Fate of Safari Wild could be decided after hearings next week

Safari Wild, the beleaguered Polk County wild animal preserve owned by former Lowry Park Zoo director Lex Salisbury will be scrutinized during four days of scheduled testimony and presentations in Bartow next week.

"I'm hopeful," said Salisbury. "That's about all I can say."

He was asked to resign his $339,000 Lowry Park Zoo job in December amid allegations he used zoo resources to help develop the Safari Wild project. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated but found no grounds to file criminal charges.

Salisbury declined further comment, referring questions to his attorney, Thomas Cloud, an Orlando lawyer who specializes in land-use legal issues and administrative law. Cloud could not immediately be reached for comment.

The hearing begins on Tuesday and lasts through Friday. At issue is a development order granted by a Polk County land-use review committee that gave Salisbury permission to develop the 258-acre parcel nestled in the Green Swamp in northern Polk County.

The challenge is from the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which says the development order was improperly granted - without a public hearing for one reason - and violates the county's own comprehensive plan for another.

The 19-page petition, filed by the DCA in November, seeks an administrative order rescinding the county's permission to develop Safari Wild and to make sure any subsequent permits comply with the comprehensive plan.

The main DCA concern is that commercial development in the Green Swamp could damage the wetlands, which serve as a recharge area for the Floridan Aquifer, a major provider of drinking water for much of West Central Florida. The Green Swamp Area of Critical Concern, which takes up much of northern Polk County, is subject to strict land-use protections under the Florida Environmental Land and Water Management Act of 1972, the petition said.

In October, a Polk County review committee granted a land-use permit to allow Salisbury to run the game preserve as a commercial operation. State officials say the permit was improperly granted.

Such permits require the approval of the county's planning commission with ultimate approval of the county commission, the petition said. Furthermore, the petition said, the developmental order was granted without a public hearing.

The preserve has included animals such as zebras, gazelles, ostriches and monkeys. Salisbury told county officials that the park would be open only to customers with reservations and that he expected as many as 500 people a day. A gravel parking lot is large enough to park 79 cars and several buses, the petition said.

"The Safari Wild project appears to be similar to a zoo or an animal theme park and is not limited to a breeding facility for wild and exotic animals," the petition said. "The operation of the parcel is a commercial profit-making business that utilizes exotic animals."

Such an operation is not allowed under the county's comprehensive plan and would require an amendment to make it legal.

The agenda of the hearing in Bartow next week is fluid, said James Miller, spokesman for the DCA in Tallahassee.

"It is anticipated that the administrative law judge will provide a time during the first day of the hearing for the public to provide comments on the animal farm project," he said.

The hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in room 9B1 of the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow.

In March, Salisbury opened the Giraffe Ranch in Pasco County where, for $59, patrons can take a 90-minute tour on four-wheel-drive safari vehicles through the 46-acre working ranch. Besides cattle and horses, visitors can see giraffes, zebras and other animals from Asia, Africa and the Americas, according to the ranch's Web site.