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Recession Decimates Everglades Land Deal

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI cdolinski@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 2, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - With the economy in turmoil and tax collections plummeting, Gov. Charlie Crist announced Wednesday that the state has dramatically downsized its plan to buy and restore the Everglades.

"The economy has been what it has been, and we have to deal with the parameters that we are given," Crist said, adding that the deal still represents "the largest single purchase of land in Florida's history."

Under the revised terms, the South Florida Water Management District will spend $533 million to purchase 72,500 acres of the Everglades from the U.S. Sugar Corp. That's a 60 percent drop from the $1.34 billion deal that the company's directors approved in December to sell the state 180,000 acres, which in turn was a scaled-down version of the original $1.75 billion plan announced in the summer.

The latest deal gives the state a 10-year option to purchase 107,000 more acres.

"We feel this is the best opportunity, the best financial scenario that we can present, the best acquisition that we can make, and it continues to be historic - the largest in the history of Florida," Crist said. "What I look forward to is the next question, which is when the economy turns around, when are you going to exercise the option" to purchase the remaining acres?

The water management district and U.S. Sugar boards of directors still have to approve the deal. Besides the downsizing, it also has changed in other ways. U.S. Sugar will lease back the land for $150 an acre for seven years, triple the previous agreed upon price, which critics said was below market value.

U.S. Sugar will also freeze for three years any attempts to sell some of the land most critical to the project to ensure a competing buyer doesn't outbid the state before the sale is finalized.

The company remained positive that the new deal would go through.

"This will forever change the footprint and the land use of South Florida, and it will ensure that not only will you have an adequate supply of clean water for the environment, but you will have an adequate supply of clean water for the millions of people that live in South Florida and our company and our board are very proud to be a part of that," said U.S. Sugar Vice President Robert Coker, who joined Crist for the announcement.

Criticism has steadily mounted since Crist first announced that the state would purchase the Everglades. State lawmakers and others have complained in recent months about the plan's cost, the secrecy that enshrouded the negotiations, the potential economic decimation of the mill town of Clewiston and other issues.

The water district intends to pay for the deal using property tax revenue collected in its district and without raising tax rates. However, when property values in the area fell 12 percent last year, state lawmakers began to question whether the financing plan was feasible. At least one lawmaker, GOP Sen. Mike Bennett of Bradenton, filed legislation that would kill the deal.

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said there will always be critics, but that the revised deal responds to many of the issues raised.

Environmentalists publicly applauded Crist's decision to adjust the deal in order to keep it rolling.

"We can't let the economic downturn cause us to abandon our conservation goals for the Everglades or for other areas of the Florida environment in general," said Janet Bowman, lobbyist for The Nature Conservancy.

Some also mourned privately how little this first phase does to acquire critical land directly south of Lake Okeechobee, the so-called River of Grass region that Florida is working to restore. Roughly 40,000 acres of the land deal lies in that region, but the rest is located elsewhere, to the west and the south.

Tommy Stroud, assistant deputy executive director of the water management district, said those areas will play a crucial role in managing longstanding water quality and quantity problems associated with Lake Okeechobee. "This is only the first bite of the apple," he said.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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