Winter sea ice in Arctic melting faster, NASA study says

Arctic sea ice in winter is melting far faster than before, two new NASA studies reported Wednesday, a new and alarming trend that researchers say threatens the ocean's delicate ecosystem.

Scientists point to the sudden and rapid melting as a sure sign of man-made global warming.

"It has never occurred before in the past," said NASA senior research scientist Josefino Comiso in a phone interview. "It is alarming... This winter ice provides the kind of evidence that it is indeed associated with the greenhouse effect."

Scientists have long worried about melting Arcticsea ice in the summer, but they had not seen a big winter drop in sea ice, even though they expected it.

For more than 25 years Arctic sea ice has slowly diminished in winter by about 1.5 percent per decade. But in the past two years the melting has occurred at rates 10 to 15 times faster. From 2004 to 2005, the amount of ice dropped 2.3 percent; and over the past year, it's declined by another 1.9 percent, according to Comiso.

A second NASA study by other researchers found the winter sea ice melt in one region of the eastern Arctic has shrunk about 40 percent in just the past two years. This is partly because of local weather but also partly because of global warming, Comiso said.

The loss of winter ice is bad news for the ocean because this type of ice, when it melts in summer, provides a crucial breeding ground for plankton, Comiso said. Plankton are the bottom rung of the ocean's food chain.

"If the winter ice melt continues, the effect would be very profound especially for marine mammals," Comiso said in a NASA telephone press conference.

The ice is melting even in subfreezing winter temperatures because the water is warmer and summer ice covers less area and is shorter-lived, Comiso said. Thus, the winter ice season shortens every year and warmer water melts at the edges of the winter ice more every year.

Scientists and climate models have long predicted a drop in winter sea ice, but it has been slow to happen. Global warming skeptics have pointed to the lack of ice melt as a flaw in global warming theory.

The latest findings are "coming more in line with what we expected to find," said Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "We're starting to see a much more coherent and firm picture occurring."

"I hate to say we told you so, but we told you so," he added.

Serreze said only five years ago he was "a fence-sitter" on the issue of whether man-made global warming was happening and a threat, but he said recent evidence in the Arctic has him convinced.

Summer sea ice also has dramatically melted and shrunk over the years, setting a record low last year. This year's measurements are not as bad, but will be close to the record, Serreze said.

Equally disturbing is a large mass of water -- melted sea ice -- in the interior of a giant patch of ice north of Alaska, Serreze said. It's called a polynya, and while those show up from time to time, this one is large -- about the size of the state of Maryland -- and in an unexpected place.

"I for one, after having studied this for 20 years, have never seen anything like this before," Serreze said.

The loss of summer sea ice is pushing polar bears more onto land in northern Canada and Alaska, making it seem like there are more polar bears when there are not, said NASA scientist Claire Parkinson, who studies the bears.

The polar bear population in the Hudson Bay area has dropped from 1,200 in 1989 to 950 in 2004 and the bears that are around are 22 percent smaller than they used to be, she said.

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Agriculture revenue grows by 9%

The state's farm and ranch industry generated nearly $7.8 billion in cash receipts during 2005.

Land owned by Retirement Home for Horses will never be developed - ever
By Ronald Dupont Jr.
Herald Editor

ALACHUA - Alachua's renowned Retirement Home for Horses should remain just that - forever.

That's what the owners decided recently when they chose to place a conservation easment on the 245-acre property.

The easement means that the prime piece of land, worth millions of dollars, can never be developed into a neighborhood or any other sort of commercial development.

"We basically didn't want to build up this unusual sanctuary for horses, then watch it disappear when we die," said Peter Gregory, who founded the refuge with his wife, Mary, 22 years ago.

The Gregorys' decision to place a conservation easement on the land is not new. In fact, Lauren Day of the Alachua Conservation Trust said she is seeing the practice occur more often. Millions of acres nationwide have been transformed into conservation easements.

Last year, a Newberry man chose to place an easement on his 80 acres, saying he didn't want it developed, ever.

But not all easements have such strict regulations. Conservation easements are tailored by an organization such as the Alachua Conservation Trust for each landowner.

Under an agreement with a trust, a person can still own their land and live on it, even build another home on it, farm on it or use it for timber growth. A person can even sell their land.

But in the agreement with the trust, the landowner specifies limits that will stay with the property forever. Properties with such restrictions are referred to as conservation easements.

Peter Gregory said he has been wanting to transform the Retirement Home for Horses land into a conservation easement for many years but finally got around to it only recently.

"I'm not a greedy person," Gregory said. "Some people did approach us very recently, talking about $5 million (for the land)."

But he said such an offer would not sway him and his wife. In fact, he said, he doesn't even own the land anymore. Even though he and his wife originally purchased the land and still live on it, they gave it to the not-for-profit corporation that runs the Retirement Home for Horses.

Day said that interest nationwide in conservation easements is beginning to pick up because of a new federal law that allows people transforming their land into a conservation easement to get major tax breaks.

For example, a person only has to pay federal taxes on half their income for up to 15 years in some cases. And with farmers, no federal taxes on 100 percent of income is possible.

But every situation is different, and those interested should work with a trust, Day said.

"The interest has definitely picked up," Day said. "We have several (pieces of property) in the pipeline."

Gregory said he and his wife's interest in having the corporation transform the land into a conservation easement had nothing to do with money and everything to do with preserving something they love.

"I look at it as a gift for Alachua County," Gregory said. "Hopefully, it will be a sanctuary for horses forever."

Landowners interested in inquiring about conservation easements can contact Lauren Day of the Alachua Conservation Trust at 352-373-1078.

Taxed beyond the breaking point

From the Keys to the Panhandle, residents are in revolt over property tax relief.

Taxpayers are fed up.

In city halls, school board chambers and county commission meeting rooms across Florida, taxpayers are showing up before their local governments by the dozens, even hundreds, begging for tax relief.

The growing tax revolt is transforming normally mundane budget hearings into emotional showdowns.

"The average local redneck can't live here anymore," Ben Moxley said Tuesday, as he rebuked the Crystal River City Council for failing to lower municipal taxes.

It is the elected vs. the electorate from Pensacola to Miami.

So many people showed up for the Leon County budget hearing in Tallahassee this week that some people watched from a jury room four floors away.

About 200 people packed a Hollywood City Commission meeting on Monday and told sad stories until the wee hours of the night.

On Tuesday, a standing-room-only crowd filled the Hillsborough County Commission meeting. Some retirees carried signs reading, "Shame on Our Government" and "You're Taxing Us to Death."

"It's an awakening," said Susan Latvala, president of the Florida Association of Counties and a Pinellas County commissioner.

Florida TaxWatch president Dominic Calabro said many people have finally seen the inequities in the state's 14-year-old property valuation system that shifts some tax burden to business owners, new home buyers, people with second homes and renters.

He said property values have increased by the double digits for six years, including last year's 27 percent bump, and Floridians are finally asking why their local governments have not reduced their taxes.

"What happens when you rob Peter to pay Paul?" Calabro asked. "The thing is, even Paul has to pay some time."

Gov. Jeb Bush said he is glad to hear of rising citizen action.

"This is the second year of a dramatic increase in assessments," he said. "And local governments ... few of them have rolled back rates. If they've done it, they're kind of modest rollbacks given the amount of money they've taken in. So I think there is an awareness of that. It's all across the state."

At the heart of the revolt is property values that have soared from the recent real estate boom. But it is exacerbated by the rising cost of homeowners insurance, electricity and gasoline.

Those really feeling the tax pinch are rental and commercial property owners who do not qualify for the state's 3 percent cap on property tax increases, which is reserved for homesteads.

People who bought homes complain that they are facing much higher taxes because they cannot shift the tax cap they had at a previous home.

The result is a wide disparity in tax bills from neighbor to neighbor.

"Our state tax system is broken," Latvala said. "We can't fix it locally. But, obviously, that's where people come, to the people closest to them."

Many elected leaders believe the tax revolt is just beginning.

The city of Tampa, the Citrus County Commission and the city of St. Petersburg are still finalizing their budgets for next year and have not gotten the full blast from taxpayers.

"There is a revolution going on," said St. Petersburg City Council Chairman Bill Foster. "Their arguments are twofold: Give us a break now and don't just blame Tallahassee; go up there and change it.

"We are their voice."

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio wants to keep the tax rate the same, which would increases property taxes by $28.7-million because of rising values.

Many council members agree with Iorio, but council member Rose Ferlita said that the tax rate proposal is not a done deal and that her colleagues should reconsider their positions.

"Citizens are being forced financially to make do with less and government should do the same," she said.

Some local governments have reversed tax increases or approved deeper cuts than planned after getting an earful from upset residents.

Broward County commissioners on Tuesday ordered a bigger tax rate cut after listening to more than 50 people at a hearing.

The Pinellas County Commission last week said it planned to do the same.

The St. Petersburg City Council recently asked taxpayers for spending cut suggestions after hearing from angry taxpayers.

And an angry Yvonne McKinley of Dunedin told Pinellas County School Board members Tuesday her property tax already has increased from $1,500 to $4,500.

"Every month I have to borrow $3,500 from the equity," McKinley said. "I cannot afford this."

Clearwater Beach's Marty Altner, 59, went before the Pinellas County Commission and the School Board in the past week, publicly requesting lower taxes for the first time in his life.

He plans to make the same request of the city of Clearwater next week.

"I don't mind paying taxes, but at the same time there's something called paying taxes and being put out of business," said Altner, who owns about 180 north Pinellas apartments.

In Citrus County, dozens of angry property owners lashed out at the School Board during a final budget hearing Tuesday, complaining that higher taxes would price them out of the county.

When board members said they had little control over the tax rate, several people threatened to start petitions and try to drive board members out of office.

By the end of the night, superintendent Sandra "Sam" Himmel agreed to slash the budget by $2-million and proposed a slightly lower millage rate. The audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Tallahassee lawyer Stephen Hogge, 46, started the Citizens for Property Tax Relief two months ago. The group helped encourage Leon County commissioners to reduce the tax rate Tuesday with 200 people in attendance.

"People," he said, "have strong feelings about taxes."

Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Eddy Ramirez, Joni James, Donna Winchester, Asjylyn Loder and Janet Zink contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at mave@sptimes.com or 727 893-8813

By CINDY SWIRKO

Sun staff writer

Army Corps redesigns plan to repair Lake Okeechobee dike

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The Army Corps of Engineers agreed Wednesday to dramatically redesign its plans to repair the leaky, earthen dike around Lake Okeechobee.

