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Bay County Commissioner George Gainer was criticized
today by the Panhandle Citizen's Coalition (PCC) for equating the 2 ads
put out by airport opponents with those backing the St. Joe Company's
position, the hundreds placed by Partners in Progress (PIP) and Bay County
First (BCF).
" While we appreciate the Commissioner' honesty in saying the PIP ads were
terrible, misleading and St. Joe's (and thus illustrating the continuing
need to achieve full financial disclosure from PIP/BCF), he is totally off
the mark when he seeks to compare the 2 large ads placed by airport
opponents with the hundreds placed by PIP/BCF. The commissioner has not
made any specific assertions regarding these ads and therefore this
particular statement of his has to be seen as without merit. Should he
ever respond specifically, we will reply vigorously as the ads were not
misleading, unlike the other sides whom we have detailed our responses to
from time to time." said John Hedrick, Chair of PCC.
The 2 large ads were placed by Citizens for the Bay, a partner
organization with PCC. Along with Citizens for the Bay and PCC, other
partner organizations in the anti-airport coalition include the Northwest
Florida Group of the Sierra Club, Friends of PFN and the Clean Water
Network. Hedrick said he expects the intensity of the campaign to only
increase now that the airport will be up for a public vote at the March
election.
In a surprise development, Bay County Property Appraiser Rick Barnett
raised St. Joe Company's property appraisal in the lands affected by the
Detailed Specific Area Plan (DSAP) votes earlier this month from $776, 206
to more than $46 million; this action of his raises property taxes on this
land from $136, 814 to an estimated $716, 425. "We are very pleased by
this action of the appraiser because it illustrates what we have been
saying all along-that this is a land development deal rather than an
airport deal. The appraiser initially estimates the property's value to
have increased by more than $45 million as a result of the votes taken
earlier this month. Additionally, it also makes the larger point about the
agricultural exemption that the St. Joe Company uses all across the
Panhandle. Once they and/or an appraiser identifies lands of theirs which
they feel will be developed, an immediate reappraisal of those lands is
warranted.
For example, in Tallahassee, St. Joe Company has its Southwood project;
plans have come out that the company ultimately intends to triple its
size. The acreage around the first Southwood project therefore needs to be
boosted to a higher value classification, be it residential, commercial or
whatever the Leon County Property Appraiser sees fit to designate it as,
so it pays what it should in property taxes. A study done by the Bay
County Property Appraiser several years ago estimated that the St. Joe
Company would pay $5 million more in taxes in Bay County if its properties
were reclassified; conservatively we estimate that across the Panhandle
the total would come to at least $10 million more in taxes that they would
owe local communities and that they need to be paying those local
communities, especially since they will be impacting services in those
locales. This is only fair to the citizens and taxpayers that this
happens." said Hedrick.
"Now that it is almost the end of the year, it only seems appropriate to
look back and see what has transpired with our organization and the issues
we've pressed since our inception over a year ago." said Hedrick.
"PCC was originally formed due to serious concerns of
regional citizens regarding either individual projects of the St. Joe
Company or their overall development plans in the Panhandle. St. Joe
Company is the largest developer in Florida and the Panhandle and it still
(as newly evidenced by the Florida Times Union article on Monday) doesn't
believe its plans need any fundamental revision whereas we have
consistently felt exactly the opposite. The citizens of the Panhandle most
adversely impacted by
these developments have not bargained for this to happen to them. In St.
Joe
Company's own words, their plans fundamentally change the character of
all the existing communities and the Panhandle as a whole. We knew many
of these changes will have negative impacts on our communities,
governments and our quality of life. Thus we proposed a pause for
planning, knowing the existing planning mechanisms do not fundamentally
address the Company's impacts."
