn't rule
anything out.
"The great thing about America is, you can ask, and I don't
have to say," he said. Then the governor added this postscript:
"Vague enough?"
Strange bedfellows
This won't do much to soothe the Big Business folks who are
privately grumbling that Charlie Crist is too close to trial lawyers
-- or the Democrats who are worried about losing one of their
biggest sources of campaign cash.
Just two days after Crist, the Republican nominee for governor,
named state lawmaker and Morgan & Morgan partner Jeff Kottkamp
as his running mate, a political group supporting him pulled in
$91,000 from lawyers and law firms -- virtually all of which are in
the personal-injury business.
Indeed, one big donor to Floridians for Truth and Integrity in
Government -- Czaia & Gallagher of Bradenton, which gave $20,000
-- even runs a Web site called www.hurtbyaccident .com.
Minor complaints
When Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney flew into Tallahassee packing $1
million for the Charlie Crist campaign for governor, a local
Democratic leader said the expected presidential contender had
violated Florida law.
Romney, chairman of the Republican Governors' Association, said the
money was going to the state party to help the gubernatorial
nominee. But Leon County Democratic Chairman Rick Minor said state
law prohibits such earmarking.
Minor filed complaints Wednesday with the Florida Elections
Commission against the state Republican Party, Crist and Romney.
Jeff Sadosky, a Florida GOP spokesman, shrugged off the complaints,
saying the money is not earmarked and that a letter from Romney says
it is not limited to helping Crist.
"It's at the discretion of [Republican] Chairwoman [Carole
Jean] Jordan and our staff as to how we spend it,'' Sadosky said.
"It's not earmarked.''
Mickey's wrath
Apparently, even Mickey Mouse wanted to kick Alex Villalobos out of
the Florida Senate.
Updated state records show that Disney Worldwide Services recently
contributed $25,000 to a political group that paid for TV ads
attacking Villalobos, the Miami Republican who barely survived a
nasty primary against a Jeb Bush-backed challenger, Frank Bolanos.
Disney gave the money to the sunny-sounding Partnership for
Florida's Future on Aug. 31, according to the records -- just days
before the Sept. 5 election.
For more insider information and insights on Florida politics, go
to Central Florida Political Pulse at orlandosentinel.com/politicalpulse.
John Kennedy can be reached at jkennedy@orlandosentinel.com. Jason
Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com. Both can also
be reached at 850-222-5564.
Florida Cracker Tells It Like It Was
By MICAH DYALmdyal@highlandstoday.com
LAKE PLACID — Through poetry, Hank Mattson tells folks of another Florida long before there were tourists or even cities.
The Lake Placid poet is a working Cracker cowboy who has spent his life preserving Florida’s past by chronicling the life and times of Florida’s cowboys in his own poems.
“Over time true tales had a funny way of growing tall and rhyming just made them easier to remember,” he said.
Mattson considers himself a rare breed, a Florida Cracker, a species he said that is almost extinct. He wears a black felt hat tipped over his tanned forehead. Beneath the battered brim, a silvery-gray handle bar mustache distinguishes the cattleman.
His warm brown eyes appear above a bushy gray beard. He wears a light blue, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of rugged blue jeans. The lifelong Lake Placid resident is upbeat, yet quiet. His family has been part of rural Florida for more than a century.
Today, Mattson is a cattle farmer in Avon Park. He’s soft spoken, blunt and knows how to speak “Cracker.” Several generations of his family have lived off Florida’s lands.
But this last generation, he said, especially his three children, have turned soft. They’ve learned how to e-mail and play Xbox and program DVD players. Youngsters have forgotten how to castrate calves, dig water troughs, and taste the wind.
“You got to love what you do, it’s not the money,” he said. “Just like everybody else my kids went after the almighty dollar.”
When Mattson is not cattle ranching, he’s at schools and festivals reading old poems to people young and old about Florida’s old-time cowboys.
He tells that Florida’s cowboys had a unique way of herding cattle. Back then, he said most cowboys used a 10- to 12-foot-long whip made of braided leather. Snapping these whips in the air made a loud “crack.”
That sound brought stray cattle back into line fast and earned cowboys the nickname of “crackers.” Many rode rugged, rather small horses known as “Cracker ponies.”
Raising cattle is still a large business in Florida. He said Florida’s ranchers raise the third largest number of cattle of any state east of the Mississippi. Their herds represent many centuries of dreams. They link the sweat and success of ancient Spaniards and other pioneers with today’s modern cattle ranchers.
Years ago, he said cattle rustling was prevalent throughout Florida. This was because the state was an open range. There was not a fenced pasture anywhere in the state.
The early cowboys would round up cows over miles and miles of open plains, in the hammocks and by the rivers and streams. Then they would drive them to market.
He said the earliest American tunes and poetry came from the trails of the working cowboys, influenced by the spirit of the songs and poems of their ancestral balladeers.
“Life for them pilgrims was hard, dangerous, and often times lonely,” he said. “Them who lived to tell about it learned early on to look at their trials and tribulations as tomorrow’s humorous stories.”
He said for folks who want to know, who want to learn, who want to remember, it’s almost impossible to track down these old-timers, to witness the old ways.
That’s why, several times a year, Mattson leaves the comfort of the farm and braves the bigger cities. His next appearance will be at the 18th annual Cracker Storytelling Festival in Bartow on Oct. 14.
To learn more about Florida’s old cowboy’s, call Mattson at
699-0562
Interior Department Loose With Money
Tampa Tribune editorial Published: Sep 29, 2006
Indications are that the U.S. Department of Interior is a poor steward of the public's money.
The agency is supposed to collect royalties from oil companies that drill on public land. However, in-house auditors say agency leaders have stood in the way of collecting more than $30 million from oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico - money the auditors believe was purposely underpaid.
"The agency has lost its sense of mission, which is to protect American taxpayers," auditor Bobby L. Maxwell told The New York Times. "These assets belong to the American public and they are supposed to be used for things like education, public infrastructure and roadways."
Maxwell and three colleagues have taken the unusual step of filing lawsuits against the agency.
The Interior Department has become too cozy with the oil industry under this administration. A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that between 1989 and 2001, the department averaged $176 million in collections from enforcement measures, an average that dropped to $46 million between 2002 and 2005.
The department even stopped issuing subpoenas for documents, a key to finding fraudulent reports.
Congress should investigate Interior's collection practices and get to the bottom of this slippery affair.
Local,
county officials discuss options to protect springs
HIGH SPRINGS – Area residents who want to protect
local springs need to start looking at the broader picture, officials
said at a Sept. 20 Springs Summit.
Rivers and springs in the area flow across city and county lines,
taking no heed of traditional political boundaries.
Similarly, the summit called upon local, county and state officials to
try to break outside of political boundaries and form a cooperative
effort for the entire area.
The gathering of officials from the state, Alachua and Gilchrist
counties and the cities of Alachua, High Springs and Newberry made the
meeting a success, said Fay Baird, coordinator of the Santa Fe Springs
Working Group.
“Overall I was absolutely thrilled with the meeting,” she said,
adding that there were about 100 people who attended. “It was better
than I ever expected. Between officials and staff, there were probably
at least 10 people representing the county and cities.”
With issues regarding springs and their protection
becoming greater and greater in the area, she said, people are
realizing that they need to do something.
“I think everyone wants to know what they can do,” Baird said.
Over the past several years, she said, the water quality of area
springs has been degrading because of nitrates, or nutrients, from
wastewater, fertilizers and land development that wash into the
springs.
The once-clear water at Camp Kulaqua’s Hornsby Spring, where the
meeting was held, now has a slight green tint, said Chris Bird,
environmental protection director for Alachua County.
Residents who want to help curb the problem should begin to look at
the overall picture of how they affect the springs basin, he said.
“Every time there’s a decision to allow a piece
of property to change land use, that can either positively or
negatively impact the water quality that feeds the springs,” Bird
said. “When you add all of those individual properties up, it can
have a tremendous impact. So far, we’ve had more of a negative
impact.”
Bird said the change is largely from a growing population.
And that’s ironic, he said, since many of the people who move to the
area because they want to be close to the springs end up unknowingly
damaging those springs.
The water that feeds into springs in this area comes from 250 to 350
square miles of land, Bird said.
The group at the meeting didn’t discuss specific topics such as a
proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Alachua that has been the topic of
much controversy.
“We realize that if we’re really going to tackle this problem,
it’s a lot more complicated and far reaching than one Wal-Mart
Supercenter,” Bird said. “Sure, we need to be concerned about
shopping centers and large-scale development but we have to be
concerned about a whole area.”
Some ideas that the group considered to reduce nitrate levels would be
to create a wastewater utlility, label fertilizers so people know harm
they can cause, raise the cost of more damaging fertilizers and use
the proceeds to promote awareness, educate all home buyers about the
risks of septic tanks and fertilizer and raise water quality
standards.
“The working group is an ongoing effort,” Baird said, adding that
by the time the group meets again in winter, people will have gone out
and made improvements.
Baird was especially proud of the meeting’s attendance, she said,
because education is a large part of preventing further damage of the
springs, since so many people do not understand how they contribute to
the problem.
“This was beyond my wildest dream as far as turnout,” she said
X-Way Must Run Tighter Ship To Continue Building Vital Roads
Tampa tribune editorial Published: Sep 29, 2006
State auditors have begun digging into the operation of the Hillsborough Expressway Authority, and that's a good thing. Their findings in a few months will give the beleaguered board a road map for how to rebuild public confidence and hold off efforts to disband the toll-funded agency.
To survive, the expressway authority must shape up fast. It doesn't need an auditor's direction to begin fixing three problems: out-of-control contracts for lobbyists, bloated contracts for lawyers and leadership that tolerates excesses.
The authority has been paying its lobbyist $175 an hour, which last year came to about $360,000. That's more than twice the salary of the Tampa mayor. It should hire a lobbyist who will work for a reasonable flat rate.
Likewise, the authority's law firm has run up bills of more than $600,000 a year, over and above the salaries of an in-house counsel and specialty lawyers hired to handle the lawsuit on the authority's reversible bridge.
The governor's special counsel observed that "the lucrative nature of the outside general counsel contract" is "seen as a major plum."
Expressway Chairman Tom Gibbs tells us, "We can do it a lot less expensively," and of course he's right.
That the authority has spent money like water must be blamed on its executive director, Ralph Mervine.
Phone records show Mervine calls the lobbyist daily. Given that Mervine is paid more than $200,000 a year, he shouldn't need so much outside help. Indeed, his umbilical cord to lobbyist John Beck makes it appear that the lobbyist-consultant is calling the shots at the authority.
Mervine also has poorly handled a proposal for a toll-funded beltway linking four counties. He took the proposal to the county commission and won support to continue planning the road, even though he has never made a formal presentation to his own board. Indeed, the expressway authority has never voted on the controversial beltway.
Gibbs tells us that Mervine will explain the project at the board's next meeting.
Mervine is an engineer who was hired to save the authority's flawed reversible-bridge project. He proved himself a capable troubleshooter. But he immediately led the authority into unnecessary controversy by botching an attempt to hire a new law firm. The county commission voted no confidence in him.
Now, lawmakers from neighboring counties want to abolish the Hillsborough authority. In its place, they want to create an eight-county agency that could take Hillsborough's tolls for roads in other counties.
Regional solutions are needed, but they shouldn't come at the expense of Tampa commuters.
Hillsborough needs a creative, responsive expressway board to tackle projects that the state, city and county cannot.
And the authority needs an executive director who gives the board better advice, someone with the skills to lobby on the expressway's behalf without constantly leaning on costly experts.
The expressway authority should stay but Mervine should go.
Expressway Authority to reopen lobbyist's contract
By S.I. ROSENBAUMWith the pact too broadly written, says the board's attorney, he was paid triple what other authorities pay.
Published September 29, 2006
TAMPA - The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority's new lawyer told the agency Monday that it should retain the services of controversial lobbyist John Beck - with one caveat.
She said Beck's contract was written so broadly that he could bill the authority for almost anything and that he's earning more than three times what authorities elsewhere in Florida pay their lobbyists.
Beck has been under scrutiny since it was revealed that he met with one of the candidates bidding to become the Expressway Authority's new lawyer, at the behest of board member Bob Clark.
The candidate, law firm Gray Robinson, subsequently won the bid, despite being ranked the second choice by the board's hiring committee.
The authority's own legal affairs director called the meeting a violation of the state's Government in the Sunshine Law, but a governor's office investigation into the matter found that Clark and Beck did not break any laws.
Nonetheless, the authority board threw out the entire bidding process and asked their new interim lawyer, Rhea Law, to examine the authority's policies and its relationship with Beck.
On Monday, Law reported back to the board that Beck's contract defined his duties as including almost anything that would constitute the "general promotion" of the agency.
"When we looked at his last bill ... all the services were within that definition," she said.
Beck was originally hired in 1999 as a subcontractor by the law firm Ruden McClosky, the authority's legal counsel at the time.
Law said it was unclear whether the position was ever advertised or reviewed by the authority's staff.
In April, Beck's contract was automatically renewed, while the contract with Ruden McClosky was put up for rebid.
Law recommended that the board reopen Beck's contract and rewrite it to make his duties more specific and limited.
Furthermore, she said, most of the other authorities in the state paid their lobbyists by the month, rather than the hour. A 2004 contract she had seen from another authority gave its lobbyist a yearly salary of $80,000, paying by the month, she said.
So far this year, Beck has charged the authority about $300,000, said executive director Ralph Mervine.
"Who drafted the contract?" asked board chairman J. Thomas Gibbs.
From the audience, legal affairs director Mary Hall raised her hand. She had drafted the contract, she said. "Mr. Beck also had some input to it," she said.
Member James T. Hargrett Jr. said Beck's work in Tallahassee was too important to interrupt.
"You got plantin' season and harvestin' season," he said. Now, he said, was the time for lobbyists to work on legislators in preparation for the next session.
Board member Thomas Scott disagreed. Local legislators are already talking about dissolving the Expressway Authority, he said, in part because of the controversy surrounding Beck.
"Do you send a lobbyist who has been the subject of questions to those people, if you want to be effective?" he asked.
In the end, the board voted to accept Law's recommendations, keeping Beck but renegotiating his contract.
They also accepted Law's recommendation that the agency have a yearly workshop on the state's Government in the Sunshine and open records laws.
S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com
Widening Project Delayed Until April
Published: Sep 29, 2006
WESLEY CHAPEL - The widening of County Line Road and its junction with Bruce B. Downs Boulevard won't start until April under a deal struck by a developer and county officials Thursday.
The Spanos Corp., an apartment builder with projects on State Road 56, was supposed to begin the road project last December.
The project has been delayed, in part, by problems finding enough land nearby to hold the project's storm runoff, said Spanos representative Hardy Gillespie.
The work will widen County Line Road between Bruce B. Downs and the bridge over Trout Creek. It also will add a second left-turn lane to the northbound lanes of Bruce B. Downs in Hillsborough County.
The north side of the road is completely developed, so Spanos has been talking with developer GL Homes about sharing a retention pond in the subdivision GL Homes plans to build on the south side of the road, Gillespie said.
The widening is one of three road projects in the immediate area that have fallen behind schedule.
Seven Oaks is more than a year behind schedule widening Bruce B. Downs from County Line Road to State Road 54. The company recently secured the $38 million it will need to widen Bruce B. Downs but is waiting for permits from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, attorney Ben Harrill told the county's Development Review Committee.
County officials are still waiting for Pulte Home Corp. to begin extending S.R. 56 east from Bruce B. Downs. Pulte has submitted designs for the road to the county.
Also Thursday, committee members:
•Approved the development of Bexley Ranch in central Pasco. The 6,872-acre project lies north of Tower Road between the Suncoast Parkway and CSX rail line. The developer, Newland Communities, also built Fishhawk Ranch in Hillsborough County.
When finished, Bexley Ranch will have 7,000 homes, more than 500,000 square feet of office space and nearly 300,000 square feet of shopping. The proposal still must win approval from the county's land planning agency and county commission.
•Approved plans for a new shopping center off the northeast corner of State Road 56 and Interstate 75. The 209,000-square-foot plaza is to include, among other things, an Ashley Furniture store and a Haverty's furniture store, according to documents filed with the county.
Those stores would become the third and fourth furniture outlets on the brief stretch of S.R. 56 between the interstate and Bruce B. Downs. An Ethan Allen furniture store has staked a claim to land on the south side of S.R 56 from the new plaza. Rooms To Go opened this year at S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
Developer denied extra road right of way
By ANDREW MEACHAMThe request was deep down in the builder's larger request to reduce the amount of retail space required at Triple Creek.
Published September 29, 2006
RIVERVIEW - It looked like a routine request. A developer wanted to extend an existing road into a new neighborhood and needed county approval.
But before the dust settled, Commissioner Kathy Castor accused Centex Homes of asking the county to violate its own ordinances protecting environmentally sensitive property.
The developer's request was buried within six pages of minutiae: condition 33 out of 55 in a zoning request.
With thousands of undeveloped acres in Hillsborough yet to be ruled upon, including a proposed 70-mile beltway connecting four counties, it wasn't a precedent Castor wanted to embrace.
Commissioners voted to give Centex its road, without the extra right of way it originally requested.
The flap started in August, when Centex asked the County Commission for permission to modify the Triple Creek development southeast of Big Bend Road and U.S. 301.
Triple Creek, which will have 1,745 houses and condominiums and 300 apartments, got the zoning it needed in December. The community is expected to have its own school, library and fire station.
The plan includes up to 70,000 square feet of shopping, too much to build all at once, Centex argued. The developer appeared before the commission in August to ask for permission to reduce the initial installment of retail space from 19,000 to 9,000 square feet, and to remove a requirement to build the entire 70,000 square feet of retail.
Planning and Growth Management staff recommended the proposal. But when commissioners considered the request in August, Castor zeroed in on a single innocuous line in the developer's list of proposed conditions.
That item added a stipulation to an agreement that Centex would extend Big Bend Road into the Triple Creek property and widen it to four lanes.
Under the new language, the county would be "responsible for providing adequate right of way" through the property.
Since the developer wanted to extend that right of way from 100 to 110 feet, the request affected environmentally sensitive land the county is charged to protect.
Centex bought property in 1998 to extend the road, company attorney Vincent Marchetti told commissioners. The sale entailed 100 feet of county right of way.
The county bought the surrounding property in 2003 as part of its Environmental Lands Acquisition Protection Program.
That meant that all of the property up to the edge of the right of way for the Big Bend extension became ELAPP land, which commissioners are required to protect.
Also in 2003, the county expanded its requirement for right of way for four-lane roads, from 100 to 110 feet.
Now Centex needed permission to build the road it had planned for eight years, with an extra 10 feet of county right of way to comply with the new requirement.
But when Marchetti asked commissioners last month to approve modifications to Triple Creek, Castor cried foul.
Her objection: Centex was ushering in a violation of ELAPP rules by asking for more right of way.
Commissioners delayed a vote at that meeting until a representative of the state's ELAPP program could elaborate.
A few days later, Castor wrote to County Administrator Pat Bean to protest the way Centex had tried to get its right of way.
"The applicant attempted to use a minor modification of a zoning condition to violate the ELAPP ordinance," Castor wrote in an Aug. 25 memo.
By the time commissioners reconsidered earlier this month, Centex had ironed out the discrepancies between their request and ordinances protecting ELAPP land.
A day before the Sept. 12 meeting, the county's Planning and Growth Management staff granted Centex a design exception, allowing the road to be built with the original 100 feet of right of way.
Since the road at that width was already exempted from ELAPP designation, the conflict should disappear, Marchetti argued.
The commission agreed and approved the developer's request by a 6-1 vote, with Castor dissenting.
Though the Centex modification passed without a conflict over ELAPP lands, Castor remains unsure about how close the application came to sailing through untouched.
"The other concern," Castor said in an interview, "is that Planning and Growth Management staff understand and communicate with the ELAPP department so that these inaccuracies don't wind up as conditions.
"The public relies on commissioners, and commissioners rely on staff to get it right."
Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com.
[Last modified September 28, 2006, 08:12:44]Of course it's helpful to know that the writer of the letter below is chairman of the board of the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. Of course he would think a mall was more important than a watershed.
Mall's Positive Effects
Pasco Tribune letter to the editor
Regarding "Development Not Worth Impact," Sunday:
The impact of Cypress Creek Town Center depends on what side of the creek one stands on.
As stated in the editorial, the Southwest Florida Water Management District owns or manages more than 64,000 acres of land in Pasco County. In question is a mere 67 acres of wetlands. Hopefully, a permit will be issued soon that will allow a developer to build a much-needed open-air mall along Cypress Creek in the Wesley Chapel area.
The editorial said this land would be "destroyed" by the developer; I strongly disagree. Southwest Florida Water Management District has already placed exceptionally stringent controls on this development, therefore meeting its responsibility without bringing carnage to the overall project.
I do not feel this ratio of wetland and surface waters would be lost to construction; rather, I see that the mall would be beneficial and accommodating for Pasco residents. This land would be used to build retail and other commercial businesses, plus offices and hotels. The development is projected to create more than 3,800 jobs. This information alone indicates to a prudent individual this development is worth the impact.
The annual revenue of the future Cypress Creek mall to Pasco is estimated at $6 million, with an additional estimate of $2.4 million annually to our school system. Let's add this financial base to the fact that a mall in central Pasco would be convenient for residents, who would be able to reduce travel times and gas expenses incurred while driving to other nearby malls, which, by the way, are in another county.
The majority of Pasco residents want this mall and are ready to support local commerce. It would be a place to work, eat and enjoy family time together while spending and keeping Pasco dollars in Pasco. Let's encourage construction of the Cypress Creek Town Center.
I vigorously object to the suggestion of changing permitting rules to give Swiftmud members more regulatory authority. Translated, this means greater government control over our lives. And who pays for these greater controls? We, average citizens, do, through higher costs in products, services and taxes. Let us remember some of the teachings of Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations," written in 1776.
PETER HANZEL
Wesley Chapel
DEP back at Wakulla BeachMore samples are taken of mystery muck
WAKULLA BEACH - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection collected new samples Thursday of a sticky muck that has plagued the shoreline of Wakulla Beach for two weeks.
Tallahassee Democrat readers, meanwhile, are offering various theories on what's causing the foul-smelling substance along the shore in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
DEP has said the material was a die-off of microscopic algae called diatoms. But other scientists have disagreed, and one said the muck is more consistent with sewage.
Russel Frydenborg, a DEP environmental administrator, said after collecting new samples Thursday that it's premature to say someone dumped something there.
"I don't see how that could happen," he said. "It just doesn't make sense to me it was a human source."
He said the material, which had some dead sea grasses in it, was found up to 32 feet from the shore and extended about 1,000 feet to the east and less than a half-mile to the west.
Water-quality expert Sean McGlynn of Tallahassee has said the material is more consistent with sewage because it contained high bacteria levels. But he also said he doesn't know how the sludge-like material could have gotten there.
Some readers suggested that a septic tank pump-out service may have dumped its tanker truck along the shore. McGlynn said it would have taken many trucks to dump that much material, and he said there were no signs of heavy trucks. He said it could have been dumped from a boat or a barge.
One theory offered by Jennifer Wolny, a research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is that organic material from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico was stirred up and washed ashore during a storm. However, McGlynn said there haven't been any recent storms to stir up the bottom.
Another theory offered by readers is that the material may have floated across the Gulf of Mexico from the Buckeye Florida cellulose mill in Perry. Frydenborg said it's unlikely the material would travel more than 35 miles from the Fenholloway River and arrive at a single spot.
"We need to gather the facts before we make a conclusion," he said.
McGlynn said the material could be pulp-mill fibers, dead seaweed or sewage, and it is difficult to tell the difference without further investigation. Frydenborg said test results for bacteria should be available in a couple of days. He said a nutrient analysis of the material will take about a week.
Realtors unhappy with some officials' words of criticism
By Terry WittOfficials from the Realtors Association of Citrus County took issue this week with statements they say infer that Realtors manipulated the market to drive up property values.
John M. Finley, president of the association, and broker Barry Cook said real estate agents did not manipulate the market and don’t have the power to drive up prices.
“The idea that we drove up prices or manipulated the market just isn’t true,” Finley said in an interview with the Chronicle Editorial Board. “We can’t do that. It’s not possible.”
Finley and Cook were referring to comments made by County Commissioner Dennis Damato in a Sept. 20 Chronicle story where he accused real estate agents of pressuring commissioners for tax relief late in the budget process.
They also sharply disagreed with a quote from Property Appraiser Melanie Hensley in a Sept. 16 Chronicle story where they say she implied real estate agents had driven up property prices.
“We just kind of felt they beat on us,” Cook said. “I don’t know if it was deserved.”
Damato was critical of real estate agents he said had pressed commissioners for a big tax break at a Sept. 19 tax hearing. He said they showed little regard for the needs of the county or approved projects.
Finley said real estate agents told commissioners the market had taken a downturn and they expected the board to show more fiscal responsibility in the budget process. He said the real estate agents felt it was a reasonable request.
Damato responded Thursday that commissioners delivered on the real estate agents’ request by reducing the millage rate, but he said he never accused them of manipulating the market or driving up prices. He said individual real estate agents attended the hearing and demanded the board adopt the rollback millage, the tax rate that would generate the same level of revenue as the previous year.
He said it would have been better if the real estate agents had met before the tax hearing, taken an official position and had one person speak for the entire organization.
“I think that would have had more credibility,” he said.
Finley and Cook also felt Hensley had tried to lay the blame for rising property values at the doorstep of real estate agents. They cited a quote attributed to Hensley in which she said, “Realtors discovered they could get higher prices for homes and it started there. Once there were willing buyers who would pay $500,000 for a home, it started the ball rolling and people believed real estate was worth more.”
Finley said the job of real estate agents is to connect willing sellers with willing buyers. He said the buyers and sellers determine what a piece of property is worth. The said real estate agents merely provide the vehicle for the sale to take place.
Hensley responded on Thursday that she did not intend to intimate or infer that real estate agents were manipulating the market or were responsible for rising property values.
She said if a homeowner knows the house is worth $200,000, but they want the real estate agent to ask for $500,000, the real estate agent will do what the client wants them to do.
“The Realtor is going to do what the seller wants, and low and behold, if someone is willing to pay $500,000, the sale goes through,” Hensley said. “It wasn’t that I meant the Realtors are at fault. They work for the seller.”
She added, “I didn’t mean it was directed at Realtors, that it was their fault. They don’t manipulate the market, but they are a player. They are part of the free market.”
Alachua says 'no' to
concrete plants
ALACHUA - A proposal to build two concrete plants in
Alachua near Hunter Marine was denied Tuesday by the city's Planning
& Zoning Board, citing incompatibility with nearby neighborhoods.
The developer, Trinity Materials, can still ask for the proposal to be
considered by the Alachua City Commission.
Officials with Trinity Materials said they had chosen the site on U.S.
441 because the two proposed plants would be bordered on one side by
railroad tracks and on the other by industrial businesses - Hipp
Construction and Hunter Marine.
At Trinity Materials’ proposed batch plant, concrete would be
dropped into concrete trucks - commonly referred to as cement trucks -
that would then take the concrete to various job sites.
The second plant would be a concrete masonry block plant. It would be
housed in an approximately 32,600-square-foot building where cement is
mixed, then placed into a mold to produce concrete block.
Residents showed up in force at Tuesday's Planning
& Zoning Board meeting, filling city hall and leaving people
standing in the hallway and waiting outside.
Residents said they did not want the noise and traffic they felt the
two plants would produce.
Representatives from Trinity Materials said the noise would be no
greater than the noise produced by traffic on U.S. 441 and, in fact,
at the property's edge, would be no louder than normal conversation.
As for traffic, Trinity Materials officials produced reports showing
how traffic would be directed onto and and off the land at the Hipp
Construction entrance.
But Alachua city staff recommended denial of the project, saying the
sites cannot "coexist in relative proximity to adjacent
residential land uses in a stable fashion over time."
This is the developer's second time to appear before
the Planning and Zoning Board. At the first meeting a few months ago,
the developer asked for the proposal to be considered at a later
meeting because the city produced a new traffic report a half-hour
before the meeting's start.
A few weeks after that meeting, the developer held a community meeting
to better explain the project but less than a dozen residents showed
up.
Resort wants lawsuit dismissed
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff WriterThe Homosassa Riverside Resort argues that a group's lawsuit to block its expansion plans is deeply flawed.
Published September 29, 2006
When a divided County Commission approved expansion plans at the Homosassa Riverside Resort, the Save the Homosassa River Alliance came out swinging.
Now the resort is swinging right back.
The resort this week asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that the alliance filed against the county. The resort says the alliance followed the wrong procedures, filed the wrong type of action and doesn't even have standing to get involved.
Judge Charles M. Harris is scheduled to consider the matter Monday morning. In mid July, a 3-2 commission vote approved the resort's plans to level all buildings on the east side of the main entrance road. They would be replaced by 72 motel suites in buildings of three stories over parking and 15 regular motel rooms in two stories over retail.
The resort said its approach would lead to more preservation of open space. Alliance members and other area residents said the buildings proposed as part of the expansion would be too high. They said the project would be at odds with special development rules designed to preserve Old Homosassa's character.
The alliance filed suit in August, asking a judge to nullify the commission's approval.
The resort has asked the court for permission to be an intervenor. But that's not all. It also is tearing apart the alliance's suit.
In a motion to dismiss filed Wednesday, attorneys Derrill L. McAteer and Carl A. Bertoch said that the River Alliance's petition for a writ of certiorari, basically an appeal of the County's Commission's vote, is improper.
The alliance was not, and in fact never formally sought to be, a party to the County Commission's action, which is considered quasijudicial.
Since the alliance wasn't a party, it doesn't have standing to file an appeal, the resort argued. If anything, the alliance should have sought "declaratory and injunctive relief."
But that avenue presents problems, as well, the resort says.
In their motion, the attorneys note that the plaintiffs - the alliance and three individuals, Homosassa residents Jim Bitter, Rosemary Rendueles and Priscilla Watkins - do not have standing to sue.
Standing is granted to anyone who "has a legally recognizable interest which is or will be affected by the action of the zoning authority in question," the resort said. Such people must have "a definite interest exceeding the general interest of the community."
But none of the plaintiffs own property adjacent to or near the Riverside Resort.
The alliance has stated that its commitment to the preservation and conservation of environmentally sensitive lands and wildlife in and around the river should matter. But the courts have ruled that "mere interest in the environment alone is insufficient to give a person or entity standing to challenge a zoning decision," the resort's attorneys argued.
They said the River Alliance's own attorney, Denise Lyn, has told the County Commission that the alliance "has no environmental quarrel with the approved project."
Two expansion options were presented to the commission: One called for three stories of motel suites over parking with less coverage of the ground space; another allowed two stories over parking with more coverage of the ground space.
Lyn said the alliance would favor the second option.
"A review of the transcript indicates that the alliance's sole concern was the number of floors over parking and its disapproval of the aesthetic effect of three floors over parking versus two," the resort's attorneys wrote. "Thus, the alliance's newfound environmental 'religion' regarding the project proposed ... offered for purposes of standing is fraudulent."
Lyn was not available for comment on the motion Thursday.
Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com.
government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer - sounds good to them.
Developers Prepare For Impact Fees
By CHRIS BUTLERcbutler@highlandstoday.com
SEBRING — They spent most of this summer predicting not only doom and gloom for new real estate but fewer opportunities for Highlands County to acquire much coveted businesses such as Target and Olive Garden.
But three months before they take effect, business and residential developers are taking “a wait-and-see” approach on impact fees.
Commissioners passed fees at 25 percent of an impact fee consultant’s recommendations for transportation and six other fees earlier this month. They made an exception for public schools, passing them at at a much higher 50 percent.
Commercial real-estate developer John Borgemeister said the county’s economy won’t begin feeling effects from the fees until mid-2007 at the earliest.
Borgemeister railed this summer against 100 percent of the impact fee recommendations. The suggestions came from the Orlando-based impact fee consultant Tindale-Oliver. He said the fees would discourage retail outlets such as Target and Best Buy from making their way to Highlands County.
Despite most of the fees now being only one-fourth the original proposals, he said at least some negative consequences await the county.
“They may not know it yet, but everyone will be paying for these fees. We can all be certain the costs will be passed down to all consumers in one form or another,” Borgemeister said.
Lake Placid developer Greg Arnone specializes in residential real estate, but still has his own predictions about future commercial development.
“Those businesses would be beating down the doors to get here if we really had the population growth people say we do,” Arnone said. “But we don’t. Everything (with the market) has been slowing down. That’s just a national phenomenon.”
Residential Developments
Arnone said impact fees at 100 percent for residential developments would have been the death knell for future real-estate developments countywide.
He said his customers told him they wouldn’t have moved to the county under such a scenario. But he said they’re OK with what commissioners passed.
“We will still have a negative effect, but it just won’t be anywhere near as bad as it could have been,” Arnone said. “There’s always a negative effect when you raise prices.”
Impact fees will add to other established negative effects. He said they include high interest rates, a slow real estate market and new county residents not being able to sell their old homes elsewhere.
“I was deathly afraid of what would have happened at 100 percent,” Arnone said.
Lake Placid developer Michael Anastasia also railed against the proposed fees this past summer, saying such fees usually work well in larger, wealthier counties.
“I’m just hoping we fit in the middle somewhere,” Anastasia said. “Everyone I’ve spoken with said they’ll try to work with it at the rate established and hopefully it sticks. But I just hope the county can find an alternative income source rather than just taxing the building industry.”
Meanwhile, Arnone took the opportunity to take another jab at impact fees and what he said are their main flaw.
“Impact fees should have been based on actual growth but was instead based on potential growth. I and other developers always said the basis for the amounts and the dire need for them was flawed.
“But if we are blessed with a tremendous amount of growth the
county commission should only then react and raise the fees – and
the developers are all for that,” Arnone said.
The sacred hill of Philippe Park
By TERRI BRYCE REEVESThe area's biggest remaining Indian mound is in this Safety Harbor park, where a robust culture once thrived.
Published September 29, 2006
SAFETY HARBOR - The Tocobaga Indians knew a good piece of real estate when they saw it.
This rolling piece of land had high ground, great fishing, gorgeous views and awesome breezes off Old Tampa Bay.
A millennium later, people are still enamored of the 122-acre Philippe Park - it had nearly 1-million visitors last year alone. They come to bike, run, walk, fish, boat, picnic, party (sans alcohol), walk the dog or just hang out.
Central to the park's beauty and history is a grass-covered hill known as the Indian Mound.
Deet McGruder, 45, of Clearwater finds peace nearly once a week at this place.
"It's just so tranquil here," he said, looking out over the bay. The park features 1 mile of shoreline.
The experience wasn't quite as spiritual for Robert Cummings, 53, of Oldsmar.
"I was expecting to feel some kind of vibes or a mystical thing, but it's just a steep hill," he said, catching his breath.
A climb for him, perhaps, but to the Tocobaga, it was a place to hold ceremonies. Even the big chief may have lived there. Remains indicate that some kind of structure was built atop the mound, created from layers of sand and shells.
The hill in Philippe Park is the largest remaining mound in the Tampa Bay area, according Vance Perkey, assistant park supervisor, who has researched the Tocobaga. The culture is believed to have occupied the area from around 900 A.D. until the late 1600s. Records suggest that this area in Safety Harbor was the "capital city" of the Tocobaga tribe.
It was an estuary culture of tall, muscular and agile people. They carried bows, arrows and spears. They made many of their tools from bones and shell.
They weren't big on clothing but liked tattoos.
"We know that they were a class society ranked by a birthright or being known as a fierce warrior," Perkey said. "They used tattoos to identify their rank or privilege. I've read that if they tattooed themselves to a rank or status they weren't entitled to, it would be removed, and we aren't talking laser surgery here."
He said the type of pottery they had - the more elaborate, the better - also determined rank. And those with higher status lived closer to the water.
"Some things never change," he said.
Historians aren't certain how big the village was. Estimates range from several hundred people to more than 2,500.
When the Spanish arrived, they brought horses, war dogs and guns - things the natives had never seen. The guns and war dogs, especially, drove fear into their hearts.
The Spanish were not kind to the Tocobaga. One of the cruelest was a commander of the conquistadors named Panfilo de Narvaez, who came to the area in 1528. He and his men pillaged the Tocobagans' ceremonial grounds and huts. They cut off the chief's nose and fed his mother to the pet greyhounds.
Warfare was not the only thing that led to the demise of the tribe. Many were killed by European disease. Any survivors likely merged with other cultures.
Originally the mound was rectangular, but about a third of it was lost during a hurricane in 1848. Count Odet Philippe, for whom the park was named, used it to protect his family from a tidal surge.
The count is credited as being the first to adapt the grapefruit to Florida culture on his plantation, St. Helena, now Philippe Park. He also introduced cigarmaking to Tampa.
In 1979, stone retaining walls were built around the mound to stop further erosion and deter removal of arrowheads, ceramic pottery fragments and bones. Anyone who finds an artifact should report it to park officials.
Fast facts
* The park opened in 1948 and is the oldest in the county.
* Number of picnic shelters: eight
* Record number of park weddings in one day: nine
* Biggest month for weddings at the park: April
* It has a new $120,000 adventure course made of composite rocks and ropes. The nontraditional playground is said to be the first of its kind on the U.S. East Coast.
* * *
Philippe Park is at 2525 Philippe Parkway in Safety Harbor. The park is open daily from 7 a.m. until dusk. Call (727) 669-1947 for information.
Big blue house cruises to its new home: Ruskin
By BEN MONTGOMERYA developer wanted the land for condos. The history-minded wanted to save the house. It ended up win-win.
Published September 29, 2006
They came behind oxen to the shores of the Manatee River, a Mississippi banker with his wife and eight kids and a kettle full of Confederate gold. Someone pointed them south, toward an uncharted place that became Palmetto, where one of the banker's sons built himself a mansion by the sea.
