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receive 50% cost share funding through the Florida Forever project, if future allocations <br />become available. <br />Mr. DeBlois reviewed the purposes for, and the costs of purchasing the easements, <br />and spoke about the protection of natural resources, wildlife habitat, and surface water. He <br />presented the pros and cons of purchasing the easements versus purchasing the land on a <br />fee -simple basis (had it been so available). <br />Mr. DeBlois related that staff had rechecked and found that the purchase of <br />development rights and conservation easements was within the realm of the bond <br />resolutions. He reported that the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee (LAAC) had <br />voted 11-3 for Board approval of the purchase. Mr. DeBlois then presented staff's <br />recommendation for Board approval of the option agreements. <br />Assistant County Attorney Marian Fell and Mr. DeBlois responded to questions <br />from Chairman Wheeler and Commissioners O'Bryan and Flescher regarding baseline <br />evaluations and the monitoring of the property on an annual basis. <br />The Chairman opened the public hearing. <br />Joseph Paladin, President of Black Swan Consulting, and the Chairman of the <br />Growth Awareness Committee, believed the Board should explore coming up with some <br />type of TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) so that the development rights could be <br />utilized as a commodity. He noted that hundreds of thousands of acres would have to be <br />purchased eventually, and he would like to see that done with developer, rather than <br />taxpayer money. He did not understand why the development rights could not be <br />transferred into the ownership of the Land Acquisition Committee and sold; the money <br />could be used to purchase more land. Although Mr. Paladin supported the purchase, he <br />September 18, 2007 27 <br />