Land-swap deal rides on promise of horse facility

Officials say the horseback riding program clinches the plan to sell preserved land. Others think money talks.

By DAVID PEDREIRA and JACKIE RIPLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 15, 2000

KEYSTONE -- Two years ago, Hillsborough's elected leaders vowed to dedicate roughly 1,500 acres of county forest, wetland and fields as open space -- a buffer against suburban sprawl.

Wednesday, they may sell a big chunk of that property in a land swap deal that has become as controversial as it is unique.

How has Bill Bishop, a developer who helped build nearby Westchase, apparently persuaded some county commissioners to back away from the pledge that the vacant land should be preserved for future generations?

Lobbying certainly played a part.

Bishop hired Rhea Law, one of Hillsborough's most powerful land-use attorneys, to push the project. She met personally with staff or commissioners on more than six occasions since 1999.

Political contributions may have helped.

Bishop's company, the Leslie Land Corp., gave $500 to Commissioner Ben Wacksman's 2000 campaign six months before Wacksman tried to call a vote in favor of the deal last month.

Law, who routinely contributes campaign money to local politicians, has given Wacksman $511 in cash and contributions for his 2000 campaign. In 1997, she gave $300 to Commissioner Jim Norman, who brought the land swap proposal to commissioners at Law's request last year.

But more than anything, the deal appears headed for approval because some county staffers and politicians consider it too enticing to pass up. It means cash in the bank, plus a horse-riding center for disabled children.

"Everybody has to get in on the act," wrote county Parks and Recreation director Ed Radice in a July 1999 e-mail about the proposal. "Win-win for everyone."

Purely a business deal

Bishop's deal is simple. He would buy 112 acres of county land just south of Mobley Road and east of Race Track Road for $1.42-million, the average of two appraisals. The money would go to the water department, which owns the land.

Bishop, who declined to comment for this story, would also give the county 22 acres to the south. That's the swap element that exempts the deal from a bid process typically used to sell public land.

In a corner of the parcel, Bishop would build the $420,000 equestrian center. County officials say the facility is sorely needed because Hillsborough's current program for disabled riders is overcrowded.

In sum, the county would receive roughly $1.9-million in cash and goods for a property worth far less, officials argue.

Bishop, in turn, would get the land he needs to develop up to 120 single-family homes within a short walk of his own homestead.

"It's pretty hard from a business perspective not to think this is a good deal," said Mike Kelly, director of Hillsborough's real estate department. "And the majority of the people in the area are in support of it."

Petitions signed by many horse riders in the area stress the equestrian center, not the loss of the public land. The proposal, postponed from commissioners' agenda several times over the past year, has never been the subject of a full-blown public hearing.

Keystone Civic Association leaders question how the county can set aside public land one year, then carve off a piece for a developer two years later.

"Money talks," said Janet Hiltz, a member of the civic association's executive board. "The Keystone people are adamant this land was promised as a park area. They should keep it the way it is and not keep letting development push up there."

Community leaders and some government officials also criticize the land swap character of the deal.

"There has been no open process for others to step forward with different proposals for that land," said Commissioner Jan Platt, one of three current board members, along with Jim Norman and Thomas Scott, who voted in 1998 to keep the land from development.

Platt isn't the only government official who has raised questions about the swap.

Hillsborough Water Department director Michael McWeeney, whose department owns the land, refused to even bring the deal before commissioners in 1999.

"The proposed land exchange may not be in the best interest of the Enterprise Fund or the County," McWeeney wrote in an e-mail to Kelly on March 5, 1999. "It does not provide for competitive bidding for the property and does not consider other options that may improve the value of the property."

When McWeeney would not put the deal on the commission agenda, Law took a different tack. She asked Commissioner Norman to bring it up in a board meeting, records show.

Ironically, it was Norman who pushed the board in 1998 to preserve the roughly 1,500 acres of vacant land. The unanimous vote to protect the land from development came during an election year.

Norman could not be reached for comment last week on why he changed his mind and proposed opening some of the property to future development. With opponents decrying the plan last month, Norman did manage to get the board to delay a decision until Wednesday.

Riding program popular

The most intriguing part of the deal is Bishop's pledge to build the county a new equestrian center.

Bishop, whose brother has cerebral palsy, has garnered support from parents who bring their children to the Bakas Equestrian Center, located at Lake Park in Lutz.

The Bakas program is free and open to riders as young as 4 with a variety of physical and mental disabilities, from Hillsborough and other counties.

Opened in 1986 by the parks and recreation department, it has become so popular that students are being turned away. It serves 70 riders a week with about 60 on a waiting list, said Beth Harre-Orr, the program's director.

Radice is an ardent supporter of the Bakas program and the Bishop deal.

"I'm here for one reason," said Radice during a recent meeting with residents to discuss the land swap. "I believe this is the best thing for the kids right now."

Radice said the Bakas center has no room to expand at Lake Park, and that Hillsborough doesn't have the money to build its own new riding center at a more logical location.

Several questions exist about the 22-acre site Bishop wants to use for the facility.

Half of the property is a man-made lake. The rest is near or under a high-voltage Florida Power transmission line.

Mary Estes, a spokesperson for Florida Power, said the power lines should not pose a danger to users of the proposed facility. But she noted Florida Power has no paperwork on Bishop's proposal, and has not formally approved riding on the utility's easement.

The riding center would also be next to a wastewater treatment plant.

"Any time you have a wastewater treatment plant, you are going to have some odor," said Keith Templeman, administrative support manager for the water department.

This combination of factors prompted Henry Ellis, the real estate department's senior appraiser, to write in a 1999 memo: "While I could provide a great deal of support for this conclusion, the bottom line is this site does not have a great deal of value."

But land values, politics, lobbying, campaign contributions and election-year pledges matter little to those whose children ride in the Bakas program.

"I don't care about any of that," said Kirk Henson, whose 8-year-old son has cerebral palsy. "Not if it gets the kids on the horses."

That, Platt said, is the genius of Bishop's deal.

"The developer has come up with a way to pull at our heartstrings to get this thing approved."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.