Editorial: Selling Indian River County down the river

Press Journal Editorial, May 17, 2007

With "conservationists" like the St. Johns River Water Management District, who needs developers?

In a second proposed real-estate swap in the west county, the district wants to hand the Corrigan Family Partnership 1,200 acres of conservation land in exchange for 460 acres — and pay the Corrigans $657,300.


The deal is the back half of an earlier exchange that flipped 1,800 "conservation" acres to Fellsmere Joint Venture in return for a 6,000-acre parcel east of Blue Cypress Lake. FJV also received $35 million in taxpayer funds for the transaction.

The district says these deals will help to assemble a larger conservation area and resolve a potential legal dispute with the Corrigans over periodic flooding.

But those rationales may not hold water. Speaking of the latest deal, Florida Audubon President Charles Lee stated:

"I do not believe that the exchange is warranted, justified or permissible under provisions of the Florida Constitution (swapping out state conservation lands) or the statutes that govern Florida's land acquisition and
management programs."

Legal or not, the price does not appear to be right.

Dick Baker, chairman of the county's Land Acquisition Advisory Committee, questioned the appraisals used in the deal. Plugging in a more realistic $20,000-an-acre figure, Baker calculates that the Corrigans stand to net $16 million as a result of the swap.

"This is a travesty for the taxpayers," Baker says.

If the Corrigans' 460 acres are truly "flood damaged," as they claim, why is the district paying them $657,300 in addition to swapping property that's three times larger? And, really, what does this have to do with conservation anyway?

Looking at the map, the district's 1,200 acres — the remnant of the old Berry Groves — sit strategically atop the Corrigan family tract that runs down the west side of Interstate 95. Those parcels are stacked liked dominoes, ready to fall.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Fellsmere, in the midst of an aggressive annexation program, absorbing those lands for, say, interstate interchanges once they're stripped of their conservation protection.

With so much speculation, and so much at stake, St. Johns' board wisely delayed a vote on the Corrigan exchange this month. Amid justifiable concerns about a lack of public notice or input, district and local officials need to conduct a community workshop on this — and the sooner, the better.

For too long, Indian River County, which sits at the headwaters of the St. Johns River, has been treated like a second-class citizen by the water district. It's doubly unfortunate when the agency, which controls one-third of this county's acreage, wreaks havoc on local conservation efforts.

Decisions on this and any future land exchange must be fully transparent, fiscally sound and in the best interest of the general public. So far, this deal doesn't pass the smell test.

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