And there it stood, Asa Lamb's Queen Anne Victorian, from 1910 forward, watching Florida fill up with people and their things.
The blue paint chipped. The porch sagged. It became a refuge for the mentally ill. It became less than eye-pleasing. It then sat abandoned, to face the uncertainty of time in a place where history often bows to money or the wind.
Its fate came to town a few years ago with a dream-chasing developer from Kentucky, and folks in Manatee County were concerned. The developer, Bob Breeden, wanted the land under Lamb Manor for a seven-story condo tower to be called Regatta Pointe.
But the history-minded authorities had a condition for Breeden: preserve the blue house.
Breeden shopped for a buyer and found one last year in George and Nancy Corbett, a Winter Haven couple who operate a North Carolina retreat, Canaan Land, for Baptist ministers. The Corbetts own land 20 miles north, in Ruskin, on the Little Manatee River, a perfect plat for such a home.
But how do you move a three-story, 220-ton, five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot home from Palmetto to Ruskin?
By water, came the answer, and on Monday, men from Brownie Moving and Heavy Hauling used hydraulic lifts to put it on a barge, and pushed it toward the bay. It was reported the move would cost $250,000, but the company wouldn't say what it charged the Corbetts.
Tuesday morning, the tugboat Regina T pushed it toward open water while boats circled and the news media hovered in helicopters. The house looked uncomfortable on the bay. Someone wondered what its ghosts were thinking.
"Not everything old is worth saving," Breeden said while monitoring the move with others from a yacht nearby. "But there are a few things that are worth the time and trouble."
As it moved toward the Sunshine Skyway bridge, motorists pulled to the side of Interstate 275 for a look before they were shooed away by police.
Lenore Stewart, 84, the great-granddaughter of that Mississippi banker, was relieved that folks saw fit to preserve the home. She turned and watched a piece of Old Florida move at 3 knots toward its future.
"I mean, just look at it there," she said.
Breeden popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.
"To the blue house," he said.
Ben Montgomery can be reached at bmontgomery@sptimes.com or 813-661-2443.
Activists Seeking To Rein In Oil Use
Published: Sep 28, 2006
TAMPA - Volatile gas prices, an ongoing Mideast war and global warming are all reasons the United States needs a new energy policy that moves away from fossil fuel dependence and toward renewable energy.
That was the message at a news conference held Wednesday at the Museum of Science & Industry by a coalition of environmental groups who challenged all Florida candidates for federal office to adopt the groups' energy platform.
The platform calls for the country to reduce oil consumption by one-third through higher fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles, more energy-efficient buildings and a $30 billion investment in research and development of renewable energy sources.
"This has been a do-nothing Congress in addressing our energy needs in a meaningful way," said Mark Ferrulo, director of Environment Florida, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group.
"The president says we're addicted to foreign oil," Ferrulo said. "So what does Congress do? They find us fatter needles to feed our addiction."
Holly Binns, Environment Florida's field director, said Americans are concerned about a host of energy-related problems ranging from rising fuel costs to the ongoing Iraq war.
"We're calling on all our congressional leaders to put our national security, global climate and children's future ahead of the interests of the big oil and coal companies," Binns said.
Environment Florida sent pledge cards to all 46 candidates for federal office in Florida, asking them to support the platform, Ferrulo said. The group plans to release the names of candidates who signed the pledges Oct. 27.
"The real goal would be to elevate the debate of energy policy while they are campaigning," he said. "Once they are in office, we are going to hold them accountable."
A report given out at the news conference said the nation's energy usage could be cut 10 percent by 2025 through energy-efficient homes, businesses and industries.
Brian Frost, an energy consultant, said there are a number of small "quick fixes" that can improve energy efficiency in buildings. He showed a device called the Vending Miser, that can be attached to soda machines. The miser powers down the cooling element in the machine when it is not needed.
Other groups represented at the event were the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, The Ocean Conservancy, and the Marine Fish**er Conservation Network.
Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com
Conservation group woos congressional hopefuls
By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff WriterEnvironment Florida wants candidates, especially in the 9th Congressional District, to back its platform.
Published September 28, 2006
TAMPA - Crime, education and taxes typically dominate the political debate during Florida elections.
But renewable energy?
One conservation group hopes to bring the topic to the forefront in the weeks leading up to Election Day, and make sure those elected take action to support it once they're in office.
Environment Florida, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group whose mission is to protect Florida's air, water and open spaces, held a news conference Wednesday at the Museum of Science and Industry where it called on congressional candidates to pledge support for its goals.
While the group was addressing all candidates, it specifically targeted the 9th Congressional District race between Gus Bilirakis and Phyllis Busansky.
That district, which includes parts of Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, is among the more closely watched races.
Environment Florida sent out packets to all congressional candidates in Florida asking them to support a platform containing four points:
- Raising the auto fuel efficiency for cars and public transportation, thus reducing the dependency on oil.
- Mandating strong efficiency standards for new homes and buildings.
- Committing $30 billion by the federal government toward research of technology that would move the country toward a future with sustainable energy.
- Dramatically increasing renewable energy sources.
Candidates, including Busansky and Bilirakis, have been given until Oct. 27 to sign the pledge.
Liz Hittos, Bilirakis' deputy campaign manager, said Wednesday afternoon that Bilirakis had not had a chance to thoroughly review the documents, which were sent to them on Tuesday.
"Certainly, he's supportive of initiatives to better the environment," she said.
Meanwhile, Busansky's campaign manager, Rob Becker, said they, too, did not receive the papers until Tuesday evening.
"We're not opposed to all that," Becker said. "We're going to look at it and we'll let them know."
Environment Florida was joined in the news conference by representatives of a number of other groups, including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Ocean Conservancy and Clean Water Action.
Environment Florida will release the list of candidates who signed the pledge, said director Mark Ferrulo, although it has not decided when.
"We're not trying to influence the outcome of elections," Ferrulo said. "We'd just like to see what they believe are critical issues."
Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at 813 269-5312 or nguyen@sptimes.com.
[Last modified September 28, 2006We need more wetlands, not more malls
St. Pete Times Letter to the EditorPublished September 28, 2006
Three cheers for the citizens and conservation groups opposing the potential loss of almost 60 acres of wetlands due to the proposed construction of the Cypress Creek Town Center mall.
Why is the Southwest Florida Water Management District even considering permitting the loss of these critical wetlands? That seems a questionable way at best to protect the natural systems that the district is charged to safeguard.
Wetlands are essential to the hydrologic cycle and are key elements of a healthy watershed. These wetlands, essential parts of Cypress Creek and the Hillsborough River watershed, should be completely protected and preserved.
We have enough malls and parking lots in Florida, but we could use more protected and functional wetlands. Government regulatory agencies like the district have a responsibility to the public to protect watersheds and wetlands. The district is failing in its mission if it grants permits that will degrade water quality, degrade natural systems, imperil water supply and potentially lead to flooding problems. The public, and the Hillsborough River watershed, deserve better.
Joe Murphy, Ridge Manor
Conflicting views cloud water debate
St. Pete Times Letter to the EditorPublished September 28, 2006
Re: Public works site polluted aquifer water, Sept. 24 Times:
The article makes a person wonder who they can believe.
Hernando County officials insisted for years that an underground clay layer protected the aquifer. Now we learn that may not be the case. Even the "powers that be" aren't in agreement.
County engineer Greg Sutton said, "It's not good." Linda Young, director of Florida's Clean Water Network, said, "I don't want to drink it." Gary Kuhl, our county administrator, said, "You hope it hasn't spread very far." And the Brooksville superintendent of utilities said, "It meets all the current standards."
Now what's what, or who's who? What's the real deal?
Any carcinogenic chemicals in our water is not acceptable!
Marlene Foster, Weeki Wachee
Board is right to go slowly with parkway project
A Times EditorialPublished September 28, 2006
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise officials left their meeting with the County Commission on Tuesday with somewhat less than they had hoped to receive.
That is only fair, considering that they brought less than the commissioners and the public had reason to expect.
The state officials hoped that the commissioners would give their full backing to revive 8-year-old plans to extend the Suncoast Parkway II through Citrus County. Previous boards have been unanimous in their support of this project, and the expectation was that this board would follow suit.
The commissioners, however, gave the state only a yellow light, not a full green to go. They agreed to support moving ahead with the planning and design phase of the project on the condition that the state return within eight to 10 months with updated information about the economic feasibility, environmental impact and traffic projections for the parkway extension.
The commissioners took the correct step. While the board remains in favor of the project overall, there are serious questions that must be answered before construction is allowed to begin.
For starters, the state must address the key points raised by the parkway's opponents: Will the highway harm the Citrus County environment, particularly the county's karst base and the aquifer? Will the extension facilitate more development? And is the highway even needed?
Commissioners rightly noted Tuesday that they would not move ahead with a county road project without this sort of information, and they should hold the state to this same basic standard.
The state is relying on a 1998 study of these issues, information gathered long before the recent building boom that has brought tremendous environmental and social changes to Citrus County.
Also, there are legitimate questions about the projected use of the parkway extension: not just the expected numbers of drivers but how much, if any, the new highway will ease congestion on local roads.
Commissioners also had questions about the number of interchanges envisioned, three or five, and where they will be located.
The state officials promised to return in several months, when the design is 60 percent complete, with updated information. This raises more questions.
Who will be doing the update? If it is the state, or a consultant paid by the state, can residents and commissioners have any real confidence in the objectivity of the evaluation? Plus, at the point the update arrives, the design will be more than halfway complete. Pulling the plug then will open the board to charges that they wasted time and taxpayer money.
While it is unfortunate that the state did not have up-to-date information Tuesday, that can be explained in part by the detour the process has taken in recent years.
In 2001, the state changed gears when officials thought that they could snag federal dollars for the project. That led to a basic reinvention of the wheel as officials began looking at numerous alternative alignments and other factors required by the federal agencies.
In 2004, that study stopped as the federal funds disappeared. Now, because of several changes in state growth management laws, the officials think Florida can finance the estimated $879-million project. That means dusting off the 1998 studies and moving ahead.
The turnpike officials, however, should not have expected that the commissioners would back this controversial project without current data.
They also should not have cloaked their latest initiative in an unnecessary and unproductive veil of secrecy.
Weeks ago, the officials arranged to appear before the commissioners, but they steadfastly refused to provide any details to their supposed partners, the commissioners and the community, or to the media, about the purpose of their visit. Instead, they met individually with commissioners Monday and with the local editorial boards Tuesday morning, just hours before the commission meeting.
Considering that the state already tripped over itself on the subject of disclosure when residents successfully challenged the agency in court for closing public access to meetings, the officials should have gone out of their way to share their intentions with Citrus County to allow the residents and the decisionmakers ample time to digest the information.
If the state hopes to maintain the support of the commissioners, and to win over the substantial opposition among the public, it must be fully open and cooperative.
Much of what the officials presented Tuesday was not new. The preferred alignment for the extension tracks the Progress Energy transmission lines running north and west from the Citrus-Hernando county line to U.S. 19 at Red Level. The projected construction dates are far off, the earliest being 2013. The road would mirror the design of the parkway in Hernando County, including a paved bicycle and jogging trail.
The commissioners' views Tuesday also were not new. The highway project still enjoys the backing of the majority of the board, several of whom pointed out that a large segment of Citrus County wants the highway to come here. Even the lone opponent, Commissioner Joyce Valentino, said that if a referendum showed a majority of residents backed the extension, she would support it.
The state officials now must get busy and provide the commissioners and the residents current and irrefutable information on the parkway's feasibility and impact. They must also be ready to face community challenges as the project winds its way through the lengthy permitting process.
If this highway truly is as essential to regional transportation planning as the state officials and the highway's proponents maintain, it should be an easy sell to the commissioners and the community
Grant approval another step toward Project Old
By ANNE SPENCER
Jackson County Floridan
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Approval has come for another of the grants that must be in place
for the latest company interested in locating here to move forward
with its plans.
"It's another piece of the puzzle," said Bill Stanton Wednesday. But it's not time to celebrate yet, said the executive director of the Jackson County Development Council, which acts on behalf of the county and the City of Marianna in matters of economic development.
Other grants have yet to be awarded and a contract signed.
Governor Jeb Bush announced the awarding to Marianna of a Rural Infrastructure Fund Grant in the amount of $608,945, earmarked for improvements to roads, wastewater collection, water distribution and natural gas lines at the Jackson County Distribution Park.
The park is locally described as "the Marianna/Jackson County construction services park," being adjacent to the distribution park near the interchange of Interstate 10 and County Road 276.
The announcement from the governor also revealed the name of the company, Oldcastle Precast Inc., a leading manufacturer of pre-cast concrete products, a company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Until this press release, the company was known only as Project Old for reasons of confidentiality.
Oldcastle's tentative $11 million capital investment would bring 110 jobs within five years ? 14 to start and up to 50 by the third year ? with wages starting at about $10 an hour.
Its plans are to build first on a 20-acre site and later on another 20-acre adjacent site.
The city's estimated cost for providing what Oldcastle needs is $2.133 million. The city has also applied for other grants that will help pay for extension of the water, sewer and natural gas lines and the road in the industrial area.
Mayor John Roberts expressed appreciation for the grant announced this week.
"I want to thank the Governor and his Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development for assisting us with funding from the Rural Infrastructure Fund for the Oldcastle project here in Marianna. These funds will provide for important infrastructure improvements needed to attract businesses, like the Oldcastle, to our industrial park and to diversify our economy."
The other applications are for a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $700,000, also for utility lines; and an Economic Development Transportation Fund Grant, in the amount of $825,000, to extend Family Dollar Parkway.
Another grant, known as Qualified Target Industry, would go to Oldcastle if a contract is signed. Based on the number of jobs the company would create, it would be between the company and the state, and would give the company credit against its corporate income tax for a period of four years.
As Stanton does at each step of such endeavors, he advised Wednesday that the Rural Infrastructure award is just another step.
"It doesn't mean they're coming," he said. "It is not giving any finality to the project.
"A contract has to be signed by the city and the company and it will not take place unless we get all of the other grants necessary to make this happen.
"And until we get (this), we will not announce this as a done deal," he said.
Receipt of the other grants, however, does look promising. In a letter to the Marianna mayor, the director of the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, called it "an excellent project and one which will bring significant benefit to your community."
In the governor's announcement, Bush said the grant is "a good example of the worthwhile economic development projects annually funded by the state's Rural Infrastructure Fund."
Jackson County was named one of the state's "Rural Areas of Critical Economic Concern" shortly after Bush took office. The county and seven of its neighbors make up one of three such areas in the state.
St. Pete Times
Five signs of trouble bubble up at local level
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times
Columnist
Published September 24, 2006
Published September 24, 2006
When angry citizens show up
spontaneously at city halls and county courthouses across Florida to
demand lower taxes from stunned local elected officials, it's more
than a one-time, freak coincidence.
Nope. The series of mini
"Boston tea parties" we have seen over recent days in
Citrus, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Hernando counties, and in cities
from Dunedin to North Redington Beach to Tampa, represent something
deeper.
The simple reading is that
Floridians are just plain fed up.
But a deeper take is that
several pressures on Floridians are building toward a breaking point
at the same time. I would argue that there are at least five of
these:
(1) First and most obviously,
taxpayers have finally gotten wise to the way local taxes work.
Enough taxpayers now understand that Florida's soaring property
values mean higher property taxes, no matter what their local
officials claim.
Local politicians can keep
their tax rate the same, or even trim that rate a little, and still
rake in more money while pretending they "held the line"
on taxes. But more voters understand this than ever before. With a
new degree of sophistication, they are demanding tax rates be rolled
back.
(2) The heavy-handed division
of Floridians into two classes of taxpayers - homeowners vs.
nonhomeowners - is really starting to whack the nonhomeowners. They
are coming to understand on a large scale just how much they are
getting the short end of the stick.
We homeowners, under the Save
Our Homes amendment, are protected against our property's tax
assessment going up more than 3 percent a year. Let's agree that is
fine and dandy - but it leaves the owners of businesses or other
property entirely unprotected. When property values go up 20, 30
percent or more, so do their taxes. Their revolt is under way.
(3) Resentment over taxes
just can't be divorced from resentment over Florida's insurance
crisis, even if local officials don't think that's not their
problem. Taxpayers have only one wallet each, with a lot of
different hands reaching into it.
Each agency, whether city
hall, the school board or the county commission, exists (in its own
mind) in a separate universe. But to taxpayers, they are
collectively "the government," and what taxpayers see is a
government not fixing the insurance problem - then turning around
and jacking up their taxes.
(4) Florida's tax and
insurance crises are cresting at precisely the same time as a rising
voter revolt over local government power over growth. From St. Pete
Beach to Ormond Beach and many points in between, Florida voters are
fighting their own city halls to take more direct control. Too many
big-box stores and condos have been approved over the protests of
too many fed-up neighbors.
Looming over all of these
local battles is the coming statewide debate over the "Hometown
Democracy" movement, which seeks direct voter control of
long-term growth. This might become one of the biggest political
fights Florida has ever had.
(5) Last, and most ominously,
there are signs that the overall economy is slumping, which
threatens disaster for Florida government at both the state and
local level. Maybe it doesn't feel like it, but we've been living
through fat years, especially when it comes to tax collections in
Florida. If these have been the fat years, what will the lean ones
bring?
Of these five trends, only
two can be laid directly at the feet of Florida's local government:
their failure to reduce tax rates, and their generally friendly
policy toward development. But the taxpayers are not exactly in the
mood to say, "You know, City Hall, I am only 40 percent mad at
you."
One of three things will
happen.
First, Florida's next
governor and Legislature could provide leadership and address these
problems in a comprehensive way, asking probing questions about what
kind of tax structure Florida needs and who pays.
Second, Tallahassee could opt
for easy and popular fixes (expanding Save Our Homes, higher
homestead exemption) that don't address the underlying problems at
all, or even make them worse.
Third, we can just let each
crisis fester and break wide open, reacting to each willy-nilly and
piecemeal. In that case, for better or worse, Hometown Democracy and
drastic local tax caps will be a given for starters. As for what
kind of Florida we will have at the end of the decade - well, what
the heck.
Funny, but the reason local governments have been increasing the impacts fees and costs to build is because GROWTH/INCREASED DENSITY DOESN'T PAY FOR ITSELF IN THE LONG RUN. And developers keep strong-arming local governments with the chant that "growth is inevitable" and pushing their high-density developments because lower density is not cost effective . But now that the market has slowed, these developers are asking local governments to subsidize their profits! Unbelievable. and who do you think ultimately pays the price? Existing homeowners.
Builders can't rein in prices for homes
A report by an industry task force may urge the government to help with affordability issues.
Jerry W. JacksonSentinel Staff Writer
September 28, 2006
Major Florida home builders and developers are preparing a report that will call on government to share more of the expense of building lower-cost housing statewide.
The white paper by the Affordable Housing Task Force, created this year by the Association of Florida Community Developers, could serve as a blueprint for the debate that developers will engage in as pressure mounts to build more homes at prices below market averages.
"We're willing to be part of the solution. But government needs to be part of the solution," said Ted R. Brown, co-chairman of the task force and an influential development-industry lawyer with the Baker Hostetler law firm in Orlando.
Brown, in an interview Wednesday, said developers recognize that forces have converged to price entry-level housing out of reach for many working families in Florida. Soaring prices for land and building materials are key factors.
The Florida Association of Realtors reported this week that the median price of a used home, year-to-date through August, was $250,000, up 9 percent from a year earlier.
And a survey released Wednesday by Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate found that new homes of about 2,200 square feet sold in Orlando for an average price of $383,300 this summer. Homes that size in Miami sold for an average of $690,855; six Florida cities averaged more than $500,000.
Many of the forces pushing up housing prices, Brown said, are created by government in the form of impact fees, land-use restrictions, zoning densities and other rules. Yet cities and counties are increasingly calling on builders to include below-market-price units, or subsidized housing, in their projects without adequate compensation for lost profits, Brown said.
"We need help in bridging that gap" between the profits generated by market-based housing and those of less-expensive units, he said. One partial solution, he said, would be for cities and counties to allow more units per acre in the market-based portion of a development. The effect would be more profit per home, to offset the thin margins or outright losses on the remainder of the project.
Developers also would like to see the state set aside more money for affordable housing from the documentary-stamp fees that are generated when homes are sold, Brown said. Earlier this week, the Florida League of Cities said that its new Institute for Community Housing will hold seminars in Orlando, beginning next month, to help local governments find solutions to the affordability crisis.
The seminars will bring together local officials, developers and housing experts in eight, one-day sessions concluding on Aug. 15, 2007. The Florida League of Cities is the umbrella group for 411 cities, towns, villages and chartered counties in Florida.
"There's not a silver bullet out there," Housing Finance Corp. Executive Director Steve Auger said in announcing the seminars.
Brown, whose Affordable Housing Task Force represents builders and developers such as Centex Homes, Ginn Co., the St. Joe Co., Pulte Homes and KB Home, said the industry fears that governments will increasingly rely on "inclusionary zoning" and legal mandates that could create more problems than they solve.
A "market correction" is already under way, Brown noted, with record inventory of homes for sale and downward pressure building on prices. As time goes by, the gap between wage growth and housing price growth should narrow, he said.
"It's not good public policy to make long-term decisions based on short-term market situations," he said. The industry white paper is expected to be completed and released by early November.
State
of Clermont's lakes cause for concern
Officials
seeking to improve quality of water in Green Swamp, Clermont chain
Nicole
King
Staff
Writer
TAVARES
- The Lake County Water Authority is looking for ways to improve the
quality of the Clermont Chain of Lakes. Elevated levels of phosphorus
and algae blooms have been reported in the chain.
The Clermont Chain originates within the 560,000-acre Green Swamp.
Water quality and flow in the chain depends on water quality in the
Green Swamp. So far, the quality has kept the chain from being listed
as an impaired waterbody, but the northern reach of the Palatlakaha
River is listed for the levels and kinds of nutrients in its water.
A major drought in the state from 1998 to 2002 severely affected the
Green Swamp. Algae blooms have occurred in some of the smaller
connected lakes such as Lake Winona, and blooms were reported for the
first time in Lake Minnehaha and Lake Minneola.
"Not only did we have a drought, but we had lots of new
developments, lots of impervious surfaces," said the Water
Authority's Lance Lumbard. "The biological indicators suggest
that something's occurred. There's an increase in phosphorus and a
decrease in total lake conditions."
The Water Authority has been collecting phosphorus data from Lake
Minnehaha and Lake Minneola. Since 2000, data indicates that
phosphorus in those two lakes is double what it was 30 years ago.
Concerned citizens bring in samples from the lakes that are recorded
by Water Authority staff.
Chairman Larry Everly Sr. said he is reluctant to spend money to clean
up the lakes, considering the influx of housing developments being
approved in that area.
"I could see us spending millions of dollars to correct something
and they just OK something further down the road," he said.
The Board discussed ways to reduce the pollution in the chain at
Wednesday's meeting. Among the solutions mentioned were stormwater
retrofitting and sending letters to homeowners on lakefront property.
"I want to put some money in the budget for notifying shoreline
property owners, send them a letter," said Board member Nancy
Fullerton.
Fullerton also discussed the possibility of board members going to
city councils in the Clermont Chain area to talk with them about
potential solutions. The possibility of an ordinance prohibiting the
use of fertilizers close to shore lines was also mentioned.
Everly said he is curious as to what Lake County does with its
stormwater funds.
"The county collects half a million in stormwater fees. Do they
pass it back to the cities?" he asked.
Fullerton backed a suggestion to speak with the county about the
funds.
"I think we need to talk to the county. We really don't know
what's going on with their stormwater projects," she said.
Jackson County Commission meets
By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER
Jackson County Floridan
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Subdivisions, stores and a septic "land spread" for waste
disposal dominated the community development section of Tuesday
evening's Jackson County Commission meeting.
The board approved a commercial development order that will allow McCoy's Septic Tank Land Spread to be located on a tract of land just west of the intersection of Springs Cemetery Road and Poplar Springs Road.
It lies a few miles from Merritt's Mill Pond and is within the Jackson Blue Spring Basin.
Sludge waste that has already been treated to the point that it has reached a liquified state will be deposited on the site for its final treatment phase, according to a representative who spoke at the county meeting. The entire parcel of land is 15.4 acres, but the "land spread" will be limited to four acres and the remainder of the land will be left wooded, according to county staff who brought the matter to the board for review.
The parcel is in the Agriculture 2 zone.
In another commercial development order approved by the board Tuesday, CVS Pharmacy plans to build an 11,945 square-foot pharmacy with a drive-through. It will be located just east of the Beeline gas station on U.S. Highway 90 in Marianna, in an area commonly referred to as "the Y."
CVS currently has a pharmacy in the shopping center nearby.
The county board also approved two preliminary subdivision plats.
The largest project, called "Sky Valley Phase I" involves a 92.4-acre site off County Road 167 (Old U.S. Road). The subdivision includes 75 lots for home sites, varying in size from less than one acre to just over an acre.
The smallest would measure .67 acre, the largest 1.09 acres. The 92 acres is part of a larger overall site that encompasses 214 acres in total.
The county also granted a variance from a requirement that each lot have at least 100 feet of road frontage. Two of the lots will have less, one of them with just nine feet of frontage.
Predominantly surrounded by a dairy and other farmlands, the property was once part of Torbett Dairies and lies within the Agriculture 2 zone.
The board also approved preliminary plats for the Green Meadows subdivision. The 14.8-acre site is located less than a mile north of the Marianna city limits on Bump Nose Road. It is to include 28 lots, all of which measure less than an acre. Their sizes range from .28 to .8 acres.
As they did with the Sky Valley project, commissioners granted Green Meadows a variance relating to road frontage requirements. The variance was granted on 14 of the 28 lots.
It is surrounded predominantly by residential lands, and most of the property was formerly used for large-lot residential sites or farming. It is located in the residential zone, with 1.5 acres on the east side of the parcel located in the "special flood hazard area inundated by 100-year flood."
Is Construction Slowing?
By GARY PINNELLgpinnell@highlandstoday.com
SEBRING — At the Highlands County building permits office, a customer inquired about more than 100 sets of plans, stacked in boxes against a partition and under the counter. Builders are applying for permits before the end of 2006, when a $5,218 impact fee will be imposed.
But that, said home builder Mark Stewart, is a false reading.
“In January, it’s going to drop substantially,” he assured on Wednesday. Highlands County’s volatile building boom is over.
“It’s peaked. There’s no doubt about it. Six months ago, we had trouble finding all kinds of trades,” Stewart said. Tradesmen such as drywallers, plumbers and electricians were in short supply. “Now they’re calling me.”
The pace of commercial and residential construction, he thinks, has returned the same as it was two years ago. “It’s dropped back to a reasonable, normal pace.”
Highlands County officials have said 100,000 people already live here, and they expect another 50,000 to move here in the next two decades.
Debra Worley, a real estate agent and a Lake Placid councilwoman, believes that will still happen. She said her business hasn’t fallen off, and more than a dozen subdivisions are still planned.
“Everybody who told me they were coming are still coming,” she said. “Nothing has changed.”
The builders she works with are still buying lots, she said. But lots, not houses are the hardest hit portion of the real estate industry, she said.
Greg Spiro, vice president of National Recreational Properties Inc., plans to develop 3,700 lots for Sun ’N Lake of Sebring. The latest phase is unit 12.
“We’re moving ahead with that,” he said. But impact fees, he said, will contribute to a slowdown in construction.
“Implementing 25 percent is a real great improvement,” Spiro said. Commissioners decided on Sept. 5 to reduce impact fees to 25 percent of the original amount – more than $15,000 for a 1,500 to 2,499 square-foot home. The remaining 75 percent of the impact fees are to be phased in during the next few years.
Higher mortgage interest rates also contributed to the slowdown, and so are higher taxes and up to 80 percent hikes in insurance premiums for some homes.
NRPI plats the undeveloped lots, then brings in water, sewer and electricity. The lots are sold to builders or individuals who hire builders.
Spiro said demand for those lots “has been dramatically reduced. It could be as high as 50 percent. And it’s going to remain like that for a period of time. It’s definitely going to remain that way through the middle of next year.”
Spiro and Stewart said all those factors combined to drive speculators out of the real estate market in Florida and around the country.
“We’re coming off that incredible high, where the market was out of control,” Spiro said. “Speculators ... were a big portion of the buyers of lots.”
Both Spiro and Stewart don’t see the same immediate slowdown in commercial construction.
“Retail commercial follows residential,” Spiro said. “Office commercial, that’s not necessarily the case.”
“It’s not going to be as frantic as it was in the past year or two,” Stewart predicted. Builders won’t build as many “spec” houses, which are built on the speculation that a buyer will come along, he thinks.
“I don’t see the large projects slowing down,” said Stewart,
referring to as yet unrevealed plans to build restaurants, bookstores
and the like along U.S. Highway 27, between Lowe’s and Sun ’N
Lake.
City residents turn out in droves to give commissioners an earful
More than 200 people, the large majority opposed to Tallahassee's participation in a coal plant proposed for Taylor County, overfilled the city commission chambers Wednesday evening to give elected leaders a piece of their mind.
But by the end of the evening, one question remained unanswered: What was it all for?
Without a staff recommendation for commissioners to choose from, speakers at the hours-long public hearing on the city's 20-year energy plan were left to share their impressions about the plant, which is one of four options city staff have determined could meet the city's energy needs over the next 20 years.
"There's no recommendation," said attorney and coal-plant opponent Deb Swim, wondering how to fill out a form to speak in front of the commission. "So how do you gauge whether you're pro or con?"
Two other options include using power produced by coal; a fourth is an all-natural gas plan. City leaders last month committed to putting in place conservation measures and looking at renewable energy sources, such as solar power, regardless of which option is adopted.
A decision on which plan to adopt was set for Sept. 13, but has been delayed. Commissioners have yet to determine a new date.
Many of the residents who attended Wednesday's meeting were dressed in blue, the color of clean skies. They wore "Clean Energy First" stickers, waved fans reading "No fan of coal" and held posters and signs decrying coal plants' impact on health and the environment.
"I'm 14; I'm going to be here for a while," said Anna Annino, who came to the meeting with a poster of the city of Tallahassee logo spewing black fumes. "I really don't think it's the right choice for Tallahassee."
Others responded with concerns about rising electricity prices for residents and businesses.
Without endorsing the coal plant per se, Merrill Wimberley, the assistant superintendent for business services for Leon County schools, said energy costs should be at the top of commissioners' minds when they make their decision.
He pointed out that the schools' electricity bill for the fiscal year that ended June 30 had risen $1.2 million, to $6.4 million, over the past year. Taking growth into account, that amounts to a 19-percent increase in cost per square foot, he said.
"We support your efforts to diversify energy sources for electricity," Wimberley said. The recent increase "would pay the cost of 19 teachers."
The back and forth was reminiscent of the arguments made before last fall's referendum on the coal plant, when 60 percent of voters authorized the commissioners to consider participating in the plant, alongside three partners. And, like last year, emotions ran high.
Coal plant opponent Ed Deaton had a run-in with police and private guards when he tried to enter City Hall with 200 free copies of the Apalachee Tortoise, a local publication whose current issue contains an anti-coal article he wrote. Initially barred from bringing the newspapers inside because of a policy that bars vendors and solicitors, Deaton was finally allowed in with all his copies.
Development deal adds conservation land
by DAVID BAUERLEIN The center is bounded by Philips Highway, Interstate 95 and
Baymeadows Road. The development contains office parks, apartments and
a movie theater, but when its owner sought to expand by filling in
wetlands, environmental organizations and neighborhood groups fought
back by saying it would hurt the headwaters of Pottsburg and Julington
creeks.
In the new proposal, The Goodman Co., which is the developer, would
turn over 665 acres to the water management district. The district
would own 80 of those acres outright and control the rest of the land
through conservation easements.
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton said the city is talking with the
district about ways to create a park on some of the land at the
Freedom Commerce Centre site.
In exchange, the water management district would give Goodman 357
acres in northern St. Johns County.
The proposed land swap would let Goodman retain ownership of 69
acres, including 32 acres of wetlands that the company wants to fill
in for office buildings, shopping centers or apartments. In May, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to let Goodman fill in about that
much wetlands.
However, the corps' decision left open the possibility that Goodman
could come back later and seek permission to fill in another 80 acres
of wetlands. The proposed land swap with the water management district
would give the district ownership of those wetlands.
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said protecting the 80 acres
of wetlands from future development would be a victory for
"public pressure and community involvement." However, he
said The Goodman Co. still wants to build on wetlands that is
"not a small amount of habitat. That's why we're not willing to
sign off on this yet and say it's a good thing."
He said he also wants to study the environmental impact of Goodman
gaining ownership of the St. Johns County land, which is a small piece
of the 22,000-acre Twelve Mile Swamp Conservation Area. Most of the
conservation area is east of Interstate 95. The Goodman Co. would gain
ownership of land west of I-95. The highway makes it hard to manage
the land west of the highway for conservation, said David Graham,
chairman of the board for the water management district.
The district's board will consider the land swap at its Nov. 7
meeting.
david.bauerlein@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4581
The Times-Union
A big chunk of woods and wetlands on
Jacksonville's Southside would fall under the control of the St. Johns
River Water Management District in a proposal unveiled Wednesday for
the Freedom Commerce Centre.
Beach
'goo' finding disputed Some water quality experts are disagreeing with state environmental
officials' conclusions regarding a sticky substance in the shallow
waters and along the shoreline at Wakulla Beach in Wakulla County.
A Florida Department of Environmental Protection inspector earlier
this month determined that the material wasn't sewage. A DEP biologist
examined samples and determined that it was a microscopic algae called
diatoms, department spokeswoman Sally Cooey said.
Sean McGlynn, who was Leon County's lake testing contractor until
earlier this year, said the material seems like sewage but he can't be
sure without more testing.
He said the material contains few diatoms and is almost all organic
matter and fiber. He also said there were high bacteria levels in the
water consistent with sewage.
"I have never seen or smelled anything like that,"
McGlynn said. "It was absolutely awful."
"I would suspect something was dumped or spilled in that
area," he said. "If it was a bloom, it should be more
widespread coming from offshore. It also was odd for an algal bloom
(to be) in just one little inlet."
A research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission said she also concluded that there was not a
diatom bloom in the samples she examined.
Jennifer Wolny, a research scientist with at the commission's Fish
and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, said Wednesday she
didn't know the source of organic material.
"There were diatoms in the water but not at bloom
concentrations," she said. She also said she did not see high
concentrations of bacteria.
Cooey said a report from the DEP inspector has not been written.
She said a local Health Department official also made the
determination that it wasn't sewage.
"We were not the only agency that made that evaluation,"
she said.
A Wakulla County Health Department employee determined on Sept. 15
that there was no signs of dumping or sewage, said Padraic Juarez, the
department's environmental health director.
The department last week issued an advisory against swimming as a
precaution. Juarez said samples were collected Wednesday to determine
whether the area was safe for swimming.
McGlynn said he didn't know how so much of the material could have
been dumped at Wakulla Beach, which is at the end of a dirt road in
the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
Jack Rudloe, vice president of the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in
Panacea, said the state should launch a criminal investigation to
determine the source of the material.
"I am outraged DEP is calling this a diatom bloom,"
Rudloe said. "There is serious negligence going on here. I don't
know why it's being covered up. I don't know why it's being
ignored."
Cooey responded that DEP will return to the area to look for a
potential source of the material. She also said department officials
will contact Rudloe and McGlynn to learn about their analyses.
Go to Tallahassee.com to watch a video report on Wakulla Beach Protected spaces could be made official as
development goes on
Experts suspect sewage, not algae
Villages rules rewritten
By DALE WHITE
SARASOTA COUNTY -- Hoping to break a stalemate with a developer who
threatened to abandon its plans for a much-anticipated village, the
County Commission struck a compromise Wednesday.
The commissioners voted 3-2 to rewrite the rules about how and when at
least half of the land within a village must be set aside as preserved
open space.
The move is intended to rescue Sarasota 2050, a growth plan that
promotes villages of clustered housing and conserved land as an
alternative to large-lot subdivisions in selected rural areas.
The county invested more than $2 million in crafting Sarasota 2050 and
defending it in litigation.
"We've spent an awful lot of money and time on this,"
Commissioner Shannon Staub said. "I don't feel like today is the
day to do away with all of it."
Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, the developer of Lakewood Ranch, is working
on plans for what would be the first -- and possibly only -- village
to be built using Sarasota 2050's detailed regulations.
The 3,500-acre site south of University Parkway could have 5,500 homes
in a compact village surrounded and isolated by untouched land.
Developers accumulate rights to build homes in a village by
transferring development rights off land to be preserved in perpetuity
as open spaces and greenways.
Yet SMR balked at a requirement that all of that preserved land must
be surveyed and put into legally recorded conservation easements in
advance, before any construction begins.
"The status quo scenario is not going to work for us," Todd
Pokrywa, SMR's vice president of planning, told the commissioners.
SMR did not want to determine the precise boundaries of those
easements up-front, saying it needs flexibility to adjust locations of
roads, buildings and other features as it builds the village in
phases.
Commissioners Staub, Paul Mercier and David Mills decided that the
conservation easements could be recorded with each phase of the
development.
"What do we care as long as we get what we want out of 2050"
and "the final product" is the same, Mercier said.
Commissioners Nora Patterson and Jon Thaxton strongly disagreed.
"I think we're compromising too much," Thaxton said.
"This is a big directional change."
"I don't support it either," Patterson said. "I support
the original concept."
Sarasota 2050 entitles developers to much higher densities than they
would get if they build the ranchette suburbs allowed with rural
zoning. The trade-off is that the county gets that up-front guarantee
that at least half of the land stays forever undeveloped.
