As Mayor John Delaney's land-saving Preservation Project finishes its second
year, the city of Jacksonville can boast more than 16,000 acres that will never
sport a rooftop, strip mall or smoke stack.
Locked in their natural state, these 18 islands of green space worth an
estimated $83.3 million are now under public control, land-banked away from the
bulldozer and surrounding development for generations to come.
And at a bargain rate, from the city's point of view.
City Hall's contribution to the various land buys since January 1999 totals
almost $14 million. A combination of state, federal, JEA and private donations
leveraged through the program have ponied up the rest, $69.3 million.
All in all, proponents say, it's been a good run for the first two years of
the five-year, $312.8 million effort, which most observers agree is unique
nationwide for its initiative, ambition and cooperative fund-pooling.
"Two years ago it was a vision and today it's a program," said Mark
Middlebrook, Delaney's main administrator for the Preservation Project.
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Hitting Home
Two non-profit groups, the Trust for Public Land and the Nature
Conservancy, help City Hall acquire most Preservation Project property. The
trust operates in more heavily populated areas along the Intracoastal Waterway
and in the southeast, while the Nature Conservancy focuses more on rural land in
the north and west.
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"It is clearly different [from earlier city programs]," he added. "It's
bigger in scope and impact, it has dedicated funding and it has a
growth-management component."
But the plan also has its critics, and their murmurings have sounded louder
in recent weeks. City Councilman Warren Alvarez, for example, has sharply
questioned the price City Hall is paying for some parcels of land.
"We've just been blindly approving these things," he charged. "I think we
need to get more bang for our buck. If we're not getting a good deal, we ought
not do it."
However, those doubts have yet to stop a proposed acquisition before City
Council, which has the final say on all purchases. Most members, including
Alvarez, support the goal of land preservation, even as they increasingly sweat
the details.
"The land's got to be acquired," said City Councilman Jim Overton, a
long-time advocate of preservation efforts. "If it's not set aside now, it never
will be."
Delaney judged the program's first two years largely a success, listing
parcels in the Timucuan Preserve and the Julington-Durbin Creek area as perhaps
the most valuable or important acquisitions thus far.
"My big fear was that people would see the trees and creeks [on preserved
land] and wonder if it was worth the money, because it would look the same as it
did before," Delaney said. "But the public really seems to buy into the idea of
preservation. A countywide greenway seems to have an appeal to the citizenry."
Complaints piling up
Among City Council members, however, the appeal can be more strained.
They have voiced concerns about everything from the program's costs,
goals and future direction to the relative lack of attention paid to public
access provisions for the newly acquired land.
Members also say they don't think they're getting enough facts and figures
soon enough to make smart final decisions on each acquisition.
"I think the City Council as a whole supports the Preservation Project, and
also as a whole doesn't understand it," Councilwoman Suzanne Jenkins said.
Jenkins called for more workshops to explain the project goals, and more help
from City Hall staff getting council members into the loop of acquisitions. She
said many members have land in their districts they think would qualify for
preservation dollars, but they may not know how to go about getting it done.
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A fishing boat on the Intracoastal Waterway passes the Castaway Island
Preserve, part of the Preservation Project.
-- Bruce Lipsky/Staff --------------------------------------------------
Alvarez's concerns about costs were prompted by land purchases in the heavily
developed southeastern quadrant of the city, where property along the
Intracoastal Waterway has been selling in the range of $20,000 to $30,000 an
acre.
And he speculated that City Hall's very involvement in the land-buying
business was artificially driving prices beyond acceptable levels.
"I just think people are clamoring to sell us property," Alvarez said. "We're
the best customers in town."
The program's most recent acquisition, a 49-acre parcel known as Moontide
between San Pablo Road and the Intracoastal, has been a favorite target for
complaints about costs and information.
Council members overwhelmingly approved spending $1.1 million in local, state
and federal funds for the parcel on Nov. 28, making it the third of a
three-parcel acquisition in that area known as the Castaway Island Preserve.
After the vote, though, some members balked at the Moontide price tag and
complained about receiving appraisal information on the day of the vote. Alvarez
noted that only 8 or 9 acres of the parcel was easily developable, with the rest
in wetlands.
"Why are we paying anything for wetlands?" he said.
Councilman Lad Daniels, who cast the only vote against the Moontide parcel,
agreed with Alvarez that the Moontide land was too expensive.
"We're paying a price that is way beyond anything that's appropriate for us
to spend on that kind of land," Daniels said. "As shepherds of the financial
well-being of the community, we need to stretch the dollars we are using for
preservation."
Councilwoman Elaine Brown said administration officials should start changing
the program's focus to keep costs down.
She said the preservation project, originally touted largely as a way to
preserve scarce natural land in heavily populated areas, should now start
concentrating more on the north and west sides. In those areas, the natural land
is less threatened by imminent development but also is much cheaper to buy.
