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Y, ... <br />., <br />SEP 18 1985 <br />10 <br />DISCUSSION RE MARKETABLE RECORD TITLE ACT <br />BOOK ;L f'A6 <br />Commissioner Scurlock reported that he has received <br />significant input from the community at what seems to be the 11th <br />hour about the hearings scheduled for yesterday and today at <br />various locations around the state to take public testimony for <br />or against an amendment to the Marketable Record Title Act. This <br />testimony will be reviewed at a workshop meeting in Tallahassee <br />on October 14, and it appears there is some significant concern <br />about how this might affect this county's agricultural interests. <br />Another concern is that it might result in some lands being taken <br />off the tax rolls. <br />Administrator Wright reported that Commissioner Blackman of <br />Gladstone County called yesterday to say that he is vehemently <br />opposed to the amendment and asked Indian River County's Board of <br />Commissioners not to take any action today. <br />Assistant County Attorney Bruce Barkett explained that he <br />put this on the Agenda today because today is the last time the <br />study commission meets on the Marketable Record Title Act. He <br />prepared a Resolution which would request the Florida Legislature <br />to do everything possible to ensure that the State would not <br />continue losing court battles when it comes to ownership of <br />"sovereign" lands, those lands beneath navigable waters. In <br />Indian River County, navigable bodies of water include the Indian <br />River Lagoon, Sebastian River, Blue Cypress Lake, the headwaters <br />of the St. Johns River and the county's entire Atlantic <br />coastline. Attorney Barkett reviewed common laws governing <br />titles to land below navigable waters going back many years. In <br />1850 Congress passed legislation permitting conveyance to the <br />State of swamp and overflowed lands -- uplands, not lands below <br />navigable bodies of water. Of the 35 million acres in the state, <br />22 million plus are swamp and overflowed lands. In their <br />ignorance at that time of the effect on the environment, the <br />State's policy was to fill in these wet lands, use them for <br />development and make money from them. In 1870 the State started <br />87 <br />k <br />