Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
ALISA ULFERTSThe site in Carrabelle pleases both commercial fishermen and environmentalists.
TALLAHASSEE - It's a rare day in Florida when environmentalists and commercial fishermen join hands to support development in the state's pristine Panhandle.
But on Wednesday, both groups urged Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet to sell 48 acres of state land in Carrabelle to the St. Joe Co., the largest private landowner in the state that is rapidly developing its Panhandle holdings.
Bush and the Cabinet unanimously approved the $6.8-million deal.
Commercial fishermen will get a new marina they would share with St. Joe home buyers. And environmentalists got the marina moved away from vulnerable vegetation, near St. Joe's originally planned site. St. Joe also is expected to sell 14,000 acres of conservation land to the state, if the Cabinet approves a separate deal later this month.
The way Carrabelle shrimper Jim Lycett sees it, selling the former spoil island will be a shot in the arm for the region's struggling fishing industry.
St. Joe officials said their planned marina will serve both new home buyers and local commercial fishing boats.
"I hope you will remember that and hold their feet to the fire," Lycett said.
The 48 acres, which sit in the middle of the harbor, was supposed to be home to a seafood processing plant to help struggling commercial fishermen but it was never built.
St. Joe was the sole bidder for the land. The company had planned to build a coastal marina in nearby Franklin County, but backed off after local and state officials said it could pollute the water near a Florida State University marine research facility.
But St. Joe won't be writing a $6.8-million check for the land right away. The company has agreed to sell Florida 14,000 acres of conservation land that's been high on the state's wish list for years. The price tag is about $14-million for that, so St. Joe would be getting the Carrabelle land plus about $7-million from the state, said George Willson, St. Joe's vice president for conservation.
"It's been on the state's list for many, many years," Willson said.
The Cabinet still has to approve the second part of the deal, scheduled to come up later this month.
Eric Draper of Florida Audubon urged approval of the deal because it will be less harmful to the environment than other marina options St. Joe has proposed.
"St. Joe listened to local people and local ideas" when it dropped its plans for the other marina out of concern for the environment, said Rep. Will Kendrick, D-Carrabelle. The spoil island is the perfect place for it, he added.
But the state's decision to sell the land, coupled with the Carrabelle City Council's vote last year to allow exceptions to a three-story height limit that has been in place for generations, worries some locals.
The area is part of what St. Joe is marketing as "Florida's Great Northwest," and the City Council vote means Carrabelle could now be home to the first high-rises on this part of the coast. Some citizens are circulating petitions to rescind the height decision and let voters approve a new limit.
St. Joe capital region president Tim Edmond assured those in the audience that no such buildings were in the works.
"We have no interest in high-rise condominiums," Edmond said.