Board favors greenbelt exemption for Ruskin farm

A Ruskin farm should be designated a greenbelt exemption, despite the recommendation of the county's property appraiser's office. That was the unanimous view of county's five-member Value Adjustment Board today.

"You don't get to make very many common sense decisions but this is one of them," said Jim Norman, a board member and county commissioner.

Dooley Groves, a 200-acre citrus farm in Ruskin, is seeking the exemption. Once a thriving business, the farm was wiped out in 2004 when a series of hurricanes blew in citrus canker. By law, all the citrus trees had to be removed to stop the spread of the tree disease. Canker leaves unsightly lesions on citrus making the fruit essentially unmarketable.

Under the canker restrictions, the farm could not replant citrus trees for at least two years, and any other crop would also require about that much time for the dirt to become ready.

Dooley Groves lost its greenbelt designation when the county property appraiser decided there not enough evidence the land is being used for agriculture. Special Magistrate Herbert E. Langford Jr. backed that view in a decision earlier this year.

"The petitioners failed to present sufficient competent and substantial evidence to establish an actual, bonafide commercial agricultural use," Langford said in his decision.

Taxes for greenbelt properties are typically lower than those for other land uses.

"This was on its way to becoming an American tragedy if actions by the government are forcing a farmer out of business," said Ken Hagan, a member of the adjustment board member and a county commissioner. "Farming and agriculture are critical to our economy."

The Value Adjustment Board does not have the authority to grant the greenbelt exemption; the county property appraiser's office does.

"Hopefully, they will reinstate that exemption," Hagan said. If the appraiser does not and the case comes back to the adjustment board, Hagan said they will send the case back to a special magistrate to decide.

Norman, however, is confident he's seen the end of the issue.

"This looks like it can be resolved by the county property appraiser and the property owner," he said.