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Site Characteristics The property consists of two islands in the Indian River Lagoon, located within Vero Beach city limits just west of Castaway Cove Wave IV. The larger of the two islands (Prang Island) consists of +19.5 acres, +2.9 acres of which are mangrove wetlands. A +5 acre tropical (maritime) hammock exists on the south portion of Prang Island, with- the.remainder of the island consisting of Brazilian - pepper and Australian pine. The existence of exotics is primarily due to past spoil deposit. A make -shift campsite exists under the Australian pine canopy on the north portion of the island, and a +4.3 acre seagrass bed exists along the northwest shore of Prang Island. The smaller north island, "Little Prang", is +7 acres in size, +1 acre of which is mangrove fringe wetlands. Approximately +4.5 acres of Little Prang Island are disturbed with Brazilian pepper and Australian pine vegetation. Prang Island is located near a known historic Ais Indian village site on the adjacent barrier island, and an archaeological shell midden is reported on Prang Island. The island's name comes from the Prange family who homesteaded the island in the late 1800s. Evidence of the Prange homestead exists in the maritime hammock portion of the island. Prang Island has a land use designation of RL, Low Density Residential, up to 5 units per acre. Little Prang has a land use designation of ES, Environmentally Sensitive, with a development density of up to one unit per 5 acres. The current owner has obtained preliminary plat approval for 20 single-family residential lots on Prang Island. However, because the State prohibits bridges to such islands and public utilities are not available, final approval for development of the 20 lot subdivision has not been forthcoming. •Ownership Characteristics Currently, the subject property is owned by the Idlewyld Corporation, I_nc., represented by Ronald Rathburn. Public records indicate that the subject property was purchased by the current owner in 1979 as part of a bigger tract that has since been developed as Castaway Cove. The current tax assessed value is $122,930. *Acquisition Cost -Share & Property Management Two issues which are important with respect to all proposed purchases are obtaining cost share assistance in property acquisition and addressing management costs. • Cost -Share In 1993; Indian River County submitted an application to the FCT, which was subsequently approved for 40% cost -share funding, including 40% of pre-acquisition expenditures (e.g., survey, environmental audit, appraisals). At that time, the County retained a "Range of Value Letter" appraisal of the Prang Island(s), solely for the purpose of providing an estimate of project cost for the FCT cost -share application. This Letter appraisal indicated a $700,000 to $1,300,000 range of value. To ensure that FCT allocated a sufficient amount of funds, the County used the higher estimate ($1,300,000) in its FCT application. For this reason, the FCT has reserved up to $540,000 for its purchase cost -share match. Because the approved appraised value and 23 March 19, 1996 BOOK 97 PAGE 563