Thaxton and Patterson expressed concerns about what could happen if a
developer decides to abandon an unfinished village and asks to develop
the rest of the land as a rural suburb.
Under 2050, as originally written, the county would still have all of
the conserved lands it sought to protect from any development.
Michael Furen, an attorney for SMR and other developers, said that a
switch in plans would not be a simple undertaking. The developer will
have to go through the lengthy process of getting a new master plan
approved by state and regional authorities.
The revised regulations would require that developers provide more
detail in their village development orders about what land they intend
to put into conservation easements later, but not the exact legal
descriptions of the boundaries.
With each phase of the development, the developer would record a
conservation easement at the courthouse. That means the developer
would acquire the right to build homes in phases, instead of in
advance.
Anne McClung, the county's planning manager, said the revisions won't
be ready for the commission any time soon. "There's a lot to work
through with these regulations."
That means the makeup of the commission will be significantly
different by the time it sees the updated rules.
Mills will be replaced in late November by Commissioner-elect Joe
Barbetta, who voted against Sarasota 2050 as a planning commissioner.
Barbetta, who attended the meeting, said his vote against 2050
occurred more than four years ago. Even then, a village proposed for a
site several miles east of Lakewood Ranch was what most bothered him.
"If anyone can do it right, Lakewood Ranch can," Barbetta
said. "I don't think the issues are insurmountable."
_____
Staff writer Doug Sword contributed to this report.
Minneola
again waits to vote on Ladd annexation
Roxanne
Brown
Staff
Writer
MINNEOLA
- Minneola's possible acquisition of the Ladd property has again been
tabled.
A first reading of an ordinance to annex and rezone the tract was not
even heard, as discussion of The Hills of Minneola dominated Tuesday's
meeting.
This was the council's second try at a first reading for the 153-acre
annexation, a move that could pave the way to annexing the Lowndes
property - land owned by the Lake County School Board that the Lake
County Commission has refused to zone for a school.
"It's time to decide, yes or no, and move on," Mayor Dave
Yeager said previously. "This is to get us where we want to be
with the school site, so just let us decide, so we can know where we
stand."
The rezoning would change the property's designation from county
planned unit development to single-family, medium-density residential.
When finished, the development could add as many as 500 homes to the
city.
If the Ladd property is annexed, that will make the Lowndes property
contiguous to city limits. The School Board bought the 115-acre
property from the Lowndes Trust in 2004, intending to build a high
school and middle school there. However, the Lake County Commission
rejected a request to rezone the Lowndes tract, saying the local
infrastructure, particularly the road network, was insufficient to
support the schools.
A judge rejected the School Board's request to reverse the County
Commission's decision, and the board is considering reapplying for the
rezoning after newly elected commissioners take office in November.
However, if Minneola annexes the Ladd site, the School Board could
then ask to have the Lowndes property annexed as well, taking the
issue out of the county's hands.
Attorney Steve Richey, who represents developer Dale Ladd, said the
applicant originally intended to take his development plans to the
county. However, he said, Minneola residents and the School Board
suggested the annexation.
Richey said the developer is ready for Minneola to decide on the
annexation, but if the vote is no, the zoning request will go back to
the county.
Commissioner Sue Cordova said she had spoken to Ladd and Richey about
tabling the ordinance until the Oct. 10 because of time constraints.
But the reason for those time constraints, the continually debated
Hills of Minneola proposal, has been postponed to Oct. 10. Therefore,
the Ladd request will come back before the council on Oct. 24.
"I don't think we should have tabled them yet again for a later
time just so we could hear another developer in place of them. I don't
think that's fair to the Ladd development," said Cordova.
Earl said he felt it was best to not have both ordinances on the same
agenda since both discussions are expected to be lengthy.
The lock was changed a few days ago following the resignations of the mayor and two council members. It was the third lock change this year as one official after another resigned from their posts in the little town of 750 on the banks of the Withlacoochee River.
"This has been a very, very complex situation," said Dawn Marie Clary, one of the three people elected during a recent special election. "The good news is that we are still a town, we've got a functioning council and - as of the 31st of October - when we have our next election we will be a full council again."
Yankeetown's problems are the result of intense disagreements among residents over a riverfront development proposal. Izaak Walton Investors wants to develop a marina and vacation housing along the river and has filed a suit to try to force the town to consider its plans.
Arguments over the pros and cons of such a development have fractured longtime friendships and left some family members not speaking to each other. The town's longtime clerk, a deputy clerk, town attorney, mayor and five council seats have all been vacated by resignations at some point this year.
As a result of the resignations, the town council was left without the required quorum to conduct business over the summer. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a special panel to oversee the town's basic operations for about two months until a special election could be held at the end of August to fill three vacant council seats.
The man selected to head up the special panel appointed to run the town temporarily was former Levy County administrator George Lambka. In his final report to Bush in mid-September, Lambka wrote: "If the new council members concentrate on the organization and management of day to day operations of the government . . . and communicate their intentions to the citizens in open forum there is every opportunity for the government to succeed."
The election put three people on the council who are opposed to making zoning changes to accommodate the proposed development - Clary, Douglas Dame and Larry Feldhusen.
Earlier this month, the two holdover council members - Glenn Spetz and Dan Bowman - who had favored negotiating with the developers, turned in their resignations. Almost all of those who have resigned this year have cited the political atmosphere and increasingly personal attacks among their reasons for leaving office. In Mayor Joanne Johannesson's letter of resignation to Bush, she predicted the town's political situation would "spiral once again into the divisive chaos that has consumed" Yankeetown.
She also urged Bush to revoke the town's charter and leave the community under the control of the Levy County Commission.
Late Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the governor said Bush would not dissolve the charter and that the governor believed the advisory board had made good progress that the town can build on.
Meanwhile, the three remaining council members will be working on other problems, like finding a zoning official and preparing for the next town council election on Oct. 31 to fill the vacant seats.
"I think the town is going to be just fine now," Clary said.
Karen Voyles can be reached at 486-5058 or voylesk@gvillesun.com
Heaven knows, Geoffrey Hill was braced for controversy.
Professor Hill had witnessed the outburst last year, after Cornell University ornithologists proffered evidence that the supposedly extinct Lord God Bird, aka the Ivory-billed woodpecker, was surviving in the woods of east Arkansas.
And, Lord God, a mighty ruckus shook the birding community.
Ivory-billed believers and ivory-billed skeptics went at each other like fighting cocks.
Bird blogs roiled with charges of lying and deception and fraud -- nasty accusations that jolted the image of folks given to long hours of quiet, contemplative observation.
''I knew it would be controversial,'' Hill said Wednesday, the day after Avian Conservation and Ecology published his evidence that the Lord God Bird, last spotted in Florida in 1924, was alive and nesting in the North Florida woods along the Choctawhatchee River.
POWERFUL DEVELOPERS
Indeed, all hell broke out. Except it was the nature of the controversy that took the Auburn University professor of biological sciences by surprise. The feathers he ruffled weren't just birders.
Hill and his woodpecker commandos had fouled the nest of builders and developers and the mighty St. Joe Co., the state's largest landowner with 1.1 million acres and an outfit not ready to relinquish the title of Lord God to some loony bird.
His journal publication came just 11 days after the Federal Aviation Administration had approved a 4,000-acre airport -- 700 acres bigger than Miami International -- too close for comfort to the Choctawhatchee.
NEW AIRPORT PLANNED
The sudden appearance of the Ivory-billed woodpecker looked like a commie tree-hugger conspiracy to politicians who were having a tough time already defending the notion of spending $300 million to replace the Panama City-Bay County Airport, 30 miles away.
Critics were complaining that the Panama City airport has seen a dwindling number of passengers over the last five years. That it was down to just a dozen commercial flights a day. That the new airport would devour 2,000 acres of wetlands and lead to the development of thousands more surrounding acres for new homes and shopping centers.
The airport boosters already were fending off charges that the real rationale for the new airport was to serve the interests of the St. Joe Co., with 70,000 acres, thereabouts. Then Hill tossed an endangered, back-from-extinction, federally protected miracle bird into the debate.
''And now I'm being accused of using the Ivory bill to stop the airport,'' Hill said Wednesday. ''Honest to God, I had no knowledge of this. Until yesterday, I was living in an academic world. I read bird journals. I was just a biologist obsessed with finding evidence that this bird still existed.'' Hill and his team said they had come across signs of the Ivory bill along the sleepy Choctawhatchee last year.
BRINK OF EXTINCTION
One of his bird experts said he made a sighting. They recorded its distinctive ''double-knock'' as it pecked away. One of the largest species of woodpeckers in the world -- if it still exists -- the big bird had been hunted into oblivion for plumes early in the 1900s while timber companies wiped out its cypress habitats.
Its range, which once extended from South Florida to Texas, steadily receded until the last known sighting (at least until the Arkansas find last year) was in Louisiana in 1944.
The professor said Wednesday the controversy that erupted over the Arkansas report caused him to keep it quiet until this week.
After consulting with the beleaguered ornithologists at Cornell, determined to avoid their mistakes, he led other expeditions to the Choctawhatchee and collected more information before going public.
''I knew I was stepping in a hornets nest,'' Hill said. But the biologist had no idea just which species of hornet would be going berserk.
New program encourages woodpecker habitat upkeepThe Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE - A state program that started Wednesday will allow property owners with endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers on their land to take steps to improve the habitat in exchange for guarantees they won't face future restrictions if the population increases.Under the federal Endangered Species Act, landowners are essentially responsible for the well-being of endangered animals on their land.
That is, if a landowner has four red-cockaded woodpeckers on the property, they can't cut down trees or take other actions that would reduce the habitat to the point where it wouldn't support at least that number of birds.
And if the number of woodpeckers increases, the property owner is generally responsible for maintaining the property to keep the higher number of birds viable.
Under a voluntary "safe harbor" program begun Wednesday, property owners who improve the habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers - such as by thinning younger trees to keep alive older ones that woodpeckers nest in - wouldn't be punished with additional restrictions if the bird population increases.
That means that if a property owner with five pairs of red-cockaded woodpeckers on his land agrees to improve the habitat and it results in more birds nesting there, the property owner is only responsible for maintaining enough habitat to ensure the survival of the original population of birds, wildlife officials said., said Dan Sullivan, the endangered species for coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The commission signed an agreement with the federal government Wednesday starting the "safe harbor" program, which exists in several other southeastern states.
About a quarter of all the red-cockaded woodpeckers in the nation live in Florida, where the population is estimated at about 1,100 nesting pairs. They mostly nest in old-growth pines. Wildlife officials said about 97 percent of the bird's habitat has disappeared in the last century, because of logging and development.
The Red Hills area around Tallahassee has the nation's largest population.
Before safe harbor programs, wildlife officials said many landowners didn't want to grow new stands of trees, because they feared that if they attracted endangered species they'd be subject to new legal restrictions
Hotels told to cut
lights for turtles or face fines
BY JEFF SCHWEERS
FLORIDA TODAY
Phil Minke and his family were at a wedding reception at the Hilton Melbourne Beach Oceanfront early Sunday morning when they saw dozens of baby sea turtles scurrying around the parking lot.
They went back inside and told the people at the front desk to turn off the lights because they were luring sea turtles to their deaths.
He was told hotel workers could not find the breaker box for the lights. About 45 minutes passed before the hotel turned the lights off, he said.
"They were very indifferent about it," Minke said.
Frustrated, Minke said he took matters into his own hands. He got a bucket, and even though he knew it was illegal, scooped up about 30 of the hatchlings.
"My kids and wife and I loaded up the little turtles in the bucket and put them back in the water," Minke said. He wasn't cited for his illegal rescue work.
The Hilton may not get off so easily. The hotel faces up to $1,000 a day in county fines potentially for each day it doesn't fix the lighting problem.
"It's the worst I've seen since I've been doing this, and I've been doing it six years," said Mark Herold, the code enforcement officer who issued the violation notice.
The Hilton isn't the only offender.
The county is working with the Crowne Plaza and DoubleTree hotels on the same stretch of unincorporated beach just north of Indialantic.
And the county has had at least five other cases involving property owners charged with violating its turtle lighting ordinance.
Anthony Lazzara, general manager for the Hilton and DoubleTree hotels, said he'll work with the county.
These are the first citations for both hotels since they reopened after extensive remodeling to repair damage from the 2004 hurricanes.
Putting shields around lights and other changes could cost thousands of dollars, he said, and won't guarantee compliance.
"Hotels can be difficult because we can't control the guest rooms," he said. "We put notices in the rooms to pull the drapes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. We can't enforce the rules in the privacy of the room, but we can ask our guests to comply."
Herold agreed.
"It's definitely going to be a major project for them," Herold said.
Lighting is the largest factor leading to hatchling mortality in North America, said Gary Appelson, policy coordinator for the Caribbean Conservation Corp.
Central Florida's Atlantic Coast, and specifically Brevard County, hosts the highest densities of nesting sea turtles in Florida, according to county Natural Resources.
The ordinance, which is in effect from May 1 through Oct. 31, prohibits interior and exterior lights from shining on beaches at night when sea turtles are at their busiest nesting and hatching.
Freshly hatched turtles crawl toward the brightest light they see, usually the ocean. When they follow artificial lighting, they usually are run over by vehicles on State Road A1A, are eaten by predators or die of exhaustion.
Jennifer Bogdan of the Sea Turtle Preservation Society documented about 60 of the hatchlings in the Hilton parking lot. Most were loggerheads, she reported.
She spotted four parking lot lights that were not shielded or angled away from the beach.
"You can see all the parking lights, the interior lights from rooms, the wall lights on the exterior of the building," Herold said. "The whole beach is completely illuminated."
Minke said he was just glad he could do something to help save the turtles. And his children, ages 14 and 11, were excited they could participate in the rescue.
Contact Schweers at 242-3642 or jschweers@flatoday.net.
Minneola wants more from Hills
The city postpones a vote on the mammoth development to seek more developer concessions.
Robert SargentSentinel Staff Writer
September 28, 2006
MINNEOLA -- City leaders spent months negotiating their future with the Hills of Minneola megadevelopment.
They required better roads and more school space to accommodate the mammoth project's nearly 4,000 proposed homes and 3 million square feet of offices and commercial and industrial buildings.
They wanted more than $7 million in contributions aside from municipal taxes and fees to help cover impacts on public facilities, police and fire protection, and parks. They wanted a new interchange on Florida's Turnpike and even land for a multipurpose sports complex.
At a meeting Tuesday night that attracted dozens of concerned residents and public figures, Minneola finally was set to decide whether to annex and rezone 3 square miles of land for the project.
But after more than three hours of discussion, City Council members mostly agreed on one thing: They want a little more.
The historic vote was delayed until Oct. 10 to allow landowner Family Dynamics Land Co. LLC -- formerly known as the Gregg Family Land Co. -- to alter its plans and come back with a new offer to the city.
"I think there's too many things up in the air right now," council member Sue Cordova said. "We can get more."
The decision capped a fiery council meeting. At one point, some residents asked Mayor David Yeager to step down -- over an unrelated issue about whether he improperly requested a law-enforcement search of fellow council member Shane Perreault for wearing a gun holster to meetings.
Yeager did not respond to much of the criticism and pressed ahead with the Hills discussion.
Among his concerns, he said he wants 111 acres on the south part of the community devoted to schools. Preliminary plans now include more than 80 acres at two other proposed school sites.
Yeager said the idea is to coordinate new schools for the Hills as well as the nearby Black West project proposed for up to 1,300 homes in Clermont.
Cordova and Yeager also want a small parcel on the northeast part of the 1,800-acre development. That land possibly could be used for Minneola facilities, or it could be turned over to the Friends of Ferndale, a group of residents working to protect a rural area east of the Hills.
Council members also discussed increasing the minimum size of homes and lots. And they wanted more assurance that the turnpike interchange could be ready during the first phase of development.
Many residents urged the city to turn down the Hills project or to more strictly control how it is developed -- a reaction to Lake County's rampant growth.
Slow-growth County Commission candidates Egor Emery and Linda Stewart cautioned Minneola about adding to Lake's growth problems.
"If cities start taking over for what the county has done to us over the years, the citizens are going to lose," Stewart said.
Emery argued that even with a new turnpike interchange, more lanes may be needed for the thoroughfare to handle traffic from the future growth: "It's just another example of sprawl and crawl."
Another concern is the effect the Hills could have on other cities in south Lake. Montverde City Council member Robert Tomlinson asked Minneola to keep development off the eastern ridge of the project site.
Others argued for Minneola to take its time to make the right decision.
"The sky is not falling if you say no tonight," council candidate Randy Moye said Tuesday. "They will come back."
If approved, the Hills would be the largest single development in Minneola's history. It would double the city's current population, but supporters say it also would bring needed jobs and commercial development to the mostly residential city.
The unrelated debate over Perreault's gun holster started at a meeting last month when council member Joe Teri questioned whether Perreault also had a gun. City officials, including Yeager, briefly discussed it during a meeting break, and a Lake sheriff's lieutenant later asked Perreault to show him the holster.
Perreault has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but -- in accordance with state law -- he said he does not bring his gun into City Hall.
Yeager said he asked Perreault not to wear the holster to meetings. Perreault would not comply and has been checked periodically in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, Minneola resident Sharon White said Yeager violated the city charter by directing the lieutenant to conduct the search instead of asking the city manager to handle the situation.
Other residents also commented about Yeager. One resident attacked Perreault for the holster debate, and former council member Debbie Veit called Tuesday's discussion "dirty politics."
Robert Sargent can be reached at rsargent@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5909.
Hills
of Minneola project tabled again
Roxanne
Brown
Staff
Writer
MINNEOLA
- More than 120 people showed up at Tuesday's city meeting to see if
Minneola would annex land where a massive development is planned -
only to learn they would have to wait a while longer.
A presentation by Hills of Minneola developer Family Dynamics Land Co.
was followed by hours of discussion, but eventually, the council voted
once again to table the ordinance that would bring the land into the
city and zone it for a multi-use development.
Council members plan to listen to the developer's proposal again at
the final reading, now scheduled for Oct. 10.
"It will give the developer a chance to make the project a better
development for the community," said Councilwoman Sue Cordova,
who has voiced opposition to the project as planned. "But I don't
think they (developer) will come back with the changes I would want to
see in order to approve it."
Before the decision was made to table the ordinance, Cordova made a
motion to go ahead and approve the annexation and rezoning request -
with certain stipulations including building preschools, a stadium and
police and fire station, and having the interchange with Florida's
Turnpike built and opened before the first home is ever built.
According to Mayor Dave Yeager, the commercial aspect of the Hills of
Minneola and the proposed interchange with Florida's Turnpike are both
great benefits for the city. He said people would be able to get off
the Turnpike at an exit right next to Minneola, instead of having to
get off in west Orange County at Oakland.
"It can be a whole new horizon for Minneola. It's huge,"
said Mayor Dave Yeager previously.
Yeager said the annexation would also mean an automatic annexation for
land where another large development, Sugar Loaf Mountain, is
proposed. That move, he said, could bring millions of dollars in
construction into the city.
Vice Mayor Ed Earl said he would have much rather seen a decision made
on the project instead of another delay, since so many people had come
out to speak on the issue.
"I thought we could have completed it. I don't like tabling
issues, although some members on the council, I think, like doing that
in hopes that the citizens will go away and not attend the next time
it comes up."
At least 30 people spoke on the issue during the public comment
period.
Earl said he feels that the project would be a huge benefit to the
city - the businesses and turnpike interchange far outweighing the
number of homes.
Earl said he just wants something in the contract to ensure the
developers do all they say they are going to do and when.
"We need insurances, as a city, that things are done if the
developers say they are going to be done," said Earl. "For
instance, the turnpike is a huge monetary undertaking, but nobody is
showing me the money."
"The developer listens to our concerns, but they don't do
anything," said Cordova. "I want to see them listen and then
do something about it."
The council has responded warmly to the commercial part of the plan,
but Cordova and others worry that building housing before the shops
come in will stress the area's infrastructure and schools.
Developers' representatives contend that the high-end restaurants and
retail they envision in the town center will not commit until the
first stage of the residential portion is complete.
"I want to see actual black and white timelines when some of
these projects will be completed," Cordova said. "I also
want to see where there are conversations and communications between
the developer and the (Lake County) School Board. I haven't seen
any."
Attorney for the developer has responded that the plan includes two
internal school sites and financial assistance for affected high
schools.
John Percy of community planning firm Glatting Jackson said that when
completed, the Hills of Minneola would bring in about 3,791 homes and
approximately 9,311 residents.
But for every worker in the development, he said, a job would be
available. Percy estimates the commercial part of Hills of Minneola
will bring 5,250 permanent jobs, or 1.01 jobs per expected workforce
resident in the Hills.
The council has discussed annexing and rezoning of the property
several times, but has not yet made any official decision. In June,
council members sent Lennar Homes' original proposal to the Department
of Community Affairs for review, but Family Dynamics has since taken
over the project.
Some council members are eager to make a decision and get it over
with.
"We're going to go through this whole five-hour meeting all over
again at the next meeting with the Hills of Minneola," said Earl.
Appraisers make push
for tax caps
Measure would
allow homeowners to transfer savings
BY WAYNE T. PRICE
FLORIDA TODAY
Supporters of a measure that would allow homeowners to take certain property-tax breaks with them when they move from one property to another urged Brevard County Realtors to strongly back the plan, particularly now that the home-selling market is softening.
The proposal -- likely to be on the state ballot in November 2008 -- would prevent many homeowners from getting socked with significantly higher tax bills, the result of increased assessments during the recent heyday of the real estate market.
"That's the theory behind portability," Brevard County Deputy Property Appraiser Lance Larsen said. "People are locked in when they want to downsize. They can't move because they can't afford a huge increase in taxes."
Larsen and two other Brevard officials on Wednesday addressed about 200 people, many of them involved in the real estate industry, about concerns with county taxes and their effect on the real estate industry.
Under state law, taxable value increases on primary residences are capped at 3 percent a year, regardless of higher assessed values.
Under the so-called portability proposal, people who sell their houses and buy another house in Florida would, in effect, be able to transfer property-tax savings attributed to the cap to their new property.
Many issues arose at Wednesday's meeting, but Larsen's big push was to warm the crowd to the portability issue.
Although it's two years away from getting on the ballot, Larsen's boss, Brevard County Property Appraiser Jim Ford, and two other property appraisers in Florida recently began a campaign for portability protection.
The current 3 percent cap has saved homeowners billions of dollars since 1992, when Florida voters made it part of the state Constitution.
The proposal set forth by Ken Wilkinson, the Lee County property appraiser who heads Save Our Homes Portability Inc., allows homeowners to take with them the same percentage saved by the 3 percent savings under the Save Our Homes cap.
"It would be a boon to the industry," Wilkinson said, in discussing why Realtors should support the measure.
However, Brevard County Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis, who also addressed the group on Wednesday, said he was against the measure.
The market eventually will even out the higher assessment issue on its own, he said.
And whatever revenues don't come in to county coffers because of a program will be raised in some other form, such as an assessment or a tax, he predicted.
"Somebody is going to pay," Ellis said.
Palm Bay homeowner Shirley Landry said she doesn't have much sympathy for someone who knowingly buys a pricey home and complains about the taxes.
A homeowner who is downsizing is another question.
"I'd have to study that one," she said. "I'd want them to be fair about it, and make it equal."
Gene Collins, president of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors, who moderated Wednesday's meeting, said his organization backs the idea of Save Our Homes Portability, although some of the specifics need to be ironed out.
"People are worried about the increase in taxes, and portability is part of the puzzle," Collins said.
Contact Price at 242-3658 or wprice@flatoday.net.
Landowners lose bid for street
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff WriterAfter rejecting a request to delay the action, county commissioners deny the proposed street vacation.
Published September 28, 2006
The County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday evening to deny a request to vacate a little-used street in Old Homosassa called West Seminole Place.
In the final analysis, what mattered most to commissioners was public access to the Homosassa River and preserving the area's fishing village ambiance.
Most proposed street vacations don't attract much attention, much less a two-hour debate at an already busy County Commission meeting. But this request struck a chord among Homosassa residents who fear unchecked growth.
The unanimous vote also muffled some political criticism that has been leveled against commission Chairman Gary Bartell. He angered many Homosassa residents this year by supporting redevelopment plans at the Homosassa Riverside Resort; those same people considered this street vacation to be another unwarranted step in the development process along the Homosassa waterfront.
Gerald and Patricia Roth sought the street vacation so they could add a 25-foot-wide strip of land to their riverfront property and provide more space to develop their site.
Their attorney, Larry Haag, said a county-operated culvert was directing water onto the Roths' property, making part of it unusable.
He pointed out that the other half of Seminole Place was vacated and given to the adjacent property owner about 20 years ago.
Traditionally, once a road is vacated, half is given to each adjacent owner. But in this case, only half of Seminole was vacated.
Haag produced paperwork questioning whether the road actually ended at the river or before it. He also pointed out that an overflowing septic system from the adjacent property owner, Homosassa Seafood, was built on the county road and the Roth property.
Fuel and propane tanks in the road make it impossible for the public to get down to the river without trespassing on the Roths' land, he said. So, for practical purposes, Seminole Place isn't a road that residents can use.
Resident Randy Hall told commissioners the notion that Seminole leads to a parklike setting where people could watch mullet jump and birds fly was false. He said that piece of land attracts homeless people, "potheads and drunks."
Others argued it would be only fair to give the Roths the other half of the street, since the fish house had gotten its half years earlier.
Haag, who was only recently hired by the Roths, had asked the commission for a continuance until December.
The commission denied the request, which pleased people who opposed the street vacation. They argued that the Roths had months to argue their case and had already been through the application process and a hearing before the Planning and Development Review Board, which recommended approval of the street vacation.
Critics also said that a delay, which would push the matter back until after the November election, would be politically convenient for Bartell.
But it turns out the critics won Bartell's vote, as well as the votes of the four other commissioners.
County staff had recommended denial of the street vacation, citing several county regulations. They included rules in the Comprehensive Plan and the Old Homosassa Area Redevelopment Plan, also known as the Homosassa overlay.
Those rules prohibit street vacations in which abutting land owners will have a diminished access to their property, or that diminish public access, or that don't advance the "health, safety and welfare of the public."
Attorney Dennis DeLoach, a part-time resident of the area, argued that, "If it's important to have river access, then the county should look at buying additional property."
Opponents to the street vacation brought to the commission petitions with 900 signatures opposing the move.
Alton Pierce, owner of Homosassa Seafood, said that vacation of the street would "cost jobs all over Florida." Access to his business would be cut off if the street were given to the Roths.
"Citrus County needs this industry," he said, noting that the county had previously allowed the Roths to expand their site through other street vacations.
"The county has been generous enough to Mr. Roth," Pierce said.
Area residents talked about the jobs the fish house provided. Others took issue with the characterization of some of the workers at the business.
"Call them strays. Call them what you want," said Billy Huggins. "They're people."
Others said the fish house was part of the character of the community, while still others spoke about using the road to access the river to watch the boat parade or sunset or to exercise their dogs.
Attorney Clark Stillwell, who represents Homosassa Seafood, pointed out that all the code violations and structures in the roadway and other issues could be worked out through some other county process.
Commissioner Vicki Phillips said the very intent of the old Homosassa overlay district rules approved last year by the county was to "preserve and protect the heritage of that old fishing village.'
"The Roths had the best of intentions here," said Commissioner Jim Fowler. But, he said, just because they needed more land for a viable building lot and there was a county culvert on the site, "that doesn't justify giving away public property."
Commissioner Dennis Damato likened the issue to what happened years ago in Crystal River on NW Third Street, which is now a completed part of the city's downtown redevelopment area.
He said he would not favor giving away public access to the Homosassa River, either.
"Give the Homosassa redevelopment process a chance," he said.
Supermajority vote raises questions
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — It is not known whether a draft ordinance requiring a supermajority vote on comprehensive plan amendments would be retroactive to include the controversial Hickory Hill development in Spring Lake.
County attorney Garth Coller said Wednesday county commissioners have not yet given him direction on the language.
“It’s a call for the board to make,” Coller said.
County Commissioner Diane Rowden preferred not to comment on the matter until she talked with the legal office.
But Jeff Stabins, who introduced the supermajority idea to the board Tuesday, said it would be “absolute foolishness” to make the ordinance retroactive.
“I think it would be stupid to do anything retroactively because we would be opening us up to litigation,” he said.
The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to direct staff to draft an ordinance that would require supermajority votes on all comprehensive plan amendments. A public hearing is set for Oct. 17 to formally adopt that ordinance.
“We believe that a supermajority legally does not apply to Hickory Hill because we’ve been in the process (of obtaining an amendment) for a year and a half,” said Sebring Sierra, vice president of operations for Sierra Properties LLC of Tampa, the developer of Hickory Hill.
“There’s a thing called due process,” Sierra said. “We’ve relied on a procedure (and) we expect in fairness for the rules not to be changed in the eighth inning.”
County commissioners in June approved a comprehensive plan amendment for Hickory Hill only for the purposes of transmitting it to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for review.
But commissioners have not yet adopted that amendment. That discussion will take place Jan. 17 during a public hearing.
The DCA recently finished their review and determined that it had serious concerns about amending the county’s comprehensive plan to allow the developer of Hickory Hill to build 1,750 homes in Spring Lake.
Rowden said the DCA confirmed what she thought all along — that a subdivision of that magnitude would negatively affect the area and believes the project should be killed now, before the comprehensive plan amendment discussion goes any farther.
County staffers will outline the county board’s options to the DCA report at an Oct. 3 county commission meeting.
Amending the comprehensive plan is such a serious matter that it should require a supermajority vote, said Stabins.
But Commissioners Nancy Robinson and Tom Hogan Sr., who voted against the ordinance, believe it skews the voting process.
“I think it would be a dangerous thing to go to a supermajority on a five-man board,” Hogan said.
A supermajority on the Hernando County commission would be 80 percent. That means two votes, or 40 percent, would have veto power, he said.
Normally, supermajority votes are most effective on larger governmental boards where such votes require a 60 percent, or 6 out of 10 votes, he added.
“Our simple majority is three votes and that is 60 percent,” Hogan said. “In some areas, that would be a supermajority.”
Robinson said a supermajority vote “goes against the democratic principles.”
“It’s minority governance and I don’t support it,” she said Wednesday.
Stabins said he will continue to push through the ordinance despite opposition from his colleagues.
“We have a difference of opinion on the board and that’s why we’re all elected individually,” he said.
reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290.
DOT will buy 4,000 acres from St. Joe
By JENNIFER LIBERTO, Times Staff WriterLegislators agree to let transportation officials spend $46-million to eventually build roads in North Florida.
Published September 27, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - A panel of lawmakers nodded approval Tuesday allowing the state transportation agency to buy 4,000 acres from St. Joe Co. for $46-million.
During a meeting to allow agencies to make midyear changes to their budgets, lawmakers approved the purchase of 47 parcels in nine North Florida counties. The land would go to build roads in the Panhandle for some projects already under way as well as some that are merely a twinkle in the agency's eye.
Gov. Jeb Bush applauded the land deal earlier this week, calling it an innovative way "to lock down as best (as) possible corridors for future expansion of the state."
The deal, about six years in the making, is raising eyebrows because the land hasn't been appraised yet and the company has long ties to Bush.
The appraisal is slated for Saturday, said Florida Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Lowell Clary.
"Why is it so critical to have it today instead of waiting after Nov. 8 and let it be fully vetted out in the legislative process?" Rep. Ron Greenstein of Coconut Creek said at the meeting.
"We do not know how long (the deal) will be on the table," Clary said.
The deal does come at a convenient time for St. Joe, Florida's largest private landowner, which has been dealing with the souring real estate market. The Jacksonville company's earnings and stock prices have not been rosy, and the company laid off about 150 employees, it reported in August.
St. Joe spokesman Jerry Ray wrote in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times that the company has been working with the transportation agency to put together this project "piecemeal" for years.
"St. Joe has one clear objective. It is not the sale itself," Ray wrote. "St. Joe's objective is accelerate improved transportation infrastructure for Northwest Florida."
On Friday, St. Joe chief strategy officer Chris Corr wrote a letter to the DOT saying the company is committed to investing at least $50-million into transportation infrastructure in areas close to St. Joe's property. This would also benefit the northwest Florida public, he wrote.
Both the state and the company have said that the reason to buy now is to lock in cheaper prices for the state, assuming that real estate prices will increase as development continues.
State auditors have criticized the state for paying too much for land in the past
Parkway closer to extending into Citrus County
By JIM ROSS, BARBABR BEHRENDT and CATHERINE E. SHOICHETIf commission support for the parkway continues, the 27-mile project would move into the fast lane..
Published September 27, 2006
A possible Citrus County extension of the Suncoast Parkway got a shot in the arm Tuesday from the County Commission.
In a 4-1 vote, the commission cleared the way for turnpike officials to update a study that the state completed in 1998 but then shelved.
The state will present its updated findings - including information about environmental concerns, projected traffic counts and funding - in several months.
Then will come another County Commission vote. If the project gets support at that point, the 27-mile, $879-million project would move into the fast lane, with construction scheduled to begin as soon as 2013.
Commissioners Gary Bartell, Dennis Damato, Jim Fowler and Vicki Phillips voted to move ahead. Joyce Valentino dissented.
The parkway now ends at U.S. 98 at the Citrus-Hernando border. For years the state has studied a possible Citrus extension that would end at U.S. 19 north of Crystal River. The route would roughly follow the path of the Progress Energy transmission lines.
Delays have bogged down the process. First, funding was a problem. Then two Citrus landowners successfully sued under Florida's open meetings law.
Now that the legal questions are settled and the state has freed up dollars, turnpike officials came to Inverness seeking the County Commission's nod. The state won't build the extension without a majority of commissioners supporting the move.
Technically, the state asked the commission whether it wanted take the route of state funding and oversight or federal.
Turnpike officials said the federal path was essentially a dead end, since Tallahassee already has said it won't direct any of its dwindling federal highway dollars to a Citrus extension, and since the federal study requirements are no different from the state's.
By supporting the state path, turnpike officials said, the commission in essence would signal support for construction.
Christopher L. Warren, deputy executive director of the turnpike authority, said all projects must be economically feasible and environmentally sensitive, and enjoy local support as expressed by the County Commission.
Phillips and Bartell said they didn't mind moving ahead some, but they weren't prepared to give full support. They want to see what the revision of the 1998 study looks like.
The commission meeting room at the Citrus County Courthouse was full of people waving signs and wearing antiparkway shirts and buttons. About 20 of them spoke.
Phillips said that although many speakers opposed the parkway extension, many others in the community favor the project. The community has been waiting for a decision.
"There are plenty of people who support the parkway," said Damato, who didn't agree that the road would bring unwanted growth to the county. "The growth is already here."
Valentino said she has not been convinced of the need for the extension, and that she has worried about the growth it would bring to Citrus.
Just because the parkway ends at the Citrus border doesn't mean an extension should be built, Valentino said. The crowd applauded when she suggested a countywide referendum.
Some antiparkway speakers said they felt blindsided by Tuesday's presentation and argued that the state was deceptive.
Leading the charge were Jim and Teddi Bierly, the Sugarmill Woods couple who have long opposed the possible parkway extension.
They said the project's funding was not the issue.
"It doesn't matter whether it's state or federal, if they gave it (the parkway extension) to us, we don't want it," Teddi Bierly said.
They said officials had not done enough to justify construction of the road, and they argued that commissioners should vote against it.
"The Suncoast Parkway decision will be the single most important decision made in the history of this area," Jim Bierly said.
Brad Bates of Brooksville said he sees the sprawl created by the Suncoast Parkway in his community.
Bates said he wasn't surprised that toll road officials couldn't yet answer some of the basic questions about traffic counts and environmental impact.
"The deception and the half-truths have been associated with this whole project," he said. "This agency, I think they've been trying to deceive the public from the beginning.
Janet Masaoy, chairwoman of Citizens Opposed to the Suncoast Tollway, or COST, said the commission shouldn't express its sentiment until after the state's formal study has been revised and concluded.
"It seems to me that a vote today is premature," Masaoy said.
Local resident and commentator Jim McIntosh was more blunt: "Let this road die the death it deserves today," he told commissioners.
After the commission's vote, Masaoy said her group would remain stalwart in its efforts.
"I'm not surprised, but I'm not pleased and I can't understand how four people could have voted that way," she said. "We have no intention of stopping our activities. Nothing has changed."
Toll road project given a new lifeBy Terry Witt
The state’s toll road agency Tuesday
scrapped its project study of Suncoast Parkway II and won Citrus
County Commission approval to replace it with a similar 8-year-old
study that had been completed and never used.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to support the Florida
Turnpike Enterprise’s request to swap studies, but insisted FTE
return with an updated assessment of revenue, traffic projections and
environmental impacts before they give final approval.
Christopher L. Warren, deputy executive
director and chief operating officer of FTE, said he would return with
the requested information in eight to 10 months when the design of the
toll road was 60 percent complete. But he needed the board support
Tuesday or the road project was probably dead.
The state agency is proposing to begin constructing the four-lane,
27-mile-long toll road in 2013. Warren said the cost of the project
has risen to $879 million based on projected construction prices seven
years from now.
Commissioner Joyce Valentino cast the lone vote in opposition, saying
she was not convinced the toll road was needed in Citrus County and
was concerned about the growth the road could bring to the county as
well as potential environmental impacts.
“I think this thing has gone on long enough,” Valentino said.
“Maybe we need a referendum. If the citizens say they want the
parkway, I’ll support it.”
But Valentino was alone in her objections.
Commission Chairman Gary Bartell said he was wary of accepting the
8-year-old study without first having information about the project
updated. He wanted to see new revenue and traffic projections and a
more detailed look at how the project would impact the ecology and
communities.
