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unincorporated area on the entire barrier island and felt this is <br />something the county should be very protective of to be sure it <br />remains available to the public and is developed in a proper way. <br />Mr. Young did not feel there is any reason to believe there <br />would be a divorce between the City and the County re the <br />maintenance or continuation of the park. The City is just <br />looking for an indication as to whether the county would be <br />comfortable if that entire area were annexed, and if so, what <br />conditions they would want put on it for the purpose of annexa- <br />tion, if any. <br />Chairman Scurlock felt our prime concern is that the amenity <br />remains available to the general public on a reasonable basis. <br />County Attorney Vitunac stated that the mere fact of annexa- <br />tion does not change who owns the property or who has the right <br />to operate it. What does change is that the park then would come <br />under the City Park Code instead of the county's. In a situation <br />such as this, however, the law balances the public interests and <br />would give strong weight to the county's desire to run a park <br />there. If in the future, the City decided to try to shut the <br />park down, the law would be in the county's favor. However, the <br />history of Vero Beach is not one of shutting parks down. <br />Attorney Vitunac went on to explain that where an area to be <br />annexed into the City is owned by a majority of people who are <br />not residents, the law requires that at least 500 of the acreage <br />owners sign a consent form allowing the referendum to occur. <br />When that acreage limit is passed, the referendum then is held <br />for only the people who are registered electors and live there, <br />even if they don't own land there. Because there is so much <br />vacant land on the beach, it is necessary to go through a 2 -step <br />procedure to have a referendum. The county is being asked to <br />consider giving consent for the Round Island property towards <br />having a referendum. This only allows the referendum to take <br />place, and actually we don't even get a vote in it. <br />'JUN 2 3 1987 37 BOOP( 0 631 <br />