2010-252A (17) - Laserfiche WebLink

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➢ Increase in Property Values Between 2000 and 2006, the county and many parts of the U.S. and Florida experienced a substantial increase in property values. That inflated price of land was seen as an opportunity by agricultural property owners to sell their land to developers for new housing developments. Since 2006, however, there has been a significant decline in the demand for new housing. That has eased the pressure for conversion of agricultural land to residential uses. As the inventory of excess housing is gradually removed from the market by new residents, however, it is expected that the pressure to convert agriculturally used property to alternative uses will again increase. Since that could frustrate the county's policies for preserving agriculturally designated land, the county should maintain its urban service area boundary and prohibit non-clustered urban development outside the urban service area. ➢ Citrus Disease Like the rest of Florida, Indian River County has seen a substantial decline in the number of acres dedicated to growing citrus. In fact, there has been a reduction of 21,942 acres in the past eight years alone (nearly a 36% decline). Due to the spreading of two diseases (citrus canker and citrus greening), the decline in citrus acreage is expected to continue for some years and then level off. While citrus canker is a bacterial disease that causes premature leaf and fruit drop, citrus greening, also a bacterial disease, is a disease that causes citrus trees to produce bitter misshaped fruit and kills trees over the course of several years. Throughout the southern portion of the state, citrus canker was widely spread from the winds of the 2004 hurricanes. According to the USDA, 100% of Indian River County citrus acreage has been or will soon be infected with citrus canker. The USDA has also estimated that Indian River County is infected with citrus greening and will be completely infected with citrus greening by 2010-2011. Although citrus canker and citrus greening will be present for some time to come, the citrus industry is expected to remain profitable, although infected trees will have to be removed and replaced on a recurring basis until cures can be found for the two diseases. As the two diseases spread and as infected trees are removed, production will decline. This will result in fewer citrus jobs and less money coming into the county from selling citrus outside of the county. Those factors will also have an impact on other businesses within the county, in that less money will be spent on goods and services in the county by the citrus industry and employees. In the future, the county should work with citrus growers and other agricultural producers to explore the opportunity for other crops, such as biofuel feedstock, to supplement citrus and other agricultural products.. Future Land Use Element 108