“If we give you support and you come back and say you’re going
straight through Crystal Oaks,” Bartell said. “That’s not
acceptable.”
If it were built, Suncoast Parkway II would be the final leg of an
80-mile toll road extending from the Veterans Expressway in Tampa to
U.S. 19 in northern Citrus County. Suncoast II would begin where
Suncoast Parkway I ends in northern Hernando County and would extend
to Red Level north of Crystal River.
The 8-year-old study has an approved route for the road, which made it
attractive to FTE. The road would skim the western boundary of
Sugarmill Woods in southern Citrus County and run parallel to the
power lines as it goes north past Crystal Oaks and hooks back to skirt
the edge of Pine Ridge.
Warren said the state began the first project study for Suncoast
Parkway II in 1994 and completed it in 1998, but he said it was
shelved when the state learned there might be federal tax dollars
available to fund road construction. The study had not been done to
federal standards.
He said the state began the second study in 2001 with the hope of
making the project eligible for Federal Highway Administration
dollars, but the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study
had to be stopped when two Citrus County residents filed a lawsuit
accusing a parkway advisory group of violating the Sunshine Law.
The lawsuit filed by Teddi Bierly and Robert Roscow concluded in May
of this year, but left FTE officials with a difficult decision,
according to Warren. He said the state could have continued with the
PD&E study, spending $3 million to $5 million more to extend the
study for three to five years. The second option was to dust the
cobwebs off the completed study and use state tax dollars instead of
federal funds to pay for the project.
He said the competition for federal highway dollars among Florida’s
seven transportation districts is fierce, and he said FTE already has
been told it would not receive federal dollars for Suncoast Parkway
II. He said the combination of competition with larger districts,
which have greater needs, and dwindling federal funds, prompted FTE to
switch to the older study.
“It makes no sense to go back through the federal process if we know
we don’t want to get federal dollars,” Warren said in a meeting
with the Chronicle Editorial Board before the county commission
meeting.
Warren said he anticipates a shortfall of toll revenue to pay for the
project. He said most toll road projects take 34 years before they
break even. He said FTE’s central office would make up the
shortfall.
He doesn’t expect the rising cost of the project to be a problem. He
said a bill to increase the borrowing limits of FTE was passed by the
Florida Legislature this year, but vetoed by the government. He said
someone attached an unpopular piece of legislation to the bill, making
it a target for a veto. But he believes the legislation will be passed
in a future session.
Warren told the Chronicle Editorial Board that FTE would be prepared
to begin purchasing right-of-way for the road as soon as commissioners
approved using the old study. He said the agency has $154 million set
aside in the next few years for property purchases.
Opponents: Parkway would
be mistake
By Terry
Witt
Opponents of Suncoast Parkway II filled the
county commission chambers Tuesday, some dressed in “No Build”
T-shirts. They railed against the toll road project and hoped the
board would kill the project.
But the commission backed the state instead.
When the Florida Turnpike Enterprise
announced it had dusted the cobwebs off a project study that was
shelved in 1998 and were looking for a commission endorsement to
proceed with the study, the board agreed to support the use of the old
study.
But commissioners said they want updated information about revenue and
traffic projections and a current evaluation of environmental and
community impacts.
Opponents were frustrated by the decision.
“How ridiculous. How completely ridiculous to endorse a 1998 study
when it’s 2006,” said Sugarmill Woods resident Teddi Bierly after
the meeting.
Bierly said the 1998 study is outdated, and she said public opposition
to the 27-mile-long roll road has increased in the eight years since
the study was completed. She said people are looking for peace and
quiet, not a high-speed road.
She said the planned route for the toll road would slice through an
ecologically diverse section of the Brooksville Ridge, a wilderness
gem. She said the state should preserve rather than destroy this
unique area of the county.
Bierly is no stranger to the toll road. She and Robert Roscow
successfully sued the Florida Turnpike Enterprise to stop the
closed-door meetings of a parkway advisory group. The lawsuit stalled
the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study for two
years.
She said she would not be surprised if someone mounted a legal
challenge to FTE’s use of the 8-year-old study.
Many of the opponents at the meeting were part of the toll road
opposition group COST, or Citizens Opposed to State Tollway. They were
wearing the “No Build” T-shirts.
Brad Bates of Brooksville said he has to live every day with the urban
sprawl caused by Suncoast Parkway I in Hernando County.
“It doesn’t solve your traffic problems. It makes it worse,” he
said.
He added, “It doesn’t surprise me … the deception and
half-truths associated with this project.”
Carol Vogt of Beverly Hills suggested commissioners look at the
northern half of Suncoast Parkway I in Hernando County, which she
travels all the time, because it has little traffic.
“Once you get to State Road 50, the traffic is gone,” she said.
“There is not enough traffic on this road.”
Kathy Chetoka said the state should continue its federally sanctioned
PD&E study rather than switching the old study.
“We need to let the feds overlook this group,” she said. “I
don’t trust them.”
Theodora C. Rusnak of the Nature Coast Sierra Club said the parkway
route should be maintained for the wild animals. She said she received
a call last week that a Florida panther was seen crossing Citrus
County Road 480 near Sugarmill Woods.
Dorothy Mitchell of Lecanto said she and her husband moved to Citrus
County eight years ago and have noticed the county is changing fast,
and for the worse.
“If this road goes through, I’m afraid we’re going to have to
change our name from the Nature Coast to the Cement Coast,” she
said.
Homosassa resident Jim Bitter, who sat on the Suncoast Parkway II
Advisory Group (SPAG), said it was obvious early on as the group tried
to work with FTE, “that this was an exercise in obfuscation.” He
said no decisions were made in an open forum. He said the group
eventually disbanded.
“You should look at the deception by the perpetrators, by this
out-of-control agency,” he said.
Requests
a sign of the times in growing Bushnell
Bill
Koch
Staff
Writer
BUSHNELL
- Bushnell City Council members are expected to vote Monday on one of
the city's largest annexation requests.
The council will decide on four requests, the largest a 160-acre plot
along the west side of Interstate 75. The property, owned by Dorothy
Ramsey, is also the only request set for final hearing. The other
requests - two small residential lots and one business - will be
considered during the first of two regularly scheduled hearings.
Ramsey's application does not indicate how the land would be used.
"It's vacant property now," said Susan Noell, the city's
Information Systems and Customer Affairs director. "It has the
potential for industrial."
The zoning request on most of the land is for industrial use, which
would allow for construction of car shops, warehouses, light
manufacturing or other similar businesses.
The request for the smallest section of land on the southern portion
near County Road 48 is for commercial use, which would allow for more
retail-oriented businesses. The land is zoned for agricultural and
commercial use.
City Clerk Joy Coleman said developers are increasingly finding
Bushnell an attractive location because of the city's municipal
services, which include sewer, water and electricity. The city
completed its $6 million sewer system in 2002 and has hooked the
system into 133 homes and 159 businesses.
Ramsey was unavailable Tuesday to comment on her plans for the land.
"Even at the time of application, we don't know what people are
going to do with it," said City Clerk Joy Coleman.
The site is near a Sonny's Barbecue, a Microtel motel and a Speedway.
It is vacant except for the remnants of an old pole barn that had been
used for a flea market in the past.
"It is evident visually the city is growing," Noell said.
Noell said the city might consider laying water and sewer lines after
learning how the land would be used.
"There are water lines in the area," she said. .
County
switches gears on subdivision
Wolf
Branch gets nod 10 months after being turned down
Joshua
Davidovich
Staff
Writer
TAVARES
- Lake County Commission reversed course Tuesday and voted to allow a
25-unit development in Mount Plymouth-Sorrento over the protests of
neighbors.
The site plan submitted Tuesday for Wolf Branch Oaks had few changes
from one brought before the county commissioners on Nov. 22, 2005. At
that meeting, the commissioners unanimously refused the development by
denying the rezoning request from agriculture to residential, and told
the applicants to come back with a planned unit development that could
be more fully hashed out.
The proposed development sits on 25 acres, with 25 half-acre lots.
Developer Tony Roberts is hoping to fill the subdivision with high-end
homes at a minimum of 3,000 square feet each, leaving eight acres of
open space - including a central, four-acre park and two retention
ponds - to make up 32 percent of the property.
The earlier plan had less park space with larger buffers and water
retention areas covering 33 percent of the area, but the same size and
number of lots.
Residents in neighboring The Park at Wolf Branch Oaks are concerned
that the new development will have less open space and not fit in with
the neighborhood, a worry echoed by the commissioners at the Nov. 22
meeting.
"The Park has 50 percent open space," Park resident Mike
Jeffes said. "We're looking for consistency."
The Park was designed by conservation planning advocate Randall Arendt
to emphasize open common space and the preservation of large oak trees
that dot the subdivison. It is the only such development in the area.
Neighbors were hoping the new development would either decrease the
amount of lots or their size to 1⁄3 acre. Roberts, however was
opposed to that idea.
"If you've got a 3,000-square-foot house and you put in a pool,
that doesn't leave much room for a backyard," he said.
Before work beings on the property, though, litigation concerning
access to the property, which is owned by Wiley and Ann Davis, must be
resolved. The Davises have an 18-foot wide road running into their
property, but claim they were granted an easement through The Park
when it was built in 1998.
Residents of The Park contest that claim and say the increased traffic
will be detrimental to their community.
"The easement shows up on the plat," said land attorney
Steve Richey, who is representing Johnson. "Someone in a black
robe will decide what is correct."
The development will also have to meet school concurrency standards.
Estimates show that the 10 students created by the homes will add to
Round Lake Elementary's already overcrowded classrooms. Richey said he
would work with the school board for some sort of mitigation to allow
the development to go through.
Commission Chairwoman Catherine Hanson said she believed that, even
though the new site plan didn't add any open space, it would still fit
in with the rest of the community.
"I think it will be compatible," she said.
A rare bird flies into land debate
By CRAIG PITTMAN, Times Staff WriterA woodpecker thought to be extinct is reported near a proposed airport. Coincidence?
Published September 27, 2006
The news last year that researchers had rediscovered the rare ivory billed woodpecker in the swamps of Arkansas set off a storm of controversy.
On Tuesday, researchers led by an Auburn University professor said they have found the elusive ivory bill, too - this time in the swamps along the Choctawhatchee River in the Florida Panhandle.
And once again the news of a possible sighting of the bird believed to be extinct since the 1940s has touched off a flurry of controversy.
The wilderness where the Auburn team says it found the birds - at least a pair and possibly three -is near the site of a proposed $300-million airport to be built on 4,000 acres donated by the St. Joe Co., the state's largest private landowner. St. Joe hopes to develop the 70,000 acres of forest and swamp around the site. The Federal Aviation Administration approved the airport last week.
Auburn University professor Geoffrey Hill said bloggers already have accused his research team of announcing the discovery just to try to block the airport, which has been opposed by a majority of local voters and by environmental groups.
"Honest to God, I didn't even hear about this airport until today," Hill said. "I'm a scientist, not a politician."
Hill said researchers saw the birds and have sound recordings, but no pictures. They say they first spotted it by accident in May 2005.
Hill and two research assistants, Tyler Hicks and Brian Rolek, were paddling kayaks along the Choctawhatchee when suddenly Rolek saw a flash of wings and blurted out, "What was THAT?"
Hill asked Rolek to describe the bird he had seen. As he heard it, Hill was not happy. People who claim to have spotted an ivory bill are sometimes regarded as kooks or frauds.
"I knew it could lead to trouble," Hill said. Still, he said, "you have a duty to follow forward and do something about it."
The news that the ivory bill might make its home near the airport site electrified the project's opponents.
"We certainly need to do everything we can to make sure its habitat is secure," said Melanie Shepherdson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Until there is better proof, though, federal officials will take no action regarding the airport or anything else.
"Somebody will say this is a great way to stop an airport, but at this point it's difficult to speculate" what effect a confirmed discovery might have, said Tom McKenzie of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
St. Joe spokesman Jerry Ray expressed doubt that the discovery would affect the airport, because the site "is clear-cut land or young planted pine plantations, habitat that is not suitable for ivory-billed woodpeckers," he wrote in an e-mail. He did not address the surrounding 70,000 acres.
Known as the Holy Grail of dedicated birders, the ivory bill is one of the largest species of woodpecker in the world. It once ranged across the Southeast. Sometimes called the Lord God Bird, the ivory bill was known for the two-note boom of its bill as it ripped into tree bark in search of edible grubs and beetle larvae.
Prized by American Indians who believed that its chisel-sized bill possessed magical powers, the bird was hunted in the late 1800s for its feathers, popular on ladies hats. Meanwhile logging felled thousands of acres of forest, wiping out most of the old-growth trees where ivory bills like to nest.
Florida was the bird's North American stronghold because of the state's warm climate and swampy terrain. But the last confirmed sighting in the state occurred near Orlando in 1924.
The last conclusive sighting in the United States was in 1944 in Louisiana. Frequent reports that the bird had been spotted again were usually dismissed because a common relative, the pileated woodpecker, resembles it. The ivory bill is larger, about 20 inches tall with a wingspan of almost a yard and dramatic plumage of red, black and white.
Last year, though, Cornell University researchers announced they had video of an ivory bill flying through Arkansas' Big Woods area. But skeptics have questioned the blurry video, and Cornell researchers plan to return to Arkansas to get better evidence.
In Florida, Hill led a small team back into the Choctawhatchee's swamps searching for proof. The Auburn group, which included a Canadian expert on bird recordings, searched the Choctawhatchee basin off and on through May of this year.
The broad, shallow river, which flows 170 miles from Alabama to Choctawhatchee Bay, is known as one of the best in Florida for canoeing because so much of the land along its banks is still wilderness. The state owns about 60,000 acres of it, and that's where the searchers concentrated their efforts, north of a one-diner town named Bruce.
"We moved through the area daily in kayaks and by foot, looking and listening for ivory billed woodpeckers," they wrote this week in the magazine Avian Conservation and Ecology. Rolek camped in the swamp for days on end, Hill said, subsisting on little but spaghetti and hope.
Because there were usually no more than two researchers at a time wading through the swamp, they were unable to stake out 100 or so potential nesting sites, Hill said.
With better funding from Auburn, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the nearby Nokuse Plantation research center, Hill intends to bring a larger group back this fall and try again for photos or something even more definite.
"It's not a phantom," Hill said. "It's a vertebrate animal that lives in the forest. There are eggs, feathers, poop - DNA."
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
Riviera Beach residents sue to prevent property takeover
By ASSOCIATED PRESSPublished September 27, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH - Four property owners sued the city of Riviera Beach on Tuesday to stop the government from razing their properties for a $2.4-billion waterfront redevelopment project, which they say blatantly violates Florida eminent domain laws.
The Institute for Justice, which argued against redevelopment in a Connecticut city in a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year, filed the 48-page lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Hundreds of residents could be displaced if the project goes through.
The Supreme Court decision allowed the city of New London, Conn., to take private property for economic development that would result in higher tax proceeds. The decision led 30 states, including Florida, to revise their laws in an attempt to prevent takings for economic development.
However, Riviera Beach Mayor Michael D. Brown said redevelopment is crucial to resurrect "a city that is strife with unemployment, strife with crime, strife with all the evils and misfortunes of urban communities across this country."
Princess Wells, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, disagreed.
"Does better mean when you have more money you're better than me when I don't have as much money?" said Wells, who built her house with her husband 20 years ago and is waiting to make hurricane repairs. "You go home every day and you don't know whether you are going to be able to keep your house."
Brown said the city's development agreement with Viking Inlet Harbor Properties was already in place before the Florida law was passed. The city unsuccessfully lobbied for exemptions during this year's legislative session.
A day before Gov. Jeb Bush signed the law in May, Brown called a special meeting so the city and the developer could sign an agreement that included the use of eminent domain powers. Two residents sued the city, arguing that the contract should be nullified because the meeting violated laws requiring advance notice for public meetings.
Super majority rules... for now
By MICHAEL D. BATESmbates@hernandotoday.com
In what many will perceive as a crippling blow to the proposed Hickory Hill development, county commissioners Tuesday voted 3-2 to have staff develop an ordinance that would require super majority votes on all comprehensive plan amendments.
A public hearing is set for Oct. 17 to formally adopt that ordinance.
Hickory Hill would be a 1,750-home subdivision with three golf courses in Spring Lake. But before developer Sierra Properties LLC of Tampa can build, it needs a comprehensive plan amendment to change the land use in that rural area.
Sebring Sierra, the company’s vice president of operations, drove here from Tampa Tuesday to urge commissioners to keep the current voting system, which requires a three-fifths vote for approvals. A super majority vote would require a four-fifths vote, allowing the minority to rule the day, Sierra told the board.
That one extra vote could mean the difference for larger development projects such as Hickory Hill.
For example, had the super majority rule been in effect in June, there’s a good chance the Hickory Hill project may have been stalled indefinitely because commissioners voted 3-2 to send the controversial case off to the state Department of Community Affairs for review.
In a letter to the county commission, John White, Sierra’s general counsel, said enacting the ordinance would “demonstrate a lack of faith in the democratic system that empowers elected officials to govern based on the simple majority.”
In a super majority vote, “the minority will be empowered contrary to the wishes of the voting public,” White wrote.
But County Commissioner Diane Rowden said developers or companies have nothing to fear by a super majority vote if the project they are pitching is a quality one for the county.
“If the project is right, what does it matter?” she asked.
County Commissioner Jeff Stabins, who broached the subject, said commissioners already require a super majority vote on gas tax issues and certain solicitation of bids. So there is precedent, he said.
“We all know that the comprehensive plan is a very important document,” he said. “Changing it should be harder than any other single rezoning case.”
County Commissioner Chris Kingsley said he sees nothing wrong by creating the new ordinance.
“It’s just changing the process,” he said. “It’s not changing the comprehensive plan.”
Kingsley said it’s more representative for four people to agree than three.
“We do know how easily it is for three people to be influenced,” he said.
County Commissioner Tom Hogan Sr. cautioned tampering with the comprehensive plan.
“It can be an unwieldy thing that can come back to haunt you,” said Hogan, who voted against the proposed ordinance along with Commissioner Nancy Robinson.
Robinson said a super majority vote would essentially lead to minority rule, something she can’t condone.
“I just philosophically cannot abide by that,” she said. “I have to stay with majority rule and that’s a 3-2 vote.”
Understandably, opponents of Hickory Hill rallied behind the proposed new ordinance.
Pam Ward, a member of Hernando Alliance for Open Land Conservation, a grass roots organization opposed to the project, said super majority votes would be more representative of the entire citizenry.
But Brooksville Realtor Gary Schraut saw this as a way of stifling growth in Hernando County which will ultimately have a negative effect on taxpayers. Developers pay their proportionate share for road and other infrastructure improvements.
“Everyone thinks smart growth is stopping growth,” he said.
The county should spend more time trying to get development right, rather than trying to derail it, he said.
Ana Trinque, chairwoman of the Hernando County Republican Party, said super majority votes are fine for larger governmental bodies.
But for a five-member board such as Hernando County, it would skew votes in favor of minority opinion, she said.
“The minority will control the majority,” Trinque said, “I don’t think it’s fair to the voters.”
Changing the comprehensive plan rarely occurs. Out of 20 amendments filed in the past six years, only 10 were adopted, according to county concurrency coordinator Paul Wieczorek.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290
Builders Back Rule-Changing Amendment
Published: Sep 27, 2006
Developers are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of a ballot measure that would make it more difficult for residents to amend the Florida Constitution.
Amendment 3, which the Legislature placed on the Nov. 7 ballot, would change the requirements for passing citizen initiatives from a simple majority vote to a 60 percent plurality.
A wide array of business groups is supporting the amendment, but the National Homebuilders Association has given $300,000 - more than any other group - to a political action committee campaigning for the measure. The committee has raised $1.8 million.
Homebuilders and other development groups especially are interested in using the amendment to defeat an upcoming initiative that could slow growth across the state.
The Florida Hometown Democracy amendment, which could be on the 2008 ballot, would require a vote of the people anytime a county proposes changing its comprehensive growth plan. Currently, comp plan amendments may be passed by a simple majority of a county commission or city council. Hillsborough County passes dozens of comp plan amendments every year to accommodate development.
Lance deHaven-Smith, an author and political scientist at Florida State University, said there has never been an amendment on the ballot that has the potential to fundamentally change government's approach to growth and development like Hometown Democracy.
"I think Hometown Democracy looms very large in the minds of the business leaders in the state and certainly the developers," deHaven-Smith said.
If Amendment 3 passes, the Hometown Democracy amendment would need 60 percent of the vote for approval, rather than a simple majority. Of the 18 citizen initiatives passed since 1992, 10 passed with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Land-Use Revolt
The push to limit initiatives coincides with a growing number of citizen revolts across the state over land-use issues. Whether it's limiting building heights and density in St. Pete Beach or containing sprawl in Sarasota County, residents increasingly are trying to wrest land-use decision-making from local officials.
"We're not antigrowth, but we want sensible growth," said Bill Earl, a spokesman for Sarasota Citizens for Sensible Growth. "We don't want to see the county paved over, which is where it's headed."
The Sarasota group is collecting signatures to get two charter amendments on the ballot. One would require a supermajority vote of the five-member county commission to increase density for a development. The other amendment would require a referendum to move the county's urban service boundary.
In St. Pete Beach, residents opposed land-use changes that would have allowed 20-story buildings on the beach. The group collected enough signatures to have a referendum on the changes, but the city sued to stop the election. After losing in circuit court, the residents' attorney, Ken Weiss, appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal and won. The judge ruled that the residents "are entitled to express their views on how their City Commission should handle land-use problems."
"I feel really strongly that people should have some control over what their city looks like, and it should be citizen-determined, not developer-determined," Weiss said. "That's what Florida Hometown Democracy will do. It will give people the right to approve a comp plan."
Getting On Ballot Isn't Certain
Hometown Democracy is not a sure bet to make the ballot. It failed its first review by the Florida Supreme Court in March 2005 because of "emotional rhetoric" in the ballot summary. The court approved a rewritten amendment in June.
The movement depends on volunteers, however, and has little money to hire professional petition signature collectors. The group had collected 60,000 signatures before being rejected by the Supreme Court. The reversal forced the group to start collecting signatures again.
Movement co-founder Lesley Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer, conceded getting the necessary 611,000 signatures before February 2008 will be tough.
Yet the scattered local battles over land-use decisions indicate the general public may be in an antigrowth mood. Whether it's long commutes, crowded schools or a deteriorating environment, many residents are looking for answers and are sick of the status quo.
"City and county commissions are not supposed to approve land-use changes unless they determine that the change will improve a community, or at least not harm it," Blackner said. "But unfortunately, the land-use power has been hijacked by commissioners who believe keeping the growth machine happy is their only job."
Edie Ousley, spokeswoman for the Florida Home Builders Association, said the group is concerned about Hometown Democracy. She said the amendment would force voters to consider a long list of comp plan changes that they might not understand. Voters could be swayed by organized campaigns financed by special interest groups.
"In some cases you will have higher socioeconomic residents who will vigorously oppose certain uses, like a garbage site, that will have a deflationary effect on their homes," Ousley said. "They will be able to pawn that off on a lower socioeconomic area that lacks the ability to campaign against it."
Lawyer's Argument
Tampa land-use lawyer Ron Weaver has urged the business community to vote for Amendment 3 to stop the Hometown Democracy amendment. Weaver said there are about 8,700 comp plan amendments statewide each year. Last year, there were 1,200 in Palm Beach County alone.
"That's a lot of plan amendments to be subjecting your citizenry to when they are dealing with a lot of other issues on the ballot," Weaver said. "It would seem like you would want to entrust that to your county staff, which has the time and training."
Weaver said the state's sizzling population growth has forced counties to redraw comp plans. Escalating land and materials prices, along with the pressure for affordable housing, have forced higher-density development. Residential areas once planned for two or three houses per acre are being rezoned for density twice that.
The development community is worried about the Hometown Democracy amendment because of the chaos it would cause at the ballot box, said Jim Krog, a longtime business lobbyist in Tallahassee.
Florida's growth-related problems - high taxes, rising housing costs and sprawl - defy simple solutions such as Hometown Democracy, Krog said. Land-use decisions that some residents oppose, such as increased densities or expanding urban service areas, are driven by the need for affordable housing and a desire to keep property tax valuations low, he said.
"We've almost gotten ourselves into a Catch-22," Krog said. "Every time you wrinkle it, you wrinkle it another way. There are no simple answers to this."
Researchers Melanie Coon and Buddy Jaudon contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero
FINANCIAL BACKERS
Top contributors to Protect Our Constitution, a committee formed to support passage of Amendment 3, which would require 60 percent plurality to pass citizen initiatives:
•National Home Builders Association: $300,000
•Foundation for Preserving Florida's Future (pro-business group): $250,000.
•A. Duda and Sons (agri-business): $100,000
•Alico Inc. (agri-business): $100,000
•Blue Cross and Blue Shield: $100,000
•Florida Association of Realtors: $100,000
•Publix Supermarkets: $100,000
•The Bonita Bay Group (developers): $75,000
•U.S. Sugar Corp.: $75,000
BALLOT LANGUAGE
No. 3
Constitutional amendment
Article XI, Section 5
Ballot Title:
Requiring broader public support for constitutional amendments or revisions
Ballot Summary:
Proposes an amendment to Section 5 of Article XI of the State Constitution to require that any proposed amendment to or revision of the State Constitution, whether proposed by the Legislature, by initiative, or by any other method, must be approved by at least 60 percent of the voters of the state voting on the measure, rather than by a simple majority. This proposed amendment would not change the current requirement that a proposed constitutional amendment imposing a new state tax or fee be approved by at least 2/3 of the voters of the state voting in the election in which such an amendment is considered.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
Some of the state constitutional amendments passed through citizen initiative with percentage of favorable vote:
1992: Limited terms of elected offices, 76.7 percent
1992: Homestead valuation limit, 53.6 percent
1994: Marine fish net ban, 71.7 percent
1996: Everglades Trust Fund, 57.2 percent
2000: High speed rail, 52.6 percent
2002: Indoor smoking ban, 71 percent
2002: Universal pre-kindergarten education, 59.2 percent
2002: Class-size reduction, 52.4 percent
2002: Limiting cruelty to pigs, 54.7 percent
2002: Statewide governing board for universities, 60.5 percent
2004: Minimum wage, 71.2 percent
2004: Repeal of high-speed rail amendment, 63.7 percent
2004: Patients' right to know about adverse medical incidents, 81.1 percent
2004: Public protection from repeated medical malpractice, 71 percent.
@tampatrib.com.
Builder uses millions to keep peace
By CHUIN-WEI YAPLennar Corp. offers to compensate Heritage Springs residents with $1.45-million after the developer decided not to expand the community's golf course.
Published September 27, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - Home builder Lennar Corp. is offering $1.45-million to compensate the Heritage Springs community after the developer backed out of an earlier commitment to expand the golf course, residents said.
The developer and the residents were still ironing out the details Tuesday, and it was unclear how the money might be spent.
The offer was announced Tuesday afternoon as Lennar officials scrambled during the County Commission meeting to pull aside and mollify the handful of Heritage Springs residents who had shown up to complain about the builder.
Lennar was at the meeting to secure the commission's procedural signoff to draw 157 new homes into the Heritage Springs community development district, a taxing district that provides for infrastructure and the maintenance of common areas.
"Some people wanted to use that as leverage to get Lennar to correct the development's issues," said Paul Zalon, a resident representing the district at the meeting.
Residents were unhappy because the developer had committed to adding nine holes to their 18-hole golf course, as part of the expansion plans. But Lennar now wants to hold the community at its original plan for 1,337 homes and forgo the extra nine holes.
The million-dollar olive branch seemed to work.
"We're in discussions with them," Zalon said. "They're offering to pay the community $1.45-million."
Lennar got the commission's approval to add the homes to the community development district.
Bill Kouwenhoven, Lennar's land acquisitions manager, would not comment on the moves.
Lennar is involved in another set of problems at Hudson's Heritage Pines, a sister development to Heritage Springs.
Residents are still negotiating to hold the developer and Pasco government accountable for commitments on irrigation water supply and a second entrance, among other issues.
Talks are still ongoing. Resident Camelia Brust, who has been leading neighborhood's efforts, did not highlight major road blocks, aside from new fears that a hard-won deceleration lane for a second entrance might be lost when the state Transportation Department widens the Hernando-Pasco County Line Road. The road runs outside the development.
Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4613.
Lennar's profit shrinks as
market cools
Home builder Lennar Corp. reported that its third-quarter profit was down sharply as the overall housing market continued its descent from record highs a year ago.
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com
Home builder Lennar Corp. reported that its third-quarter profit was down sharply as the overall housing market continued its descent from record highs a year ago.
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com
Lennar's third-quarter profit shrinks as market cools
What a difference a year makes.
On Tuesday Lennar Corp. reported third-quarter profit 39 percent lower than a year ago and warned that the lackluster housing market could still get worse. The Miami company, among the biggest home builders in the country, downgraded its fourth-quarter earnings estimate.
Chief Executive Stuart Miller said the market continues ''trailing down further and faster than anticipated'' and that a bottom has yet to come into view. He noted in a conference call with analysts Tuesday that August, the final month, was also the weakest in the quarter.
The earnings report served as one more sign that the housing boom is over and a marked shift in the residential real estate market is under way. The depth and duration of the trough remains uncertain, Miller said.
Lennar reported $206.6 million in profit on revenue of $4.2 billion for its third quarter, which ended August 31. By comparison, in its third quarter last year, Lennar pocketed profit of $337.3 million on revenue of $3.5 billion.
The company reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.30. That met Lennar's revised estimates of between $1.25 and $1.35. Analysts had initially cited around $1.90, but on Sept. 8 Lennar downgraded its third-quarter earnings estimates because, Miller said, ``the U.S. housing market has continued to deteriorate.''
On Tuesday Lennar was at it again. The company downgraded its outlook to between $1.00 and $1.30 for the fourth quarter; it said the wide spread was due to market uncertainty.
Wall Street bid Lennar's stock up 7 cents to $46.95 by the close of trading Tuesday. But the company's share price is still far off its 52-week high of $66.44.
Lennar, which primarily builds single-family homes, has operations across the country but is most concentrated in Florida, Texas and California.
In the face of the increasingly challenging market, the home builder has outlined a strategy that focuses on raising cash while shedding inventory of unsold homes and land.
The plan means that Lennar's profit margin will shrink, which has prompted some analysts to downgrade its stock. But Miller contends it is better to have cash than be stuck with unsold homes or vacant parcels in a down market.
In contrast, some home-building competitors have sought to protect profits by slowing production, holding firm on prices and land holdings in hopes a healthy housing market will return soon.
On Tuesday Miller reiterated his company's strategy. He said Lennar will lower prices and continue building homes it has started. But Lennar is also renegotiating all contracts to buy land or even walking away from deposits -- and in some cases, multimillion dollar deposits -- on properties it previously planned to develop, he said.
Ultimately, the thinking is that construction will taper off as projects are completed and fewer are started. What will be left, Miller hopes, is plenty of cash that can be used to buy land and start new projects for cheaper costs when the market begins to look up.
''We will be patient and wait for the market to redefine itself and then will look for opportunities to reload and reposition,'' Miller said.
But when asked by an analyst if there are any buying opportunities right now, Miller responded: ``No.''
County aims to control growth of east Venice
By PATRICK WHITTLE
VENICE -- The county could set a precedent for how it manages growth
with a new strategy designed to cut down urban sprawl in a
fast-growing area east of Venice.Nine developments, totalling more than 1,800 homes, are in the pipeline in the five-square-mile area south of Interstate 75 between Jacaranda Boulevard and River Road.
The development rush led county commissioners last year to call a moratorium on land rezonings in the area -- something the board had never done before.
The moratorium put major developments on hold and gave the county time to come up with a strategy to keep east Venice one community instead of a collection of walled cul-de-sacs.
Here's how it works: Developers will be allowed to keep building homes in the area, most of which is zoned for less than two homes per acre. But roads in the area must be connected. And in most cases, a developer cannot build walls close to the area's East Venice Avenue thoroughfare.
The county calls the strategy the East Venice Avenue Overlay District. It also calls for bicycle and pedestrian trails, native landscaping, and architecture that fits the rural "history and ambiance of the area."
Residents of the neighborhood and landowners in the district helped create the guidelines, which were unveiled Tuesday and could be approved next month.
The overlay district has drawn criticism from some developers in the area, where Sarasota County players such as J&J Homes own property.
"With all these restrictions, by the time I build these homes it might be 45 or 35 of the 50 I'm approved for," said Lee-En Chung of Ivy Ventures, a developer who owns 10 acres.
On Oct. 24, commissioners will air the program publicly and might vote.
Landowners such as Bob Mantkowski, who sees the district as a way to bring shops and small businesses into the neighborhood, are ready.
"We're providing employment, and I think it's good for our community," he said.
The East Venice Avenue district is now a sparsely populated area of more than 300 property owners. Platted in 1926, it was originally called Venice Farms and East Venice Farms.
County planner Tate Taylor said curtailing sprawl in the area will be difficult because the land is already zoned for development. Venice's original city planner, John Nolen, envisioned it as a small farm community east of the city.
The city's suburban push east, coupled with North Port's growth, altered Nolen's plans. But east Venice residents still see their neighborhood as a unique community worth preserving.
Plans that "retrofit" existing communities are necessary to encourage mixed-use neighborhoods rather than cookie-cutter subdivisions, Taylor said.
"You can see this area as various subdivisions with no relation to each other, or do you see it as a community? Do you live in Blue Heron Pond or do you live in ... Venice?" he said.
The county learned the residents' opinions after it imposed its moratorium on rezonings, which ended in April. County officials asked neighborhood residents what they wanted their community to look like, and emerged with a sense that residents want it to stay rural.
The few residents who attended Tuesday's meeting said they approved of the plan, and hoped the county would adopt it.
Gate Ethanol plans ahead
JASPER - Even though Gate Ethanol is in the
waiting stages of the permitting process for a proposed ethanol
plant in Hamilton County, the company is still toward the future.
Gate Ethanol representatives met with Hamilton County staff and a
North Central Florida Regional Planning Council representative for a
pre-conception meeting Tuesday morning during which the proposed
plant was analyzed to see how it would fit with Hamilton County's
land development regulations. The point of the meeting was to help
Gate Ethanol determine what it may need to fix or include to make
certain the plant meets all requirements.
Gate representatives presented a preliminary site plan at the
meeting which tentatively laid out the plant on the land the company
purchased approximately five miles north of White Springs on U.S.
41. While open to changing what's needed to meet requirements, Gate
Ethanol President R.B. Hoover felt the plan was close to being
finished.
“We think it's reasonably finalized at this point in the game,”
he said.
The land Gate Ethanol plans to build on is
currently zoned agricultural, and the company will have to apply for
a special exception to the zoning in order to build the plant.
Enid Ehrbar, senior planner for the North Central Florida Regional
Planning Council, informed the company of what would be needed for
the plant to meet special exception requirements.
The parking lot of the plant would need to have some landscaping,
she informed them, explaining that this could involve leaving in
trees which are already on site. In addition, Gate would need to
determine if it needs a 100-foot or 300-foot buffer from its rear
and side property lines.
The buffer ensures that anything emitted from the factory - be it
odor, noise or air emissions - does not impact nearby properties. If
Gate can prove that all emissions will be contained on the plant
property, only a 100-foot buffer would be needed, otherwise they
would have to construct a 300-foot buffer.
Hoover said it may be difficult to prove the emissions will be
self-contained because the plant Gate is proposing to build will
have some features that will be a first for ethanol plants.
“It's going to be the first ethanol plant to be fueled by a
wood-fired boiler,” he said. However, he added that any equipment
which has the potential to emit anything will be enclosed.
Hoover said Gate Ethanol plans to look into what its options are,
which included potentially buying more land in order to satisfy the
buffer requirement.
During the meeting, wetland protection was also discussed. Hamilton
County land development regulations request that construction avoid
disrupting wetlands wherever possible. The plot of land Gate Ethanol
wants to use for the plant has several wetlands on it, some of which
will be impossible for Gate to avoid building over. Hoover said at
the meeting Gate is planning to mitigate some wetlands into a
permanent easement to make up for it.
Before Gate can submit a special exception application for the plant
it will need to provide a detailed site plan to prove that all
requirements of Hamilton County's land use regulations have been
met.
“I think we'll definitely be able to get you all the information
you need,” Hoover said, appreciative that county and planning
council representatives were present for the meeting. “It's been
very helpful for us to find out what we need for you.”
Watershed acreage is near Silver Springs
OCALA - Local officials are optimistic that a deal for the state to
buy thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land near Silver
Springs could be completed this week.
Two things must happen first, according to Marion County Commissioner Randy Harris. The governor and Cabinet have to approve the deal, the price of which is still undisclosed, and the board of Avatar Corp., the property owner, would have to accept the state's offer.
"Then an announcement can be made," Harris said. "I have every reason to believe that it's going to happen."
But he reiterated Tuesday that "official action" by the state and property owner has not yet occurred. "Right now the state is a willing buyer," Harris said.
Everyone associated with the project who was reached for comment Tuesday was reluctant to talk about the anticipated purchase.
But the county issued a press release on Tuesday saying the Marion County Commission and the county's legislative delegation would attend a Friday briefing by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Trust for Public Land at Silver River State Park.
"We still have some details to work out," said Sarah Williams, DEP spokeswoman. "But we are hoping to be able to give some more details about the project we are working on in the Ocala area on Friday."
In late 2004, about a year after rejecting the state's last offer of $22 million, Avatar renewed its interest in developing about 5,000 acres near Silver Springs.
State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who represents a portion of Marion County, has been instrumental in trying to get the state buy the land, which is a high water recharge zone.
"I am the one who got them to sit down at the table and start the conversation," Lynn said Tuesday. She said that early in the discussions it was thought Avatar might sell the state the outparcels, which are closest to the springs and the most environmentally sensitive.
