6/12/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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►SUN 12 1990 that she has asked staff to come to the meeting on Friday and reinforce our statement. Commissioner Scurlock asked if we have an answer as to what Martin County has done, and Director Keating believed they are going with the Council's recommendation. Douglas Bournique of the Citrus League informed the Board that this all started in Palm Beach County. They panicked when they got down to their last 15,000 acres of native upland habitat, and as a result, they are saying you can't touch any of that; so, that's where this policy originated. Mr. Bournique advised that no other RPC in the state has a policy as severe as this, and he has Minutes of testimony from two meetings of the RPC with the DCA where they state that the 25% preservation was denied as a DCA position, and also state that it was being pushed by Dan Carey of the TCRPC "who is running the whole show by himself." Mr. Bournique felt that TCRPC policy 10.1.2.6 is not too bad. That policy requires each county to provide an inventory of native plant communities and also offers tax relief for land maintained in healthy native upland plant communities. He personally did not think that any hodge-podge of 2, 5 or 10 acres here and there will save the deer or turkey population, etc. Chairman Eggert referred to their policy 10.1.2.1.5, but Mr. Bournique stated that if he were a large land owner in any of the Treasure Coast counties, he would be apprehensive about this endangered list because these lists change and grow constantly. He felt it is better to go with the policy he just read and stay with that. He felt that is where Indian River County is, and he believed Agriculture would support that. Chairman Eggert had a problem with the requirement that when development comes in with cleared land, they have to reestablish this 25%, and Commissioner Scurlock noted that he has read an article which states that only 50% of these re-creation projects have been successful in any event. 82