State-commissioned experts earlier warned that the corps' previous repair plans would not stop all leaks under the 143-mile-long dike and make existing weaknesses worse, leaving it vulnerable to collapse.

"It's a monumental step," Col. Paul Grosskruger said at a South Florida Water Management District board meeting. "We have confidence in the structure more than we had in the previous design."

How much the new efforts to shore up the Herbert Hoover Dike would cost, when construction could resume and be completed depend on design details that could be finished in several weeks, he said.

Corps contractors began work in December on a 25-year, $300 million effort to shore up the earthen wall. But those repairs halted indefinitely this spring after sand contaminated a 36-foot-tall, 2-foot-thick concrete wall that the contractors were trying to embed within the dike.

In the new repair plan, the concrete wall would be placed through the dike's highest point instead of through its downstream slope, Grosskruger said.

The levee around the lake has eroded from age and hurricanes and is in imminent danger of failing in another hurricane, putting about 40,000 people in the direct path of danger, according to a report by a state-hired panel of engineers released in May

Coronet To Spend Millions To Cap Pollution

By DAVE NICHOLSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 13, 2006

PLANT CITY - Coronet Industries is planning to spend $11.6 million to cap pollution at the closed phosphate processing plant.

The company plans to use soil and a fabric liner to essentially seal off pollutants in what is known as Pond 6, a 55-acre area that once contained processing water from the factory on Coronet Road.

A state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman calls it a major step toward final closure of the site.

Most of the contaminants at the plant are in Pond 6. Under the plan, Coronet would place all the polluted soil on the factory site into Pond 6, then top it with hundreds of cubic yards of clean soil and a fabric liner.

Drains and pumps would help ensure that the pollutants, which include boron and arsenic, won't leave the plant property.

Most of the clean soil will come from a now-closed golf course next to the factory.

Coronet operated for nearly a century before closing about two years ago. Earlier this year, demolition began at the plant but is now on hold because the demolition contractor filed for bankruptcy, a Coronet spokeswoman said. The company is looking for a new contractor to finish the job but there's no timetable.

Originally, Coronet hoped to have the plant demolished by next month.

Coronet closed amid declining prices for its main product, an animal feed supplement, and legal claims by hundreds of residents and former workers who claim pollution from the plant made them sick or lowered property values.

Coronet said there's no evidence that its activities made anyone ill and a state health investigation failed to uncover any public health threat.

Gov. Jeb Bush played gas jockey this morning, posing at a Tallahassee pump for TV cameras to promote alternative fuels.

"For the first time in eight years, I'm going to be filling a gas tank," Bush joked with reporters. "So watch out."

Bush stood with Tallahassee car dealers, General Motors executives and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille at an Inland convenience store on North Monroe Street near Interstate 10 to celebrate the first gasoline station in Florida to sell "E85" fuel.

The "bio-fuel" is made from corn, contains 85 percent ethanol, is cleaner-burning and was selling this morning for $2.29 a gallon, considerably lower than the $2.44 a gallon the station was charging for regular unleaded and $2.67 for premium unleaded.

"I used to be a petroleum marketer, and ethanol has converted me into being an energy marketer," said Inland Foods chief executive Mike Harrell.

Cars have to be specially equipped to burn the fuel, and Chevrolet general manager Edward Peper of Detroit estimated there are 2 million "flex-vehicles" in the United States - 65,000 in Florida and 3,000 in the Tallahassee area - that can burn the alternative or regular fuel.

General Motors will offer 17 flex-fuel models by next year. By the same time, Inland expects to have 16 stations in the Tallahassee area that will sell the cheaper fuel.

Tim Revell, co-owner of the Champion Chevrolet and University Chevrolet in Tallahassee, said the dealerships have as many as 60 flex-fuel vehicles for sale on their lots and are looking forward to expanding the line.

"It offers people a choice," he said.

Bush said the alternative fuel is part of the state's strategy to promote energy independence

Homebuyer satisfaction in decline, study shows

BY WAYNE T. PRICE
FLORIDA TODAY

With the area's homebuilding market getting more competitive, customer satisfaction grows more important.

So the local homebuilding industry couldn't be all that pleased with the results of a survey released Wednesday that indicates Central Florida homebuyers aren't as satisfied with their builders as were buyers in most other U.S. markets.

The average customer-satisfaction score in Central Florida was 100, compared with an overall score of 112 in the 34 markets surveyed, according to the marketing-information firm J.D. Power and Associates. The study asked 2,637 area homebuyers to rate their builders in 10 performance categories.

Pulte Homes, Centex Homes and Lennar Homes topped the 2006 list for the Central Florida market, which consists of seven counties -- Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia. Pulte and Centex also fared the best nationally in the survey.

Levitt, D.R. Horton and Crosswinds Communities were at the bottom of the Orlando-area market rankings.

"It takes a lot of work throughout the year to ensure we are delivering on our goal to provide our customers with the best quality homes and homebuying experiences in the market," said Jim Leiferman, Pulte's Florida-area president. "The Orlando team has done an outstanding job, and we're very proud of the accomplishment."

Paula Sonkin, executive director of the real estate industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates, said the softening real estate market for new homes makes customer satisfaction all the more important.

"As builders fight for every sale they close in this downturned market, a reputation for customer satisfaction becomes more important than ever, as it help builders differentiate themselves from competition," Sonkin said.

Brevard's two largest local builders -- Mercedes Homes and Holiday Builders, both headquartered in Melbourne -- finished above the area's average. Holiday came in No. 6 out of 26 Central Florida builders in the study, with a 109 rating. Mercedes came in 10th, with a 104 rating.

Kris Ellis, director of marketing at Holiday Builders, said she wasn't familiar with the latest J.D. Power and Associates survey, but said customer satisfaction is a key component of the company's philosophy.

Holiday Builders runs a very "efficient" operation, which saves money. That The savings are passed on to customers, Ellis said.Getting things right the first time, or quickly remedying a problem, helps with overall efficiency levels.

"Quality is extremely important to us," Ellis said. "And, to us, it's all customer service."

Certainly, though, Holiday and other local builders are feeling the softening market.

The number of housing construction permits issued in Brevard County plunged in July to the lowest monthly total in more than nine years.

There were 227 housing construction permits issued in Brevard in July for single-family homes, condos and apartment units, according to the latest construction activity report from the Home Builders & Contractors Association of Brevard.

That's the lowest monthly total on the Space Coast since March 1997, when 221 permits were issued countywide.

Among the 34 markets surveyed nationwide by J.D. Power and Associates, those with the highest customer satisfaction ratings were Austin, Texas (124); Minneapolis (123); and Sacramento, Calif. (123).

The Central Florida area ranked near the bottom of the J.D. Power list. The only markets faring worse were Jacksonville, 99, and Philadelphia, 95.

The annual survey measures 10 factors to determine overall customer satisfaction. In order of importance, they are builder's warranty and customer service, home readiness,sales staff, construction manager, quality of workmanship and materials, price and value, physical design, design center, recreational facilities and location.

To be included in the survey, Central Florida builders must have closed sales on at least 150 homes in that seven-county region in 2005. Most of the buyers who participated in the survey gave opinions after living in homes four to 18 months.

This year's Central Florida score of 100 is lower than last year's regional mark of 104, when the average nationwide score was 112, as it was this year.

Mortgage foreclosures rising

As the economy cools, mortgage foreclosures are on the rise, but it's not clear by how much.

BY MONICA HATCHER

mhatcher@MiamiHerald.com

There's no question: Mortgage foreclosures in the Sunshine State are up. By how much, however, depends on who you ask.

RealtyTrac, a provider of real estate data, reported Wednesday that foreclosure activity in Florida jumped to its highest level this year, with 16,533 properties entering foreclosure in August, 50 percent more than the previous month.

Broward County ranked third in the nation among major metropolitan areas for the most homes entering some stage of foreclosure -- one for every 174 households, the company said.

Miami-Dade ranked in the top five, with one new foreclosure filing for every 195 households.

South Florida homeowners for months have felt the crush of rising insurance premiums, gas prices and interest rates, among other inflationary pressures, so it's not surprising they'd be having trouble making their house payments.

But before concluding the sky is falling, consider this data from Foreclosure.com.

The Boca Raton-based company reported just 290 foreclosures statewide for August. In Broward, just 13. On nationwide statistics, the companies diverged even further.

The difference boils down to how the companies count foreclosures, a usually lengthy process in which the lender takes legal action to gain title to a property when an owner has missed several mortgage payments.

Foreclosure.com counts only homes in the last stages of foreclosure, when a lender has taken possession after failing to sell it at auction.

RealtyTrac includes in its data so-called pre-foreclosures -- when a lender files its intention to foreclose at the courthouse. These often are resolved before a homeowner loses the property.

SLOWDOWN

''There is definitely a slowing in the economy, but foreclosure rates really haven't jumped that high in the state of Florida,'' said Brad Geisen, CEO of Foreclosure.com.

Florida real estate has surged in value over the last several years. While prices may be settling, many homeowners have built significant equity in their homes, enough to be able to refinance or pay off their mortgages by selling, Geisen said.

Nonetheless, Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac, says his firm's data represent a truer indicator of economic conditions -- people falling behind on their loan payments in greater numbers.

``If you are a homeowner and your property is about to be auctioned off -- whether the bank takes it back or a third party -- you still just lost your house to foreclosure.''

Sharga and Geisen agree on this point: Pre-foreclosures don't mean people are necessarily losing their homes.

Nearly 60 percent of mortgages that enter default are resolved or sold before a foreclosure auction action, Sharga said, adding that about half of the remaining 40 percent are bought by a third party and half are repossessed by the banks.

53% INCREASE

RealtyTrac reported 115,292 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure during August, an increase of nearly 53 percent from the same time last year, the second highest monthly foreclosure rate reported year to date.

Sharga says his numbers mirror data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association, which reported a small uptick in the percentage of mortgages entering foreclosure, or seriously delinquent.

According to the MBA, most of the increases are among sub-prime loans -- loans with higher than average interest rates usually offered to those with troubled credit -- and especially sub-prime loans with adjustable interest rates. Those rates have risen recently.

Insurance hikes pummel nonprofits

By Susan R. Miller

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 14, 2006

C.R. 54 Interchange Project Takes A U-Turn

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 14, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - State highway planners say they've revised their immediate plans for the junction of Interstate 75 and County Road 54, though they'll continue to work with Pasco officials as the county renovates Wesley Chapel's main thoroughfare.

