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Lease would allow trail
By ALEX LEARY © St. Petersburg Times, published April 17, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- Though initially concerned when the Felburn Foundation demanded the county return 137 acres along the former Cross Florida Barge Canal, state officials are confident plans for a trail head will not be disrupted. Representatives from the Office of Greenways and Trails met with the foundation last week and received assurances that the organization intends to lease the land to the state, which views the property as a crucial part of the trail network. "I want to work with them," Ellie Schiller, the foundation's executive director, said Monday. Schiller said an all-but-signed lease agreement negotiated between the state and the county could easily be tailored for the foundation, which helped draft the contract. "It will be edited slightly, but we will still use basically the same document," said Schiller, who is the daughter of Ethyl L. and J. Phil Felburn, who started the foundation in 1978 because of his interest in environmental preservation. The Yankeetown-based foundation asked for the land back earlier this month, saying the county had failed to prevent the use of firearms, motorized vehicles and alcohol on the site. Those activities are prohibited in a conveyance agreement the county signed when it acquired the land in 1998. County Commissioner Gary Bartell told the Citrus Times last week that the problems were attributable to the remote location of the land. It would be costly and difficult to enforce the restrictions, he said. The Felburn Foundation has asked the county to provide a deed of conveyance back to the foundation. The commission has not yet decided how it will proceed; the matter is expected to be discussed during a meeting next Tuesday. Regardless of the outcome, state officials say the trail head will be built. "We have a good relationship with the county and the Felburn Foundation and we can work it out with either party," said Mickey Thomason, regional manager for the Office of Greenways and Trails, a division of the Department of Environmental Protection. The state has agreed to finance the construction of restrooms, parking areas and picnic pavilions. It also would build housing for a law enforcement official who could help prevent the activities the Felburn Foundation cited. Between $600,000 and $700,000 would be spent, Thomason estimated. Provided there are no legal snags, Thomason expects a lease with the foundation can be signed in May and construction could begin in July. The trail head is part of an ambitious, $4.5-million effort to build trails along the former barge canal. The first leg, which would run about 5 1/2 miles, would stretch from the gulf coast to the Felburn property. A paved, 12-foot-wide trail would be open to a variety of recreational uses, from jogging to inline skating.
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