She said Eva Armstrong, director of state lands for the DEP, got another assessment of the property value.
"It's going to work," Lynn said. "The state will buy all the property."
Harris said there is a third party, who he could not name, that is involved in the project and, ultimately, the state will own all the land if the deal materializes.
Avatar's vice president and general counsel Dennis Getman could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Avatar enlisted Marion County developer Kulbir Ghumman to assist in the development of the Ocala Springs project. "I think the state has put an offer in front of our partners," said Priya Ghumman about Avatar. "I honestly can't say anything more than that."
Marion County gave approval years ago to build up to 12,000 homes and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space on the property.
"It looks very promising," County Commissioner Andy Kesselring said of the Avatar deal. "I think some things are going to happen. I am really excited about it."
Kesselring said he could not divulge any details until "all of that is ready to be released."
Neither could Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
"I know it's a complicated process," Baxley said. "I am very hopeful it will be concluded."
Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4156.
Two things must happen first, according to Marion County Commissioner Randy Harris. The governor and Cabinet have to approve the deal, the price of which is still undisclosed, and the board of Avatar Corp., the property owner, would have to accept the state's offer.
"Then an announcement can be made," Harris said. "I have every reason to believe that it's going to happen."
But he reiterated Tuesday that "official action" by the state and property owner has not yet occurred. "Right now the state is a willing buyer," Harris said.
Everyone associated with the project who was reached for comment Tuesday was reluctant to talk about the anticipated purchase.
But the county issued a press release on Tuesday saying the Marion County Commission and the county's legislative delegation would attend a Friday briefing by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Trust for Public Land at Silver River State Park.
"We still have some details to work out," said Sarah Williams, DEP spokeswoman. "But we are hoping to be able to give some more details about the project we are working on in the Ocala area on Friday."
In late 2004, about a year after rejecting the state's last offer of $22 million, Avatar renewed its interest in developing about 5,000 acres near Silver Springs.
State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who represents a portion of Marion County, has been instrumental in trying to get the state buy the land, which is a high water recharge zone.
"I am the one who got them to sit down at the table and start the conversation," Lynn said Tuesday. She said that early in the discussions it was thought Avatar might sell the state the outparcels, which are closest to the springs and the most environmentally sensitive.
She said Eva Armstrong, director of state lands for the DEP, got another assessment of the property value.
"It's going to work," Lynn said. "The state will buy all the property."
Harris said there is a third party, who he could not name, that is involved in the project and, ultimately, the state will own all the land if the deal materializes.
Avatar's vice president and general counsel Dennis Getman could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Avatar enlisted Marion County developer Kulbir Ghumman to assist in the development of the Ocala Springs project. "I think the state has put an offer in front of our partners," said Priya Ghumman about Avatar. "I honestly can't say anything more than that."
Marion County gave approval years ago to build up to 12,000 homes and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space on the property.
"It looks very promising," County Commissioner Andy Kesselring said of the Avatar deal. "I think some things are going to happen. I am really excited about it."
Kesselring said he could not divulge any details until "all of that is ready to be released."
Neither could Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
"I know it's a complicated process," Baxley said. "I am very hopeful it will be concluded."
Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4156.
County eases push for cheaper home
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH — County commissioners reacted to the softening housing market on Tuesday by reducing the number of cheaper homes developers would have to build under a proposed program.
For example, a development of 130 homes at two units per acre would have 22 workforce-priced homes, or five fewer than previously proposed.
But the decision does not affect west-central farmland where the most development is expected, such as Mecca Farms and Callery-Judge Grove. There, 20 percent of the homes will have to fall under workforce prices.
The concessions slightly gratified the local builders association, even if commissioners didn't drop the number of workforce-priced homes developers must provide to the levels they preferred.
And the program doesn't guarantee significant headway will be made toward getting many of the 31,000 new affordable homes and rental units the county projects it will need by 2010.
The mandatory program "will have an effect on projects that are proposed," said Joshua Fowler, executive vice president of the Gold Coast Builders Association. "If they (builders) can't make the numbers work, they're not going to submit the project."
Still, Fowler said the association was "pleased that the commission seems to have taken into consideration some things they hadn't until this point," specifically the bursting of the housing bubble.
Developers had said their companies would lose jobs and be forced to build elsewhere under the stricter standards.
The Florida Association of Realtors this week announced the median price of an existing home in Palm Beach County dropped from $411,400 in Aug. 2005 to $386,000 last month. Home sales have also plunged and foreclosures soared.
Commissioners voted 5-2, with Mary McCarty and Chairman Tony Masilotti in opposition, to move ahead with the workforce housing program. The program is aimed at producing homes in the $164,000-to-$304,000 range for households earning between $38,600 and $96,600 a year.
Developers would qualify for bonuses that would allow them to build more homes in certain areas. Proposed county code changes would accommodate the extra homes, including traffic exemptions, changes in housing layout and a quicker permitting and review process.
As out-of-town experts armed with Ph.D.'s defended the positions of the county and the builders, commissioners agreed to reevaluate the program a year after it's in place to consider market conditions at that time.
But some said it was time to do something about the affordable-housing crunch. "The marketplace has not been delivering the units for the average working person here," Commissioner Jeff Koons said.
There was also concern relying only on builders to produce cheaper housing.
"We are looking to one industry to solve the affordable-housing issue. I don't know whether or not that's fair," McCarty said. "As it stands, the construction industry is still a third of our economy. I don't want to be drowning the industry."
A study commissioned by the Gold Coast Builders Association warned that mandating workforce homes does not guarantee success and shifts some of the costs to regular-priced homes.
In a weak market, "price increases are less readily accepted by market-rate home buyers, and the developer is less willing to build housing, either affordable or market rate," says the report prepared by housing researcher William S. Hettinger.
On the other side, requiring builders to produce lower-priced homes does not dent a company's profits, according to a Rutgers University study the county paid for.
Barbara Alterman, director of the county's planning, zoning and building department, said building permits have shifted toward multifamily developments and away from single-family homes.
The county is looking into luxury-home fees and a fee for commercial businesses to help pay for employee housing. A study analyzing these concepts is expected to be ready early next year.
A county community land trust is in place to help preserve land and existing homes for workers. A bond issue to buy land is possible.
"This is not the panacea of our crisis here today," said Deputy County Administrator Verdenia Baker, who's led meetings over the last year between the county and the building industry.
Developers also have several options to meet county requirements, including buying out of the workforce program, donating land or building some units in another development. Commissioners agreed to lower the buyout option from a minimum of $90,000 to $81,000 per home.
Commissioner Burt Aaronson proposed the workforce housing formula approved by commissioners. It is a compromise between what they endorsed in April and what the local builders association wanted.
"I want to encourage builders to keep on building," Aaronson said. "I want to keep builders employed
Dade City trees axed as safety measure
By GINA PACEThe Florida Transportation Department is removing seven old, rotting trees before a hurricane can blow them down and cause serious damage.
Published September 27, 2006
DADE CITY - The southern gateway to downtown Dade City with its shady tree canopy will soon have a different feel.
Seven trees, most of them laurel oaks, near Hibiscus Park will be removed as part of a Florida Transportation Department project that is resurfacing Seventh Street through downtown, said City Manager Harold Sample.
The trees will come out sometime during the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Kris Carson said.
John Holzaepfel, a certified arborist and forester who examined the trees, said they are post-mature and in various stages of decline - many have heart rot.
"They need to come out because they are a hazard," he said.
Sample said large oaks that fell during Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 damaged homes and downed power lines, and these trees should be removed before a storm topples them.
Though there has been no outcry over the city's plan so far, but the idea of removing trees in Dade City has drawn ire in the past.
In 1997, the county considered chopping down large oak trees surrounding the historic courthouse downtown. The plan drew so many complaints that the county decided to keep the trees. Even though the trees to be removed are diseased, Sample said, city officials are bracing themselves for an emotional reaction.
The Garden Club will work with the city to replant trees where the old ones are removed, said member Pat Carver. The club will try to plant live oaks, which are heartier and live longer than laurel oaks, she said. Near the new sidewalks to be installed south of Florida Avenue, smaller trees with smaller roots that won't interfere with construction will be planted.
Even though she knows new trees will be planted, Carver hates to see the old trees go.
"You just cringe," she said. "It does make you sad."
Gina Pace can be reached at gpace@sptimes.com or 352 521-6518.
Don't Cut Farming Education, Board Told
Published: Sep 27, 2006
TAMPA - Word travels so fast in the tightknit agricultural community of east Hillsborough County that a farmer, a parent and a student quickly tried to head off a proposed cut in the number of workdays for agricultural teachers to save the district money.
"The agribusiness education programs that are taught to our kids throughout our school system are the lifeblood of agriculture in our communities," Roy G. Davis told the Hillsborough County School Board at the end of a four-hour meeting Tuesday night. "It is this beginning that helps a precious few kids to make the decision to follow in the footsteps of those few farm parents left in our rural communities and seek to become the farmers of the future."
Davis, who owns Tampa Wholesale Nursery Inc. in Dover, said he heard of the district's plan to cut teacher contracts from 253 days to 216 days for all but one agribusiness teacher at each high school.
"If a kid is raising a steer, heifer, lamb, a pig or other animal to enter into the state fair or the festival, or even a national competition, you cannot give the animal a tranquilizer shot that puts development of the animal on hold for the summer," Davis said. He noted that instructors work with students to prepare and enter competitions all summer and make home visits.
Lauren Butts, a junior at Durant High School, cried as she begged for instructors to remain through the summer. Her mother, Carol Butts, told the board, "We're not just building future farmers - we're building future leaders."
The district is considering the cuts, said Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, but she said meetings with community and district staff members are planned. Several board members asked for a workshop to learn how Elia came up with the plan.
Board member Jennifer Faliero said she couldn't support it: "This is their lifeblood out there."
Jim Jeffries, supervisor of agribusiness education, said 27 teachers could be affected. He estimated 4,000 high school students are in the programs.
Earlier in the meeting, Elia's first annual evaluation was approved unanimously by the board, which gave her an "above satisfactory" grade rather than the top "outstanding" rating.
Under a new evaluation process, only two board members - Susan Valdes and Doretha Edgecomb - gave Elia any rankings of 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. Each gave her a 3 in three of nine categories. All other members gave her scores of 4 and 5 in all categories.
Elia, who became superintendent in July 2005, had a year of unusual challenges, board members said, as they publicly lauded her accomplishments, focus, grace and dignity.
"My suggestion," board Chairwoman Carolyn Bricklemyer said, is "you gotta learn to balance. You'll burn yourself out."
Elia's salary of $236,500 will be supplemented by extra performance pay as part of her contract.
In other action, the board approved the appointment of two administrators, effective Oct. 9:
•Debra Arias, principal at Orange Grove Middle Magnet school, becomes administrator on special assignment for student services and federal programs. She is the daughter of board member Jack Lamb, who did not vote on her appointment.
•Melissa Morgado, department head and Spanish teacher at Blake High, becomes supervisor for K-12 Foreign Language.
Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.
Wild For Honey
Published: Sep 27, 2006
ZEPHYRHILLS - To be successful beekeepers, Mark and Debbie Pecoraro figure you have to work like bees: nonstop.
The rewards are sweet, though. The warm, gooey stuff that oozes from backyard honeycombs tastes richer and fresher than the jarred variety found on most supermarket shelves.
That's the selling point for honey, which is seeing a resurgence as more people discover the natural sweetener's health benefits.
Trying to persuade people to make it, though, can be a tough sell.
Bees, like any living thing, are complicated. The weather can be fickle, and as subdivisions and shopping centers gobble up Florida's citrus groves - the key component in making classic orange blossom honey - many old-time beekeepers are hanging up their netted hats.
That's where people such as the Pecoraros step in.
Their relatively small operation on 4 acres outside Zephyrhills represents a growing number of honeymakers who have turned their hobbies into a cottage industry.
"It started with one hive. Before you knew it, I had 30 hives here," said Mark Pecoraro, who is trained as an electrical engineer but always was interested in science and nature.
To Pecoraro, bees seem pretty interesting. They never sleep, are superprotective of their queen and work themselves to death producing what amounts to a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey. To make a pound of honey, a hive of bees must travel tens of thousands of miles back and forth between the flowers and the hive.
"They are brilliant," Debbie Pecoraro said.
Because bees themselves don't take up much space, it allows some hobbyists to experiment in their backyards - with a permit, of course.
Between 60 and 80 people show up monthly to Tampa Bay Beekeeper Association meetings, said the group's president, Jim Alderman, a retired state beekeeping inspector who lives in Zephyrhills.
The ages of group members range from 17 to 70. Some run big commercial operations in rural parts of the Bay area, such as Trilby in northeast Pasco County, but many have just a hive or two, Alderman said.
The Pecoraros sell their honey at local health food and feed stores and, during the winter, at a stand at the Eagles flea market off State Road 54. Their honey is as local as local gets: They even set up a small stand in their driveway and let people buy jars on the honor system, sliding dollar bills into a box next to the garage.
Customers at Young Life Health Foods, on U.S. 301, often specifically ask for local honey, said owner Linda Dees, who sells the Pecoraros' honey.
"It's a wonderful energy source," she said. "A lot of people will use it before workouts. For beauty treatments, it attracts moisture. There's an old-timey kind of recipe where you combine it with sour cream, and it creates a tightening effect for the skin - a natural facelift."
The Pecoraros, like other beekeepers, follow the nectar flow. During citrus season, they load their hives onto a flatbed truck and take them to an orange grove off Handcart Road. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement: The citrus grower has his groves pollinated by the bees, and the beekeeper gets the honey.
When that season ends, the bees move to Ruskin to pollinate the cabbage palms and Brazilian peppers or to Wesley Chapel, where they buzz around the gallberry shrubs that dot a 250-acre pasture across County Line Road, near the Super Target.
"Believe it or not, there's 250 acres not developed out there," Mark Pecoraro said.
To learn about local honey-making, visit tampabaybeekeepers.com/.
The organization holds meetings in Mango on the second Thursday of every month.
Mark and Debbie Pecoraro can be reached at (813) 780-6084.
Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.
Have no fear, famed oranges still here
By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff WriterA U.S. 19 and Belleair Road store isn't closing; it's just sprucing up.
Published September 27, 2006
After the signs outside the old citrus-packing plant came down last week, some passers-by wondered if it was the end of an era.
Citrus Country Groves workers asked store manager April Groth if they still had a job.
The teller at the bank even assumed the store at Belleair Road and U.S. 19 had closed, she said.
"People are freaking out, thinking it's not Citrus Country anymore," said Groth, 46, who worked for the shop's predecessor, Orange Blossom Groves, since 1978.
Although the oranges are packed for holiday shipment someplace else, the fresh-squeezed juice stand and kitschy gift shop will live on, managers say.
Customers will still be able to get orange juice samples - free for the first cup, 10 cents per cup after that - soft-serve orange ice cream and touristy gift items when the seasonal store opens next month.
The signs were merely removed to paint the outside of the store, which plans to open Oct. 23, Groth said. And that's just part of a larger renovation at the store, which is in unincorporated Pinellas between Largo and Clearwater.
Allison "Al" Repetto, who founded Orange Blossom Groves in 1946, said he hadn't done any major renovations in years.
But Repetto, who opened the Largo area shop a few years after he started a Seminole store, said he tore down the store and rebuilt it quite a few times.
"When I came along, from Seminole to Palm Harbor, there wasn't anything but groves," he said.
But over the years, the citrus industry dwindled in Pinellas.
"They're about the last groves in the county," Repetto, 82, said of the remaining acres of citrus behind each of the stores.
Last year, he closed his shops in Seminole and Largo, and Pasco-based Citrus Country Groves moved into his Largo location. He still owns the land at both sites and maintained his office at the Largo shop.
Repetto has said he closed his stores because the business was not as profitable as it once was. He also said an outbreak of canker convinced him it was time as well.
Repetto, who lives in Seminole, raises cows on land he owns south of Ruskin. He often stops by his office at Citrus Country Groves after he feeds the cows, but he doesn't have a role in the Citrus Country Groves business, he said.
"It's kind of bad to walk off and leave it," Repetto said. "I kind of miss it."
Since Citrus Country Groves took over, the store has done pretty well, especially toward the end of the season last year, said company spokesman Joe Kennedy.
"It's good to see so many people driving up and down U.S. 19 that are still there for the citrus industry," he said.
When the store opens next month, the shelves will still be lined with traditional items like Orange Blossom perfume and orange marmalade, as well as new Florida-made wines in flavors like orange, key lime and mango.
And, renovation or no renovation, it will continue to feature the tacky mainstays of roadside Florida, including technicolor postcards and a quirky chocolate candy called Gator Poop.
Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or lorri@sptimes.com.
Shenandoah Dairy receives 2006 Dairy Community Award
SubmittedThe Central Florida Dairy Advisory Committee has honored the
Henderson family of Shenandoah Dairy in Live Oak with the 2006 Dairy
Community Award.
The award was created in 2001 to promote the concept that dairy farm
families and their businesses provide strength to the local economy,
use increasingly environmentally sound production practices and are an
important part of the community.
Previous winners include: Gore's Dairy of Zephyrhills (2001), Oelfke
Dairy of High Springs (2002), Byrd Brothers Dairy of Mayo (2003),
M&B Dairy of Lecanto (2004) and Lussier Dairy of Hawthorne (2005).
Jim and Carol Henderson founded Shenandoah in 1987 after they moved to
Live Oak from Manatee County. The Hendersons remain active at the farm
that is now operated by their sons, Ed and Ted, and son-in-law Ron
Morgan. All of the families live at the dairy.
Shenandoah Dairy was recognized for its commitment to the Suwannee
River Partnership. The partnership works with land users to minimize
nutrient loading to the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers through
voluntary, incentive-based programs.
Shenandoah, which employs 55 people, is also active in the community
by sponsoring youth sports teams and trash cleanups at springs and
alongside the roadways.
Fellow dairymen marvel at Shenandoah's state-of-the-art wind tunnel
barns that offer the latest in cow comfort technology. This unique
housing design is open at one end and has 46, 54-inch fans at the
other end, providing a wind speed of 10-12 mph in the barn and a
complete air exchange every 45 seconds.
With a system of misters and fans, the Hendersons are able to lower
the temperature in the barns by as much as 15 degrees, providing a
comfortable environment for their 2,000 cows.
"This system improves our ability to maintain healthier cows and
manage more consistently year round," said Ed Henderson. "It
allows for improved management of our cattle in warmer periods, which
helps keep the number of cows milking at or near capacity.
"We keep our focus on cows and people. Productive, happy cows and
productive, happy employees result in a system that is operated and
managed to optimum performance. Our system is built with the
environment at the forefront. Our people and cows make sure it is
managed that way.
"Farmers are the original environmentalists. We are stewards of
the land and we have a reputation to uphold. By applying best
management practices, by doing things that are expected of us and our
business, we uphold that motto."
Gulf bacteria levels back to normal
People had been told to avoid water from Pinellas to Lee counties
By KATE SPINNER
A surge in dangerous bacteria along the region's coast has subsided
after days without rain, making it safe once again to swim in the Gulf
of Mexico.Warnings went up late last week and Monday, advising beachgoers to avoid swimming from Pinellas to Lee counties, including 10 beaches in Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee.
The latest water samples, released late Tuesday, show that bacteria levels have dropped in the Gulf. However, bacteria levels were still high at Port Charlotte beach in Charlotte Harbor.
Despite the go-ahead to swim in the Gulf this week, people should still take precaution, said Nancy Hendershot, environmental specialist for Charlotte County.
"It's important never to drink surface water or let little ones put sand in their mouths," Hendershot said.
Samples taken more than a week ago along the Gulf beaches contained high levels of enterococcus, a fecal bacteria that points to the likely presence of pathogens that can cause stomach illness or infection in cuts or sores.
Every Monday, health departments in all Florida coastal counties test beach water for enterococci and fecal coliform.
If tests show high bacteria levels, counties have the option of resampling before posting an advisory. If the results come back high a second time, counties are required to post an advisory at the affected beach.
The lag between the test and the advisory can get pretty wide.
Advisories were not posted on Englewood beaches until a week after the first positive sample was taken. By that time, the bacteria had disappeared.
"We have tried to keep it as timely as possible, but there are a few things working against us," said David Polk, Florida's healthy beaches program coordinator.
Because samples must incubate 24 hours before they can be tested, results from Monday samples usually arrive at health departments late Tuesday.
Counties are responsible for entering data to the state's healthy beaches Web site and posting advisories.
Polk said the bacteria information is important, but the danger is not as severe as that of E. coli in food.
Depending on a person's health and amount of bacteria present in the water, an individual might fall ill for a day and perhaps call in sick, he said.
Polk called last week's widespread spike in bacteria levels along the coast unusual.
"In general, especially with this magnitude, with this many beaches involved, it's kind of an oddity," Polk said.
He said speculation ranges from an influx in stormwater runoff to a correlation with red tide.
Hendershot said the decaying carcasses of birds and marine mammals killed by red tide could have contributed to the bacteria counts.
David Pouso, healthy beaches coordinator for the Sarasota County Department of Environmental Health, said he believes rain caused the bacteria increase.
Heavy rains often wash animal feces and other land-based pollutants into the rivers and creeks that spill out into the Gulf.
"We had 1.25 inches last week and in the past three days we didn't have any," Pouso said.
If the widespread distribution of bacteria were a recurring problem, it would be easier to locate a cause, Polk said.
He said even pristine beaches are not immune to bacteria accumulation.
"Even the healthiest marathon runner will eventually get a cold," he said
Florida briefly
By Wire servicesPublished September 27, 2006
State ends investigation of pollution in Manatee
TALLEVAST - The state has ended its investigation into groundwater pollution near a former weapons manufacturing plant in Manatee County, clearing the way for a cleanup.
The pollution came from American Beryllium Co., which operated nearly 40 years before closing in 1996, when Lockheed Martin Corp. bought the property. The plume, containing toxic chemicals, covers at least 200 acres
Authorities say Manatee farm was epicenter of gladiolus blight
Inspectors are checking yards in the Cortez area this week for signs of the disease.
By ANTHONY CORMIER
MANATEE COUNTY -- Whiting Preston is a fourth-generation flower farmer
from a boots-and-blue-jeans family that knows how fickle the plants
can be.One day, your prized gladioli flowers -- grown by the Prestons since 1937 -- are in bloom, elegant and graceful. The next day, state inspectors say the flowers are as good as dead.
The family's Cortez farm -- among the state's leading producer of gladioli flowers -- was the epicenter of a recent horticultural mystery that sent inspectors hustling around the country on a field-by-field, door-to-door hunt for the source of a rare flower disease.
The fungus was first found on a glad plant in Hawaii, a discovery that set off a national agricultural investigation that eventually traced the source of the fungus to the Preston century-old farm in Manatee County.
As a result, the Preston farm took a major hit that went beyond the financial loss of having to destroy or cleanse much of their glad crop. The fungus forced the farmers to kill numerous prized glad bulbs that form the basis of their annual crop.
State agriculture inspectors are searching homes in Cortez this week as part of the ongoing race to thwart Uromyces transversalis -- the South African fungus known as gladiolus rust which can kill the plants.
The chase for the source of the infestation took investigators from Hawaii to California to Florida, as officials tracked microscopic spores that sent a shiver through a billion-dollar cut-flower industry.
While federal and state investigators confined the outbreak to pockets of Florida and California, their response -- from razed flower fields to the examination of private gardens -- provides an uncommon glimpse at the nursery business and government measures to keep tabs on America's agriculture.
It took days to put out a national alert for the fungus and months to clean up in its wake, as the 1,400-acre field in Cortez went fallow and Manatee Floral paid a big price.
"It really set us back," said Preston, who wouldn't reveal the dollar amount of the farm's loss.
A pathologist in Hawaii first saw the telltale signs of the rust: red pustules, blotchy spikes, a creeping fungus that attacks the leaves.
The disease is not harmful to consumers, and glads remained on store shelves throughout the country. The rust is transferred by tiny spores and can wipe out entire yields if not treated quickly.
Scientists have seen the rust before, and believe that it often comes into the country from South America, where 70 percent of store-bought flowers are grown and imported into the United States.
When researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture got word of the sickly glads in Hawaii, they traced the shipment to Manatee Floral. The farm sprouts thousands of glads each year and sends the flowers to florists and distributors along the Gulf Coast.
The flowers are sometimes redistributed nationally, and one batch made its way to Hawaii. Weeks after their discovery, scientists confirmed the rust in Manatee and went flower-by-flower through 750 acres. Shipments were temporarily halted, and the company's prized stock suffered a serious blow.
"It's had a dramatic effect on us," Preston said last week at the company's distribution center near Palmetto. "It's hard to put a dollar figure on it, but I can tell you that it had a devastating impact on our business."
Experts hurried throughout Florida to find similar glad farms. About 100 miles from Manatee, inspectors found the rust at a commercial field in Hendry County. A third farm in the Florida Panhandle was cleared.
In California, officials detected the disease in San Diego, which prompted a national alert.
The rust is specific to glads, giving inspectors an advantage as they scoured a three-mile radius around the infection points in Manatee. With a knock and a plea, the experts searched gardens and greenhouses for the pustules.
"They said, 'May we have your gladiolus?' " said Thomas Crouthamel, who lives within the 3-mile radius. "What was I going to say? 'No, go get a search warrant.' We let them have them. None of ours had the rust, though."
At homes near the Cortez farm, officials found nearly 50 residences where glads were kept. Of those, eight appeared to be infected. The outbreak seemed to be contained -- good news to scientists who now turn their attention to the origin of the disease and how to prevent it.
"That is the next question," said Denise Feiber, of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "Where did this come from? The pathologists are working on it right now."
One theory suggests that the fungus is lifted by storms and dropped throughout the United States. Others believe the fungus is carried through international ports.
In fact, there is no evidence that the rust started at Manatee Floral -- only that it was first detected in flowers from those fields. Scientists agree that the disease, like other agricultural afflictions, is difficult to find and even harder to stop.
Gladiolus rust is only the latest threat, as pests and diseases -- from bark beetles to citrus canker -- form a continual danger to flower farmers and nurseries. Experts say the industry is always trying to get ahead of them.
"We're constantly being bombarded with new threats," said Sylvia Shives, an ornamental horticulture agent with the University of Florida's extension service in Manatee County.
Because the spread was thwarted early, federal officials placed a temporary hold on growth, and there was only a minor crimp in the nation's flower industry, which has nearly 11,000 growers and sales that topped $19 billion last year.
Manatee ranked ninth in the state with about $74.5 million in nursery sales last year, a figure that has risen 64 percent since 2002, according to a recent study.
"Fortunately, this was a small outbreak," said Jennifer Sparks, the vice president of marketing at the Society of American Florists. "It's been eradicated already, but there was no threat to the consumer. The problem is for the grower."
Experts speculated that the losses at the Preston farm could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Volunteers vow to weed out invasive plants at park
DELEON SPRINGS -- Exotic invasive
plants are on the most wanted list of dangerous vegetation at DeLeon
Springs State Park and this weekend, staff and volunteers will work to
eliminate some of the worst non-native plants that cause problems at
the park.
The invasive exotic plants are threatening the park's native plant
life, as they are in other parts of the state, according to Donna
Collins park, service specialist. She will coordinate the exotic plant
cleanup, from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in honor of National Public
Lands Day.
Volunteers are encouraged to help Collins and other park staffers
in this effort.
Topping the list of invasive exotics to be removed Saturday are
wild taro and ginger plants, Collins said.
The plants likely were brought to the area around 1953, when DeLeon
Springs was a private resort and went through a makeover. During that
period, wild taro and ginger were placed in an ornamental garden to
make the site more alluring and compliment other tropical plants and
imported wild animals for tourists.
Both plants are classified as Category I exotic plants by the
nonprofit Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, meaning their presence
threatens the existence of native plant communities. Plants that
aren't indigenous to Florida are often brought into Florida purposely,
through humans planting such vegetation, or through dispersal by birds
and wind.
Today, the state park is being converted to its natural
environment. The old ornamental garden in the center of the park's
main paved trail holds most of the park's wild taro and ginger plants,
Collins said.
"The process begins by removing the plants at their roots,
then the area is covered from sun exposure" said Collins. This
prevents the plants from regrowing.
Plant removal is only the first step in an ongoing process that
requires frequent observation to ensure the exotics will not return,
she said.
She hopes at least 25 volunteers come to assist in the removal
effort on Saturday.
DeLeon Springs State Park is not the only Florida park threatened
by invasive exotic plants. Bulow Creek State Park and Tomoka State
Park's native wildlife are also threatened.
"Exotics are a statewide problem," said Collins,
"many species of which are even being banned."
To view a detailed list of Florida's invasive exotic plants, check
out the plant council's Web site, fleppc.org.
Saturday's event, said Collins, has been advertised on the DeLeon
Springs State Park Web site (floridastateparks.com),
through fliers and word of mouth.
For more information, or to volunteer, call the park at (386)
985-4212.
Lawyer To Advise County On Insurance
Published: Sep 27, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - Looking for light on the insurance-rate horizon, county commissioners agreed Tuesday to hire Jacksonville-based lawyer Timothy Volpe in hopes of wresting lower rates from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state's insurer of last resort.
Volpe, who helped secure lower rates for residents of the Keys, advised the commission: Ask the state immediately to block any Citizens rate increases until after Sunday.
"Every resource needs to be brought to bear," Volpe said.
After then, pending legislation would essentially give some homeowners automatic rate cuts by capping legal fees and requiring a scientific arbitration of sinkhole claims. The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and state Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey.
Sinkholes have been the leading factor in recent skyrocketing insurance rates in Pasco County, accounting for more than 60 percent of Citizens' proposed new costs. Pasco accounted for about two-thirds of more than 600 sinkhole claims filed in the past year, Volpe said.
Volpe hopes to use the combination of pending legislation, public outrage and government activity to argue for lower rates in Pasco County.
A similar approach in Monroe County, where Citizens is virtually the sole insurer, cut residents' rate increases nearly in half, Volpe said. Until recently, Volpe said he had thought Monroe's experience was unique.
"I was skeptical - until I looked at the situation - that there was anything I could do to help you," Volpe told commissioners.
Volpe's visit was good news for homeowners fighting Citizens' rate increases.
"He can't guarantee what Pasco is going to get," said Chris Kowalczyk of Hudson. "But I'm glad the county commissioners pushed to get this lawyer."
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved its $1.1 billion budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which starts Sunday.
Commissioners made changes in the new budget nearly up to the last minute, including Sheriff Bob White's plans for his department.
White and commissioners wrestled last week over costs the sheriff said were needed but commissioners said were too much. Commissioners told White to cut the 98 new jobs he planned by half.
By Tuesday afternoon, a majority of the commissioners granted White 59 new positions but no new money.
Commissioners also approved $48,000 for a new study of the Ridge Road extension corridor between Moon Lake Road and U.S. 41.
Michele Baker, who oversees the county road project, said the study was prompted by questions from Citizens For Sanity.
The Land O' Lakes group visited the site and suggested that a 2001 study be updated because of changes in local wetlands.
"We took the Army Corps [of Engineers] out to that place," said Citizens For Sanity leader Dan Rametta. "All these dried-up, never-to-recover wetlands had 3 feet of water in them."
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
warrior chosen for insurance battle
By DAVID DeCAMPLawyer Timothy Volpe won lower property insurance rates for Monroe County. Commissioners think he can do it for Pasco, too.
Published September 27, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - County commissioners and activists fighting rising insurance rates finally found a man who might unite them: Timothy Volpe, a lawyer who successfully challenged high insurance rates in Monroe County.
He won a reduction in rates when that county faced a steep increase, and he wants to lead a similar charge to leverage better rates for Pasco.
"It sounds like to me he's our guy," Commissioner Ted Schrader said Tuesday as the board voted unanimously to hire the 24-year lawyer from Jacksonville.
"I've never seen a presentation so concise in such a short period of time," Chairman Steve Simon said.
Members of Homeowners Against Citizens Florida applauded the vote, which also included approval to try to hire an actuary to study the county's rates. The Pasco group wants lower rates by private insurers and Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort.
"Now we know they are at least interested," said Holiday resident Kenneth McRoberts, noting that none of the commissioners attended a recent meeting of the group.
Earlier this year, the group's founder, Nicole Deg of New Port Richey, filed to run against Simon, although she later withdrew from the commission race. But McRoberts said escalating rates have forged insurance into the board's biggest issue.
A $250,000 home in Pasco's higher sinkhole risk area would face a $6,300 bill, while one in nonsinkhole areas face a $2,400 bill, said Volpe, citing state data on possible new rates for Citizens. But even this year's $2,200 bill has McRoberts pondering what was unthinkable a few years ago: going without insurance.
Volpe made it clear that Pasco is no sure bet to win lower rates. But the county appears to have special cases that can be explored, he said. Sinkhole risks have caused premiums to spike here more than elsewhere, but recent legislation should tamp claims down, he said.
The state also will require insurers to drop the basis for sinkhole coverage by 14 percent for filings after Sunday. It could only lessen the blow, though.
"It may be that it goes up 40 percent instead of 54 percent," Volpe told commissioners. "Now, I know that's grim for all of you."
Companies already have proposed new rates prior to Sunday. But Volpe said a case could be made to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation that the lower basis for sinkhole coverage - a portion of the overall insurance - should be applied this year, at least in the case of Citizens, a semipublic operation.
In Monroe, Volpe won a 32 percent drop in rates vs. the 25.9 percent increase that Citizens first wanted. Using actuarial data by Allen Schartz of New Jersey - whom Pasco will approach - Volpe argued that the Florida Keys' county was being billed too much for wind risk.
Such relief remains far from done in Pasco. Although details of contracts must be worked out, Volpe said he expects to begin work for Pasco "within days." He said his agreement will be modeled after Monroe County's contract, which was worth $50,000. Details were unavailable about the actuary's possible pay.
But it was enough to buoy the Homeowners Against Citizens Florida members, who spent more than an hour with him in a county conference room planning the next steps.
Condo developer sues Dunedin
By SHEELA RAMANThe company says the city changed the rules for Dunedin Marina View in the middle of the process.
Published September 27, 2006
DUNEDIN - The developer of the Dunedin Marina View luxury condominium project has sued the city over its rejection of the project.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, contends that city officials changed the standards for the project in the middle of the process.
City Commissioners had no grounds to dismiss the project as incompatible with its surroundings because it had already been deemed compatible in a preliminary hearing, the suit claims.
"You can't change the rules of engagement after the fact," said attorney Ed Armstrong, who represents Kelly Prior, the applicant and owner of Dunedin Marina View.
The company is asking a judge to order Dunedin to approve its final site plan, as well as pay incidental damages.
Dunedin City Attorney John Hubbard said he is confident the court will dismiss the suit.
"The only way the court could approve this is if they decided that the city can't change its mind after approving the preliminary site plan," he said.
And Hubbard doubts the court would decide that.
"What's the point of having a final hearing then?" he said.
Dunedin Marina View was proposed as a five-story, 12-unit luxury condo complex at 715 Edgewater Drive, a site Prior owns. The property, now home to a two-story, four-unit apartment building, is across the street from Edgewater Park and is neighbored by two small buildings, an assisted living facility and a law office.
The legal battle centers around a six-page memo Hubbard wrote on May 3.
It was his interpretation of how compatibility, as defined in state law, applies to city code. From that point on, city commissioners took Hubbard's memo as a new standard for evaluating compatibility, he said.
"We decided at that time that we needed a better, more sophisticated understanding of the compatibility analysis that both our development code and comprehensive plan requires," he said.
In May, the city was debating whether to approve Stirling Place, a 60-foot-tall upscale condo and retail development planned for the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway.
This project was approved, but Hubbard's memo, which came out of the debate, tightened the standards for what a project's "compatibility" with its surroundings meant.
"We weren't fully aware of what the legal standard for compatibility was until John Hubbard furnished us with his memo," said Commissioner Julie Scales.
To Armstrong, the memo is meaningless. "It was not an amendment to the land development code," he said.
Marina View met the criteria the code required, and that should have been enough to approve the project, he said.
The content of Hubbard's memo was not the city's only reason for overturning the Marina View Proposal, Hubbard said. At the final hearing on Aug. 24, many citizens opposed the project. Robert Ray, an architect who lives in Dunedin, presented a perspective drawing of the project that showed it overwhelming surrounding structures.
"We had to hear what these witnesses had to say," Hubbard said.
"These are quasijudicial hearings," he said, referring to the City Commission's hearing on the project. Until citizens spoke about how the project would block sunlight and airflow and invade people's privacy, the commission was not aware of the full impact Marina View would have, said Hubbard.
Armstrong said such considerations would not hold up in court.
"Thankfully for us this is not a popularity contest," he said. "We are very comfortable with our legal position. All that matters is the code."
Titusville may make
room for new hotels
Project would add
400 rooms at SR 50, I-95
BY JESSICA RAYNOR
FLORIDA TODAY
The city could get two new hotels in the next couple of years if a local developer's project is approved.
On about 16 acres near State Road 50 and Interstate 95, R.K. Engineering plans to build a pair of five-story hotels with one having 150 rooms and another having 250 rooms -- adding to the city's current hotel room count of 1,139.
In addition to the hotels, two restaurants are proposed.
The developers want to change the land use for the area from commercial high intensity and conservation to commercial high intensity and rezone it from tourist and open space recreation to tourist.
The city council at Tuesday night's meeting read the first draft of the amendment that would allow the changes. There will be two public hearings before a final vote.
Developers have submitted a wetlands survey to St. Johns River Water Management District, which indicated R.K. Engineering has satisfied all concerns related to the project, according to city records.
This is the second hotel project to come before the council in recent weeks.