Skyrocketing road construction costs have forced the Florida Department of Transportation to delay its plans for widening to six lanes the interstate between State Road 56 and County Road 54 (Wesley Chapel Boulevard).

The agency still intends to rebuild the bridges carrying the interstate over the county road, said Bob Clifford, planning director for the FDOT's Tampa office.

Replacing those bridges was part of the original plan for widening the 4.7-mile stretch of interstate. The $61 million widening was scheduled for construction in 2010 with land acquisition starting in 2008.

With recent highway construction costs running as much as 60 percent higher than normal, FDOT has been recalibrating its road-building plans.

Clifford will outline the agency's revised plans for the C.R. 54/I-75 interchange when he meets with county transportation planners at 10 a.m. today at the historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City.

The $43 million bridge-replacement project will install single-span bridges wide enough to accommodate extra lanes on I-75 and a widened C.R. 54 underneath, Clifford said.

The reconstruction, which will involve shifting interstate traffic, should take about two years, Clifford said.

The existing bridges were built in 1964. They rest atop several concrete abutments that force approaching drivers to jockey for lanes before they pass beneath the bridges.

The interchange sits at the heart of one of Pasco's fastest-growing communities. More than 60,000 vehicles pass over the bridges every day on I-75, up about 50 percent over the last decade, according to FDOT estimates.

County officials will contribute $20.8 million in Penny for Pasco funds to jump-start the project in early 2008, said county budget director Eric Hershberger.

The FDOT would pay for the balance of the project, Clifford said.

The bridge replacement will follow up the county's 18-month widening of C.R. 54 from Magnolia Boulevard in the south to Oakley Boulevard in the north.

That $16.5 million project is more than one-third done and has been slowed by recent heavy rains, said project manager Bob Shepherd.

As the C.R. 54 widening winds down next summer, the county plans to remake the road where it approaches the I-75 overpass.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

X-Way Board's Ethical Potholes Must Be Probed And Repaired

Tampa tribune Editorial Published: Sep 14, 2006

Jeb Bush has good reason to be disappointed with his appointees to the Hillsborough Expressway Authority.

The "appearance of impropriety" in awarding a contract for legal services required the governor's intervention.

With the whole town talking about how the hiring of a new law firm didn't pass the smell test, board members stubbornly refused to back down. They expected everyone to overlook the fact that executive director Ralph Mervine had an improper dinner with one applicant.

Only when the governor cracked the whip and complained of "palace intrigue" did his appointees agree to toss out their tainted work and start fresh.

Meanwhile, the Hillsborough County Commission unanimously declared it has lost all confidence in the authority and in Mervine. The governor's appointees on the authority don't seem to care, which rings even more alarm bells.

When the controversy surfaced last month, we called on Bush to order an audit to find out if public money is being wisely spent. And specifically, why the board is paying its lobbyist hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The governor asked the Legislative for exactly that, and legislative leaders say they will honor the governor's request. The governor says the audit will look into financial, performance and operational concerns.

The Tribune has reported that the authority's lobbyist, John Beck, has recently worked for companies seeking to win expressway construction bids.

All these relationships are too cozy to inspire confidence that decisions are always made in the public's best interest. Beck helps write the bids and counsels the board about whom to select. Yet he also advises the firms submitting bids to the authority. It's not easy to tell for whom he's working.

Regardless of what the audit turns up, it is bewildering why Mervine and the board have such trouble getting the basics right. Only the two elected members on the authority - County Commissioner Tom Scott and Tampa City Council Member Gwen Miller - saw a problem and objected when the bidding rules were broken.

The controversy prompted calls from several lawmakers in neighboring counties to disband the authority and replace it with a regional board. Whether or not some regional transit board is needed, these legislators should butt out. It should be up to Hillsborough's delegation to take the lead in deciding what should be done legislatively about Hillsborough's expressway authority.

The local board was created to tackle local projects that the state wouldn't. There is still a need for such a board. For example, neither the state Turnpike Authority nor anyone else other than the local authority is willing to build a much-needed tollway in north Tampa.

But before the expressway authority awards another contract worth millions, the audit results should be reviewed by state and local officials.

Depending on the results, the governor may need to name new appointees who can then hire a new executive director.

Disputed Land O' Lakes Parcel Receives Commercial Status

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 14, 2006

DADE CITY - Planning commissioners on Wednesday approved rezoning of property in Land O' Lakes, despite concerns that the change could adversely affect residents of Carson Drive.

Landowner Russell Adams asked for the change to C-2 commercial zoning to bring the land in line with property he also owns just west of it. The rezoned property has access from Carson Drive.

Carson Drive is a narrow road off U.S. 41, just behind the Village Lakes Shopping Center. Residents this year fended off plans to create a Carson Drive entrance for a condominium project on a former citrus grove just east of Adams' property.

Carson Drive residents argued that the rezoning, which would allow Adams to develop commercial buildings, would increase traffic on their poorly maintained road. Adams disputed that but agreed to improve the road if traffic exceeded the levels allowed by the condition of Carson Drive.

Also on Wednesday, planning commissioners:

•Turned down a proposed track for motorcycles and mud bogging on Alton Road in eastern Pasco. Property owner Robert Wood argued the isolated nature of the property made it ideal for such activity. But commissioners sided with Wood's neighbors, who said the proposal would ruin the peace and quiet in the area.

•Approved alcohol sales for a Chili's restaurant planned at Suncoast Crossings. Developer JLB Suncoast LLC, a subsidiary of Youngstown, Ohio-based Redstone Investments, will build the restaurant on the west side of the Suncoast Parkway at State Road 54.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

County Line Road project finds compromise

Officials agree to the 33-acre development, minus the plan for 145 apartments.

BROOKSVILLE - After presenting a proposal to allow his family to build offices and apartments on 33 acres on County Line Road, Mark Taylor asked the County Commission on Wednesday to "be brave."

"It's tough when you have a whole audience of people who are against this," said Taylor, who represented members of the Mazourek family - including county Property Appraiser Alvin Mazourek - which owns the parcel.

Taylor, who married into the family, was referring to residents of the Wellington at Seven Hills, who packed the County Commission chambers for Wednesday's meeting.

Wellington residents objected to the proposal, which also called for a convenience store and restaurant, for several reasons. But the plan to build 145 apartments generated the most opposition.

After Taylor's presentation, county Commissioner Chris Kingsley introduced a motion that called for removing the apartments from the development and allowing only the office, professional and light commercial uses.

That passed 4-1, with commission Chairwoman Diane Rowden casting the opposing vote, citing congestion on County Line Road. The property is on a stretch of the road, east of Mariner Boulevard and south of the Wellington, that the state Department of Transportation has rated as near failure.

Some Wellington residents were satisfied with the compromise.

"My only concern was the multifamily ... though I prefer to call them apartment complexes, because that's what they are," said George Massey, 71, a Wellington resident.

The dense development would have caused severe congestion on what Massey called "an antiquated two-lane road."

But another Wellington resident, Danny Dominguez, 50, confronted Commissioner Nancy Robinson after the meeting.

"The commission has been blinded, the county planners have been blinded about what's going on here," Dominguez said.

"I think we've been ramrodded."

Robinson answered that the shopping and office center was consistent with the county's comprehensive plan and that the project may help with the widening of County Line Road because the owners have agreed to allow the front of the parcel to be used as right of way.

Taylor pointed out that in their report on the project, county planners said apartments should be built near stores and offices, placing residents within walking distance of stores and possibly jobs.

Also, he said, the county needs more reasonably priced apartments for people to rent. "I still contend that we have to have places for young folks," he said.

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

Wellington wins 1, loses on 2 projects

After three hours of debate, they left with what could be called a partial victory.

Commissioners axed the apartments but kept the office buildings and stores. They also stipulated no gas pumps at any of the stores.

But not many Wellington residents appeared happy after the vote. Most shuffled out quietly talking amongst themselves and trying to sort out the proceedings.

“I think the vote is disgusting,” said Danny Dominguez, who rallied a bunch of his neighbors to the land use hearing. “(But) what can we do?”

Dominguez was one of about 20 residents who complained that the development would lead to declining property values, congested roads and overcrowded schools. Many particularly complained about the possibility of having to live next to an apartment complex and looking at such an ugly sight from their yards.

Neighbors also feared that crime rates would rise from the kinds of people who live in apartments.

But Mark Taylor, who was representing the 16 property owners seeking to develop the acreage, defended apartment-dwellers and said it is the only kind of housing available to teachers and other modest wage earners.

Taylor was not upset commissioners denied him the apartments. That was more of a demand from county planners anyway, who thought the 33 acres would be a better mixed use for that area.

But he said residents should welcome the new stores, which are needed to service not only The Wellington but other homes being built near that area.

Taylor said he will move the frontage road to provide a bigger buffer, so that the closest home from the nearest store would be 125 feet. He is also talking with the school district to mitigate the impacts of development.

County Commissioner Diane Rowden voted against the rezoning because she didn’t think County Line Road can handle the excess traffic to be generated from the new development. Also, she didn’t believe the plan as presented was specific enough.

“This picture is very fuzzy,” she said. “I don’t think we have a real clear picture of what’s going to go in there.”

To relieve traffic congestion, the developer will have to extend Quality Drive from Mariner Boulevard to Farnsworth Boulevard and help pay for a traffic light at Farnsworth and County Line Road when determined necessary.

County planners agreed that the development is consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, which regulates growth. Last month, the planning and zoning board voted 4-1 to support the project.

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

Downtown condos on the rise

City approves Crane Creek Vistas complex off Melbourne Avenue

BY RICK NEALE
FLORIDA TODAY

Today, three thickly vegetated properties abutting the Crane Creek shoreline host a handful of aging housing buildings, towering live oaks, and a chorus of chirping and buzzing insects.

In the future, this 2.3-acre site off Melbourne Avenue will be developed into the Crane Creek Vistas, a gated condominium complex with private boat slips.

The Melbourne City Council approved a site plan last week for the project, located within walking distance of the downtown business district. Construction has not begun.

The Crane Creek Vistas will encompass a dozen buildings off the south end of Waverly Place, featuring 26 three-bedroom condominiums, a swimming pool with cabana and hot tub, two-car garages, a boathouse and dock, and 63 parking spaces. Fifteen hardwood trees on the property will be preserved, and tropical landscaping will be planted.

"The whole point of the project is old Key West style, keeping with (the feel of) Historic Downtown Melbourne -- wraparound porches, metal roofs," said Karen Coville, a Realtor with Premier Properties of Brevard. "It's going to be beautiful."

