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make agriculture more viable. Every time the urban service area is expanded, someone will <br />be on the fringe with agriculture and residential and there will be conflict. Urban expansion <br />will continue to be the overriding force for land use unless agricultural and urban interests <br />work together. He agreed with Lex Kromhout's suggestion for an agricultural enhancement <br />council and agreed there needs to be a sense of transition at the interface between the two <br />viable components of our community. He cited concerns of the diaprepies weevil and citrus <br />producing groves. He thought the urban service area boundary should be re-evaluated so it <br />can be viable for both agriculture and urban areas. <br />Pat Brown, 1740 21' Street, showed maps made from Property Appraiser's records <br />and explained the dominant -use method used in that office to determine the category of the <br />property. Her first point was that there is still a lot of developable land within the urban <br />service area. In graduate school she learned that growth management, where demand <br />exceeds supply, causes prices of land and housing to go up and believed concerns about <br />affordable housing should be separated from growth management. One of the reasons land <br />outside the urban service area is so attractive to developers is because it is in larger parcels <br />and is less expensive per acre. The market price is higher inside the urban service area <br />because the Board has thus far held the line. Residents often speak of our quality of life and <br />new residents come from other areas seeking it. She predicted we are at serious risk of <br />losing that quality of life and that continued expansion to the west will cause development <br />all the way out to I-95 before long. Planning, by nature, creates and takes away value and <br />is the job of the Board of County Commissioners. She pointed out that citrus is not the only <br />agricultural use. She agreed with Mr. Kromhout's suggestion for an advisory board. She felt <br />that government needs to work as hard for the agricultural people as we do for our other <br />residents to keep agriculture viable in our county. She hoped the Board would hold the line <br />October 9, 2000 <br />21 <br />