Visions Tract wants to construct a 60-foot, 110-room hotel along with a two-story retail/office building at Vectorspace Park near U.S. 1 and NASA Causeway.
In other business, the city voted to remove Titusville River Watch from a lawsuit concerning the proposed 35-foot height building amendment.
A developer sued the city and the Brevard Supervisor of Elections to remove the charter amendment from the November ballot, calling it illegal.
The city added Titusville River Watch as party to the lawsuit because the group championed the cause.
City council members were concerned that the having the group attached to the lawsuit would prohibit it from participating in a proposed educational forum on the amendment.
Attorneys for River Watch indicated the group would not participate because of the litigation.
Developer's plans for mall contested
By CHUIN-WEI YAPAn attorney says modifying the design for Cypress Creek Town Center would avoid destroying wetlands.
Published September 26, 2006
WESLEY CHAPEL - The Southwest Florida Water Management District late Monday decided to postpone a vote scheduled for today on a permit for Cypress Creek Town Center.
Officials pulled the vote from today's governing board agenda because of a legal challenge filed Monday.
The challenge to the big mall focuses on the developer's plan to build parking lots in a way that would destroy 58 acres of wetlands.
"We think the wetlands impact is avoidable," said Ralf Brookes, the attorney leading the challenge. "After reviewing the application and materials, there are no reasons to have parking on wetlands. You can park around it."
Brookes believes developer Richard E. Jacobs Group can move or get rid of one big box store, two smaller stores and some parking in the northern half of the development, to lessen its environmental impact.
The lawsuit lists 34 specific challenges to Swiftmud's permit, including questions on whether the Jacobs Group had adequately considered design changes to the site plan; less environmentally damaging alternatives; practical design modifications; and the developer's stormwater models.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Bob and Shirley Jones, whose home will overlook the proposed mall.
The Joneses told the St. Petersburg Times on Friday that they want to be convinced that all the proper analysis has been done to contain the risk of flooding.
The mall's opponents also fear it would taint Hillsborough County's drinking water.
The decision throws another wrench into the yearlong Swiftmud permit process for the 500-acre mall proposed at State Road 56 and Interstate 75.
The Jacobs Group also needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The state Department of Administrative Hearings likely will hear the Joneses' appeal.
Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan said there have been occasions in the past when plaintiffs and the applicant have come to a settlement before the department gets to hear the case.
Today's board meeting was expected to be packed with opponents of the proposed mall.
They may still have a chance to speak, though it may only be at the end of the full-day board meeting.
Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com.
Cost bumps slow road projects
Prices of asphalt, steel, concrete and labor have jumped, meaning some must be delayed or cut back.
By
JEAN HELLER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 25, 2006
Wildly fluctuating oil prices have induced gas pump gasps all year, but most consumers don’t realize oil prices have major implications where the rubber meets the road, too.
Asphalt is a petroleum-based product and its soaring price, along with shortages and high prices for concrete, steel, and labor, is delaying construction projects or has taken them off the table for the foreseeable future.
The bottom line is that consumers already paying high prices for fuel will burn a lot more of it while stuck in traffic jams for more years to come than expected.
Widening of
Interstate 275 in Tampa from the Howard Frankland Bridge to the
Hillsborough River? Not going to happen anytime soon.
An overpass on U.S. 19 at Enterprise Road in Pinellas County? The
money for it is being shifted elsewhere.
In
Pasco County, highway construction has gotten so expensive that
commissioners are considering a measure that could more than triple
highway impact fees on new houses, adding as much as $13,000 to the
price.
“There are a lot of factors converging at once: material costs, labor shortages and the duration of bigger projects,” said Adam Perez, interstate program manager for the Florida Department of Transportation district that covers Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.
“With prices rising like they have been, contractors are having a difficult time getting quotes from vendors four, five and six years down the road,” Perez said. “When you have unknowns of that nature, the contractors build them into their price.”
One example of the impact of these price increases hit Tampa International Airport with bids to rebuild two taxiways. Asphalt, budgeted at $103.50 a ton, came in at $315.35 . Econocrete, a base course, budgeted at $18 a square yard, came in at $46.50. And Portland cement, budgeted at $85.47 a square yard, came in at $107.37.
Those same price spikes are responsible for the spiraling cost of road building.
So the improvements to
I-275 from the Frankland to the Hillsborough River, budgeted for
$250-million, received a low bid of $350-million.
Stunned and stumped, DOT officials rejected the bid, pulled the
project off the table and are reconfiguring it as three separate
projects to be done one at a time. The first would not begin
construction for a year.
Construction, which should have started already and been finished in three years, now might not be done until spring 2013, “provided we get the money,” said agency spokeswoman Marian Scorza.
Pinellas County residents, whose north-south travel is eased every time a new overpass on U.S. 19 unclogs a snarled major intersection, will have to wait for the promised improvement at Enterprise Road in the Countryside area.
Faced with needing that overpass and two others farther south, DOT opted to do what it could afford, and the overpasses at 110th and 118th Avenues got the nod and the money. Improvements there, which will begin in November, will improve the flow on the Bryan Dairy Road link to I-275.
But it won’t do anything for mid county residents west of U.S. 19.
“This
isn’t just a problem in this area. It’s worldwide,”
said Sandy Kelley, director of construction administration for
Pinellas County. “We’ll be looking at doing fewer projects in
the future, though nothing currently under construction will be
affected.”
Kelley said decisions on what might be delayed have yet to be made.
There is some better news for the long-awaited widening of Ulmerton Road in Pinellas, a DOT job.
Some construction is under way at the west and east ends of the road. And a third project will begin on time next April running from about 49th Street to a point west of U.S. 19. But other phases of that program will not be scheduled for some time, according to DOT spokeswoman Scorza.
In Hillsborough County, “we have a multibillion-dollar backlog of work that we can’t get to as quickly as we wanted,” said Tom Fass, head of projects management for the county Public Works Department.
Expenses have forced the department to get the approval from county commissioners to spend money now that had been earmarked for work out to 2016 — 10 years into the future.
“Having to go back and find funds has slowed us down some,” Fass said. Some of the major projects that have been affected are several of the area’s worst roads, Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Boyette Road and Race Track Road.
“They’ve had significant cost increases, and schedules have slipped,” said Ned Baier, transportation manager in the county’s planning department. “We’re still widening segments that should have been completed, and a lack of money is a big part of the reason.”
Projects that a few years ago would have been done at the same time have been broken into phases, said Leigh Ann Pyron, a county engineering manager,
Improvements have been made to one phase of Boyette with another phase due to be advertised for bids next month. Race Track has one phase under construction and a second phase is being advertised.
Bruce B. Downs is still in the design and permitting phase, and plans for construction are uncertain.
“You have to put
the costs in perspective,” said Baier. “Road
building these days is incredibly expensive, yes, and as a result,
there seems to be a growing sentiment for public transportation.
Those costs are huge, too. But in all cases there are great
community benefits, and that’s the bottom line.”
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - A Republican-controlled group of state legislators appears ready to sign off today on a ''unique'' deal to spend $46 million on land for current and future road projects -- including highways that may not be built for another 10 to 20 years.
Even though a final appraisal on the property isn't finished, lawmakers responsible for making mid-year budget decisions say they have no problems buying 4,000 acres in Northwest Florida from politically connected St. Joe Co., the state's largest private land owner. The move comes just weeks after St. Joe announced it was laying off a tenth of its workforce.
''We got a fairly good explanation from the Department of Transportation that this is something they need to do,'' said state Sen. Lisa Carlton, an Osprey Republican and chairwoman of the Legislative Budget Commission. ``It seemed like it is the right thing to do.''
The budget commission is a group of 14 lawmakers who must sign off on major changes to the state budget approved by the full Legislature last spring. Because DOT doesn't have the $46 million in its land-buying account, the panel must agree to shift the money from other accounts to the highway department.
So far, the one person questioning the proposal is Rep. Ron Greenstein of Coconut Creek, one of four Democrats on the commission.
''It's absurd,'' said Greenstein, who questioned why the deal needed to be approved now instead of having it approved by the entire Legislature next spring. ``What is this? A going-away present?''
Greenstein's reference is to the timing of the deal: By spring, there will be new legislative leaders and a new governor in office, who will likely appoint a new DOT secretary.
DOT officials say the transaction, which covers land stretching over 10 Panhandle counties, will save taxpayers money and there's no reason to wait if St. Joe is willing to sell the land now. That position is echoed by officials with St. Joe in Jacksonville.
''We've been working on this for a long time,'' said St. Joe spokesman Jerry Ray. ``Now is as good as anytime for the FDOT to seek the authority they need.''
DOT Secretary Denver Stutler urged lawmakers in an e-mail Monday to approve the deal. He told legislators that ``because of inflation alone, this is a great investment in Florida's future and the taxpayers of Florida.''
St. Joe has long-running ties with Gov. Jeb Bush. Brian Yablonski, who co-authored a book with Bush and was one of his top aides, is a vice president with St. Joe.
The governor praised the deal Monday, calling it a critical ``part of a strategy to identify and to lock down as best possible corridors for future expansion of the state.''
''If we can create a voluntary arrangement with one property owner or a handful rather than scores of them and secure it for the long term, that's a good thing,'' Bush said.
Rep. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who also sits on the budget panel, said state transportation officials have the ''burden of proof'' to show that it makes sense to buy the land now. But he said he has seen no reason to block the deal.
Negron also said he is not bothered by the fact that the state is buying the rights to property it may not even use, since many of the road projects aren't even on the state's five-year work program. DOT officials say the agency will be able to swap other land with St. Joe if it doesn't have the land it needs for roadways.
''I have confidence that the DOT has used its best judgment to determine where the roads will go,'' Negron said.
ST. JOE'S TIES TO BUSH
The St. Joe Co., Florida's largest private landowner, controls more than 800,000 acres, most of it in the Panhandle from just south of Tallahassee to the beaches of South Walton County.
The Jackonville-based company has long-running ties with Gov. Jeb Bush:
• St. Joe acquired 50 percent of the company run by Armando Codina, who was Bush's business partner before he became governor. St. Joe sold back its share to Codina last year.
• Brian Yablonski, who co-authored a book with Bush and was one of his top aides, is a vice president with St. Joe.
• Katie Muniz, the governor's former director of communications, left her employment with Bush in 2003 to work for St. Joe. She has since left the company.
• Bush appointed Peter Rummell, chairman, president and CEO of St. Joe, to the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, in 2003. His term ended earlier this year.
Masilotti's brother subpoenaed as probe expands
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
WEST PALM BEACH — A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the older brother of County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti, widening its probe of land deals pushed by the commissioner.
Paul Masilotti, a building inspector for the village of Wellington, has been summoned to testify, as has his personal lawyer, according to criminal attorneys retained by both men.
Also subpoenaed, the lawyers say: financial records concerning a Central Florida land purchase last year that involved an attorney for Palm Beach Aggregates, a major west county landowner. Two months before the land purchase, Palm Beach Aggregates won approval for a controversial 1,200-acre development with backing from Commissioner Masilotti.
The Central Florida land was purchased by Micco Eastern Holdings, a limited liability company whose manager is Robert D'Angio, a Royal Palm Beach lawyer. Paul Masilotti is a D'Angio client. Attorneys for both D'Angio and the commissioner's brother won't say who bankrolled the company's $7.7 million cash purchase of the property — or why this year's property tax bill was paid with a personal check from Paul Masilotti.
Since June, the grand jury has been scrutinizing Tony Masilotti's participation in multimillion-dollar land deals in Royal Palm Beach and rural Martin County. The now-mushrooming probe was triggered by stories in The Palm Beach Post documenting how a secret Masilotti family trust profited from a 3,000-acre Martin County land acquisition by the South Florida Water Management District. Masilotti had lobbied district officials for the $40 million purchase without revealing his family's interest in the deal, district officials said.
Masilotti has denied any wrongdoing in those deals. He did not return phone messages Monday concerning the latest developments in the grand jury probe.
Federal authorities now are examining Masilotti's pivotal role in the county's approval of 2,000 homes and up to 50,000 square feet of commercial space on Palm Beach Aggregates' land. Until then, development had been limited to houses.
While issuing subpoenas for Paul Masilotti and D'Angio last week, federal agents also quizzed top Wellington officials and collected records of the village's aborted attempt to annex Palm Beach Aggregates' property. Earlier, the same grand jury subpoenaed the water management district's records of its land purchased from the company.
Both Wellington and Palm Beach Aggregates' property are in the heart of Commissioner Masilotti's district. He had encouraged the village to annex the property for residential development, village records show.
But when the council postponed the annexation, Masilotti turned on the village, launching an offensive to stop it from annexing not just Palm Beach Aggregates' property, but the vast sugar cane fields beyond.
"I think this is the tip of the iceberg here; I don't think this is the whole enchilada," he told county commissioners April 22, 2004. "I think we've got some serious concerns as to thousands upon thousands upon thousands of acres to the west also going in. And while Wellington is a wonderful community, I don't know that turning control over to 30,000 or 40,000 building lots in the future without having any say-so from this board is in the best interest."
Joined by Commissioners Karen Marcus and Mary McCarty, Masilotti launched a campaign to block any future annexation by Wellington without the county commission's blessing. As part of the strategy, county staff was directed to negotiate with Palm Beach Aggregates for development comparable to what it had sought from the village — as long as the company agreed to keep the land unincorporated and under the county commission's control.
Marcus said it is customary to support other commissioners concerning matters within their districts. So on a motion from Masilotti, the commission in April 2004 voted 6-1 to have county staff negotiate with Palm Beach Aggregates.
After that vote, Masilotti was absent when staff sought various commission approvals for Palm Beach Aggregates' development, including a key vote that December, when the county's master plan was amended to allow the development. The amendment was approved by the commission in a 5-0 vote, with Marcus and Masilotti absent, meeting minutes show.
As the development advanced, a corporation called Micco Eastern Holdings was formed — the company that now figures in the federal investigation.
Micco Eastern, state records show, was registered Nov. 22, 2004, by John McCracken, a prominent West Palm Beach attorney who for years has represented Palm Beach Aggregates and Enrique Tomeu, president of the company.
On Feb. 23, 2005, the company reported McCracken had become its manager. Five days later, Micco Eastern purchased 305 acres in southern Brevard County for $7.7 million, property records show.
The land, now zoned for agricultural purposes, is bound to become even more valuable if a planned Interstate 95 interchange is constructed nearby. The property is on the outskirts of Palm Bay, one of Brevard's fastest-growing communities.
Calvin Brown, attorney for seller Bradley Stanton Dismukes, said the company solely was represented by McCracken in the deal. "I don't have any idea who they are," Brown said of Micco Eastern.
McCracken won't say who put up the money for the land. "Attorney-client privilege," he told The Post. "It is true that I have represented Palm Beach Aggregates and Enrique Tomeu in the past, but beyond that I really cannot comment."
Tomeu did not return messages left Monday at Palm Beach Aggregates headquarters.
On April 29, 2005, Micco Eastern reported to the state that McCracken had been replaced by Robert D'Angio as its manager. D'Angio handled the closing for Commissioner Masilotti's former home in Royal Palm Beach, courthouse records show. Royal Palm Beach records show he was involved in a private land purchase in that village from the Diocese of Palm Beach — another deal pushed by the commissioner that's now under investigation.
Glenn Mitchell, D'Angio's newly retained attorney, said D'Angio first was subpoenaed several weeks ago for Micco Eastern's records — then again last week for his testimony. Mitchell said he has challenged the second subpoena in federal court, hoping to get it quashed or have the questioning limited.
"He wants to cooperate, but he doesn't want to get in trouble over attorney-client confidentiality," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said D'Angio has no financial interest in Micco Eastern, that he essentially was an administrator. Mitchell would not identify who was behind the company, citing the investigation.
He also declined to identify the source of the cash to purchase the Brevard County property and why Paul Masilotti paid the property taxes. Records show Paul Masilotti paid the $1,045.83 tax bill on Feb. 2, using a check from a personal Washington Mutual bank account. A copy of the check was obtained from the Brevard County tax collector.
Paul Masilotti's attorney, Mitchell Beers, said he, too, was fighting the federal subpoenas. He declined further comment.
Kempthorne, Gov. Bush, environmentalists leaders meet
ORLANDO, Fla., (AP) -- Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Gov. Jeb Bush promoted cooperation between government and the private sector on environmental conservation Monday during a tour designed to gather input from citizens on federal environmental programs.
Kempthorne, Bush and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said the 24-city tour designed to forge new partnerships between groups - business, government and environmental activists - that haven't always agreed during environmental debates.
The concept of cooperative conservation was President Bush's idea to move "away from the old environmental debate that pits one group against another," Kempthorne told a crowd of over 100 people.
But environmental activists, who said previous tour stops have featured "hand-picked opponents" of protection laws, dominated Monday's hearing with pleas that President Bush's administration fully fund and enforce existing laws such as the Endangered Species Act.
Laws to promote cooperation on conservation already exist, and shouldn't substitute for environmental laws that protect manatees, Florida panthers and other fragile wildlife, activists said.
A high-growth state with hundreds of people moving in everyday, Florida has a challenge in finding a balance between promoting growth, regulating development and protecting the environment.
Bush called environmental conservation a "core value of the state of Florida."
"We have man-made reservoirs in a place without mountains," Bush said. "I think that shows our commitment."
He praised the state's record as having the largest land purchasing programs in the country, and said Florida was already a model for other states because of efforts to protect lands surrounding military bases in a way that preserves the environment and benefits military training.
Strict laws that require adequate roads and water supplies to be available in order for developments to be approved are in place, Bush said.
Johnson and Kempthorne praised efforts of both Bushs.
"President Bush has shown great leadership on conservation efforts," Kempthorne said.
Activists with the Defenders of Wildlife group said the Bush administration has consistently cut funding for conservation programs.
"As in past years the president has used his budget to shortchange key conservation programs through funding cuts and budgetary gimmicks, seriously jeopardizing our wildlife and public land," the Defenders of Wildlife said in a statement.
Patrick Rose, an aquatic biologist and executive director of Save the Manatee Club, called for a level playing field for both developers and environmental concerns.
"Our current laws are already set up to do that," he said.
Rose added that when he was an administrator with the state's environmental agency he worked with developers to find solutions.
But often politics, such as funding cuts, ended up influencing a decision and trumping the science, Rose said.
A Tallahassee lawyer, however, spoke out against the improper application of endangered species laws.
"In some parts of the state we've seen an extension beyond its limits," said Doug Rillstone. "It really applies to individual species and the habitat that they occupy. When agencies start regulating habitats that they don't occupy, that creates a burden on people who want to use their property."
Global warming rallies
school
BY KATE BRENNAN
FLORIDA TODAY
On a projector nearly the size of a movie screen, 17-year-old Josh Humphries showed fellow Eau Gallie High students how the Florida peninsula could disappear underwater if global warming continues.
"Think about this on a global scale, think about how this will affect us," Josh urged his classmates, during one of six presentations he gave in the school's auditorium last week.
"When we're in our mid-60s, we will have less land to live on," he said.
Josh, a junior, became concerned about the consequences of global warming, including loss of wildlife and climate changes, after he watched "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary on the topic, this summer.
He immediately went home and swapped incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones and unplugged appliances that weren't in use -- simple ways, he told fellow Eau Gallie High students, to conserve energy, decrease carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the threat of global warming.
Still, he wanted to do more.
So, during the past few months, Josh researched the topic and created a slideshow of maps, photos and weather patterns that illustrate what's happening now and what could happen.
Josh's presentations kicked off an energy conservation drive and fluorescent light bulb fundraiser at the school to promote better energy habits among students and their families. Money raised from the fundraiser will support the school's science department and environmental club.
"We've always done the traditional overpriced candy and wrapping paper sales, but this year we decided to do, not only something more meaningfully, but also something that will have a positive effect on the community," said Emily Torlak, science teacher and sponsor for the school's environmental club.
After learning from Josh's presentation that global warming could cause the extinction of penguins and polar bears, 15-year-old Levi Walrath said he wants to buy fluorescent light bulbs for his house.
"It makes me want to switch every light bulb and it makes me mad at people who could care less," said Levi, a freshman.
But Jonathan Lopez, also a freshman, wasn't convinced that saving energy would "make much difference."
"We're just trying to make our lives longer, but death is coming to everyone," the 14-year-old said. "It's too much effort to try and save ourselves when life on Earth is going to be extinct eventually."
Sophomore Virginia Valssick said Josh's effort to spread awareness to young people about the dangers of global warming is important.
"We're the ones who are going to be able to do something about it, so we need to talk about it," she said.
Contact Brennan at 242-3722 or kbrennan@flatoday.net.
Chassahowitzka effluent tests prove inconclusive
By Jim HunterTests to detect effluent from septic tanks on the upper Chassahowitzka River this spring have proven inconclusive.
That’s according to an August report by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on two tests done in March and May using traditional and experimental techniques.
“Overall, the results from this work do not provide a definite indicator of direct septic tank inputs, their quantified loads or direct evidence of human health concerns,” the report read.
State Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, had requested the tests in an effort to get definitive results once and for all about whether septic systems in Chassahowitzka were posing a health threat, something that has been alleged for years and that has resulted in an effort to take a county sewer line to the southwest Citrus community.
Argenziano said the report was “ambiguous” at best and seemed to show no evidence of a health threat.
Though it has been suspected for some time, definitive data showing pollution by septic tank pollution has not been evident in tests.
For effluent bacteriological indicators, the recent tests used E. Coli, Enterococci and Clostridium perfingens, which are all found in the waste of both humans and warm-blooded animals. The experimental part of the tests measured what’s called optical brightener dyes in the water. The dyes are in most laundry detergents and typically go into septic tanks and so can be an indicator of septic tank effluent.
The water is checked for brightener and correlated to the bacteriological samples. If both are high, that’s an indicator effluent is present.
The first samples were done at low tide March 15 and 16 and May 9 and 10. Bacteriological samples were taken at 10 stations. The second test was done with more sensitive equipment available in May. The report stated the May bacteriological counts were much higher than those in March because of rain less than 24 hours before.
While there were differences in the brightener across the canals system in the upper river, the indicator was greater in the three eastern canals, compared with the 10 southern canals, suggesting there is a greater input of human effluent along the eastern canals, the report said.
The highest brightener presence was found near and just downstream of the Chassahowitzka Main Spring (site 5), Chassahowitzka No. 1 spring (site 6) and the mouth of Crab Spring Run.
That was unexpected, the report read, attributing it to either the cumulative impact of upstream waters, submarine groundwater discharge or interference from non-human sources. Sites 5 and 6 also reported the highest counts of Enterococci, suggesting, the report read, that the higher presence of brightener at those sampling stations came from human sources.
Despite that correlation, however, the report stated that the brightener indicators did not correlate well with any of the traditional bacteriological indicators.
The report concluded: “Traditional bacteriological indicators continue to demonstrate little utility in isolating point sources of human effluent from leaking onsite sewage treatment disposal systems.” It read there are other more specific testing methods that could be used, but they are costly and time-consuming.
The report stated optical brightener tests did provide results that suggest certain areas within the Chassahowitzka springs and canal system may be receiving the effluent, presumably from septic tanks.
But “any definitive conclusions must be treated with caution,” the report stated.
Public Invited to Water Supply Workshop
September 25, 2006The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners is holding a public
workshop Sept. 26 at 9 a.m. in the Crestview Courthouse to present
the Northwest Florida Water Management District’s Alternative
Water Supply Study.
In 2004, the Board requested the Water District evaluate alternative
water supply sources to service the citizens and future generations
of Okaloosa County.
The report, produced by the District through grants funds, is
intended to provide initial assessment and conceptual planning level
cost estimates to help evaluate the feasibility of several inland
surface water supply alternatives.
By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER
Jackson County Floridan
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Merritt's Mill Pond is on the Jackson County Commission's agenda for
discussion at today's 6 p.m. meeting and not just once.
The board is scheduled to hear updates on two matters related to the pond ? the mucky condition of the water and a recent tree removal operation that is said to have been in violation of the county's comprehensive code.
The Department of Environmental Protection is also involved in the tree-removal incident, according to DEP representative Jess Van Dyke.
He said the agency is scheduled to meet soon with Fate Brown, who owns the property, to negotiate the terms of a possible settlement if it is determined that DEP regulations were violated when dozens of cypress trees were cut on the bank and at water's edge along the pond.
In a memo to a county staff member, Van Dyke wrote that "DEP regulations have been violated, and we will meet with Fate Brown, his contractors, and attorney soon. We will pursue replanting cypress, protecting the cypress stumps to allow re-growth, protection of the shoreline vegetation, and possible fines. It will depend on the negotiations and any extenuating circumstances. Litigation is a last resort, but is not out of the question."
Brown, on the other hand, maintains he had the trees cut believing he had the right to do so.
He said in an interview with the Floridan a few weeks ago that he had received verbal assurance by telephone from someone at DEP that he was within his rights to cut the trees. He said he has provided the agency with phone records and other material that will help verify his claim.
County staff members have explained why they believe the tree cuttings went against local regulations.
County Code Enforcement Officer Mel Roberts and Community Development Director Joan Schairer indicated in a memo to county commissioners that the property owner "clear-cut property on hill side down to water's edge and cut down approximately 75-80 cypress trees on bank and into water. This is a violation of the 50-foot buffer required by the Jackson County Comprehensive Plan. No development orders or permits were requested for this development."
Van Dyke is not expected to speak on the tree-removal issue Tuesday, but will be there to discuss the general condition of the pond.
Several people who own property along its banks, and others have complained about the abundance of non-native plants and other problems that make it difficult for the public to enjoy the pond.
Van Dyke said he plans to present information that could guide the county in its effort to restore the pond to a more usable condition.
The tree removal issue is expected to be taken up late in the county meeting, while the discussion about the general condition of the pond is set for discussion early in the session.
Ocala National Forest recreation committee forming
Regular visitors to the Ocala National Forest may be interested in a new committee being formed by the USDA Forest Service.
The service is creating a Southern Region Recreation Resource Advisory Committee to discuss fees for recreational activities in the national forests. The service is accepting nominations for the 11 volunteer positions. Each member must represent forest-related interests such as camping, motorized recreation, wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing, environmental groups, guides and tourism interests.
Applicants will serve two- or three-year terms and must provide background information to the forest service. Travel expenses to the meetings would be reimbursed.
Appointments will be based on past experience in working with groups and what the nominee could contribute to the committee, according to a forest service news release.
More information and nomination packets are available at www.fs.fed.us/passespermits/rrac or by contacting Caroline Mitchell at (501) 321-5318 or email at r8_rrac@fs.fed.us. Completed forms should be returned by Oct. 23 to Recreation RAC Nomination, P.O. Box 1270, Hot Springs, AR 71902.
Street closing sparks debate
By Terry WittThe ongoing debate about whether to close a public street in Old Homosassa may or may not be settled at today’s county commission meeting, but there is no shortage of new twists and turns in the case.
A public hearing is set for 3 p.m. to decide if a portion of West Seminole Point should be closed, but an attorney for the couple who petitioned to vacate the street asked for a postponement of the hearing late last week.
Attorney Larry Haag said he requested the delay because he was hired just last week and there are many issues that need to be researched before the facts are known. Haag represents Patricia and Gerald Roth, who petitioned to vacate the street.
At about the same time Haag requested the delay, a septic tank belonging to Ho-mosassa Seafood, which sits partly on the Roths’ property and partly on the right-of-way of West Seminole Point, overflowed onto the street. Roth filed a complaint with the health department.
But because the septic tank rests partially on Roth’s property (he says illegally) and partly on West Seminole right-of-way, both Roth and the county were cited for the violation. The county pumped out the septic tank and Alton Pierce, who owns the tank (but wasn’t cited), is replacing a pump that failed.
A county survey crew spent Monday searching for corner stakes to determine what has been constructed on the county right-of-way of West Seminole Point.
The Homosassa River Alliance has weighed in about the issue of closing the street. The alliance said the main issue is whether to close one of the remaining public access routes to the Homosassa River. They agree with county staff that closing the street violates the comprehensive plan and Old Homosassa Overlay District.
Alliance members also are questioning whether there were political influences at work when the continuance was requested. If the controversial case were to be postponed until December, as Haag has requested, Commission Chairman Gary Bartell, who lives in Homosassa, would not vote on the issue until after the election.
Alliance President Patricia Watkins said the Roths have been pushing to vacate West Seminole Point since March. She said there is no legitimate reason to postpone today’s public hearing.
“To postpone it when Mr. Roth has been pushing real hard for a long time to vacate the street doesn’t make sense,” Watkins said. “I don’t see anything to be gained except for a political one, or to wear us out.”
Patricia Roth said politics has nothing to do with the request for a postponement. She said Haag asked for the delay without consulting her or her husband.
“I had no idea until I read your newspaper that my attorney had asked for a continuance,” she said. “There’s no politics.”
Haag said the case involves many issues, including stormwater runoff, and who owns what in the area of West Seminole Point.
He said the county claims West Seminole Point goes all the way to the Homosassa River, but he said he isn’t so sure. He said Homosassa Seafood has been paying taxes on the waterfront property the county claims it owns at the end of West Seminole.
Pierce said the same thing Monday. He said he owns the waterfront property the county claims at the far end of West Seminole Point next to his fish house. He said his fuel tank sits on the property. But the county claims West Seminole Point extends all the way to the waterfront.
Haag said he believes it may be possible for Pierce and the Roths to compromise on the use of the street right-of-way, but to arrive at that point, he said he has to sit down with Clark Stillwell, Pierce’s attorney, to discuss the issues.
“It’s going to take it way past the election to figure out some of this stuff,” he said.
Part of the problem is that the original Old Homosassa subdivision plat from 1886 was rarely followed, Haag said.
“You got roads built where houses should be and houses built where roads should be,” Haag said.
He said the original plat map was filed while Old Homosassa was still part of Hernando County. A year later, in 1887, Citrus County was formed.
Haag said he was county attorney in 1985 when a consulting firm was hired to straighten out the discrepancies on the Old Homosassa plat. But he said it’s still a mess.
Haag’s clients would benefit if it is determined that West Seminole Point does not extend to the river. He said that would eliminate much of the controversy about comprehensive plan and overlay district violations.
But it would not eliminate Pierce’s claim that if the remainder of West Seminole Point is vacated, he would lose access to his fish house on the river. Haag said he doesn’t think Pierce would be affected in the way he claims. He said he would still be able to use the other half of West Seminole Point vacated years ago.
Eustis receives tree grantNicole King
Staff Writer
EUSTIS - The city of Eustis is getting some help restoring its famous tree canopy. The U.S.D.A. and the Florida Division of Forestry is giving the Eustis a $75,000 grant to help pay for replacing trees that were damaged during the 2004 hurricane season.
The grant from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service and the Division of Forestry was given through the 2005 Emergency Hurricane Supplemental Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program and is slated to help fund the planting of 75 trees. Eustis has also committed $35,420 for additional trimming and pruning of existing trees.
John Futch, Eustis Public Works director, said the city lost more than 100 trees during the hurricane season two years ago. This grant will help avoid similar damage in the event of another big storm, he said.
"The money will help pay for pruning. That helps," he said. "It keeps your deadwood out and keeps it from doing so much damage."
A previous grant paid for arborists to perform a tree survey in the city.
"The grant before this one paid for them to look at every tree in the city - the location, the type, the size, and the condition and that gave us a list of those that needed to be pruned and those that are hazardous," said Bobbie Denlinger, grant administrator for the city.
The recently completed tree survey will serve as a guide for the planting and pruning plans.
S. Florida home sales keep falling
South Florida's housing market continued to struggle in August. Nationwide, the price for existing homes went down for the first time in 11 years.
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com
Sherri Wells put her one-bedroom waterfront condominium in Fort Lauderdale up for sale in February. Seven months and four price cuts later, she's still waiting for a buyer.
She and many other home sellers are by now all too familiar with the languid pace of South Florida's housing market, which continued through August with no end in sight.
''At first I would at least get four or five calls over a weekend,'' said Wells, who is trying to sell the condo for $265,000 after getting married and moving elsewhere. ``Now I am not getting any calls.''
The numbers released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors showed that in Broward, prices for condos and houses were either flat or down from both last month and last year. It was the same story in Miami-Dade, with one exception: Prices for single-family homes were still 6 percent higher than in August last year.
The housing slowdown also continues to play out across the country. For the first time in more than a decade, the national price for an existing home dropped from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
''We are trying to find the bottom,'' said Mike Pappas, chief executive and president of The Keyes Co., which sells homes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. ``The sooner we get there, the better we will all be.''
FLAGGING SALES
The broad trend in South Florida remains flagging sales but not steep price drops -- although there are signs of prices weakening. Prices for Miami-Dade condos, a closely watched sector because of concerns about speculation and overbuilding, have dropped in the last two months compared to a year ago.
What was once a sellers' market now favors buyers, as the number of homes on the market continued to rise in August. That number is now four times what it was for houses and condominiums in Broward, for example, and three times higher for Miami-Dade.
A big culprit: sluggish sales.
Sales for single-family homes were down 37 percent in Miami-Dade and 27 percent in Broward from a year ago. Sales for condos were down 30 percent in Miami-Dade and 33 percent in Broward.
The Florida Association of Realtors does not track sales in the Florida Keys.
For prices, the median cost for an existing single-family home in August stood at $378,800 in Miami-Dade. That is up 6 percent from last year and basically flat compared to July. For Broward it was $362,800, down 6 percent from last year and down 4 percent from July.
The median is the point at which half are above and half below.
A median priced condo in August sold for $249,800 in Miami-Dade, down 3 percent from a year ago and flat from July. In Broward, a median priced condo sold for $204,300, up 1 percent from last year and down 2 percent from July.
''It remains to be seen how much further a decline in sales will go,'' said David Dabby, a real estate analyst in Coral Gables who predicted prices will stay stagnant, but the condo market may see price drops.
How long and deep the trough will go remains an open question. The market may cool off further in part because of the size and duration of the boom. But unemployment and mortgage rates remain low. The average fixed rate 30-year mortgage stands at 6.40 percent.
Many observers say prices moved beyond what many buyers could afford and investors and speculators finally pulled out of the market.
Some say primary buyers got spooked and are on the sidelines waiting for the market to settle down.
TAX SHOCKER
For Sherri Wells, however, a willing buyer could not come any sooner. After Wells moved out, her property tax increases for the condo were no longer capped because it was no longer her primary residence.
As a result, she said her property taxes shot up from $890 a year to more than $4,000.
''There is no way I could ever charge enough rent to cover what the mortgage and taxes have become,'' she said. ``They are not making any more waterfront properties, so it would be a great place to keep. But not with the property taxes -- I am trying to sell as soon as I can.''
Slump In Housing Sales Deepens
Published: Sep 26, 2006
Sales of existing homes fell nationally for the fifth consecutive month in August as the once-booming housing market slowed further, and the drop in formerly hot Florida was even more marked.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that existing home sales slipped by 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.30 million units.
The slowdown in sales was weighing on home prices, with the median price of an existing home sold in August dropping to $225,000, 1.7 percent below August 2005. It marked the first year-over-year price decline in more than 11 years.
Still, the price decline "should be viewed in the context of the 111 percent leap that occurred from early 1995 through this summer," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc., a New York forecasting firm. "It should not be a huge shock that we are seeing a price correction."
The Florida Association of Realtors said 14,736 existing single-family homes sold last month, a decrease of 34 percent from the 22,421 homes sold in August 2005. Each of the state's 20 largest metropolitan areas saw a drop in sales for the second straight month.
The state Realtors' group said the drop was partly attributed to rising mortgage rates and buyers seeking other options as some are priced out of the market. Statewide, the existing-home median price remained unchanged at $248,400 from August of last year.
The weakness in national existing home sales followed a report last week that construction of new homes and apartments plunged by 6 percent in August, pushing building activity to the lowest level since early 2003.
The housing sector, which had enjoyed five boom years of record sales, has been slowing sharply this year with rising mortgage rates and a slowing economy.
David Lereah, the Realtors' chief economist, said the drop in prices had been expected, indicating that sellers finally are starting to lower their asking prices in the face of weaker sales and soaring inventories.
The inventory of unsold homes rose 1.5 percent to an all-time high of 3.92 million units. At the August sales pace, it would take 7 1/2 months to sell the backlog of unsold homes, representing the longest period since April 1993.
Lereah predicted prices likely would keep declining for the rest of the year.
"We do expect an adjustment in home prices to last several months as we work through a buildup in the inventory," he said. "With sales stabilizing, we should go back to positive price growth early next year."
Not everyone agrees.
"There is worse news in the pipeline," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y. "With inventory still rising, there is no chance of any short-term relief. Prices and volumes have a long way to fall yet."
Sales of single-family homes were unchanged at an annual rate of 5.51 million units in August, the same as July. This sales pace was 12.3 percent lower than a year ago, however.
Sales of condominiums fell 3.5 percent to an annual rate of 793,000 units, which represented a 14.5 percent drop from the condo sales pace in August 2005.
By region of the country, sales of existing homes rose 1.9 percent in the Northeast to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million units in August. The median price for a home sold in the Northeast was $271,000, down 3.9 percent from August 2005.
Existing home sales in the Midwest rose 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.44 million units with the median price dropping to $176,000, 1.1 percent below a year ago.
Sales in the South fell by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 2.51 million units with the median price falling to $184,000, down 2.6 percent from a year ago.
Sales in the West fell by 2.3 percent in August to an annual rate of 1.29 million units with the median price dropping to $345,000, up 0.3 percent from a year ago.
Information from Bloomberg News was used in this report
Home prices fall into seven-year ditch
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The price of an existing home in Palm Beach County dropped for the first time in more than seven years, according to a Florida Association of Realtors report released Monday, while the number of unsold homes has more than tripled in a year.
The median price of an existing home in Palm Beach County fell 6 percent, to a median of $386,000 from $411,400 in August 2005, the report shows. The last time county used-home prices fell year-over-year was in February 1999, according to association archives.