Units will sell for $550,000 to $899,000, according to the Melbourne Beach real estate firm's Web listings.

The landowner is Crane Creek Development LLC, a Port St. Lucie corporation. The entity bought the land -- comprising three parcels -- last year for $3.25 million, Brevard County Property Appraiser's Office records show.

"We're hoping to have it completed by the end of next year," Coville said. "We have spent a lot of time with the planning and zoning department."

In accordance with zoning code, building heights cannot exceed 40 feet.

Coville said boat slip permits must be secured from the St. Johns River Water Management District. The construction firm is Certified Building Contractors of Port St. Lucie.

The site is one block west of the proposed Melbourne Avenue Condominiums, an 80-foot tower complex containing 107 housing units. The Orange Court Apartments would be demolished to make room for the structure.

Council members approved a site plan for the Melbourne Avenue Condominiums in January.

Both future developments lie within the borders of Melbourne's downtown redevelopment district.

Contact Neale at 242-3638 or rneale@flatoday.net.

City of Port St. Lucie passes Martin County in population

By Teresa Lane

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Shores' vote moves condo project forward

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- Setting the stage for a possible test case of Volusia County's effort to control growth, the City Council took a step Wednesday to allow condos on a newly annexed site here.

The Council's 3-1 vote might eventually permit up to 106 condo units on a 3-acre riverfront site on Cardinal Boulevard, where residents were assured only single-family homes were allowed when the site was annexed in May.

Now, the property owner wants to change the rules.

The four residents who spoke asked council members to oppose the land-use change, drawing applause from the audience of roughly 70 people.

"Putting 106 units in the middle of our neighborhood absolutely changes the complexion of our neighborhood," said resident Myra Gerkin.

Volusia County Councilman Art Giles said he was puzzled by the change in land use to allow a large multi-family project so quick after the annexation.

"It doesn't fit," Giles said of a multi-family project on the street with mostly single-family homes nearby.

Councilwoman Jennie Celona dismissed objections from the county and residents of Wilbur-by-the-Sea, who attended Wednesday's meeting to oppose the project. She also objected to Volusia County telling the city what to do.

"Our first duty is to the citizens of Daytona Beach Shores," she said.

But Councilman Ron Brown voted against the change.

"There are too many unanswered issues," he said.

Volusia County officials want voters to give them planning authority even after cities annex land. If voters approve that proposal on the Nov. 7 ballot, county officials have said they'll assert power over the Cardinal Boulevard site.

County officials want to stop jurisdiction-shopping by developers. Along Cardinal Boulevard, properties can fall under unincorporated Volusia, Port Orange or Daytona Beach Shores.

Fred Hiatt, the city's community services director, said other multi-family sites are near the newly annexed site. Any construction on the Cardinal Boulevard property could not go higher than six stories and might not reach the maximum of 106 units.

"We do want to stop that high-rise development from happening on the river," Hiatt said.

Mike Wood, an attorney representing property owned by Mark Nagrani of New Smyrna Beach under the business name, Lady Godiva 2, said multi-family does fit in along Cardinal Boulevard.

"What you have here is not an urban land grab by the city," Wood said. "This is smart growth."

Wednesday's action is the first of a long process which includes action by the state and additional city approvals.

john.bozzo@news-jrnl.com

Developer offers pair of 30-story condo towers

DAYTONA BEACH -- The condo market may have slowed down in Daytona Beach, but a South Florida developer is proving that it's not dead.

Developer Royal Palm Communities of Boca Raton introduced conceptual designs for Daytona Hotel, two 30-story beachside condo towers, to the Main Street-South Atlantic Avenue Redevelopment Board on Wednesday night. It's one of the first high-rise projects to go before a city board in months.

Board members unanimously approved early designs of the 990-unit hotel-condo project planned for 10 acres at Lenox and South Atlantic avenues. It will include public beach access on the north and south sides and have restaurants facing the ocean with outside seating.

"This is a nice project and will clean up a horrible part of the city," board member Felix Amon said.

Board members praised its addition of hotel rooms to the city and recommended the builder provide parking for locals to use to enter the restaurants or the beach and increase landscaping.

Board member Tom Guest said he worried that the 30-story buildings would be too tall to match its next-door neighbors, which include a two-story house and seven-story hotel.

However, developer attorney Rob Merrell said the planned condo fits with the city's oceanfront standards, set last year, which recommended narrower and taller buildings to allow ocean views and breezes between.

Comments will be taken to staff and developers said they will tweak plans before coming back to the board -- with a more formal site plan -- for final approval. Because the property is zoned for a condominium, the project doesn't need other board endorsements.

Daytona Hotel developers have been planning the project since buying several older hotels at the site in December 2004, after the area's devastating hurricanes and amid a giant condo boom in Daytona Beach.

Since then, the market softened and construction costs increased, causing at least one major condo developer to bail out. In July, Morris J. Kaplan, developer of the eight-story Cosmopolitan condo on North Beach Street, pulled plans for his project saying the changed market made it difficult to sell the idea to lenders.

So far, the reversal hasn't stopped other projects. Marina Grande on Holly Hill's riverside is currently under construction and the same developer still plans to build the 22-story, two-building Beach Street Condos next to the now-defunct Cosmopolitan.

cindy.crawford@news-jrnl.com

Mike Lafferty

Like growth? Respond with charter votes

Future governor's help asked for oceans

Coalition criticizes Bush coastal record, hopes replacement does better.

And Crist said he would review the group's 36-page report: "Florida's Ocean and Coastal Future: A Blueprint for Economic and Environmental Leadership."

It was enough to hearten members of the coalition.

"We are feeling very optimistic," said Linda Young, director of Clean Water Network of Florida. "We did this because we lost ground it a time when we should have been very focused on making smart decisions on how to protect our coast and the ocean around Florida."

Young, who routinely sues the state over clean water issues and often wins, said the current movement has its roots in the Chiles adminstration report.

The Florida Governor's Ocean Committee called for securing more ocean research money, exploring innovative ways to restore, protect and manage the state's ocean assets -- including the use of marine protected areas -- and educating people about the aesthetic and economic value of the state's waters.

Its 24 members came from government agencies, conservation groups, science, education, recreation and business.

Ocean advocates say Jeb Bush shelved the report, except for signing off on the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, a marine protected areas -- that was near completion when he took office.

More recently, Bush bewildered environmental groups and the state's top ocean scientists when he vetoed $3 million for the Florida Oceans and Coastal Resources Council to begin taking baby steps toward science-based management of the state's waters.

"He felt that, while it was a good program, he needed to veto it," said Russell Schweiss, senior press secretary for the governor. He added that Bush OK'd a tripling of red tide research money to $5 million.

The blueprint the coalition compiled identifies six areas threatening Florida's ocean waters and coastlines and calls for curbing unwise coastal development, reducing water pollution and pollution that contributes to global warming, keeping oil drilling at bay, restoring ecosystems, reducing global-warming pollution and strengthening ocean governance.

The report builds on the recommendations from two recent national Oceans Commissions that said the nation's oceans are in serious trouble and that urgent action is needed to reverse their decline.

Florida's own 10 million acres of coastal waters and estuaries suffer from pollution, degradation and overuse. The result is beaches littered with dead fish and sewage fed seaweed, toxic gas from runaway red tides and crumbling coral reefs.

And beach closings from bacterial contamination are on the rise in Florida, prompting health authorities to post warnings for 3,428 beach closing and advisory days in 2005, double the number in 2002.

As well, the state faces nearly a foot of sea level rise by 2025, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

More than aesthetics is at stake for Florida.

Along with the ocean economy's $13 billion direct contribution to the Florida's financial health, coastal counties contribute $402 billion to the state's economy.
Environmentalists propose solutions for ocean, coastal problems

By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Twenty environmental, recreational and civic groups unveiled a blueprint Tuesday for dealing with threats to Florida's coasts and ocean waters including pollution, beach erosion, offshore drilling, global warming and overfishing.

Representatives said the organizations hoped Florida's next governor, whether Republican Charlie Crist or Democrat Jim Davis, would embrace recommendations in their report, "Florida's Coastal and Ocean Future: A Blueprint for Economic and Environmental Leadership."

Davis, a Tampa congressman, did so immediately. Crist, the state's attorney general, was still examining it and had not yet taken a position, said campaign spokeswoman Erin Isaac.

"This isn't just about the birds and the bunnies," said Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida. "This is about Florida's economy."

She said the state's tourism industry has lost millions of dollars from red tide, a toxic algae bloom, and pollution that has kept people from swimming, fishing or boating. Even developers are feeling the pinch from beach erosion that has contributed to coastal storm damage and soaring insurance rates, she said.

The report calls in part for strengthening coastal development regulations, maintaining or improving water quality standards, preserving marine and coastal ecosystems, reducing pollution, especially carbon dioxide emissions and comprehensive ecosystem management by government agencies.

One of the specific recommendations to achieve the latter objective is to establish a coastal and oceans chief in the governor's office to coordinate efforts by state agencies.

"We've been playing defense for eight years," said National Wildlife Federation regional outreach coordinator Gerald Karnas.

While the state has made some progress under Gov. Jeb Bush, he failed to act on a similar blueprint developed under the previous administration of Gov. Lawton Chiles, and this year he vetoed a $3 million appropriation for ocean research, said David White, Southeast Atlantic regional director for The Ocean Conservancy.

Bush vetoed the funding because he thought it inappropriate to tie future administrations to a recurring program of open-ended research that may not fit their budget priorities, said Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for the governor. She added that the state is spending $4 million for red tide research this year.

"Red tide research in our state has been going on for the last eight or nine years and it's been increased," Bush said later. "I think it's the right thing to do. There's a lot of coordination as it relates to that. Without seeing the report, it's hard for me to comment."

The groups have not endorsed anyone in the governor's race and most cannot get involved in politics because they receive tax-deductible contributions, but representatives said they have had positive experiences with both major party candidates.

"I look forward to working with the relevant stakeholders to examine many of these practical suggestions," Davis said in a statement. "We need to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the number of pollutants that contaminate our precious waters, lakes, rivers and estuaries."

Other groups that participated in the report include the Caribbean Conservation Corp., Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, Environment Florida, League of Women Voters of Florida, the Sierra Club's Florida Chapter and Reef Relief.

---

On the Web:

Florida's Coastal and Ocean Future: A Blueprint for Economic and Environmental Leadership: http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/florida/flfuture.asp

Sea walls could be limited

Sarasota County commissioners discuss restricting most construction close to the Gulf of Mexico.

