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Comprehensive Plan Conservation Element o Wetland Conservation Easements/Fee-in-Lieu Payments In exchange for agreeing to preserve a wetland area in perpetuity, a property owner may be granted full or partial tax assessment relief for the preserved property. While conservation easements are recognized as being an effective method of preserving environmentally -significant wetlands on development sites, ownership of the property is retained by either an individual or a corporation, and access to these sites by the general public is restricted. When preserving an existing wetland on a proposed development site is not practicable, developers may, as a last alternative, pay a fee -in -lieu. A fee -in -lieu of protection may be considered only if it pertains to a small, isolated and disturbed wetland whereby the wetland's functional values are minimal. According to county regulations, a fee -in -lieu payment amount is derived from the current assessed value of one acre of the project site (a weighted average is applied if the proposed development is located on two or more parcels with different assessed values). Then, the per -acre assessed value is multiplied by the size of the proposed area of impact, in acres. In cases where funds are obtained by the county as fees -in -lieu of wetland conservation, those funds are put in an account earmarked for acquisition, restoration, and management of wetlands elsewhere in the county. The County's current policies on wetland conservation easements and fees -in -lieu of wetland protection, as described herein, result in public benefits associated with wetland protection and enhancement. As such, the County should continue those policies. o Wetland Acquisition and Management In the future, Indian River County should continue to support and be an active participant in the Indian River Lagoon Blueway Florida Forever project, the multi -agency cooperative effort to acquire the remaining environmentally -important lands adjacent to the IRL. Through this program, a number of estuarine wetland sites along the IRL have been targeted by the county for public acquisition in partnership with the SJRWMD, the Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC) and the Florida Communities Trust (FCT). Going forward, the County's policy should be to solicit grants to restore degraded wetland areas on recently acquired conservation lands. Additional funding sources, such as fee -in -lieu and violation payments, will be used to supplement grant funding. o Transfer of Development Rights Indian River County's policy on transfer of development rights, as specified in LDR Section 928.09, has been successful in directing development away from estuarine wetlands to upland areas. Through that regulation, a developer is allowed to transfer development density, up to one unit per acre, from estuarine wetlands to adjacent uplands. In exchange, the developer is required to preserve Community Development Department Indian River County 109