State to buy second mine site to protect river

Some question the $10-million cost of 302 acres bought to protect the Ichetucknee from mining.

By ALISA ULFERTS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 29, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- State officials agreed Tuesday to pay $10-million for an old mine site near the Ichetucknee River to protect the pristine waterway from future mining and blasting.

It is the second mine site the state has purchased in little more than a year to protect the river. In June last year the state bought 355 acres, including a limerock mine, from the Anderson Columbia paving company.

Environmentalists opposed that deal because it let Suwannee Concrete, a subsidiary of Anderson Columbia, build a cement plant close to the river.

But the second piece, 302 acres about 30 miles northwest of Gainesville, was welcomed by environmentalists, although some questioned the price tag.

"I think it's a necessary purchase," said Judy Hancock, public lands issue chairwoman for the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club.

"(But) it is not by any means pristine," Hancock said.

What the purchase does is stop mining and blasting at the site. And as part of the deal, the landowners have agreed to donate $1.25-million of the sale proceeds to be used to conserve other properties in the area.

"This is such an old (mining) permit, there are no limits to how deep they can go," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs said during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.

But Linda Young, southeast coordinator for the Clean Water Network, said she wants to know why the state is spending so much on the piece: $33,901 an acre.

"I think that out of an abundance of caution it's wise to purchase the land. But the price they are paying is too much," Young said.

And it seems that Gov. Jeb Bush agrees with her in principle -- if not specifically for that piece of land. During a workshop Tuesday on the state's appraisal and acquisition practices, Bush said the way the state ranks lands and then pursues them until the money runs out drives up the price.

Bush said he'd rather look at the lands from a horizontal rather than a vertical perspective. "So instead of ranking the properties, just say: "Here are the properties that are our priorities based on sound science,' " Bush said.

That way landowners wouldn't know for certain that their piece was next in line, which would put the state in a better negotiating position. And local governments would be less inclined to change elements of their growth management plans to allow more development in sensitive tracts, Bush said. Such changes also drive up acquisition costs.

It's not the first time Bush has floated this idea. In June, he protested when the Cabinet split on buying an 18-acre parcel for Everglades restoration for $44,000 an acre, a significantly higher price than expected.

The governor said no one could really develop the swampy property, but it was priced as if it could be.

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