By DOUG SWORD and PATRICK WHITTLE

doug.sword@heraldtribune.com
patrick.whittle@heraldtribune.com

SARASOTA COUNTY -- County commissioners are considering a new law that would make it harder to get a permit for a sea wall and most construction within 100 to 200 feet of the Gulf of Mexico.

The last time commissioners debated sea walls, which cause erosion and destroy turtle nesting grounds, but can save homes from falling into the Gulf, the debate became heated.

After hours of hearings over a 2,100-foot-long sea wall that Manasota Key residents said was needed to save their homes, commissioners rejected the project.

The proposed law making sea wall permits a rarity drew the ire of Juergen Matt, leader of the effort to build the Manasota Key wall. He called the proposal an effort to "prevent you from protecting your property."

"Are they going to let you protect your 1,500-square-foot ramshackle home if it's ready to wash out to the ocean?" he said.

The county has a history of allowing homeowners to protect their properties from sliding into the Gulf -- 38 percent of the shoreline is hardened -- but commissioners have clamped down on the practice in recent years. Besides environmental concerns, sea walls cut off beach access to the public.

Possible changes:

Anyone who builds a sea wall without a permit and seeks "after-the-fact" permission could be forced to tear down the structure.

Anyone who gains permission to build a home on the seaward side of the Gulf Beach Setback Line would be stuck with the risk and couldn't build a sea wall to protect that home even if it was on the verge of sliding into the water. The setback line is based on storm surges and erosion projections and generally runs 100-200 feet from the shore.

The new law might also ban the construction of tennis courts and gazebos near the shore, place more restrictions on swimming pools and ban septic tanks on the seaward side of the setback line.

The practice of tearing down an older home and replacing it with a "Taj Mahal" would stop. A new home couldn't be built in the footprint of an existing home; it would have to be built on the landward side of the setback line.

That last change draws support from Dave Winans, a resident on the north end of Manasota Key, who opposed more than a dozen neighbors last year who wanted to build the 2,100-foot steel sea wall. Commissioners turned down the Manasota Key sea wall even though it would have protected a heavily eroded stretch of beach.

"People buy a house and they like to build it right on the ocean side, and then woe and betide, 'The ocean is coming up on my property,'" Winans said.

The most recent study of beach hardening showed that as of 1995, 36 percent of Sarasota County's shoreline had been hardened with sea walls, revetments and groins (a sand trap generally built perpendicular to the shore). Approvals have slowed in recent years, but still the county estimates the figure has now grown to 38 percent, or about 13 miles.

"We have taken the position that we don't like hardening of the Gulf Coast shoreline," said County Commissioner Paul Mercier.

The commissioners' comments will be translated into a new law which could be voted on after a public hearing scheduled for Dec. 13.

Currently, county law prohibits construction of a sea wall unless a property owner meets four criteria, including that without a sea wall, the owner would face an "unreasonable hardship," such as losing his or her home. In practice, the county often considers a special building variance for anyone who meets even one of the four conditions.

The new law would boost the number of conditions to 12, although there seems to be a split among commissioners whether all of the criteria would have to be met before a sea wall or revetment would be considered. At least eight conditions would have to be met to build a structure on the Gulf side of the setback line.

It is apparent that a majority of commissioners favor toughening the law to limit sea walls and to curtail construction on the Gulf side of the setback line.

Commissioner Nora Patterson opposes tennis courts and gazebos close to the sea and suggested that swimming pools should be restricted as well.

"Is this really a hardship?" Patterson asked referring to the "hardship" exclusion for building seaward of the setback line. "To be told you can't have a pool?"

Still commissioners said they wanted a law that allowed some accessory structures, such as swimming pools, with limits. Although there seemed to be support for not allowing swimming pools to be any closer to the Gulf than the house.

There was near unanimous agreement to ban two types of beachfront construction: new large homes to replace teardowns seaward of the setback line and construction done without permits.

"We get these Taj Mahals that are built on the same footprint," Mercier said. Mercier and others would require the replacement home be built beyond the setback line.

The practice of building a sea wall first and then asking for a permit seems destined to be outlawed. Homeowners ask for forgiveness rather than permission "because we've made the after-the-facts so easy," Commissioner Jon Thaxton said.

Commissioner Shannon Staub says she'd like to continue hearing petitions for sea walls on a case-by-case basis.

"I want to be able to see things because there's always the exception to the rule," Staub said.

3,000 pounds of dead fish turn up in Collier County from red tide

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- City workers used a tractor to clean up 3,000 pounds of dead fish that littered the shore caused by an increase in red tide bloom.

The level has been increased in some areas from low to medium, according to a Collier County report released Tuesday, the day of the cleanup. The toxic microscopic algae bloom has infected the area for the past two months.

"We'll continue to monitor the beaches day after day," said Joe Boscaglia, the city's parks superintendent. "We hope it doesn't get any worse."

Red tide is the common name for a bloom of microscopic algae, called karenia brevis, that releases a toxin that can kill fish and cause coughing, sneezing and watery eyes in humans. People with chronic respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, were advised to stay away from the beach.

Last year nearly 480 tons of dead fish were hauled away during four weeks in September and October.

Information from: Naples Daily News, http://www.naplesnews.com

Blue Spring ordinance rejected

Countywide water study ordered instead

By Deborah Buckhalter

Jackson County Floridan

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The ill-fated Blue Spring ordinance died Tuesday, but not before it gave birth to a new idea. Jackson County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposed water quality ordinance that would have governed development in the Jackson Blue Spring Basin.

They also lifted the development moratorium that had been in place for more than six months in the roughly 70,000- acre region. The freeze was imposed in February to give the county's advisory planning board time to draft the ordinance they eventually disregarded.

Commissioner Milton Pittman, in whose district most of the basin lies, made the motion. In it, he also called for a county-wide study to determine what protections should be enacted to protect water recharge areas across the entire county.

"To make it fair to everybody, we need to look at the Chipola River basin, the Apalachicola River basin, the Holmes Creek basin, as well as blue spring basin," he said after the meeting. "Some portion of them all run through Jackson County, and we need to look at all of them if we're going to look at one.'

The blue spring ordinance was controversial from the start, and went through several revisions before it was finally dropped. The ordinance, in its final form, was limited to a series of setback and buffer requirements meant to shield the spring from too much surface water runoff.

A standing-room-only crowd attended the morning meeting, and several people spoke before the board took action on the matter. Some were in favor of the ordinance and some against it. Many of those who objected to it said they thought there was a lack of scientific evidence to justify the proposed rules.

Some said they believed it would be unfair to target that area alone for regulation, and others said they felt their rights as property owners were being threatened.

Pittman said he appreciated all the work the planning commission had done in drafting the ordinance, but that in retrospect thinks "we laid something in the law of the planning commission with no tools to work with." More science and more public input is needed, he said.

He said he thinks each commissioner should appoint two or three people to a panel that would, in the very near future, start meeting with the planning board toward a more comprehensive set of rules concerning development near all the waterways in Jackson County.

"We need to seek funds to do a water quality study throughout the county. It's a real problem throughout the southeastern U.S., and I think we'd be on the right track to involve more people in it and let the planning board come back with a proposal."

Fellow commissioner Willie Spires said, he too, believes the county needs to do more research before enacting more rules.

"First of all, it wasn't a total rejection, because we did vote to do this study. I want to make sure we have all the facts down regarding the potential adverse consequences on the water quality. We need an expert on water quality working to investigate the situation and give us feedback as to contaminants.

Spires said he thought those who spoke against the ordinance made some valid points. "It is certainly not my intention, nor the board's, to impede private property owners from developing their property Today it was stated that, under the ordinance, the rules were not being consistently applied and I thought that was a a point worth making and considering."

Spires said he'd like the county to set up a workshop to deal with the matter going forward. Commissioner Chuck Lockey said he was swayed most by the argument that the ordinance would unfairly single out 11 percent of the county.

"I hadn't really thought about that until the first public hearing we had on this a couple of weeks ago," Lockey said. "That's the reason we have public hearings, so people can air their concerns, and it appeared to me that most of the people who spoke (Tuesday) lived or had property there and had some real concerns that affect them. It makes sense to me that we need to look at this thing countywide. There's money available for a study of underground sources of water. We don't need to just do away with all the work the planning commission has done, but we need to add to it. We're elected to listen to the people, and we don't want to encroach on their property rights. We have to find a compromise that's right for the county as a whole. I think the state's going to be looking over our shoulders to make sure we do something, that we address the issue."

Commission Chairman Paul Dudley said he thought that those who were in favor of the ordinance made some good points that should be considered as the county continues addressing the matter.

"They made a strong case for immediate action," he said, "however, after listening to different representatives speak at the public hearings, it became clear that we would only be addressing about 11 percent of the county when we should be addressing the whole county. The issue is still here as strong as ever, but let us address this problem as well as the other sensitive areas of the county."

Dudley said he was very appreciative of the work the planning commission and county staff has done so far and will be depending on them to continue helping the county as it negotiates what has proven to be a sometimes stormy sea of issues.

Pittman acknowledged the difficulty of dealing with the matter, saying it was one of three big issues he's faced in that part of his district in his current term of office.

"I've fought three wars, and I'm tired; I'm about shell-shocked," he said. "Blue Spring Basin, the Blue Spring bog-in, and the sprayfield."

Pittman was referring to a now-inactive bog-in business that brought much public outcry from those who lived around it, and to a now-dead effort to build a wastewater sprayfield near Dellwood. "I'm tired, but I'm going to stay right on top of this thing. The people expect us to do a follow up, and we will conduct this study."

Flooding project gets boost

STAFF REPORT

BRADENTON -- Regional water management officials have pledged an additional $500,000 to replace bridges and fix storm-water systems as part of a $40 million project to reduce flooding along Wares Creek.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District budgeted the extra money to pay for work on the bridge at Ninth Avenue West.

The first phase -- which included surveys and a preliminary design -- is complete, and officials now are turning their attention to four bridges that will be replaced.

The water management district is spending $4.45 million on the project, which is co-funded by the city of Bradenton, Manatee County and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The project is one of the largest environmental undertakings in county history and will widen, dredge and replace bridges along the flood-prone creek that runs through central Bradenton and connects with the Manatee River at about 19th Street West.

UF professor shares his insight into Sunday's quake

By JACK STRIPLING

Sun staff writer

Last year's strong hurricane season may have contributed to a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, a University of Florida professor says.