Home prices fall into seven-year ditch
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The price of an existing home in Palm Beach County dropped for the first time in more than seven years, according to a Florida Association of Realtors report released Monday, while the number of unsold homes has more than tripled in a year.
The median price of an existing home in Palm Beach County fell 6 percent, to a median of $386,000 from $411,400 in August 2005, the report shows. The last time county used-home prices fell year-over-year was in February 1999, according to association archives.
The median is the midpoint at which half of the homes cost more and half cost less.
The number of existing homes sold has fallen steadily throughout 2006 as the five-year housing boom wound down. But prices continued rising, albeit more slowly, turning the traditional supply-and-demand theory on its head.
Analysts kept saying home prices eventually would fall; they just didn't know when. Monday's report confirmed that.
Adding to the bleak picture, Palm Beach County led the state in declining home sales, with only half as many home buyers closing on purchases last month as in August 2005. Buyers closed on 655 home sales in August, compared with 1,319 in August 2005.
The decline followed a 44 percent drop in sales in July, year over year, and a 33 percent decline in June.
"There isn't much positive to highlight," said Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. "And all that occurred despite a recent downtick in interest rates and a general lack of serious hurricane activity, though we did have an Ernesto scare at the end of the month."
Meanwhile, the number of unsold homes in Palm Beach County continues to rise, according to a local real estate company's analysis of Multiple Listing Service records. In August, 28,182 homes were for sale — more than three times the number on the market in August 2005.
"The majority of home sellers are not highly motivated or accepting of today's realities in the marketplace," said Scott Agran, president/broker of Lang Realty in Boca Raton. "They are willing to remain aggressively overpriced at levels that exceed last year's sales prices."
Those attitudes will keep home sales artificially depressed until sellers "price their homes correctly," Agran said.
In Martin and St. Lucie counties, home prices posted a decline for the third straight month, with the median price falling to $251,900 from $267,600 in August 2005, a 6 percent drop. Sales fell to 387 from 741 in August 2005, a 48 percent drop.
Despite August's price declines, many buyers have been kept out of the housing-ownership market, especially first-time buyers and communities' so-called "essential workforce": teachers, firefighters, nurses and other such occupations.
"Affordability in its broadest sense is the number one concern," said Manuel Iraola, president of Homekeys.net, an online real estate company.
"It is easy to buy the elephant," Iraola said. "Mortgage rates are still reasonable. The challenge is to feed the elephant in an environment where wages and income are not keeping up with outrageous property taxes, property insurance and overall energy costs."
Indeed, after five years of double-digit appreciation and through-the-roof sales, the real estate slump is spreading statewide. Existing home sales in August fell in all 20 markets, and home prices fell in 12 of them.
Panama City, in the Panhandle, got hit with the steepest rate of price declines, at 15 percent. Gainesville home prices rose 13 percent, the largest increase.
To the south, Broward County home prices dipped 6 percent, just as they did in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, to a median of $362,800 from $387,000 in August 2005. In Miami-Dade County, the median price of an existing home reversed that trend and rose 6 percent, to $378,800 from $356,900.
Some analysts say September is the month to watch, noting that August sales were based on contracts written mostly in June, when interest rates were at their highest point in years, and a lot of potential buyers were distracted going into storm season.
"As interest rates have fallen sharply since June, look for sales to pick up," said Jim Sahnger, vice president of Palm Beach Financial Network in Sewall's Point. "Many open houses have been busy recently, seeing a steady stream of buyers as people are interested in looking at houses again instead of storm tracks."
Not all analysts agree, however.
"We'll have to watch and see whether home sales respond to the recent slump in mortgage rates, roughly a quarter to a half a percentage point, and to gas prices," said Larson, of Weiss Research.
Statewide, the number of homes sold dropped 34 percent in August, to 14,736, while prices held steady at a median of $248,400.
Nationwide, existing-home sales dropped 13 percent, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price fell 2 percent in August to $225,000, the first price decline in more than 11 years.
The backlog of unsold U.S. homes rose 1.5 percent in August to a record 3.92 million, which would take 7.5 months to sell, the association said.
The number of condominiums sold also declined in August, with drops posted across the board and prices mixed.
In Palm Beach County, existing-condo sales fell 33 percent, to 515, while the median price rose 18 percent, to $220,300. Treasure Coast condo sales fell 26 percent, to 84, while the median price rose nearly 15 percent, to $226,700.
Florida condo sales fell 41 percent, to 4,375, while the median price declined 2 percent, to $201,300. U.S. condo sales fell 14 percent, to 793,000, while prices rose 2 percent, to $223,200.
The slowdown in existing-home sales follows last week's report that new-home construction had plunged in August to its lowest level since early 2003.
The median is the midpoint at which half of the homes cost more and half cost less.
The number of existing homes sold has fallen steadily throughout 2006 as the five-year housing boom wound down. But prices continued rising, albeit more slowly, turning the traditional supply-and-demand theory on its head.
Analysts kept saying home prices eventually would fall; they just didn't know when. Monday's report confirmed that.
Adding to the bleak picture, Palm Beach County led the state in declining home sales, with only half as many home buyers closing on purchases last month as in August 2005. Buyers closed on 655 home sales in August, compared with 1,319 in August 2005.
The decline followed a 44 percent drop in sales in July, year over year, and a 33 percent decline in June.
"There isn't much positive to highlight," said Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. "And all that occurred despite a recent downtick in interest rates and a general lack of serious hurricane activity, though we did have an Ernesto scare at the end of the month."
Meanwhile, the number of unsold homes in Palm Beach County continues to rise, according to a local real estate company's analysis of Multiple Listing Service records. In August, 28,182 homes were for sale — more than three times the number on the market in August 2005.
"The majority of home sellers are not highly motivated or accepting of today's realities in the marketplace," said Scott Agran, president/broker of Lang Realty in Boca Raton. "They are willing to remain aggressively overpriced at levels that exceed last year's sales prices."
Those attitudes will keep home sales artificially depressed until sellers "price their homes correctly," Agran said.
In Martin and St. Lucie counties, home prices posted a decline for the third straight month, with the median price falling to $251,900 from $267,600 in August 2005, a 6 percent drop. Sales fell to 387 from 741 in August 2005, a 48 percent drop.
Despite August's price declines, many buyers have been kept out of the housing-ownership market, especially first-time buyers and communities' so-called "essential workforce": teachers, firefighters, nurses and other such occupations.
"Affordability in its broadest sense is the number one concern," said Manuel Iraola, president of Homekeys.net, an online real estate company.
"It is easy to buy the elephant," Iraola said. "Mortgage rates are still reasonable. The challenge is to feed the elephant in an environment where wages and income are not keeping up with outrageous property taxes, property insurance and overall energy costs."
Indeed, after five years of double-digit appreciation and through-the-roof sales, the real estate slump is spreading statewide. Existing home sales in August fell in all 20 markets, and home prices fell in 12 of them.
Panama City, in the Panhandle, got hit with the steepest rate of price declines, at 15 percent. Gainesville home prices rose 13 percent, the largest increase.
To the south, Broward County home prices dipped 6 percent, just as they did in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, to a median of $362,800 from $387,000 in August 2005. In Miami-Dade County, the median price of an existing home reversed that trend and rose 6 percent, to $378,800 from $356,900.
Some analysts say September is the month to watch, noting that August sales were based on contracts written mostly in June, when interest rates were at their highest point in years, and a lot of potential buyers were distracted going into storm season.
"As interest rates have fallen sharply since June, look for sales to pick up," said Jim Sahnger, vice president of Palm Beach Financial Network in Sewall's Point. "Many open houses have been busy recently, seeing a steady stream of buyers as people are interested in looking at houses again instead of storm tracks."
Not all analysts agree, however.
"We'll have to watch and see whether home sales respond to the recent slump in mortgage rates, roughly a quarter to a half a percentage point, and to gas prices," said Larson, of Weiss Research.
Statewide, the number of homes sold dropped 34 percent in August, to 14,736, while prices held steady at a median of $248,400.
Nationwide, existing-home sales dropped 13 percent, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price fell 2 percent in August to $225,000, the first price decline in more than 11 years.
The backlog of unsold U.S. homes rose 1.5 percent in August to a record 3.92 million, which would take 7.5 months to sell, the association said.
The number of condominiums sold also declined in August, with drops posted across the board and prices mixed.
In Palm Beach County, existing-condo sales fell 33 percent, to 515, while the median price rose 18 percent, to $220,300. Treasure Coast condo sales fell 26 percent, to 84, while the median price rose nearly 15 percent, to $226,700.
Florida condo sales fell 41 percent, to 4,375, while the median price declined 2 percent, to $201,300. U.S. condo sales fell 14 percent, to 793,000, while prices rose 2 percent, to $223,200.
The slowdown in existing-home sales follows last week's report that new-home construction had plunged in August to its lowest level since early 2003.
County mulls concessions to developer
By DOUG SWORD
SARASOTA COUNTY -- Two years and nothing.By this time, 3,500 acres south of University Parkway were supposed to be well on their way to becoming the southern third of Lakewood Ranch. But rather than the beginnings of a New Urbanist, self-contained village, the expanse remains shell mines, farms and scrub.
After two years of contentious negotiations, developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and Sarasota County say they have reached an impasse. They can't agree how to proceed with development of the 5,500-home village.
The county's vision for three large villages east of Interstate 75 comes out of the Sarasota 2050 plan, which took several years to develop and was finalized more than two years ago.
While the 2050 plan allows development in the rural, eastern portion of the county, it makes heavy requirements on developers, most notably that at least 50 percent of the development be set aside for recreational and open spaces.
Despite SMR's involvement in crafting the law and earlier assertions that it would file plans by the end of 2004, the Lakewood Ranch developer has sought a series of concessions from the county and has yet to file a plan.
"I'm really, really tired of having spent it seems like half my career as a commissioner on 2050," said a frustrated Commissioner Shannon Staub. "And we're nowhere. We really aren't anywhere to getting to really seeing the village. Or even seeing an application."
At the heart of the dispute is the county's requirement that at least half the property be permanently set aside as green space, surrounding the village and giving it a unique identity while stopping sprawl beyond its borders.
The county wants all of that preserved land defined and set aside well before any construction starts. Meanwhile, SMR says it would be "impossible" to lay out the village so exactly on the front end since it could take a decade or more to build and sell the homes.
"We do want to move forward, but it's impossible for us to do so with the existing requirements," Todd Pokrywa, SMR's vice president of planning, told Sarasota County commissioners recently.
The developer is asking that it be allowed to put aside open space in phases as the project is built.
While county commissioners grumbled that they have already made concessions -- such as counting more than half a dozen large lakes toward the open space requirement -- they voted at a recent meeting to consider amending the 2050 plan to break the impasse.
A public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. Glatting Jackson, the Orlando firm that helped craft 2050, will present commissioners with options.
Attorneys for SMR and the county say there may be a way through crafting side agreements that would give the developer more flexibility without greatly eroding the guarantees to the county.
Voting against a compromise was Commissioner Nora Patterson, who pointed out that developers didn't complain about the requirement during numerous public meetings on Sarasota 2050. She also wondered if another compromise would be followed by another "make or break" ultimatum.
"I'm afraid what we're doing here is selling the concept down the river, and that's just as bad as waiting another few years for a village," she said.
County commissioners say they have put a lot on the table. Currently, the land for the proposed villages, much of it in agricultural use, can only be developed for large estate lots, typically one home for every five acres. By creating the village option, the county is allowing SMR to build 5,500 homes on about 3,500 acres.
The fear, said Commissioner Jon Thaxton, is a developer will get part way through the project, say it can't make a profit, and demand approval for cookie-cutter style subdivisions.
A modest proposal for shutting off Florida growth
Just so we're all clear, a newspaper column isn't really a newspaper column unless it is a mix of what we laughingly call reality along with assertions that fall within the more airy confines of opinion.
Readers who write to complain that something in a column is nothing more than somebody's opinion are out of sympathy not just with the writer, but with the writer's line of work.
Sort of like people who criticize rock lyrics for not making sense. They just don't get the act.
I get a lot of correspondence in that vein from people who object when I write about growth and civic planning in Florida, in particular, and the Sun Belt, in general.
They write that in characterizing sprawl as A Bad Thing, I am doing no more than grunting a personal opinion. Which is true enough. And I agree with them. I am advocating a personal preference about the kind of places I'd like to live.
The second-most-common thing they say is that by criticizing the fast-growth policies traditional in Florida cities, I want to slam the door shut behind me.
To which I also have a ready response: "Well, sure."
I would love to slam the door shut behind me.
Of course, I arrived in 1962 as a little kid and would not advocate capping Florida's population at Kennedy Era levels. That would be extreme. I'm a reasonable guy. I'd be willing to go up to, say, 1980.
I can even imagine a way to shut the door behind me. And it would have significant advantages.
It would separate people who really want to live here from those who are half-hearted. It would put cash in the pockets of regular people and would be a source of revenue for the state.
Yes, it has a few minor drawbacks. One is that it would be howlingly unconstitutional. But advocating things that are howlingly unconstitutional and daring the courts to say anything about it happens to be in style just now.
Anyway, here's the plan:
Everybody now in Florida can stick around. Fair's fair.
But nobody else can come in until somebody else moves out.
Now, Florida is an appealing place, and some people will want to move here regardless. In fact, knowing there will be less population pressure would make people want to come here all the more. That's OK.
It's OK because some people who moved here didn't do their homework. They are surprised at how hot August gets. They complain that nobody who lives within sight of a beach has a work ethic. They don't like going to places where you order lunch in Spanish. The wildlife, lightning and hurricanes scare them. The humidity oppresses them.
People like these could put their Florida Resident Certificates for sale on eBay. Maybe they'd sell them to a residential permit broker. The market would work out the details.
People who want to move here would buy the certificates, and sellers would have 30 days to clear out. I bet the proceeds would more than pay for relocation.
The state would get, say, 10 percent on the sale to pay for any new services the newcomers might demand.
Because state residency would now be worth a dollar figure, people would value living here more.
They'd take more pride in the place. They'd take more of an interest in what the Legislature and city commissions are doing to the value of their certificates.
What's more, the market price of a certificate would be an excellent gauge of the quality of life around here.
It is, as they say on TV, just crazy enough to work.
But that's just an opinion.
Expressway Panel Will Stay With Lobbyist
Published: Sep 26, 2006
The agency that built the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway will keep working with its lobbyist but might limit how much it pays him and what he does for the agency.
The Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority voted 6-1 Monday to rewrite its contract with lobbyist John Beck and his firm. Beck is paid $175 an hour per his contract, which has never been competitively bid. Last year, he and his firm billed the authority $282,000.
Authority members are considering having Beck work on a preset monthly wage scale and not bill the agency for each hour spent lobbying.
Board member Tom Scott, a Hillsborough County commissioner, voted against retaining Beck's contract, even with the possible changes.
He urged his peers to put the contract out for competitive bids, noting that their actions are under public scrutiny after a recommendation by the governor's office to review expenditures, including Beck's services.
"If we want to ensure the public's trust, we don't continue with the existing contract," Scott said.
Interim general counsel Rhea Law, who will oversee the pay negotiations, told board members that many authorities around the state employ lobbyists, but usually they are kept on retainer and receive far less compensation than Beck receives.
She cited one example of $80,000 yearly.
Also on Law's advice, the board agreed to pay him for work billed in July and August, about $23,000. Mary Hall, the authority's in-house lawyer, delayed the payment a few weeks ago when the governor's chief legal counsel, Raquel Rodriguez, launched an investigation into the authority's selection process for general counsel.
That bill, which was itemized, included a charge for a meeting Beck held with Gray Robinson, one of four law firms that vied for the general counsel job.
Rodriguez concluded that no legal wrongdoing happened regarding Beck, but her investigation cited "an appearance of impropriety" in awarding the legal services contract.
On the governor's recommendation, the board threw out all bids. At the same time, he recommended the state's auditor general to launch a deeper financial audit into the authority.
Board members might be able to vote on the pay changes at their next meeting in two weeks.
Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at rshopes@tampatrib.com or (813)259-7633.
Sierra Club Throws Clout Behind Davis
Published: Sep 26, 2006
While praising Attorney General Charlie Crist's environmental record, the Sierra Club on Monday endorsed U.S. Rep. Jim Davis in the governor's race.
The Sierra Club has 33,000 members in Florida and endorsed both men in their respective primaries.
It has considered both candidates to be allies for many years, political director Curt Levine said, but Davis was seen as stronger overall, especially on growth and planning issues.
"Jim has been there," Levine told reporters during a conference call. He also is a co-chairman of Davis' campaign in Orange County.
Davis used the endorsement to repeat his campaign theme that he is the candidate of change versus Crist, whom Davis says represents the status quo.
"Congestion and sprawl are a threat to our quality of life and to community," Davis said. "We will start thinking and planning more regionally when it comes to transportation, when it comes to water, when it comes to planning and parks."
The Crist campaign issued a statement in response citing his "solid record on environmental issues" including being the only nonlegislator to receive the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida's Legislative Conservation Award in 2005 for supporting marine fisheries conservation. He also fought offshore drilling by denying a permit to Coastal Petroleum Inc., a decision that survived a court fight.
Although the organization endorses more Democrats than Republicans, Levine said this was a difficult decision. Some members advocated a dual endorsement, he said, and a final decision didn't come until early Monday morning.
"We certainly appreciate Attorney General Crist's support on many issues. He was certainly the best candidate in Republican primary," Levine said. "From my vantage point, Jim Davis is clearly the superior candidate &hellip making sure Florida tackles the huge problems we have in the next several years."
Reporter Michael Fechter can be reached at (813) 259-7621 or mfechter@tampatrib.com.
Candidates split green groups' loyalties
Both gubernatorial nominees are garnering support on environmental issues.
Jason GarciaTallahassee Bureau
September 26, 2006
TALLAHASSEE -- Environmentalists helped carry Jim Davis to victory over sugar-industry-supported rival Rod Smith in the Democratic Party's primary for governor earlier this month.
But even as Davis touted a new endorsement Monday from a major conservation group, signs are emerging that Florida's environmental community, which typically tilts toward Democratic candidates, is splitting between Davis and Republican opponent Charlie Crist.
"From an environmental-record standpoint, it's about dead even," said Charles Lee, a veteran lobbyist for Audubon of Florida.
The Sierra Club, whose Florida political chair also works for Davis' campaign, endorsed Davis on Monday -- but only after a protracted internal debate during which some group members pushed hard to co-endorse Crist. And the decision to side with Davis swung in part on non-environmental issues, such as Davis' support for paper voting ballots.
Many environmental activists and lobbyists say Crist, the attorney general and former state senator, has been a strong ally over the years in efforts to preserve public land and restrict commercial fishing. They note that Crist was one of the few Republicans in Florida to publicly break ranks with Gov. Jeb Bush by opposing any new drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The Florida Wildlife Federation once named him its "Conservationist of the Year."
The environment is yet another realm in which Crist has staked out positions similar to those supported by Davis, making him a tough target for the Democrat in November.
Even the Save Our Everglades Trust, a political group that spent almost $740,000 on TV ads to help Davis win the Democratic nomination, might sit out the rest of the race.
The Trust's founder, Mary Barley, has publicly endorsed Crist over Democratic opponents in previous elections. And its other lead organizer, Thom Rumberger, said, "I don't know of a single thing that Charlie has been against in the Everglades or in the environment."
A defining issue
The environment emerged as a defining issue in the Democratic primary, and activists almost universally sided with Davis, a five-term congressman from Tampa.
Activists say Davis has been a leader in organizing the bipartisan opposition that has for years blocked efforts to expand oil and gas drilling off Florida's coast. Davis has also fought drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, promoted energy-efficiency measures and co-sponsored legislation to make power plants curb their greenhouse-gas emissions.
But many environmentalists were motivated in the primary just as much by their antipathy toward Smith, a state senator from Alachua.
They were outraged when the influential sugar industry, which has contributed to pollution in the Everglades, began bankrolling waves of TV, radio and mail advertising to help get Smith elected. State records show that the state's two largest growers -- U.S. Sugar Corp. and Flo-Sun Inc. -- and affiliated companies gave more than $4.2 million to a trio of political groups backing Smith, who had supported a 2003 law that spared sugar growers from meeting an Everglades cleanup deadline.
In a conference call with reporters Monday announcing the Sierra Club's endorsement, Davis said there were also profound environmental differences separating him and Crist, particularly on issues such as limiting coastal development and managing urban sprawl.
"Charlie Crist says we should stay the course with respect to our current policies," Davis said. "And I think we need a change."
Blurry distinctions
Many environmentalists, however, say the distinction isn't so stark.
Activists call Crist their strongest ally in the state Cabinet, which, along with the governor, is in charge of the state's biggest land-preservation program. They also say he has lead efforts to ban commercial net fishing and to stop large landowners from converting submerged land -- such as lakes, rivers and streams -- into private property.
"It was unusual to have Republicans that voted against that stuff, and he was consistent about it," said David Guest, the managing attorney in the Florida office of Earthjustice, who was worked with Crist on submerged-land issues.
Crist may also have neutralized Davis' strongest environmental advantage -- his work to block oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico -- by openly opposing plans endorsed by Bush that would allow some rigs off Florida's shores.
"It's hard to be stronger than Jim Davis on that issue, but I would say the attorney general at least comes close," said Mark Ferrulo, the director of Environment Florida, an offshoot of Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group).
Many people even seem willing to overlook the fact that Crist, like Smith, has benefited from heavy sugar-industry spending. U.S. Sugar, Flo-Sun and affiliates have plowed $600,000 into political organizations supporting Crist, according to state records.
But activists note that Crist supported a 1996 constitutional amendment that would have imposed a penny-per-pound tax on sugar to finance Everglades-restoration work, despite vehement opposition from the sugar industry. Davis opposed the amendment, which did not pass.
Crist claims never to have supported a new tax and sidesteps questions about the 1996 measure by referring to it as a fee. But his support for that referendum even spurred a group led by Barley to endorse Crist over the iconic Democratic Sen. Bob Graham during Crist's unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 1998.
Barley could not be reached for comment. But Rumberger, who has worked closely with her on Everglades causes, said both Crist and Davis "are very, very good on environmental issues."
Ferrulo, who has been involved with state environmental causes for 15 years, said he couldn't recall a governor's race that pitted two more ecologically sensitive candidates against each other.
"I think most environmental leaders would agree that these two candidates represent the best field for voters to choose from when it comes to environmental candidates, at least in my history," Ferrulo said.
Jason Garcia can be reached at 850-222-5564 or jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com.
Citizens Object To Heritage Pines Growth
Published: Sep 26, 2006
HUDSON - Today, county commissioners will consider expanding the community development district that serves Heritage Pines, despite residents' protests that the development needs to stop until Lennar Corp. resolves problems with irrigation water and the location of a second entrance.
"Lennar has not been held accountable by the county," said resident Larry Lampe.
Heritage Pines residents have complained to the county that Lennar has fallen short on its promises for the 1,300-home development just south of the Hernando County line.
In recent weeks, residents have told commissioners that the golf-course development doesn't have enough reclaimed water to irrigate private lawns reliably. They also want further development held off until Lennar opens a long-promised second entrance onto Hernando-Pasco County Line Road.
The CDD expansion will add 10 acres to the 1,000-acre development. The property was originally left out of Heritage Pines' CDD because it was going to be rental property, said Bill Kouwenhoven, Lennar's land acquisition manager.
In April, Lennar committed $190,000 to design and build a second entrance as part of the CDD expansion. The new road will have right-in, right-out access to County Line Road, according to Pasco County records.
County officials have told residents they will withhold occupancy permits for nearly 100 new homes planned for the CDD expansion until the second entrance is built.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
State wants more DPW testing
By MICHAEL D. BATES and MORGAN C. MOELLERmbates@hernandotoday.com mmoeller@hernandotoday.com
Fears that contaminants from the former Department of Public Works compound flowed north to the city’s main wellfield are premature and warrants additional investigation.
That’s according to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) report released late Monday.
The report was also critical of the way the county’s cleanup consultant, Creative Environmental Solutions, prepared its testing and sampling data for the DEP, saying the county did not follow guidelines and requested additional information, including maps.
The DEP requested that the next report include a “full evaluation of the sources of the contaminants” and an indication of how far and where those contaminants have traveled.
The agency also wants to determine the “full extent of contamination” off-site, including neighboring yards.
The county has 60 days to respond to the DEP’s report and address deficiencies. County department of public works officials plan to meet with the DEP to finalize plans for further testing and sampling.
At that time, the DEP will establish deadlines for the next report.
Arsenic and lead samples did not meet the groundwater cleanup target levels on the site and the DEP recommends the county assess where best to install monitoring wells so the agency can determine how far out possible groundwater contamination extends. It requested additional groundwater samples to look for volatile organic compounds, metals, pesticides and petroleum hydrocarbons to complete the evaluation of previous collected data.
However, DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said earlier Monday that even though her agency knew for months there had been impacts to the Floridan aquifer, there was no immediate threat.
“Everybody’s drinking water is safe out there,” Vazquez said.
Also, there is no continuing damage to the environment, she said.
The DEP is requesting additional soil borings on several areas of the site to outline the impacts of chromium, arsenic and lead.
The county and DEP had been concerned about how far the contaminants had spread to adjacent homes in the Mitchell Heights area and the DEP advises that testing be expanded in residential areas to determine some kind of “contamination pattern,” the location and depth of the toxic materials.
In particular, DEP wants to know whether the contamination extends south of the property into residential areas where shallow wells were installed.
The data presented to DEP showed that some wells in the residential area did not produce water to test. If so, additional wells may be needed.
An oily, tarry layer found 4-5 feet below the ground also needs to be explained, the DEP said.
Even though three private wells are located within a half-mile of the DPW site, the county’s consultant only included samples from the nearby Cemex industrial well. The department requested an explanation as to why the other two wells were not tested.
The report later stressed that Floridan aquifer monitoring wells be installed at three different locations on the DPW site.
Assistant County Engineer Gregg Sutton said early Monday he anticipated the DEP would recommend more well drillings and soil borings, which is why he asked county commissioners last week to approve giving Creative another $179,692 to cover the cost of anticipated future testing at the site and other work.
Taxpayers have now paid out $843,000 to the consultant.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) is waiting for additional recommended tests to complete the health assessment report, which will determine whether there were any health impacts to neighbors.
FDOH spokesman Randy Merchant said in a previous interview that the department would like to see additional off-site soil sampling in the ditch along Bethune Street closer to B and C Streets. Water runoff at the site could have carried sediments from the DPW site farther than the initial test zone, he said.
The department also recommended additional soil samples be taken from one of the yards on A Street. Early test results show elevated levels of lead at 162 A Street compared to patterns in other residents’ yards, Merchant said.
Once that is in hand, it should be another 6 to 8 weeks before the health assessment is complete, he said.
The FDOH also recently recommended that Mitchell Heights residents have their blood tested for lead. The Hernando County Department of Health is performing those tests free of charge.
Reporter Michael D. Bates can be contacted at 352-544-5290. Reporter Morgan C. Moeller can be contacted at 352-544-5229.
Ex-Times Chief to Head Nature GroupBarnes was elected by fellow trustees to head the conservation nonprofit's 39-member board and to advise the 150-member staff. Barnes joined the Conservancy's Florida board of trustees in 2005.
"I'm honored to be a part of preserving the Florida I so love," Barnes said.
Barnes retired as CEO of Times Publishing Co., which publishes the St. Petersburg Times, in 2004. He recently relinquished the chairmanship of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, an institution to train journalists and editors, and will continue as a trustee.
Barnes has served as chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board, chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Ethics Committee and as a member of the Florida Council of 100.
Watch out, Evian, Venice sells its water
By PAUL QUINLAN
VENICE -- It's not flavored or carbonated, imported or
vitamin-infused. It's just plain city tap water. And for those who
can't stand to be away from their faucets, it'll cost 50 cents for a
half-liter bottle.Six months ago, the city began bottling its tap water to have something to offer utility customers during outages. Now, it's for sale.
The bottles, particularly the on-the-go half-liters emblazoned with the city logo, have attained some measure of popularity and attracted interested buyers.
"I've had so many people asking me, 'Can I buy it?' that we've kind of had to create a policy to do that," said utilities manager Chris Sharek.
On Tuesday, the City Council is expected to set the price: 50 cents each, or $12 for a case of 24.
So far, the list of potential customers includes the hospital, the Venice High School softball team, and the nonprofit Venice Area Beautification Inc., which has considered peddling the water in vending machines along the Venetian Waterway Park, Sharek said.
"Some people want us to donate it. The whole idea here is that we're promoting our tap water," said Sharek. "But we have to at least recoup our costs."
The city pays 37 cents a bottle. The price includes cleaning and filling a tanker at the Warfield and East Venice avenues fire hydrant, transportation and bottling. In all, the city budgeted $7,500 for the entire endeavor, which was intended to be a promotion.
"We're not trying to make money on this," said Sharek. "We also thought that 50 cents a bottle is a nice round number."
Of the 12,000 half-liters the city received in May, about half, or 6,360 remain. Of the 1,338 single-gallons, 381 are left. Most went to residents whose faucets sputtered dry during the half-dozen significant water line breaks that have struck various parts of the city since February. Many of the half-liters were served at city meetings, training sessions and some public relations events, saving the city money that might otherwise be spent on brand-name water.
"Why would they buy that?" Sharek said. "I know ours is just as good, if not better."
In a unscientific, blind taste test the Herald-Tribune conducted earlier this year, tasters preferred Venice city water to a popular brand-name alternative, 3-2.
Environmental, Growth Issues Need Voice in Road Planning
It has been a busy year for the road-building lobby.There were announcements of two new, major toll roads slicing up the interior of the state.Plans have since been unveiled for a new toll road looping the Tampa Bay area.
There should be a very broad, public discussion about all of these projects before they get too far along.
Here's why:
All of these projects have tremendous growth-planning and environmental implications that escape mention in the press announcements.
For some reason, the supporters of new road projects are reluctant to discuss this issue.
This is nothing new.
I recall attending a meeting at The Lakeland Center many years ago, when Lakeland's movers and shakers announced the eastern leg of the Polk Parkway.
After the map was unveiled, someone from the Auburndale area rose and complimented the project's backers, saying it would enable him and other property owners to develop their land more easily.
The presentation's emcee sputtered, Wizard-of-Oz-like, proclaiming the Polk Parkway was only about transportation, not development.
That, of course, was hogwash.
Road-building has always had an economic development aspect -- getting goods to market, connecting markets to each other, etc. -- and acknowledging that is part of an honest discussion.
Without the Polk Parkway, it's doubtful the University of South Florida would be building a new campus north of Auburndale or that any of the other development that's planned along that eastern leg from U.S. 92 to Interstate 4 would be happening.
Since the Central Florida Greenway opened around the east side of Orlando, I have watched the wild lands disappear under a wave of urban sprawl farther and farther eastward into rural areas of Orange and Osceola counties, made possible by nothing more than the placement of numerous interchanges.
I mention these examples to make the point that my concerns aren't hypothetical.
The problem with many of these road projects is that the process seems to be backward, as far as land planning goes.
First, let's concede that whether anyone likes it or not, more people are going to move to Florida.
That means they have to live and work and shop somewhere, which means more undeveloped land will be developed to accommodate them.
The sane way to approach this is to use the growth-planning process already required under state law and to have a public discussion about where the growth maps should change -- and where the new roads should be built -- to accommodate the growth.
Instead, they build the roads and figure everything else out later.
Because many of these toll roads cross county lines, the often-ignored intergovernmental coordination section of the growth plans could be usefully enforced in these situations.
These roads raise plenty of environmental issues, as well.
Two of the new roads will cross the Lake Wales Ridge, one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet. One will cross the Kissimmee River, which is in the middle of an expensive restoration project. A beltway project on the west side of Orlando will run through the Wekiva River Basin.
This isn't to say there are no environmental studies required for any of these projects. They are required.
My point is that by the time the projects get to the point of much public discussion, the studies have been completed, the recommendations have been made and public input seems to be pretty much a formality.
The time for the discussion is really before someone invests so much money in a project that it is politically difficult to pull the plug.
A better approach, albeit on a smaller scale, would be something along the lines of what's happening in the Four Corners area.
Furthermore, these roads are not, as you will often be told, about relieving congestion.
The completion of the Central Florida Greenway did not -- as Orlando editorialists bleated -- "free the I-4 hostages."
Interstate 4 is still congested through Orlando at rush hour and it will always be congested at rush hour because that is the destination for large numbers of commuters from the distant suburbs.
Urban sprawl causes traffic congestion. New roads will simply make it possible to experience congestion without having to drive all the way to Tampa or Orlando.
Finally, there's an argument for protecting the state's investment in parks and other natural areas simply for esthetic reasons.
One of the pleasures of visiting a major state park is not having to hear the hum of cars and trucks in the distance. These new roads will make that experience much more elusive.
Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535.
Yankeetown recouping from political implosion
By Times editorialPublished September 26, 2006
After nearly a year of turmoil over a proposed resort hotel development that has forever ripped the close-knit fabric of this small community, Yankeetown is enjoying a rare moment of relative peace.
Three new Town Council members, chosen by a 2-1 margin in a recent election ordered by the governor, are setting about performing the mundane but vital tasks of government.
It has been nearly a week since the last elected official resigned. No one has reported a death threat, the kidnapping of a pet or the theft of a computer in days. This passes for tranquility by recent Yankeetown standards.*
These are welcome signs that the town may be coming out of the chaos that has engulfed it since the Izaak Walton Investors Inc.'s proposals for a hotel along the Withlacoochee River erupted in December. Since then, this Levy County hamlet has been torn apart in a whirlwind of personal threats, lawsuits, accusations of corruption, mass resignations of officials and all but open warfare among townspeople.
The tide began to turn, however, in the August special election that brought three new members to the Town Council, a bloc that ran on a platform of open government and who made no secret of their opposition to the development. The citizens spoke overwhelmingly to support their stance.
Not surprisingly, given the town's recent history, the political bloodletting has continued. Two of the holdover council members, who wanted to negotiate with the developer, have resigned. And, last week, the embattled mayor decided to quit, too.
In her exit letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, Mayor Joanne Johannesson urged him to pull the town's charter. She said that the new council will lead the town into even more troubled waters and that the governor should head off these looming crises.
The governor should not follow the mayor's premature and prejudicial predictions. The new council must be given every chance to get Yankeetown back on track.
Several months ago, when the town was spiraling out of control, this newspaper called for the governor to intervene and to consider taking the so-called nuclear option of dissolving the town.
After the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an inquiry into possible official corruption, Bush did step in.
He declared a state of emergency in July, appointed a special financial board to oversee the town's affairs and ordered the special elections to fill the council seats.
The governor now must let these new council members perform the duties that they have been legally granted by the town's voters.
This does not mean that all is well and that the governor can now turn away from Yankeetown.
The forces that led to the town's implosion still exist. The FDLE inquiry is continuing. Community calm is still just wishful thinking.
Laptop computers, including one containing developer's information, have reportedly been stolen. The locks on Town Hall have been changed three times so far. The outgoing mayor's cat has mysteriously disappeared.
The unparalleled parade of oddities continues.
The next big step for Yankeetown is the upcoming election, this one to fill the seats of the now-departed mayor and three council positions. This is a chance for the citizens once again to choose their own representatives, to prove to the governor that they can stand on their own, to take a step out of the House of Horrors they have lived in for almost a year.
Appropriately, the election will be held on Halloween.
Payton's top issue
is roads; Weesner's priority is water
OCALA - Republican incumbent Jim Payton is running for a second
4-year term as county commissioner from District 2, which covers
Marion County's southwest quadrant. Long-time environmentalist and
Democrat Darlene Weesner would like to snatch the $70,739-a-year job
away from him in the Nov. 7 general election.
As in the District 4 race for County Commission, Weesner and Payton ran unopposed in their party primaries in September. Their only opponents this election season are each other - and they hold widely differing views.
Both recognize there are challenges facing Marion County, but Payton said he believes the biggest problem is transportation. For that reason, he supports the 1 percent sales tax for roads that will be on this fall's ballot.
ROADS AND WATER
"Our transportation network has, for all intents and purposes, been ignored for the last 40 to 50 years," Payton said. "There's never been a plan."
He said that every year there was a 20-year transportation improvement plan, but it was never funded.
"Putting that off has taken a problem that would be a few million a year and turned it into a billion-dollar deficit," Payton said.
As a result of not addressing road improvements, there are areas in the county where traffic can become unmanageable at times during the day. Payton said he believes there is support among the citizenry for the sales tax, which would be used to build and improve roads.
But there is no support from his opponent.
"It's developer welfare," Weesner said about spending on new roads. "We should not be getting close to the cap on our sales tax when we have the possibility that we will have more hurricanes."
Weesner said she is not anti-developer but feels there is a better way. "Our transportation is awful," she said. "It would not take much to redesign and put the puzzle back together the right way."
Rather than roads, Weesner sees protecting the county's water as the most pressing issue.
"Others may take our water," she said. "[If] we make a big deal out of protecting our waters, in many ways it will be much more difficult for another county to pipe it away from us."
Weesner said the county must be diligent to ensure water bottling businesses do not pump the water.
"We have to continue to collect a lot of data about what happens to the water under the ground," Weesner said. "If we limit our development and impervious surfaces, we should not have to lose water we are protecting, even though the water belongs to the state."
Payton included water in the overall grade of "B" that he gave the county for its growth management.
He said the county has passed an ordinance that prohibits wells for extracting water for resale and it has completed a 50-year study of its natural resources and is formulating a springs protection ordinance to ensure the high quality of the county's drinking water and reduce pollution in the springs.
GROWTH
Payton said the commissioners have approved only a portion of the land-use changes requested.
