County mulls plan to save farmers land
Source: Bradenton Herald, by Jessica Klipa
December 05, 2007
MANATEE --Faced with encroaching development and shrinking agricultural land, county commissioners are considering ways to save Manatee County's green space.
On Tuesday, the Manatee County Farm Bureau presented commissioners with the Rural Land Stewardship program, designed to give farmers an incentive to stay in agriculture.
Under the program, landowners voluntarily sell density credits to developers to apply elsewhere. In exchange, they agree not to develop the land, keeping it forever agricultural.
About 19 Manatee County landowners volunteered to participate in an analysis, which represented 26,265 acres of the 250,000 privately-owned acres potentially available for the program.
County commissioners were divided on whether the density credits should be sent to other parts of East Manatee or to the western part of the county.
Concerned about urban sprawl and the financial cost of supplying East Manatee with sufficient infrastructure, Commissioner Joe McClash favored sending the credits to the west, where infrastructure is already in place.
But Commissioner Carol Whitmore wasn't sold on the idea, saying that increasing density in the west would further burden the infrastructure.
"This may all look good, but we're going to have to deal with another problem in the west," she said.
Despite the differing opinions, commissioners agreed that preserving agricultural land is a priority in the county, even if it means tackling tough decisions about how to apply the concept of the stewardship program.
"The one message that we have as a board is we want to preserve agriculture lands," McClash said. "This certainly is a good step in the right direction."
Bruce Shackelford, owner of Four Star Tomato, was one of the farmers to take interest in the program.
"It's a good idea. The problem is you have to get the county commissioners to get their arms around it," he said.
The question, he said, was whether the commissioners wanted to adopt the stewardship program or design something specifically tailored to Manatee County.
"No matter what, you're still going to end up with a certain amount of additional services needed out east," Shackelford said.
It really makes no difference to the growers as long as they are able to keep farming, though.
"A grower does not care where the development rights go to. It doesn't mean anything to me," he said. Manatee County rancher Bill Welch said he owns about 500 acres on State Road 62 that he would like to keep from being developed so that he could pass it down to his family.
A beautiful piece of property, the land is home to large oaks and a part of Gamble Creek, he said.
"It's very important for the farmers to have a way to preserve their land," he said.
click here for more information
|
