A state agency released a blistering 24-page rebuke of a proposed
massive city in the Everglades while environmentalists renewed calls for the
state to purchase sugar land to send water south.
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More than 5,000 protest dirty water, not sent south, but to the Indian River Lagoon in the summer of 2013. www.tcpalm.com/videos/detail/indian-river-lagoon-rally/ |
Among 34 major objections to the project, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO) report called U.S Sugar’s proposal “vague,” with “no assurances of natural resource protection,” and puts “significant urban development” in an area without flood protection.
The proposed 67-square-mile city called “Sugar Hill” includes 18,000
residential units and more than 25 million square feet of commercial
development southwest of Lake Okeechobee on land vital to Everglades Restoration.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/photo/business/ sugar-hill-plan-rejected-landowners-to-try-again/pCStRL/ |
The report was surprising because the FDEO is essentially an economic development agency that Governor Scott created to replace the Department of Community Affairs, the growth management agency he dismantled. The report also comes amid news reports that U.S Sugar has been taking Florida politicians, including the Governor Scott, on hunting trips to the King Ranch in Texas.
The Sugar Hill project has been widely condemned by the environmental
community. Sierra Club and allies held simultaneous rallies and press
conferences opposing the city and urging the state to buy sugar land instead.
Environmentalists want
land bought now
The proposed city reinforces the need to buy sugar land now.
The U.S Sugar land purchase of 2010 enabled 26,000 acres to be purchased with
an option for the remaining 153,000 acres. The next deadline of October 2015, allows
a block of 46,800 acres to be purchased at market prices. Much of the land lies
within the Sugar Hill proposal. If Sugar Hill were approved, the land
would be immediately more valuable as land slated for development rather than
agricultural uses, making it more difficult for the public to acquire.
Governor Rick Scott has repeatedly ignored deadlines to buy
sugar land. Last year he allowed the state’s exclusive rights to buy US Sugar land to expire. He opposed U.S. Sugar’s purchase as a candidate in 2010.
The enormity and grave consequences of this sprawling city
cannot be overstated. It would wall off the Everglades from half of its
overland water source – Lake Okeechobee. It would also end efforts to purchase
the next parcel of sugar land for restoration – either for direct use or
through swaps with other sugar lands farther east.
The final rejection of this city will serve as a wakeup
call. A restored Everglades and healthy
estuaries require more sugar land. Governor Scott and his appointees at South
Florida Water Management District should lay the groundwork for the purchase now.
U.S. Sugar has until May 1, 2015, to revise and resubmit the
Sugar Hill city plan. The deadline to purchase 48,600 acres is Oct. 12, 2015.