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Mr. Cox stated that in 2004, in recognition of the value of agriculture to the State of <br />Florida, the Legislature added a provision, which states that agriculture can generate credits in <br />addition to natural resources and that has been incorporated in the St. Lucie Program. <br />The area that has been adopted in St Lucie County (those 22,000 acres) is a long-term <br />build out scenario, not 10 or 15 years, he remarked. He displayed the "Pilot Program" location <br />explaining that the reason it is a pilot program is because it does not include all of the rural lands <br />in St Lucie County. He discussed the Adams Ranch Stewardship goals, which are to protect <br />and conserve agricultural lands and promote agricultural viability, to direct incompatible uses <br />away from wetlands and habitats, and to discourage urban sprawl by doing mixed-use <br />development and creative land use planning. <br />Mr. Cox discussed the different connected eco -systems on the property, and the RLSA <br />Overlays where the idea is instead of looking to transfer development rights one would establish <br />a program to value the resources on the ground. He talked about generation of credits by <br />eliminating uses, outlining that the way the stewardship program works is that the more valuable <br />the land environmentally, the more credits per acre it generates, and the more uses eliminated <br />from that land the more credits it generate. He displayed an aerial view map showing the entire <br />area/acreage of Adams Ranch explaining uses and exclusion of certain areas. <br />Mr. Cox announced that they would be submitting an application (Steward Sending <br />Area) that will include the exact boundaries of about 12,000 acres and their goal is to create <br />35,000 credits from those areas to transfer to Cloud Grove. He concluded, discussing the <br />Stewardship Approval Process and its current status. The Comprehensive Plan amendment has <br />been completed and the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has found the amendments to <br />be in compliance, he stated. Also the Land Development Code has been adopted but they have <br />not yet submitted the SSA (Steward Sending Areas) and SRA (Stewardship Receiving Areas) <br />February 19, 2007 4 <br />Joint Workshop/St Lucie <br />