Animal park neighbors upset by lack of information

Neighbors on Moore Road near Lakeland feel blindsided.

Why, they ask, didn't someone from county government think to notify them that a tourist attraction was being planned for their back yard?

Instead, the county Growth Management Department decided back in June 2006, a proposed animal park with overnight cabins, eateries, and hundreds of visitors a day arriving by tour buses, would be of little nuisance to neighbors.

"It may not sound like much of a nuisance or an inconvenience, but when you're in a very quiet rural area like this, it doesn't take much to seem like a lot," Lois Murphy said.

Murphy lives about 2 miles north of where former Lowry Park Zoo CEO Lex Salisbury is working to develop a park he first called Safari Wild, and now calls Safari Adventures.

The 260-acre animal park in Polk County has yet to open because a review by county officials is not complete. No public hearing on the issue is planned.

Records show before Salisbury and his business partner St. Petersburg veterinarian Stephen Wehrmann bought the property, they wanted assurances from the county that the project would be classified as one which would have little impact on neighbors and receive limited public input.

When contacted by telephone, Salisbury hung up, stating, "Don't ever call me again."

His partner, Wehrmann, failed to respond.

The only public notification neighbors received was a June 2006 classified ad that ran a few times in the Lakeland Ledger.

The ad said the county's Growth Management Department made an administrative determination that the animal park would be a recreational facility with low intensity land use.

The ad also stated if anyone disagreed with the county's determination they could file an appeal but it would cost $250.

Salisbury told county and state planners Safari Wild will house more than 1,000 animals, provide guided tours to paying guests and generate up to 400 vehicular trips a day.

By labeling Safari Wild a recreational facility with low intensity, it equates the animal park to playgrounds, parks, jogging, hiking and bicycling paths.

"To compare a facility that has wild and exotic animals that's going to have tours with people on site to a jogging or biking path is illogical to me," Murphy said.

"We discovered that there were plans to make this a commercial tourist attraction," said neighbor Robert King.

Polk County's Growth Management Department Director Thomas Deardorff does believe the newspaper ad was not sufficient notice for neighbors.

"In this case my assessment would be no. I think the neighbors probably should've gotten more notification," Deardorff said. "And that's something that we're continually trying to improve."

Deardorff claims if he lived next door he would've liked to have known about Safari Wild early in the process.

"I wasn't involved in the preparation of the administrative determination that was issued in 2006," he said.

But none of this started coming together for the tiny community along this seven and a half mile stretch of road, until Salisbury's patas monkeys escaped from the park.

Until then neighbors were under the impression the park's purpose was to provide Lowry Park Zoo animals a break from being on exhibit.

"As far as just the animals being here, no I don't think any of us have a problem with that," King said.

"Then the monkeys escaped and we started asking questions and so forth and we found out it was much more than a retreat for animals." Murphy said.

What Murphy later learned distresses her even more.

By classifying Safari Wild as a recreational, low intensity project, the county effectively removed public input from the equation, once the ads in the newspaper ran back in 2006.

The animal park will only be subjected to a "level two" review by county staff.

"There's no public component to a level two review at all," Murphy said. "It's not going to get the scrutiny that I think it deserves."