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Politics

Board frowns on ballfield plan

An advisory panel recommends against clearing part of the Brooker Creek Preserve. County commissioners will have the final say-so.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published March 2, 2007

A pine forest in the Brooker Creek Preserve should not be cleared to make way for youth sports fields, a county advisory board voted Thursday.

Members of Pinellas County's Environmental Science Forum voted 11-2 to recommend that the county break its lease to turn the land over to the East Lake Youth Sports Association.

The science forum also said the county ought to try to find an alternate site for new ballfields.

Forum members said allowing the expansion to go ahead would set a precedent for future incursions into the preserve, which serves as a wildlife corridor and aquifer recharge area.

"I'm a little concerned that we need to avoid a slippery slope," said Randy Runnels, manager of the Tampa Bay aquatic preserves program for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "I'd be particularly cautious about not only this impact but what it can lead to in the future."

The Pinellas County Commission will make the final decision about whether to approve the association's development plans for the 38.5-acre tract.

In 2003, the commission agreed to lease the land to the association for 30 years at $1 a year, but at least one county commissioner has since said he wants to revisit that agreement.

During their three-hour meeting Thursday, science forum members discussed in depth whether the ballfield project could be made more environmentally friendly.

A subcommittee of the forum had studied that question and presented a detailed list of steps the county could take, including reducing paved parking and treating stormwater runoff and creating ample buffers around wetlands.

If the expansion went forward, it's effect on the environment could be minimized, said retired Assistant County Administrator Jake Stowers, who presented the subcommittee's report.

But that met with opposition from members of the forum and a neighbor.

"There's no room on this road for this extra complex," said Shirley Muller, who lives nearby on Old Keystone Road. "I enjoy the environment. I love where I live. Leave it alone."

But science forum members said the association's plans would not minimize the project's effect on the environment.

"We need to ask them to take their proposal back and redesign it," said Ann Paul, regional coordinator of the Florida Coastal Island Sanctuaries for Audubon of Florida. "It should be the greenest plan ever on the planet before they ask the county to provide free land on a preserve."

For the sports association, the recommendation came as a disappointment.

"We expected this, but we are gratified that the forum in their compassion for our community of kids balanced breaking the license agreement with finding another site," said Bryan Kutchins, the association's legal counsel.

The forum was formed by County Administrator Steve Spratt as an informal advisory group after public outcry last year over county projects planned in the 8,300-acre preserve.

Thursday's vote is the second time the group, which includes environmental advocates, scientists and consultants, has recommended against one of the county's plans for the preserve.

In December, the forum voted 9-4 against reopening wells in the preserve to water private golf courses and clay tennis courts. A county proposal for an equestrian center in the preserve was dropped before the forum could consider it.

The County Commission will have the first of three workshops on policy regarding the Brooker Creek Preserve on March 15.

The county has met with school district officials and is looking for other sites suitable for ballfields in case the sports association fails to get the required permits and approvals for its expansion.

That's a good idea, Paul said.

"I just can't help but think that if our county administrator called the school's administrator and said, 'Let's have lunch,' they could work this out," she said.

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4170.

[Last modified March 2, 2007, 06:48:21]