Ray Russo, an assistant professor of geology at UF, says that thick piles of mud lying on the ocean floor may have been displaced by hurricanes, creating conditions that could crack the sea floor's crust to produce an earthquake.

"The question is: Is this some random occurrence," he said, "which is entirely possible? Or is there some trigger?"

Hurricane Katrina moved large volumes of muddy sediments from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, Russo said, and that presents two possible recipes for earthquakes. Large amounts of sediment could have piled up in layers over time and fractured the earth beneath under massive weight, he said. Another possibility is that the sediment on the ocean floor was displaced, perhaps by hurricanes, and moved into an area that couldn't support that weight and fissured.

Sunday's earthquake was the largest and most widely felt of more than a dozen earthquakes recorded in the Gulf in the past 30 years, according to scientists interviewed by The Associated Press. What may be of concern is that it's the second reasonably sized earthquake in the area this year, Russo said. The 6.0 earthquake was nearly 10 times the size of a 5.2 magnitude quake that happened in the Gulf in February. Before Sunday's earthquake, the largest one in the Gulf since 2001 was a 4.4 magnitude quake last year, Russo said.

To place the magnitude in perspective, the so-called "World Series" earthquake that killed 62 people in the San Francisco Bay area in 1989 was a 7.1.

Given what Russo describes as an apparent anomaly in the strength of earthquakes in the Gulf this year, he says further study is warranted. As early as Sunday, Russo began taking steps to apply for research funding from the National Science Foundation. He says it's important to learn what caused the earthquake, particularly if scientists hope to gauge potential future earthquakes or tsunamis.

Sunday's earthquake was too small to trigger a tsunami, but if sediment build-up has happened as Russo hypothesizes, he says there may still be a future tsunami threat. If large masses of mud were to accumulate on a slope, like the one of the west coast of the state called the Florida Escarpment, those sediments could slide down an underwater slope and create a tsunami, he said.

"(Sediments) could just be waiting to be shaken loose to fall down the hill," he said. "And the shaking could be provided by earthquakes."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Jack Stripling at 374-5064 or Jack.Stripling@gvillesun.com.

Ruling may rekindle turf wars

Some fear the county and its cities will return to aggression, after a judge says the county can't limit what areas cities annex.

A judge's decision striking down Pinellas County's attempt to control annexation has ignited fears about a return to the turf wars that raged between cities and the county in the late 1990s.

"It's got the potential to bring us back to a wild, wild west mentality with regard to voluntary annexation," said Ken Welch, head of the Pinellas County Commission.

If Monday's ruling stands, Pinellas Park already has plans to annex 22 properties in the adjacent Lealman area.

"Pandora's box has just been opened," said Ray Neri, head of the Lealman Community Association, which spearheaded the antiannexation drive.

Pinellas Park's eagerness to resume annexations is only one example of the aggressive policies that cities used several years ago to take tax-rich properties from the county. But the competition between some cities for new land sparked long, expensive legal battles.

Circuit Judge Bruce Boyer ruled Monday that the county overstepped its authority in establishing limitations about what areas of the county cities could annex.

The county basically had created boxes around each city that mapped out areas for possible annexation by that city.

After the county created the boxes, known as annexation planning areas, activists in some unincorporated areas, primarily Lealman, sought further protection from the county. The county shrank annexation planning areas around Pinellas Park and Seminole to give Lealman a bigger buffer.

Those two cities and Largo sued the county in 2003, objecting not only to shrinking the planning areas but also to the establishment of the zones.

Largo City Manager Steve Stanton said the cities initially thought that the ordinance would prevent annexation wars but that the county went too far in changing boundary lines to protect Lealman.

Boyer agreed that the county was wrong because it had no authority under state law to create its own method of voluntary annexation. Even if the county had such authority, the change should have been by charter, not ordinance.

"I'm smiling," Pinellas Park City Manager Mike Gustafson said. "We don't win that many. It's kind of neat."

Gustafson said he is waiting to find out if the City Council wants him to go ahead with the 22 voluntary annexations, in light of Boyer's decision.

"I've gotten no direction from council," Gustafson said. "I've got to talk to council one on one to see if (the direction) stands that we don't go into the Lealman area."

The decision sent ripples of horror through the Lealman community, Neri said.

"I'm sure the most aggressive of our annexing cities will take advantage of this to attempt to pillage valuable tax-producing properties from the county," Neri said.

Dave Healey, executive director of the Pinellas Planning Council, a driving force behind establishing the planning areas, had mixed emotions about the elimination of a plan that other counties had viewed as a model.

"To lose all of that is, I think, a real setback. No question about it," Healey said. "We're back to square one with annexation. ... All bets are off at this juncture."

On the other hand, Healey said, "the county is getting what it deserved" for the "ill-conceived, unjustified" decision to shrink the boundaries.

Seminole City Manager Frank Edmunds was out of town, but City Attorney John Elias said matters are far from settled. If the county does appeal, he said, that will raise many issues, including a city's ability to annex a disputed area while the appeal is ongoing.

Times staff writer Lori Helfand contributed to this report.

Home Development Near Preserve OK'd

By Tom Palmer
The Ledger

City approves annexation of land for planned development

By JEFF ADELSON

Gainesville Sun staff writer

Charter proposal would link growth with ability to pay for it

Sarasota Herald-Tribune Guest column

St. Joe Co. marks 10 years in development business

By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. (AP) -- The St. Joe Co. rocked the real estate and investment worlds in 1996 when it announced it was quitting the paper business to develop its vast Florida Panhandle land holdings - an area roughly the size of Delaware.

A decade later, St. Joe is the major player in transforming this stretch of sugary white beaches and turquoise water derided as the "Redneck Riviera." But the company, formed by the duPont family 70 years ago and the state's largest private landholder, says it's still in the early stages of its "place making" plan for the Panhandle.

In St. Joe's latest annual report, CEO Peter Rummell compares the land giant's evolution to his 14-year-old daughter - giving shareholders a glimpse into how the company views itself as being in the early stages of its long-term growth plan.

St. Joe is unique because it owns so much undeveloped land, roughly 800,000 acres. Since 1996, the company has developed less than 3 percent of its land holdings.

Alfred I. duPont began accumulating the land in the 1920s. His brother-in-law, Ed Ball, continued to acquire land after founding the St. Joe Paper Co. in 1936.

Ball died in 1981, but the company continued manufacturing paper until 1996 when its board decided to sell off its industrial assets and develop its massive land holdings.

"It took this big event in 1996, this new look at the world for us to come to grips with the fact that we had all of this land and we needed to find someone who could tell us what it could be," said St. Joe Co. spokesman Jerry Ray.

The board brought in Rummell, formerly the Walt Disney Co.'s head of real estate, research and development. He soon announced St. Joe was getting into the "place making" business.

Ten years later, bulldozers and construction cranes are building beach communities like Compass Point where million-dollar, Nantucket-style cottages are built around winding boardwalks that lead to a breathtakingly wide expanse of beach.

At St. Joe's Water Color resort, pastel cottages surround the picturesque beach town of Sea Side where tourists ride bicycles around a town square and outdoor shopping markets.

The company is even turning non-beachfront properties into high-end resorts. At its inland River Camps on Panama City's West Bay inlet, it is building 400 luxury cabins in the woods. The idea is for people to get back to nature through kayaking, fishing and hiking.

Ray said Rummell and other St. Joe executives came up with the River Camps design while touring the company's inland properties on a 2001 a boat trip.

"They had the sketch book out and were drawing up the plans before the end of the trip," he said.

St. Joe's long-term vision for the Panhandle appears very different from the concrete condominiums, chain restaurants, strip malls, water parks and putt-putt courses that line Panama City and Destin.

"We are turning this area into a better version of what it wants to be. We wouldn't want to turn it into Las Vegas. Some people have tried to turn South Florida into Las Vegas," Ray said.

The company's target market is vacation home owners with lots of money - and it isn't relying solely on Southerners to fill its picturesque coastal enclaves.

St. Joe donated 4,000 acres to relocate the Panama City-Bay County International Airport west of the city where it owns about 78,000 undeveloped acres. The company has named the airport area The West Bay Sector, a region 20 percent larger than Washington D.C.

The new airport would be the nation's first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and its larger runways would accommodate bigger jets, providing easier access to St. Joe Co. properties for buyers and tourists from the Midwest and Northeast.

"That part of Florida is really underdeveloped for the attractiveness of the area and a big part of that is because a big part of the land was held off the market for more than 100 years," said Todd Vencil, a real-estate analyst for BB&T Capital Markets of Richmond, Va.

Vencil said the actual value of the St. Joe Co.'s assets is difficult for analysts to determine because so much of its worth is tied to its vast land holdings.

"It's stock tends to trade based on people's hopes and fears," he said.

St. Joe stock has fluctuated from $40 a share to $80 a share since 1996, it is now trading in the low to mid 50s. Hurricanes, spiraling coastal property insurance and a downturn in the overall real estate market have recently devalued the stock.

"The airport, if it happens, will be a good thing for them to develop their acres," Vencil said.

But the airport plan has drawn the ire of the National Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit environmental group lists the region as one of 12 most endangered natural places in America. It sees the airport as the first step toward massive development.

"This is a land deal, this is not about building a new airport because they need a new airport. They are building a new airport to set off everything else that will happen," said Melanie Shepherdson, a lawyer for the New York-based organization.

St. Joe officials say the airport issue predates their 1996 decision to get into the development business. City leaders had pushed since the early 1990s to expand the airport into Panama City Bay, but were rejected by regulators.

"The local airport authority has been trying to address deficiencies at the existing airport for as long as 30 years. This is not a new idea," Ray said.

Advocates of the new airport say expanding the existing airport would have damaged a more environmentally sensitive area. They also point to hurricane dangers, saying the existing airport closed in hurricanes Opal and Ivan.

Perhaps no place has felt the change of the last decade more than the former paper mill town of Port of St. Joe, where 3.7 miles of U.S. 98 - the main east to west beach-front corridor through the Panhandle - was recently rerouted along a new northern road built by the St. Joe Co.

The company donated land to the state and built the new road so that it could turn the old flood-prone section of U.S. 98 into boardwalk, which will eventually provide public beach access to residents of its planned WindMark Beach development.

Construction is under way at the 1,600-lot, high-end vacation home development on the western outskirts of Port St. Joe. The town from which the company took its name was once the center of its industrial empire. But the paper mill that for decades belched sour steam over Florida's "Forgotten Coast" is no more and the company is busy making new plans for Port St. Joe.