"Because the cost of land has gone up so much, we need to take a look back,"
Brown said. "We want to preserve land, but the question is at what cost to the
taxpayers."
Another frequent complaint, usually from Councilman Reggie Fullwood, involves
program priorities. Fullwood, who represents a downtown district, wants to see
more attention paid to the recreation needs of his constituents, especially in
needed renovations to neighborhood community centers.
For Overton, the main shortcoming of the mayor's preservation project is
access. He said program staffers need to do a better job determining how people
will get to and use the land the city is now banking, with more thought given to
boat ramps, trails and other access tools.
"We're acquiring land at a rate that doesn't allow us to figure out how to
use it," he said.
Overton noted that the program's priciest acquisition thus far -- the
pristine, 1,485-acre Cedar Swamp parcel south of Butler Boulevard, purchased by
the city and state for $28 million -- also is the least accessible. The contract
negotiated for the property allows the landowners to live there until they die,
with no public access before that.
Overton said he had mixed feelings about that purchase -- appreciating the
land's value but also mourning its public unavailability for perhaps decades.
"That's the purest example of a true land bank," he said. "That was the only
way to get it. It's not a great deal for us, but for the next generation it's a
great deal, because that land will be there."
Concerning council oversight, Overton noted that any member with doubts about
a preservation project can always vote 'no' -- though he said there were good
reasons that rarely happens. With so many types of legislation coming before the
council, covering all aspects of City Hall government at a rate of about 1,500
measures a year, Overton said council members rely on each other to make wise
decisions.
"You pick your areas of interest and prioritize your time," he said. However,
Council President Alberta Hipps said members should never be faulted for
questioning a public expenditure, at any point in the process.
"I don't think we owe an apology for doing our job," she said. "We're really
considered the Board of Directors for the city."
City officials respond
Since the Moontide purchase, Preservation Project staffers have been working
on ways to keep council members better informed. Middlebrook said he would try
to get the needed documents to them faster, and he planned at least one
presentation to a council committee.
On other complaints, such as the high cost of some parcels, the mayor's staff
and project partners simply disagree with the detractors. They noted that all of
the program's acquisitions have been at or below the properties' appraised
values, and staff seek more than one independent appraisal to get a fair price.
"We live and die by appraisals," said Susan Grandin, project manager for the
Jacksonville office of the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit group that helps
the city seek state grants and negotiate deals quickly with landowners.
"You always wish you got a better deal, but I've never felt we paid too
much," Delaney said. "We've turned some projects down because of that."
On costs, Mandarin appraiser Carol Sinoff said land buyers can get more for
their money outside the Southeast quadrant, where prices are generally higher.
But she said the real key in assuring a good price was obtaining a solid
appraisal.
"If it's backed by an appraisal, as long as it's fair and accurate and no one
is doing anyone any favors by pricing it too high or too low, it should be
fine," Sinoff said.
Grandin said the multiple benefits of preserving the Moontide property placed
it high on a statewide list of projects seeking state funds for preservation.
Those benefits, which mirror many of the Preservation Project's main goals,
include growth management in the congested San Pablo area; public access to
natural resources; habitat preservation for endangered species such as wood
storks; and the avoidance of flooding problems because homes won't be built
there, which earned the project $250,000 from the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
Middlebrook didn't buy the argument that the Moontide parcel was not amenable
to development because of its wetlands.
Beyond the environmental benefits, wetlands are a powerful draw for
high-priced residential development, he said. The deep-pocket demand for such
housing often outweighs the drawbacks and mitigation costs of building on them.
"People want to live on the water," Middlebrook said. "Clearly the market's
there."
On the public access question, Middlebrook acknowledged that pressure from
development and growth had caused City Hall to focus more on pure acquisition
during the first two years of the Preservation Project.
But he promised that the third year would feature a heightened emphasis on
access, with a separate management program set up for it. Dollars also will be
flowing to create access to parcels, such as the $500,000 that Councilman Jerry
Holland has pledged for the Castaway Island Preserve from $1 million in park
bonds that his district is getting through the Better Jacksonville Plan.
To Brown's concern about moving the program focus more to the north and west
sides, Middlebrook said more such acquisitions would occur, starting with the
next project that will likely come before council. City Hall recently signed a
contract to buy 85 acres on the Westside known as Camp Milton, subject to
council approval.
And the Preservation Project already can point to some large-scale
acquisitions in the north and west, Middlebrook said, such as the 2,886-acre
parcel known as the Peterson Tract, purchased by the JEA, and the 5,366 acres
deeded free to the city for natural preservation with the closure of Cecil
Field.
Fullwood's desire for more urban recreation also may be addressed in the
coming year. Rule changes under way now for the state grant program may mandate
greater preference to urban core recreation proposals, Middlebrook said.
