Hearing on state's challenge to Safari Wild begins today

A hearing on the fate of Safari Wild, the Polk County wild animal preserve owned by former Lowry Park Zoo executive director Lex Salisbury, will begin in Bartow today with scheduled testimony and presentations.

The hearing could continue 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 - and violates the county's comprehensive plan.

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 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.

The agenda of the hearing in Bartow 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. today in room 9B1 of the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow.

Salisbury was asked to resign from 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.

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.