John Hendry, St. Joe's Gulf County representative, is overseeing plans for the region from atop the former headquarters of the Apalachicola Northern Railroad, a one-time St. Joe holding.

Hendry envisions erasing the town's industrial past by creating a pedestrian district, which would revolve around the city's deep-water marina and include a central amphitheater. The three-story former railroad building will be torn down in an effort to link the city's largely blue-collar black and white communities.

He also envisions residential condominiums and commercial developments, saying the city's 5,000 residents need more shopping choices than the one existing Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

But Hendry bristles when he hears "Wal-Mart," "subdivision" and "gated communities" tossed about, saying all are "horrible words."

Although Rummell, compared the company to his daughter in St. Joe's 2005 annual report, "I'd like to think we are better behaved than a 14-year-old," said Hendry, a British native who has been with the company for seven years. "I'd like to think of us as 22 - still young enough to be creative and take some risks and mature enough to understand our place in the world."

So what will the St. Joe Co. be like at a metaphorical 40?

"I'd like to see us as almost invisible, as quiet stewards of what we've done. Our role will become proportionally smaller because the pond will become bigger as the region becomes more successful and the choices become greater," he said.

Growth-blueprint plan delayed

That means incoming members of the County Commission will likely have a say on decisions.

Commission sets Nov. 1 deadline for comp plan

Joshua Davidovich
Daily Commercial Staff Writer

The Lake County Commission demanded Tuesday that a document governing Lake County's future, already over a year overdue, be ready by Nov. 1.

Commissioners didn't specify what will happen if the future land use element of the new comprehensive plan isn't on their desks by that date. They did ask that the Local Planning Agency, an advisory board drafting the 200-plus page document and map, hurry up so the county can move forward on a number of items that are on hold pending the document's completion.

Members of the LPA are split on whether they can meet a date. The group has developed something of a reputation for taking its time.

"All of a sudden we get down to the very end of it and we have the least amount of time to finish it," LPA member Richard Dunkel said, referring to the Future Land Use Map, which is the keystone of the plan and has yet to be looked at definitively.

Though some board members, like Chairwoman Barbara Newman, have been trying to push the plan through as quickly as possible, others believe the document's importance necessitates a painstaking approach. LPA member Keith Schue's detailed critiques each meeting have become commonplace and a cause for concern for some members.

Half-joking groans from the public and members of the board are almost a tradition every time Schue brings up another point for the board to consider.

"Sometimes we've overanalyzed philosophies and opinions and gone into too much detail in terms of what needs to be done," LPA member Sean Parks said, though he stopped short of placing the blame for missed deadlines on Schue.

Schue and others maintain that attention to detail is the least of their worries.

"I'm not overanalyzing anything," Schue said. "What we're doing will set the stage for the next 20 years, and we need to get that right."

"As frustrating as it may be to work with Keith, what he does bring is important," Dunkel said.

LPA member David Jordan agreed that the details are important.

"Something as important as this, I don't know how you can overanalyze it," he said. "Our intentions should be to reflect what the taxpayers and the folks envision their county to be."

So far, the LPA has been concentrating on the text portion, which lays guidelines for different land use categories. The map will determine where they will actually be placed and represents the culmination of years of work.

The comprehensive plan was due to be sent to the state Department of Community Affairs last year. After months of delays, the state in July put a moratorium on any changes to the existing comprehensive plan. That means the county cannot adopt new school concurrency standards or guidelines for the Wekiva River Protection Area until a new plan is adopted.

There are other ramifications as well.

"There are still approvals going on under the current (land development regulations)," County Commission Chairwoman Catherine Hanson said.

Hanson added that she thought Nov. 1 was a realistic deadline.

"It needs to get moving. We need to be in compliance with the DCA and we are way past due," she said.

Once the plan is sent to the commission, it will hold several public hearings before sending the plan to Tallahassee for review. Pending approval, it will return to the county for final adoption.

Several workshops scheduled for this month had to be canceled after the LPA was unable to transmit more than one section of the map.

Schue said it may take extra meetings in October to meet the deadline, and Dunkel said he would be willing to transmit the current plan just to mollify the DCA, then make the necessary changes during a six- or 12-month review in 2007.

LPA member Nadine Foley said, though, the the board could meet the deadline.

"They gave us our marching orders and I think it was entirely appropriate," she said. "I don't consider it rushing when we've had as much time as we've had."

Lauren Ritchie

Minneola likes growth, ignores costs

September 13, 2006

Density vexes Adams Ranch plans for land

By Jim Reeder

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The Florida Times-Union

Builders want no Navy jets at Cecil

By GREGORY PIATT
The Times-Union

The Northeast Florida Builders Association contributed $200,000 in August to a political group that is trying to keep Cecil Field a commerce and industrial center.

The builders gave the money to Neighbors Protecting Neighbors because they wanted to protect the people who have and will buy homes around the former Navy jet base that closed in 1999, said Daniel Davis, the association's executive director and vice president of the Jacksonville City Council.

Once the Navy left, homeowners never thought the jets would return, Davis said. The city then committed not to pursue the reopening of the facility after the Base Realignment and Closure Commission considered Cecil Field as a replacement for Oceana Naval Air Station, the Navy's master jet base in Virginia.

"We need to make sure the city follows its commitment," Davis said.

Neighbors Protecting Neighbors received a total of $255,000 in contributions last month. The group has spent nearly $107,000 on television commercials. The group lists at least 28 businesses, including the builders association, on its Web site.

The Neighbors group was founded after another group, Vote Jacksonville, put a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot seeking to amend the city charter to require Jacksonville to turn over the former base to the Navy so it can be reactivated. The city has challenged the referendum in court, and a judge will decide this week whether it will stay on the ballot.

Vote Jacksonville co-founder Ken Underwood, who contributed $100,000 to his group in July, said, "Neighbors Protecting Neighbors should really be called Developers Protecting Developers."
Underwood, a Ponte Vedra Beach businessman who contributed another $80,000 in August to Vote Jacksonville, said the developers don't want the Navy base to return because they want to "protect their perceived economic interests on the Westside."

The developers and homeowners think that the value of their homes will go down it the jets return, Underwood said. But they are mistaken, he said. All they have to do is look at home values in Virginia Beach, where homes were built right up to Oceana's fence line, Underwood said.

Neighbors Protecting Neighbors aims to be a regional group that makes sure that community issues aren't decided by a county-wide referendum, said John Daigle, the group's spokesman.

The group felt threatened by Underwood's spending on Vote Jacksonville's media campaign, said John Coxwell, chairman of J.B. Coxwell Contracting Inc.

"We wanted to let the people from the Beaches know that we people on the Westside have money, too," said Coxwell, who contributed $50,000 to the Neighbors group in August. "We're ready for a fight."

When the Navy left Cecil Field, Westsiders felt the area would fall into economic ruin, but it didn't, Coxwell said. The businesses flourished, people built homes, and businesses started to move to Cecil Commerce Center, he said.

greg.piatt@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4169

Martin OKs more traffic on highway into Indiantown

By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

10-year wait for road irks residents

Traffic issues spur some in Osteen to ask the state to widen S.R. 415 sooner.

County-city growth battle reflected in Shores condo bid

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- For an idea of why Volusia County wants more control over growth on properties annexed by cities, take a look at Daytona Beach Shores.

Shores officials annexed in May a 3-acre riverfront site on Cardinal Boulevard south of Dunlawton Boulevard. Residents were told at the time the property's zoning would only allow single-family homes.

But tonight the City Council will consider taking the first step to allowing up to 106 condo units there.

County officials are less than thrilled.

"This is the wrong thing to do in the wrong place," said County Councilman Art Giles, who plans to oppose the change at the Shores City Council meeting at 7 tonight at the Community Center.

"This parcel is the poster child for the reason why we proposed charter Amendment 7," Giles said.

Charter Amendment 7 on the Nov. 7 ballot would give precedence to county plans in disputes with cities over annexed properties. If voters approve, the Cardinal Boulevard site might be the first battleground for the expanded power.

"From what I know, it appears it would be subject to Amendment 7," County Attorney Dan Eckert said of the site.

Shores officials dispute the county claim of authority and oppose efforts by Volusia officials to grab more planning power with the charter amendment.

"That would put the county in the position of vetoing any decision the city would be making in any newly annexed areas," said Jim McCroskey, Shores assistant city manager.

Shores officials said the developer, Lady Godiva 2, did not propose a rezoning to build condos before the annexation. But Shores officials said the developer talked about annexing instead into Port Orange and possibly building an even bigger project.

"The last thing we want people to do is annex pieces of property into Port Orange and let Port Orange control our fate right across the street," Shores Mayor Greg Northrup said.

Properties along Cardinal Boulevard fall under a mish-mash of jurisdictions -- Daytona Beach Shores, Port Orange and unincorporated Volusia County. Amendment 7 would stop jurisdiction-shopping by developers seeking the best deal, county officials say.

"The county would never allow this to happen," said Helen Perna, who lives immediately north of the proposed condo location on a lot that is still in unincorporated Volusia.

A representative of the developer disputed claims that construction of a condo would adversely impact traffic and services.

"We think what we're requesting is in character with the surrounding neighborhood," said Mike Wood, an attorney representing Lady Godiva 2.

john.bozzo@news-jrnl.com

Edgewater agrees to restrictions over builder protests

Shopping Centers Progressing, But Slowly

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 13, 2006

WESLEY CHAPEL - The Shops at Wiregrass, one of three massive shopping centers planned for this fast-growing corner of Pasco County, won't open until early 2008, the developer said this week.

Delays with the larger Wiregrass Ranch project have pushed the shopping center's planned opening from late 2007 - as advertised on a sign at the edge of the site - to April 2008, said Jim Richardson, vice president for Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises.

Meanwhile, the clock ticks toward the expected late 2007 openings of Wiregrass' two competitors, The Grove at Wesley Chapel and Cypress Creek Town Center.

Despite red tape-related delays and a slumping housing market, the developers of all three projects remain confident their projects will open with plenty of customers waiting outside the doors.

"There's still a healthy input of residents coming into the market," Richardson said.

Here's how the projects are shaping up:

The Shops At Wiregrass

After a quick start, the plaza being built by Forest City Enterprises and The Goodman Co. of West Palm Beach has been bogged down with the rest of the Porter family's 5,000-acre Wiregrass Ranch project.

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council sent Wiregrass Ranch back for a fifth round of revisions last month.

Echoing county concerns that delayed the project for eight months, regional planners said they were concerned about the city-sized development's effects on the surrounding road network. Regional planners also asked for more affordable housing.

