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BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />Bob Solari <br />Chairman <br />District 5 <br />Joseph E. Flescher <br />Vice Chairman <br />District 2 <br />December 3, 2015 <br />Gary Clark, Deputy Secretary <br />for Land & Recreation <br />Chairman, Acquisition and Restoration Council <br />3900 Commonwealth Blvd., MS 44 <br />Tallahassee, FL 32399-3000 <br />Re: Lewis Friend Farms, Inc. <br />Application to Add New Florida Forever Project <br />Dear Honorable Chairman: <br />Wesley S. Davis <br />District 1 <br />Tim Zorc <br />District 3 <br />Peter D. O'Bryan <br />District 4 <br />On behalf of the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners ("Board"), I am <br />writing to express the Board's full and enthusiastic support of the Lewis Friend Farms <br />Ranch as a new Florida Forever acquisition project. <br />In the early 1990s, Indian River County established a local environmental lands <br />acquisition program to leverage and match P2000 and later Florida Forever funds for <br />the conservation of environmentally significant lands. In 1992 and 2004, County <br />citizens voted to approve a combined total of $76 million in ad valorem tax funds for <br />environmental land conservation. Over the course of its acquisition program, Indian <br />River County acquired, either on its own or in partnership with the State and other <br />agencies, more than 12,000 acres for conservation, valued at more than $148 million. <br />Among those acres conserved, Indian River County acquired agricultural conservation <br />easements on three ranches totaling more than 2,000 acres. The County acted on its <br />own in acquiring those ranch easements during a time when State funding was not <br />available under the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program for easement <br />acquisition. <br />The Lewis Friend Farms Ranch consists of more than 1,000 acres in western Indian <br />River County, in proximity to two of the ranches (Padgett Creek and Triple S) protected <br />by County -acquired conservation easements. Moreover, the Lewis Friend Farms Ranch <br />is adjacent to the Kissimmee -St. Johns Connector Florida Forever project, and <br />acquisition of the ranch will complement both the Connector project and the County's <br />ranch easements. <br />1801 27th Street, Building A <br />Vero Beach. FL 32960 <br />(772) 226-1490 <br />t <br />