Panel: County should hold on to Cone Ranch, not sell it

An advisory panel recommended today that the 12,800-acre Cone Ranch stay in public ownership forever, and be managed under Hillsborough County's conservation lands program.

The 6-1 vote was a clear rejection of a proposal by a group of businessmen who wanted to broker a sale of the land to private buyers who, in turn, would agree to limit development. Cone Ranch is located in the far northeast corner of the county.

"I don't like the idea of transferring public lands to private ownership," said Pamela Jo Hatley, a member of the Cone Ranch Environmental Advisory Panel. "That should be a last resort."

The recommendation now goes to the County Commission, perhaps as early as Dec. 2. In a separate motion, the panel recommended that the land be conveyed from the county Water Resource Services Department, which controls the property, to the county's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program. ELAPP would have to buy the property from the water department, which lists the ranch as an asset tied up in bond covenants.

The one member to vote no, Hugh Gramling, said he favors continued county ownership of Cone Ranch, but feels ELAPP should not waste precious conservation money to buy the land from the water department.

"If people in the county want to protect land, we have bigger fish to fry than to buy land that's already protected," Gramling said.

County commissioners created the advisory panel in May to make recommendations on the best way to preserve Cone Ranch from development and restore its wetlands and other natural resources.

The commission acted after receiving a proposal from the Florida Conservation and Environmental Group to sell 12,000 acres of ranch land to private buyers in six, 2,000-acre tracts. Under the proposal, the new owners would have been allowed to build one house and some outbuildings on the land. About 800 acres of the ranch would have been retained in county ownership for a public park.

Some commissioners, including Chairman Ken Hagan, suggested the deal was worth investigating as a way of permanently protecting the ranch from developers. But environmental groups united against the move, instead pushing for the land to be purchased by ELAPP.

The business group recently put the proposal on hold while the county explored consolidating its water department with Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace's departments. The consolidation talk further energized environmental groups who feared the property would be transferred with other water department assets to a new countywide water board.

Ken Jones, a partner and counsel to the business group, said he's not sure whether the partners will continue to function in light of the advisory panel's strong recommendation not to sell the ranch.

"We'll see what the county's recommendations are and re-evaluate it," Jones said today. "Our goal from day one was to permanently protect and preserve Cone Ranch."

A dozen or so environmentalists and other activists applauded after the vote and now say they will show up at the county commission meeting to make sure commissioners follow through on the recommendations.

"Even if it's one house on 2,000 acres, it's still development," said Marcella Osteen, a member of United Citizens Action Network, a grass roots group. "Cone Ranch should be in public hands."