"We're anticipating that finally being put to bed later this year," Forest City Vice President Richardson said about the regional review. "That will let us start building early next year."

The 11-month-old JCPenney department store at State Road 56 and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard is the lone component of the plaza that Forest City and Goodman have built.

Dillard's will be the second of three anchor stores. The third remains under wraps.

Fifth Third Bank will build a branch on an outparcel in front of JCPenney, Richardson said.

The Cleveland-based Richard E. Jacobs Group is waiting for its Sept. 26 appointment with the governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The state agency must approve Jacobs' plans for its 510-acre site straddling S.R. 56 at Interstate 75.

After nearly a year of questions and answers, the developers appear to have convinced Swiftmud staffers that they can manage the site's storm runoff while protecting nearby Cypress Creek.

Those plans say nothing about Jacobs' deal with Pasco County to use porous pavement and other low-impact designs to reduce runoff. The project meets Swiftmud's standards without the low-impact component, said agency spokesman Michael Molligan.

The proposal under consideration would fill 67.5 acres of wetlands - up from Jacobs' long-standing estimate of 56 acres.

To offset the loss, Jacobs will preserve the Alston Tract, about 250 acres along the Pasco-Polk border where the Hillsborough River flows out of the Green Swamp.

Jacobs will create about 15 wetland acres and restore an additional 46 acres in the Alston Tract. The company also has promised to restore about 43 acres of uplands on the same property.

Cypress Creek Town Center still must win approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps oversees wetlands feeding the nation's rivers and lakes.

Jacobs' design for its regional mall shows an open-air layout, similar to the "lifestyle centers" its competitors will build.

AMC Theatres remains Jacobs' only announced tenant.

The Grove At Wesley Chapel

Pittsburgh's Echo Real Estate Development Co. has demolished several icons of old Wesley Chapel to make way for its plaza.

Since spring, Echo has torn down a former gas station, a building that housed a Denny's restaurant and the former Quail Hollow Plaza.

The demolitions will make way for an access road to the plaza, which will sit north of County Road 54 (Wesley Chapel Boulevard) along Oakley Boulevard.

In June, Echo submitted plans that show nine big box-style stores and an 18-screen movie theater facing I-75.

Developer William Krahe has announced a mix of tenants for the plaza. The list includes Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy and PetSmart, among other shopping center staples.

Krahe said this week he plans to announce more tenants next month.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

Senate Leader Backs Audit Of Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority

By LINDSAY PETERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 13, 2006

TAMPA - State Senate President Tom Lee, R-Valrico, says he supports Gov. Jeb Bush's call for a state audit of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority and wants Florida's auditor general to conduct a broad investigation.

"I want to make sure the auditor general feels comfortable going wherever the evidence takes him," Lee said. "This ought to be a thorough audit. ... The number one question is: Has the public money been spent wisely and responsibly?"

Representatives for Lee and House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, plan to meet this week to ask the state auditor to begin the inquiry. The auditor general is one investigative arm of the Legislature.

Bush's general counsel began an investigation Aug. 31 of the expressway authority's decision to hire the law firm Gray Robinson as its outside counsel.

The authority's vote on the contract went against a selection committee's recommendation that the agency keep its current general counsel, Ruden McClosky.

County Commissioner Tom Scott, an authority board member, condemned the action, saying Gray Robinson had been given an advantage. The authority's lobbyist, John Beck, had met with a partner of the firm about a month before the vote, and the authority's executive director, Ralph Mervine, had dined with the partner days beforehand.

Both Scott and the authority's in-house counsel, Mary Hall, said the meetings violated Florida's Sunshine Law and code of ethics. Bush's general counsel disagreed in the report released Friday. Nevertheless, Bush said, the episode created an "appearance of impropriety."

Besides calling for an audit, Bush said the board should rescind the Gray Robinson contract offer, review its ethics and procurement policies, and hire an outside law firm to assist in the review and "transformation" of the authority's practices.

The authority voted to adopt all of Bush's recommendations at a meeting Monday. It also voted to fire its current outside lawyer, Steve Anderson, of Ruden McClosky. About two weeks ago, the authority hired Fowler White Banker Boggs to help it through the developing controversy, and the board voted Monday to continue to use the firm as interim general counsel.

At Monday's meeting, Scott urged the board also to fire Mervine and Beck, but a majority of the board members disagreed.

Lee said Monday evening that he has a broad range of concerns about the expressway authority and wants the auditor general to look into all of its policies and expenditures.

"I want to make sure he has the latitude to explore legal services and lobbying services and has specific authorization to review these areas at whatever level of detail he or she deems necessary," Lee said.

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or

lpeterson@tampatrib.com.

Gandy congestion needs fixing

City and state officials need to find the money to ease traffic congestion on the Tampa side of the Gandy Bridge, which beyond being a daily hassle for thousands of drivers puts south Tampa and Pinellas County at some risk during hurricane evacuations. A fuller picture of the growing problem emerged this week, after a report to Tampa City Council noted that the number of vehicles on Gandy and West Shore boulevards could rise to 60,000 or more a day, double what the roads are meant to handle.

Fixing the problem could cost $120-million, six times what government agencies have budgeted. The state Department of Transportation's plan would accommodate 50,000 cars, but that work would be swallowed up by growth in the Gandy corridor, where more than 5,000 new homes and multifamily units are planned and thousands more have been proposed.

The state needs to revisit plans for an elevated roadway to connect the Gandy to the Crosstown Expressway. The route would free local roads of through-way traffic and enable commuters from Pinellas and the Gandy to reach downtown Tampa and I-75 faster. With an estimated 45,000 drivers using the Gandy Bridge daily, any long-term solution needs to address the different demands of local and longer-haul commuters. The city should expand bus service between Gandy and downtown and West Shore's business district. While the area's population is dense enough to expand mass transit, the city's traffic consultant correctly noted that the real problem will be convincing local residents to ride a bus. Not every solution here involves money.

Increasing transportation impact fees charged to new developments is a reasonable option worth examining. But impact fees alone will not raise what the city needs. Nor is it fair to make new developments pay for congestion that has worsened for years. The city and state need to take a broader view: What fundamental changes would move traffic on Gandy for two different groups of motorists? Figure that out, then move on to answering questions about the cost, environmental impacts and who pays.

Insurers lining up for approval of rate hikes Three insurance companies covering thousands of homes want to roughly double rates.

Storing river's water an option, utility reports

Tampa Bay Water is slated to decide between this plan and a plan for treated wastewater into the Hillsborough River.

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Water officials Tuesday unveiled an alternative to their controversial plan to take more water out of the Hillsborough River, and replace it with treated wastewater.

Instead, they say they can take more water from the river and the Tampa Bypass Canal when their levels are high and store it in the 15-billion gallon reservoir in south Hillsborough County for use during the dry season.

"It is a viable alternative," said Paula Dye, chief environmental planner for the utility. "It shows our public outreach works."

Concerned about environmental impacts of putting treated wastewater in the river, the proposal was presented several months ago by scientists from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.

Tampa Bay Water studied the suggestion, and Tuesday revealed it would cost $186-million, the same as the treated wastewater plan. It would provide 17-million gallons of water a day, Dye said.

The treated wastewater proposal - called downstream augmentation - would provide 13-million gallons a day.

The Tampa Bay Water board is scheduled to decide which project to pursue at its meeting Oct. 16.

Officials with the utility - which supplies drinkable water to Tampa, New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties - say the region needs an additional 12-million gallons a day by 2012 to meet growing demand.

Dye explained the two options to meet the demand at a public meeting Tuesday evening, at which environmental advocates made their choice clear: They do not want the wastewater in the river.

"It's hard for me to imagine how it would be safe for fish to swim in it and breathe it through their gills if it's not safe for us to drink it," said John Hendershot, a member of the Sierra Club.

Dye received a box full of 811 letters from people opposing the wastewater plan from Mike McCleary, community organizer for Clean Water Action.

They're worried about the effect it would have on wildlife in the river. Particularly concerning are the compounds from medicines and home personal care products that remain in the water even after treatment.

"That's the critical factor," said Tom Krumreich, a representative from Florida Consumer Action Network.

"What I felt good about tonight is they acknowledged the fact that they don't know if augmentation is safe," said Phil Compton, a member of the nonprofit Friends of the River.

County Raises Water, Sewer Impact Fees

By JULIA FERRANTE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 13, 2006

DADE CITY - New customers will pay higher connection fees for water and sewer services in Pasco County over the next two years.

County commissioners on Monday unanimously agreed to raise water and wastewater impact fees to compensate for growing needs. The fees will nearly double or triple in some cases, but proceeds are not projected to cover costs for all of Pasco's planned facility improvements.

Under the new fee schedule, the owner of a single-family home that connects during the 2006-07 fiscal year will pay one-time fees of $1,338 for water services and $2,275 for wastewater services, up from the current $556 and $1,500, respectively. A year later, a comparable homeowner will pay $1,561 for water and $2,730 for wastewater connections.

Customers with reclaimed water service, primarily used for irrigation, will receive a 25 percent credit. That service is not available in all neighborhoods.

Property owners also must pay for pipes and other infrastructure needed to provide the services.

Pasco's Orlando-based consultant, Andy Woodcock, recommended at a Sept. 6 meeting that the charges be raised to cover the cost of planned improvements and to avoid rate increases for existing customers. Water and sewer impact fees were created in 1979 and have not been updated since 1999. Impact fee proceeds may be used only for the costs of new growth.

Woodcock presented revised recommendations two weeks later after some board members complained the fees were too high. Woodcock warned, however, that phasing in the fees will leave Pasco with at least a $4.5 million shortfall in its upcoming capital improvement program.

Commissioner Ted Schrader, who suggested phasing in the impact fee increases, said last month "any relief we can do is a plus." He argued that water and wastewater fee increases for many are hard to swallow, compared with fees for more tangible services.

"It's easy to see when [we build] roads, schools and parks, but everything we're talking about is underground," Schrader said.

Michael Nurrenbrock, Pasco's director of management and budget, warned commissioners that by phasing in the fees, they will miss out on revenue from growth. Construction costs also have been escalating, which could leave the county even further behind.

"It's revenue you give up as the houses come in," he said.

A recent analysis by Development Director Cindy Jolly showed a steep decline in the number of building permits issued this summer compared with previous months and the same time period last year.

Impact fees are collected when building permits are issued, so the fewer permits, the less money officials have to build new facilities. At the same time, if growth slows, needs theoretically lessen.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

sara.lubbes@heraldtribune.com

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