"We are using up more inventory than we are creating," he said, referring to vested developments versus new developments. And he said the commission created a Transfer of Development Rights program. Though it is "badly flawed," he said, it is still a first step in saving open space and farmland.
Weesner said the County Commission's growth management efforts have not "hit rock bottom yet."
"They have been trying harder, but they still don't get it," she said. "If we are going to build a very sustainable county, we have to use all kinds of conservation tools - the latest technology of planning. We have to grow up and not out."
She said the Southeast 31st Street road project was a mistake because three miles of forest, with its water cleansing ability, was damaged. And the Transfer of Development Rights program is failing because not enough money is being offered to make the land-preservation program viable.
"They are coming up with things that don't work," Weesner said.
Springs pollution, too, is a result of growth and the increasing number of septic tanks is exacerbating that problem.
"Nobody wants to face the fact that there's going to have to be some mandatory sanitary sewer connections in the densely populated areas," Payton said. "It's inevitable."
He said the county is actively looking to buy more systems and trying to find alternative funding so there is minimal impact on citizens. He said if a system is available, homeowners need to hook up either when their house is built or when their septic system fails.
"If a central system is not available, we need to require an enhanced system," he said.
Weesner said requiring residents to hook up to a central system should depend on the type of soil and density of the homes. She said mobile homes that are packed in on narrow lots need to be on a central sewer system.
"A septic tank working properly is not necessarily bad," Weesner said. "There's less water wasted with septic than sewer."
Regarding the $47 million price tag for the Judicial Center expansion, Payton said he is on record supporting it.
Weesner has a different opinion.
"It think it could be done for less than that," she said. "This is where growth doesn't pay for itself."
TRASH AND JOBS
As the population continues to expand, trash disposal is another problem the county must address.
Payton opposed building the transfer station, where trash is collected before being shipped out of county. That transfer station is losing money. But he said the public does not want another landfill, which is the most cost-effective method of trash disposal.
He said there are a number of solutions. The county could partner with a nearby county to cut transportation costs. Or the county could mothball its transfer station and use one that is available commercially or simply privatize the service.
Weesner has other thoughts.
"I believe, first of all, we should do more recycling and utilize some of the prison people as work force," she said. She said trash should be shipped by rail instead of by truck.
"It's also not impossible to come up with a process for turning the waste into energy," Weesner said.
When it comes to economic development, both candidates say job creation is important.
Weesner criticized the commission's recent denial of Philip Geist's request for money to fund small business development. Geist is the area director of the University of North Florida's Small Business Development Center in Ocala.
"Small business is the backbone of our economy in Marion County," she said.
Payton said the commission has not been successful in creating new jobs. Marion County's economy for the last several years has been driven by the construction industry, but that, he said, is drying up.
"We have done all the things we have always done and expect a different result," Payton said. "I think we need to go into other communities that have been successful and see what they are doing."
He said perhaps there should be an economic development alliance between the county and its cities. He said that, if incentives were offered to companies, it should be to attract new businesses, which in turn would attract supporting industries.
Additionally, Payton said wages need to be higher than 10 percent above the average community wage. "We have to have a value-added industry," he said.
To attract new businesses, Payton said Marion County needs to do a better job of marketing itself and create a higher profile at the state level.
Both candidates support the new, higher fire assessment fees.
"Nobody wants to pay higher fees, which is nothing more than more taxes," Payton said. "But we owe it to our citizens to have the finest fire-rescue system that this county can afford."
He said that, because of the higher revenues the county has collected with higher property values, the county is able to keep up with its 10-year plan to expand the fire service.
Weesner said businesses that have hazardous chemicals should pay a larger share of the cost, parallel to what insurance companies charge.
Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4156
As in the District 4 race for County Commission, Weesner and Payton ran unopposed in their party primaries in September. Their only opponents this election season are each other - and they hold widely differing views.
Both recognize there are challenges facing Marion County, but Payton said he believes the biggest problem is transportation. For that reason, he supports the 1 percent sales tax for roads that will be on this fall's ballot.
ROADS AND WATER
"Our transportation network has, for all intents and purposes, been ignored for the last 40 to 50 years," Payton said. "There's never been a plan."
He said that every year there was a 20-year transportation improvement plan, but it was never funded.
"Putting that off has taken a problem that would be a few million a year and turned it into a billion-dollar deficit," Payton said.
As a result of not addressing road improvements, there are areas in the county where traffic can become unmanageable at times during the day. Payton said he believes there is support among the citizenry for the sales tax, which would be used to build and improve roads.
But there is no support from his opponent.
"It's developer welfare," Weesner said about spending on new roads. "We should not be getting close to the cap on our sales tax when we have the possibility that we will have more hurricanes."
Weesner said she is not anti-developer but feels there is a better way. "Our transportation is awful," she said. "It would not take much to redesign and put the puzzle back together the right way."
Rather than roads, Weesner sees protecting the county's water as the most pressing issue.
"Others may take our water," she said. "[If] we make a big deal out of protecting our waters, in many ways it will be much more difficult for another county to pipe it away from us."
Weesner said the county must be diligent to ensure water bottling businesses do not pump the water.
"We have to continue to collect a lot of data about what happens to the water under the ground," Weesner said. "If we limit our development and impervious surfaces, we should not have to lose water we are protecting, even though the water belongs to the state."
Payton included water in the overall grade of "B" that he gave the county for its growth management.
He said the county has passed an ordinance that prohibits wells for extracting water for resale and it has completed a 50-year study of its natural resources and is formulating a springs protection ordinance to ensure the high quality of the county's drinking water and reduce pollution in the springs.
GROWTH
Payton said the commissioners have approved only a portion of the land-use changes requested.
"We are using up more inventory than we are creating," he said, referring to vested developments versus new developments. And he said the commission created a Transfer of Development Rights program. Though it is "badly flawed," he said, it is still a first step in saving open space and farmland.
Weesner said the County Commission's growth management efforts have not "hit rock bottom yet."
"They have been trying harder, but they still don't get it," she said. "If we are going to build a very sustainable county, we have to use all kinds of conservation tools - the latest technology of planning. We have to grow up and not out."
She said the Southeast 31st Street road project was a mistake because three miles of forest, with its water cleansing ability, was damaged. And the Transfer of Development Rights program is failing because not enough money is being offered to make the land-preservation program viable.
"They are coming up with things that don't work," Weesner said.
Springs pollution, too, is a result of growth and the increasing number of septic tanks is exacerbating that problem.
"Nobody wants to face the fact that there's going to have to be some mandatory sanitary sewer connections in the densely populated areas," Payton said. "It's inevitable."
He said the county is actively looking to buy more systems and trying to find alternative funding so there is minimal impact on citizens. He said if a system is available, homeowners need to hook up either when their house is built or when their septic system fails.
"If a central system is not available, we need to require an enhanced system," he said.
Weesner said requiring residents to hook up to a central system should depend on the type of soil and density of the homes. She said mobile homes that are packed in on narrow lots need to be on a central sewer system.
"A septic tank working properly is not necessarily bad," Weesner said. "There's less water wasted with septic than sewer."
Regarding the $47 million price tag for the Judicial Center expansion, Payton said he is on record supporting it.
Weesner has a different opinion.
"It think it could be done for less than that," she said. "This is where growth doesn't pay for itself."
TRASH AND JOBS
As the population continues to expand, trash disposal is another problem the county must address.
Payton opposed building the transfer station, where trash is collected before being shipped out of county. That transfer station is losing money. But he said the public does not want another landfill, which is the most cost-effective method of trash disposal.
He said there are a number of solutions. The county could partner with a nearby county to cut transportation costs. Or the county could mothball its transfer station and use one that is available commercially or simply privatize the service.
Weesner has other thoughts.
"I believe, first of all, we should do more recycling and utilize some of the prison people as work force," she said. She said trash should be shipped by rail instead of by truck.
"It's also not impossible to come up with a process for turning the waste into energy," Weesner said.
When it comes to economic development, both candidates say job creation is important.
Weesner criticized the commission's recent denial of Philip Geist's request for money to fund small business development. Geist is the area director of the University of North Florida's Small Business Development Center in Ocala.
"Small business is the backbone of our economy in Marion County," she said.
Payton said the commission has not been successful in creating new jobs. Marion County's economy for the last several years has been driven by the construction industry, but that, he said, is drying up.
"We have done all the things we have always done and expect a different result," Payton said. "I think we need to go into other communities that have been successful and see what they are doing."
He said perhaps there should be an economic development alliance between the county and its cities. He said that, if incentives were offered to companies, it should be to attract new businesses, which in turn would attract supporting industries.
Additionally, Payton said wages need to be higher than 10 percent above the average community wage. "We have to have a value-added industry," he said.
To attract new businesses, Payton said Marion County needs to do a better job of marketing itself and create a higher profile at the state level.
Both candidates support the new, higher fire assessment fees.
"Nobody wants to pay higher fees, which is nothing more than more taxes," Payton said. "But we owe it to our citizens to have the finest fire-rescue system that this county can afford."
He said that, because of the higher revenues the county has collected with higher property values, the county is able to keep up with its 10-year plan to expand the fire service.
Weesner said businesses that have hazardous chemicals should pay a larger share of the cost, parallel to what insurance companies charge.
Susan Latham Carr may be reached at susan.carr@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4156
City nears settlement with Marriott developer
By BETH KORMANIK The details have not been finalized, but Mayor John Peyton and aide
Susie Wiles told a Times-Union columnist last week about the $1.4
million settlement with Clarkson's development group, Water Street
Investors Ltd. and C&M Investors Ltd.
When asked Monday about the dollar amount, city General Counsel
Rick Mullaney said that "sounds about right" but referred
further questions to Wiles.
Wiles declined to discuss the terms of the deal Monday but
acknowledged that an "agreement in principle" had been
reached.
The dispute dates back nearly 20 years, when the city agreed to use
eminent domain to buy parcels of land Clarkson needed to build the
hotel. In 1998, a new agreement called for the city to obtain the land
and close Davis Street. The hotel would have been built on a 4-acre
site bordered by Water, Lee, Bay and Jefferson streets.
But the hotel never went up.
Clarkson filed the lawsuit in 2003 after he argued with then-Mayor
John Delaney about how much money the city should contribute to the
project. He sought $25 million in incentives for the $63 million
development. Delaney wanted to give about $6 million.
Clarkson was out of town Monday and did not return calls.
Once a deal is finalized, City Council approval will be needed.
beth.kormanik@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4619
The Times-Union
Jacksonville is close to settling a lawsuit
with developer Charles "Bucky" Clarkson, who claimed the
city had failed to fulfill an agreement to build a Marriott hotel near
the Prime Osborn Convention Center.
A little work, planning can make existing trees pretty
By JANE WEBERPublished September 26, 2006
Home builders leave large specimen trees or a small grove to enhance the landscape and provide a little shade. New neighbors often call me to advise what to do for these trees, which are often root damaged and stressed by months of construction.
Naturally, the workers prefer to park in their shade. Branches get damaged, sandy soil compacted and wildlife killed or frightened away.
After picking up all bits of concrete, stucco, nails and cigarette butts, which adversely affect soil quality and pH, the first priority is to properly trim off damaged twigs and branches.
Do-it-yourselfers can follow guidelines from a pamphlet available from the Extension Service in Lecanto. (Call 527-5700.) Soil testing kits are available for $2 to $7.
Next, I recommend tilling in a few inches of organic compost or "fine mulch," available free from Central Landfill on State Road 44 east of Lecanto. To help newcomers, my husband, John, can deliver 7 cubic yards in his dump trailer for the cost of trucking.
One yard, 27 cubic feet, spread 2 inches deep covers about 11 by 15 feet - a nice size for a planting bed under a shady live oak.
A light application of time-released fertilizer, like Lesco's Southern Blend 12-2-14 with minor elements, provides proper nutrition for four months and speeds tree recovery. Drive into Lesco's warehouse on the north side of SR 44, off Easy Street, just west of the landfill and several recycling centers.
Professional, well-trained staffers will listen to your needs and provide correct advice. They will load 50-pound bags for you. Seniors can easily scoop it out into gallon bags for easier use and convenient, dry storage when they get home.
Now comes the fun part of gardening: selecting the right plant for the right place.
Summer shade is darker than in winter because the tree canopy is full of new leaves and the sun is directly overhead.
In winter, even "evergreen" oaks such as live, myrtle and laurel oaks drop leaves to form an attractive, natural top dressing over the soil. The lower angle of the winter sun penetrates further beneath the canopy, too. Most flowering shrubs need lots of sunlight to produce a good display: a few relish shade.
If the tree canopy is high, taller plants such as camellias, azaleas, gingers and oak-leaf hydrangeas will thrive. The patented, evergreen Encore azaleas bloom as much as eight months a year rather than just four to five weeks in February and March.
I love the bright masses of bloom and keep a good collection of Encores in my garden. Encores grow 3 to 5 feet tall, depending on the variety. Between taller trees and protected from afternoon summer sun, camellias are a perfect choice.
Camellias are slow-growing evergreen trees and need pruning to be kept as shrubs. Each variety blooms for about one month either early, mid or late season from October to April. Seven plants, wisely chosen, will provide a succession or bloom from fall till spring.
Oak-leaf hydrangea is a native shrub, deciduous in Citrus County.
After the first frost, the large leaves turn burgundy before dropping to expose the attractive, exfoliating bark and open branching structure perfect for hanging Christmas ornaments. Late spring brings huge clusters of white flowers at the tips of last year's wood.
Cut the flower stems; hang upside down to dry in a dark, airy place, then spray-paint for a lasting arrangement. Prune in midsummer for size, shape and more blooms next year.
As a ground cover beneath your shrubs, try evergreen Florida violet, Viola sororia, with purple blooms in winter. Native iris, blue-eyed grass, Sysrinchium angustifolia, makes a nice perimeter border with masses of blooms for as much as six weeks in spring. Add clumps of native spiderwort that bloom from the last March frost to the first frost of fall for a splash of blue every morning.
With careful planning, the bare ground and deep shade beneath a lonely tree can become the prettiest flower bed on the block.
Editor's note: This weekly article is provided by Jane Weber, professional gardener, grower, consultant, designer and environmentalist. Visit her Certified Florida Yard and Backyard Wildlife Habitat, 5019 W Stargazer Lane, Dunnellon. Call (352) 465-0649.
Development Not Worth Impact
Published Pasco Tribune: Sep 24, 2006
The Southwest Florida Water Management District has done a great public service by allocating vast resources to protect the environment and water supply in Pasco County.
The district owns or manages more than 64,000 acres of land that will never be developed. These lands offer passive recreational and, in some cases, hunting opportunities for residents. Green Swamp West and Starkey Wilderness Preserve are just a couple of examples of protected areas that provide an oasis in a rapidly developing county and perfectly complement the county's ecotourism efforts.
In addition, the district has closely scrutinized pumping levels and contributed millions of additional dollars to create alternative drinking water supplies to ease the strain groundwater pumping places on the environment.
Yet, with this obvious recognition of the importance of Pasco's natural environment, water district staff is recommending that its governing board issue a permit that would allow a developer to destroy 67 acres of wetlands and surface water areas to build an open-air mall along Cypress Creek in south-central Pasco. The issue is to be decided Tuesday at district headquarters in Brooksville.
Although staff proposes rather extensive mitigation on a separate tract miles from the Cypress Creek Town Center site, permitting the project as is doesn't seem to mesh with the district's good land stewardship record in the county. It's troubling that such a high ratio of wetlands and surface waters would be lost simply to accommodate the construction of a mall - 67.5 acres out of a total 168 acres.
It's equally troubling that such impacts would be allowed along an Outstanding Florida Water. Under state law these specially designated waters are supposed to be afforded special protection. A logical solution that would greatly reduce impacts to wetlands and floodplains and better protect the creek - requiring the developer to build parking garages - is being ignored.
Allowing the destruction of numerous wetlands for essential public infrastructure, such as a road, is one thing. To allow such an impact for a private, non-essential development is quite another. Governing board members should keep this mind on Tuesday, as well as reacquaint themselves with the district's previous investment in Pasco's natural environment.
And if the rules need to be changed to give board members stronger regulatory authority over these permit applications, they should get their lawyers on it, pronto, and start lobbying the Legislature.
State land deal unusual
At a time when Florida's largest private landowner is laying off employees, the state is proposing to buy land from the politically connected company for current and future road projects.
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
At a time when Florida's largest private landowner is laying off employees, the state is proposing to buy land from the politically connected company for current and future road projects.
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - In a deal that even state transportation officials call ''unique,'' Florida may spend $46 million to buy land for current and future road projects -- some of which are no more than a line on a map -- from a company that has had close ties to Gov. Jeb Bush's administration and for which the state doesn't yet have an appraisal.
The roughly 4,000 acres of land the state is proposing to buy is owned by a single landowner -- The St. Joe Co., the state's largest private land owner, which recently announced that it was laying off one-tenth of its workforce and was getting out of the homebuilding business in Florida.
St. Joe has long-running ties with the governor's administration, and one of Bush's former top aides is a vice president of the company. At one point, St. Joe owned a 50 percent stake in the company run by Armando Codina, who was Bush's business partner before Bush became governor.
DEAL UP FOR A VOTE
A panel of lawmakers will vote on the deal Tuesday because the state Department of Transportation's account for land-buying doesn't have enough money in it. The $46 million would come out of another state account collected from gasoline taxes and rental-car surcharges and would eventually be paid back from bonds.
But Tuesday's vote by the Legislative Budget Commission will come before the state has completed an independent appraisal on the property, which stretches across 10 North Florida counties. The appraisal is due to be finished Saturday. Internal documents sent by the DOT to legislative staff members says the contract with St. Joe is ''contingent'' on the appraisal supporting the $46 million request.
Those same documents, obtained by The Miami Herald, show that state transportation officials concede that some of the land may not be the ''exact property'' needed in the future because the state hasn't even done preliminary studies on some of the road projects.
DOT officials insist, however, that the transaction would save taxpayers money because it is cheaper to buy the property now than go through a complicated acquisition process in the future, which could wind up in court. The DOT says 30 percent of its land-buying budget goes to legal expenses.
LOCKING IN PRICES
''We're looking to lock in today's real estate prices,'' said DOT spokesman Dick Kane.
Jerry Ray, a spokesman for the Jacksonville-based St. Joe Co., said in an e-mail that the deal would benefit both the state and St. Joe.
''We both view this as a significant opportunity to promote common interests and certainly those of the traveling public,'' Ray said. He said it would allow roads to be in place ahead of anticipated development.
Edward Prescott, the DOT secretary who oversees the northwest Florida region, said the deal is not being rushed through. He said he came up with the idea six years ago because the DOT kept having to purchase land from the company, which owns about 800,000 acres, most of it in the Panhandle.
''It seemed like everywhere we went, we were touching some of the St. Joe property,'' said Prescott, who said he received permission from DOT Secretary Denver Stutler, Bush's former chief of staff, to negotiate an overall agreement. That deal took months to put together, he said.
But Prescott acknowledged that the DOT does not normally buy property for road projects that aren't already listed in its five-year work program. While the deal includes land for ongoing projects, such as the widening of State Road 79 in Bay County and U.S. 319 in Wakulla and Leon counties, it also includes land for new projects such as the Red Hills Parkway in Wakulla and Leon counties.
`PRETTY INNOVATIVE'
''That's why I think this is pretty innovative,'' Prescott said. ``I hope we don't miss this opportunity.''
Legislative staff members asked the DOT why the deal couldn't wait until next year. Prescott said there's no guarantee that St. Joe won't walk away from the agreement if it's not approved now.
''Why would you delay if you've got a willing partner?'' Prescott said. ``I think it's important to go forward with the thing. I can't speak to the future.''
Right now, however, St. Joe is downsizing and has reorganized the company in the wake of a softening real estate market. Earlier this month, St. Joe announced that it was leaving the homebuilding business in Florida and that it expected to lay off 10 percent of its workforce of more than 1,200.
Ray, the St. Joe spokesman, said company officials hope that if the state obtains the land it needs now, the roads themselves may be built sooner. Ray said St. Joe was already talking with DOT officials about ''exploring ways'' to ''accelerate'' road projects with the help of a ''significant investment of funds'' by St. Joe.
''For St. Joe, as well as the traveling public, the sooner road improvements are made, the better,'' Ray said in his e-mail.
``We believe that if the FDOT secures land now, road improvements will come faster as a result.''
Opposites unite in fight against initiative restriction TALLAHASSEE - A ballot measure designed to make it more difficult for citizens and interest groups to amend the state constitution is being pushed by major businesses, developers and large agricultural groups.They have raised more than $2 million for the initiative - which will appear as Amendment Three on the Nov. 7 ballot.
But the measure has created an odd alliance of opponents, which spans the political spectrum from labor and environmental groups to conservative organizations that oppose abortion and higher taxes.
"The one thing they have in common is that they all believe fundamentally that people should have a right to petition their government to make changes that the politicians won't make," said former state Rep. Bill Sublette, R-Orlando, said.
Sublette is one of the leaders of the opposition coalition, called "Trust the Voters," that was created to oppose Amendment Three. The amendment was placed on the ballot by a legislative vote last year and will require future constitutional amendments to be approved by a 60 percent vote as opposed to the current simple majority vote.
Promoting the amendment is a group called "Protect Our Constitution," which was put together by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and other business groups that believe Florida is becoming too much like California by allowing special interest groups to use the constitutional initiative process to change public policy.
One of their strongest arguments for making it more difficult to amend the constitution was a successful 2002 initiative advanced by animal rights activists that bans the use of cages for pregnant pigs.
Mark Wilson, an executive vice president for the Florida chamber, said the pig amendment is an example of a special interest group using the initiative process for its own purposes.
"That's not the same thing as an uproar from the citizenry," Wilson said.
Wilson said the business groups support the right of citizens to advance amendments, which was a provision added to the 1968 constitution, but they believe it has become too easy for groups to manipulate the process.
"We think it was a great idea in 1968 and it's a great idea today," Wilson said. "The problem is it's not the citizens who are out doing it."
Wilson said Amendment Three has a broad range of bipartisan support, noting the measure was pushed by former Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, but was also supported by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith of Alachua and state Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, who is running for attorney general.
John Stemberger, director of the Florida Family Policy Council, is among the conservative leaders who is opposing the amendment.
Stemberger said he believes the initiative process gives citizens a voice in state policy at a time when he argues that elected officials are "more out of touch with what the majority of people want on a variety of issues."
"Whether you're a liberal or a conservative, I think you need to look at this issue," he said.
His conservative group is worried that raising the approval margin for amendments could block efforts such as a ban on same-sex marriages that is likely to be on the 2008 general election ballot. His group is also looking at initiatives to restrict abortions and to revive school vouchers, an issue that was struck down by the state Supreme Court on constitutional grounds.
Daniel Smith, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida, said if Amendment Three were passed it would represent a dramatic change in Florida's constitutional initiative process and further centralize political power in the state Legislature.
"The average voter whether he or she is a Republican or Democrat, a liberal or conservative, should be concerned about Amendment Three because it's essentially insulating the special interests who run things in Tallahassee," said Smith, who has written extensively on the initiative process nationally. "It really squelches the voice of ordinary citizens."
Smith said "direct democracy" - represented by the initiative process - is "not perfect." But since Florida, unlike many other states, does not allow citizens or groups to propose new laws by initiatives, the voters have to resort to the constitutional measures, he said.
"It's the only choice we have in Florida," he said.
Opponents point to the fact that major business groups have put up more than $2 million to promote Amendment Three. Among the biggest contributions is $300,000 from the National Association of Homebuilders, a group worried about a constitutional initiative that could make it harder for local governments to rezone land.
Business groups have also been irked by recent initiatives that increased the state's minimum wage and have banned smoking in restaurants.
But Wilson, the chamber executive, said there is plenty of money on the side of the opponents, noting the initiative process has created its own high-powered industry that can make millions of dollars off an amendment battle in a state like Florida. He said in 2004 more than $70 million was spent by well-heeled groups such as trial lawyers, doctors and gambling companies promoting and opposing a series of amendments.
Sublette, the former lawmaker, said citizens and other groups have turned to the initiative process because they have been frustrated by the ability of interest groups to block legislation in Tallahassee although it appears to have wide public support.
He cited the examples of the anti-smoking initiative and term limits for state legislators as measures that never seemed to gain ground in Tallahassee but were highly popular with voters. "That's their last resort," Sublette said. "Frankly, it's democracy in its purest form."
Special interests fueling
ads
Groups have invested nearly $50 million for
influence
Florida companies and interest groups have had a banner year raising dollars to influence the outcomes of elections.
This year, big industries and big donors funneled nearly $50 million through hundreds of soft-money committees that can bypass campaign-finance caps, according to campaign-finance reports filed through Friday.
Florida sugar producers poured over $4 million into ads attacking Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jim Davis over obscure votes.
Wealthy developers and trial lawyers devoted millions more to defending the ''consistent conservative'' stripes of Republican Charlie Crist.
But political watchers statewide say the most galling indicator of the growing dominance special-interest dollars have in Florida's Capitol came in what should have been a relatively low-key Miami state Senate race.
Over three weeks in August, four Republican state senators raised an astounding $1 million from some of the largest HMOs, gambling interests, insurers and developers in Florida.
Sens. Mike Bennett of Bradenton, Mike Haridopolos of Indialantic, Jeff Atwater of Palm Beach County and JD Alexander of Lake Wales hit up lobbyists from companies such as Bellsouth, the New Hollywood Greyhound Track, Florida Power & Light, and HCA Healthcare.
The target of their fundraising muscle: fellow Republican Sen. Alex Villalobos of Miami, a onetime heir to the Senate presidency targeted for defeat after he bucked Gov. Jeb Bush.
''Special interests didn't like the way he voted on some issues and decided to send a message and take him out,'' said Boca Raton attorney Frank Petrosa, president-elect of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, which raised over $1 million to support Villalobos and other candidates.
''It was a Who's Who of every large corporate interest in the state.''
Bennett said it was natural for him and other aspiring politicians to band together to back preferred candidates, even though it is highly unusual for them to oppose an incumbent member of their own party.
''We're all looking for future leadership positions in the Senate, so it's important to demonstrate we can help other people out,'' Bennett said. ''That's part of life in this game.''
The Florida Chamber of Commerce, under the name Partnership for Florida's Future, devoted much of its $2 million in ad money to defeat Villalobos, who offended conservatives by voting against plans to re-write the class-size law and preserve school vouchers.
Villalobos opponents funneled money to stealthy local committees that sent out mail pieces comparing Villalobos to serial killer Ted Bundy and Hillary Clinton.
Villalobos barely survived the primary challenge by the heavily financed Miami-Dade School Board challenger Frank Bolanos.
In the end, the candidates and groups combined spent about $8 million to blanket the Miami-Dade district with radio, TV and mailer ads, at a cost of more than $350 for every vote cast.
Mark Wilson, the executive vice president of the chamber who oversees fundraising and political activities, said this year was the first election the business lobbying group stepped up to spend millions of dollars directly on ads to influence legislative races.
In past elections, they gave money to other groups to spend, but members wanted the central office to keep the reins, Wilson said.
''We had to play at a bigger level,'' said Wilson, whose group targeted 28 primary races this summer. ''I think you can expect this kind of activity from us in the future.''
Florida lawmakers last spring voted to shed more light on special interests by passing a bill requiring so-called soft-money committees to more rapidly disclose their activities.
Among other changes, it required electioneering communication organizations to file their reports electronically where the public and media could see them faster.
Lawmakers behind the act said it allowed the public to more quickly determine who was behind attack ads instead of weeks after the election.
''I do think by requiring the 527s to report who gives quicker, that has certainly opened up the process,'' said House Speaker Allan Bense.
But not everyone was pleased with the outcome.
Incoming House Minority Leader Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, pushed to ban all politicians from using soft-money committees, a concept Republican leaders said would violate free-speech protections.
Because Democrats tend to rely more on smaller contributions below the $500 cap given to candidates, Gelber said Republicans have no incentive to change the system.
''It's helped them achieve political success and absorb unlimited amounts of special-interest money, and they're not going to change it,'' Gelber said.
''It obviously confirms the Legislature did nothing to clean up the political process.''
Kennedy & GarciaShadowy groups flourish in state, and governor coy about his own
Published September 24, 2006Calif. cities face fines for beach water
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Regional water officials voted Thursday to fine cities surrounding Santa Monica Bay up to $10,000 a day if beaches do not meet clean-water standards.
Conservationists hailed the decision by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board as the strongest regulation to protect beachgoers in the United States.
"I'm very happy for the future of the county and for future generations that can finally look toward clean beaches," said Tracy Egoscue, executive director of Santa Monica BayKeeper. "This is a trail blazer."
The ongoing effort to clean up the area's bacteria pollution stems from a 1999 settlement of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups. Government officials and the groups worked out a schedule to set limits on a variety of pollutants that end up in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. These include bacteria, trash, toxic metals and chemical pollutants.
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Although it's been seven years since the federal consent decree, many of the beaches still aren't clean.
The 13 cities that encircle Santa Monica Bay were given until this summer to do something about the pollution streaming into the waters. The rule applied to the 44 beaches that stretch from the Los Angeles-Ventura County line to just south of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Most contamination happens during winter when heavy rains overload storm drain and sewage systems, washing waste directly into the sea, officials said. Swimming in such waters can cause gastrointestinal, respiratory and other illnesses.
Old vs. new in Micanopy MICANOPY - Alachua County tourism officials send people here, to quiet, oak-lined Cholokka Boulevard, to experience Florida as it used to be.Ask residents what has changed about their town, and they'll enthusiastically reply that hardly anything has.
Micanopy, population 631, hasn't seen the explosive residential growth western Alachua County has. But it hasn't gone untouched by the changes.
As its neighbors' populations and city limits have ballooned, Micanopy has gone from being a self-sufficient town with grocery stores and banks to a bedroom community and tourist destination with antique stores and ice cream shops. And although the number of people living there hasn't changed much, the population has shifted to incorporate a new group of residents from South Florida and beyond.
Those and other shifts have led to a divide between lifelong and new residents, and have shown that there's a downside of staying the same.
"Out-of-town reporters always describe Micanopy as a sleepy little town," said Rob Pierce, a retired University of Florida professor who's lived in Micanopy for 20 years. "If it's sleepy, we're tossing in our sleep. The strains and tensions and transformations here are not as dramatic as the changes in the other towns in Alachua County, but they're there all the same."
Looking back
Anyone doubting Micanopy's ability to transport a person back in time has not met Eleanor Thrasher.
When Thrasher, 80, gives tours through the plain, wood-frame warehouse of her father-in-law's general store, she can show guests the cleaver her husband used to cut meat when he worked there in high school, and can describe how the wire baskets used to sit outside, teeming with potatoes, onions and cantaloupes.
A sign in the warehouse that proclaims: "The Thrasher Store Provided the Needs for People Living in Micanopy" reveals one of the most significant changes since John Thrasher III grew up here, as longtime residents say very few stores in Micanopy provide for residents anymore.
The Thrasher General Store, along with buildings that once held drugstores, banks and other stores, became an antique shop; the warehouse now serves as the Micanopy Historical Society Museum.
Those antique stores, along with boutiques, restaurants and other shops, have earned Micanopy's historic shopping district national media attention, most recently in Southern Living magazine. Roland Loog, director of the Alachua County Visitors and Convention Bureau, said though the bureau doesn't keep track of how many people visit Micanopy each year, it's one of the county's top tourist attractions.
Carson Roberts, 85, who's been a town commissioner for roughly 30 years, said the town reinvented itself as a tourist destination accidentally, when several antique stores filled buildings that had been vacated by grocery stores and pharmacies.
"I've seen Micanopy go from a prosperous town where local people could do all their business to being a town where the only place local people can shop is the convenience store, and the prices there are outrageous," Roberts said.
A recent desire to regain some of those basic services has created clashes between the town's newcomers and its lifelong residents, who are often considerably poorer than their new neighbors.
Micanopy, which had a population of roughly 631 people in 2004 according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, actually lost residents since the U.S. Census in 2000, which counted 653 people.
The numbers don't reflect a changing population.
"When I hear that someone has just moved to Micanopy, it's almost always from South Florida," said Town Commissioner Fay Baird, who's lived in Micanopy about 20 years and once owned an antique store on Cholokka Boulevard. "They move here because Micanopy reminds them of what South Florida used to be like. And once they get here, they fight very hard to make sure it stays that way."
Town tensions
Tensions between the old and the new have been spurred by discussions about everything from the town's taxes to its water system.
Judy McElroy, a former commissioner who's lived in the town her whole life, said the commission's decision last year to raise water rates for the first time in years to pay for much-needed improvements to the town's water system highlighted the worst side effect of resisting growth: a fixed tax base.
"We must have the highest water rates and the poorest water in the county," McElroy said. "For older residents with fixed incomes, that increase was tough."
The divide was most apparent during last year's debate about a proposal from Dollar General to build a 9,100-square-foot retail store on U.S. 441 at Cholokka Boulevard, at the foot of the town's historic downtown.
Many people, including members of the town's newly formed Chamber of Commerce, said the store would clash with the community's historic character and ruin the appearance of the gateway to downtown.
Roberts was the sole commissioner to speak in support of the proposal, though all commissioners acknowledged a need for affordable shopping for lower-income residents.
"What you had was the people who moved here for the quaintness of the town, and to get away from six lanes of traffic in Fort Lauderdale, versus the people who have lived here all their lives - the Micanopians," McElroy said. "A lot of Micanopians could've used that Dollar General store."
Baird said while that's a common complaint, she was surprised to see how many people came to public hearings to voice it.
"Often, during discussions about the main street, we hear from longtime residents: 'There's nothing here that I want; we need more here for the people who live here,' " Baird said. "There was a very definite conflict between the old guard and the new guard during the Dollar General debate that's sort of still there."
The Town Commission opted to place a temporary moratorium on development on the stretch of U.S. 441 that runs through town. A committee has created design guidelines to regulate what kind of new buildings can be built along that corridor.
Dollar General withdrew its application and hasn't filed another one.
Getting together
Town commissioners and residents have also struggled to bring the new guard and the old guard together socially.
Pierce said he started the annual Christmas in Micanopy music festival 11 years ago with that goal in mind.
"I saw an alienation between the older families in town - many of whom were black - and the newcomers," Pierce said. "We were not working together as a community. And it wasn't just racial. It was an alienation between all varieties of social groupings: old timers and newcomers, wealthy people and not-so-wealthy, those who live in Micanopy and those who live outside the town limits, and so on."
Pierce turned to the churches, thinking that music could be an equalizer between different classes and backgrounds.
The festival now attracts hundreds of people each year.
"We're not perfect," Pierce said. "But I've seen a lot of change on a person-by-person basis. We have made some progress in building a community here."
Monica Beth Fowler agreed, and said since she opened Delectable Collectibles on Cholokka Boulevard in 1979, she's gone from being a newcomer to someone who belongs.
"What I sensed when I first got here wasn't animosity, but there was a distance," Fowler said. "It takes a while for people here to get used to you. But when they do, you're like family."
Development limits
Development in Micanopy has largely been limited by Paynes Prairie, which forms the town's northern border, by a lack of a central sewer system in town and by a lack of developable real estate within town limits.
At least one of the few residents who does own swaths of vacant land in the area said he has no current plans to develop it.
O. J. Brisky, who opened O. J. Brisky Books on Cholokka Boulevard 18 years ago, said he owns 18 acres in town. Brisky lived in New Port Richey in Pasco County for years, coming to Micanopy to manage the store only on weekends, before finally moving to nearby MacIntosh a few years ago.
Brisky said he left Pasco County to escape increasing traffic and noise, and said he'd hate to see Micanopy go through the same changes he saw there.
"I like the area up here better than the New Port Richey area, which has just changed so much in the past 10 years," Brisky said. "I'm sure there will be changes here, but I hope there aren't too many. Most people here like it just the way it is."
But south of town, open, developable land abounds, and some Micanopy residents said they're eyeing rural Marion County warily. Baird said there's already been a development proposal for nearby Shiloh Country that "really raised some eyebrows" in Micanopy.
The proposed density change, which was halted by the Marion County Commission, would have allowed one home per acre on 1,200 acres just over the Marion County line - only a few miles from Micanopy's town limits.
"Marion County turned it back, at least temporarily, but even so, if it stays the way it is, I think you're allowed to build something like 100 houses on it," Baird said. "That's a lot, considering that within the town limits of Micanopy, there are 350 houses."
Amy Reinink can be reached at 352-374-5088 or reinina@gvillesun.com.
Projects
could crowd schools
Brad
Buck
Staff
Writer
MOUNT
DORA - A pair of new developments may create an enrollment crunch in
Mount Dora area schools, school administrators said.
The Lake County School Board has set a workshop for 4 p.m. today. Among
other items, the board will hear a consultant talk about options for an
elementary school in Mount Dora.
Maureen Guscott, development review coordinator for the City of Mount
Dora, said the City Council early this month tabled a development called
Wolfstone Estates because some issues needed to be resolved.
Wolfstone, with 622 units of single and multifamily units, is proposed
on 290 acres at Round Lake and Wolf Branch roads, Guscott said.
Developer Terry Hagen has been working on Wolfstone for more than two
years, said Harry Fix, director of growth management for the school
district.
This week, City Council members gave first approval to Indian Springs, a
development of 700 to 800 units at Britt and Wolf Branch roads. School
capacity issues, among others, still must be addressed.
Indian Springs must go through a second hearing for final approval. The
earliest that could happen is the Oct. 10 council meeting.
Using the school district's formula, the homes at Indian Springs would
bring almost 200 elementary school-aged children, Fix said.
As proposed, Wolfstone would wrap around Round Lake Charter Elementary
School, Fix said.
Hagen wants to make sure the school board is comfortable having a school
within Mount Dora's corporate boundaries, Fi