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Poll On Land Conservation Program Put On Hold

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By MIKE SALINERO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 31, 2008

TAMPA - County Administrator Pat Bean has stopped work on a poll about continuing a popular land-buying program, saying there are still questions about whether it should be extended.

The Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Program, which has protected 48,000 acres from development since 1991, ends in 2011. The citizen committee that runs the program was planning to poll residents on their support for buying more undeveloped land. ELAPP supporters say they can raise private money to pay for the poll.

Bean challenged the poll, saying county officials and program supporters must answer questions about the county's ability to pay for managing more land. Bean also questioned whether voters would support continuing the program in the current anti-tax atmosphere.

"We've bought over 48,000 acres," Bean said. "At a time when people are struggling to put food on their tables, struggling to pay their property taxes, do we ask them for more money to keep buying land?"

Voters approved the program in a 1990 referendum, 73 percent to 27 percent. The vote allowed the county to borrow up to $100 million to buy land and to levy a property tax of up to 0.25 mills, or $25 per $100,000 of assessed value, to pay off the debt.

Last month, Commissioner Jim Norman stressed the importance of the program and said it should be continued. But the ELAPP general committee, made up of residents, is undecided about whether to schedule the referendum for November or for 2010. The county commission would make that decision after getting a recommendation from the committee.

The committee was to meet today to put the final touches on a poll. That meeting was canceled, however, when Bean and county department heads asked for more information before the poll was submitted to county commissioners.

One of the questions they wanted answered was about the county's ability to maintain newly acquired land.

"When you acquire these properties, there are added management costs and there are some concerns about that," said Kurt Gremley, who handles the program's land purchases.

The land the county has purchased is maintained at a basic level, according to Pete Fowler, division manager for the county Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. The department tries to fence off most of the purchased land for security, Fowler said, and underbrush is managed with controlled burns. County crews try to keep exotic plant species under control and plant some native species with the help of volunteer labor.

The department has just 25 people to maintain the land, too few to restore the parks to all-natural vegetation or to provide educational amenities, parks department director Mark Thornton said.

"When you add more land you have to absorb more maintenance and you have to reduce across the board the overall level of maintenance," Thornton said.

Bean, who is faced with the prospect of laying off dozens of employees this year, questions the need for such expenditures. She says the land-buying program has largely fulfilled its purpose by preserving the most valuable natural areas in the county.

"Most of what has been nominated and is already on the ELAPP list is not pristine land; it's land that's been disturbed in some way," Bean said.

ELAPP committee member Mariella Smith, though, argues that even land that has been disturbed, such as farmland, has value as a watershed, a buffer for more pristine land or as a wildlife corridor. The important thing, she said, is to preserve green space.

"I think most people would favor continuing using our tax dollars to save land for future generations instead of turning our county into one big parking lot," Smith said.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

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