"When the pause was either ignored by the St. Joe Company, or rejected by
the various affected local governments and the State, PCC last fall
announced its opposition to St. Joe Company's development projects and
launched citizen initiative campaigns in Carrabelle, Port St. Joe, Panama
City, Panama City Beach and Sopchoppy as well as a referendum for Gulf
County. The struggle was joined and the nascent organization quickly made
its signature goals in Carrabelle for their citizen initiative referendums
due both to citizen outrage there over the prospect of unlimited height
buildings on their waterfront and the concern that St. Joe Company's
SummerCamp project could tap into their water and sewer systems. The
Florida Consumers Action Network (FCAN) also voted to support PCC's
efforts to both hold the St. Joe Company accountable and to support
citizens at local levels making their own decisions with initiatives,
making it the first major statewide organizational endorsement with over
40.000 members."
"PCC said early on that the St. Joe company must have as yet undisclosed
grandiose plans, in addition to its residential and commercial development
and that has unfolded to become true with the revelation of the St. Joe
Company's secret plans in January. The Company denied at the time these
existed but it was later confirmed by news media that the draft map found
in these plans still hangs in their corporate offices in Jacksonville; the
plans detailed a new city (SummerCamp), new turnpike, and the proposed new
airport in Bay County among other things."
The first battle picked was in Franklin County over the SummerCamp project
and though PCC did not prevail at the County Commission adoption hearing,
over 200 people were in attendance and most were against the projects
moving forward. The commission's vote also had reverberations into the
rest of the year when first Carrabelle voted to schedule, then rescind the
scheduling of the vote on PCC's citizen initiatives there. PCC and other
local citizens were forced to sue to uphold this democratic right and
Judge Ferris agreed, ordering Carrabelle to hold a special election which
was just conducted, the results having favored removing the Planned Unit
Development from the books which would have allowed unlimited heights. "We
intend to closely monitor St. Joe Company's economic activity in and
around Carrabelle and should they take steps which are adverse to the
public's will, the citizens there know how to hold them accountable
through the initiative process." said Hedrick.
PCC has been active in other locations, notably in Panama City/Bay County
where we gained over 2700 signatures within the city (and over 6,000
countywide) by mid-March to require a vote on the initiative which
ultimately would result in a referendum on the airport. The Panama City
City Council unanimously refused to put this measure on the ballot, and
PCC and other local citizens filed suit against the city's actions. Though
Judge Hess subsequently ruled against PCC, this action of his has spawned
both an appeal to the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee and
ultimately helped result in the scheduling of an election on the Panama
City airport for this March. "We appreciate the involvement of our partner
organizations Citizens for the Bay, the Northwest Florida Group of the
Sierra Club, Friends of PFN and the Clean Water Network in bringing the
airport issue to a point where we can potentially achieve ultimate
success." said Hedrick.
The struggles with the St. Joe Company and others over development have
generated much public and media attention in the state and elsewhere, the
most notable to date being the NOW with Bill Moyers national segment which
aired in June. "We know the public too has become much more visable on the
issues of development as evidenced by the various battles which have
occurred throughout the Panhandle, many of which have been brought by
people affiliated with or who are members of PCC."
PCC in August endorsed the proposed Florida Hometown Democracy statewide
consititutional amendment. "Being a part of this movement just crystalizes
what we already knew-that there are many people in the Panhandle and
elsewhere who want control over what happens in their communities, who
don't simply want to repeat the development mistakes that have already
happened elsewhere in Florida and the nation. The grassroots awakening of
citizens is helping to rebuild our societies into a much more vibrant,
responsive democracy." said Hedrick.
PCC also came out foresquare against the Council of 100's proposals for a
state water authority that would have the power to transfer waters
downstate to Central and South Florida. "This water issue is forging a
rare consensus among many organizations to oppose this proposed
legislation. Likewise, it was positive that no environmental organizations
favored the Airport and West Bay Detailed Specific Action Plans moving
forward several weeks ago in Bay County. We can only hope that this trend
will continue." said Hedrick.
PCC is a citizens organization comprised of over 100 local members and is
supported in its efforts by other groups, including the Florida Consumer
Action Network, that has 40,000 members statewide. PCC's purpose is to
provide citizen oversight of the development process to ensure fiscal,
ethical, and environmental accountability and to safeguard the cultural
heritage of the Florida Panhandle.
.... JOHN HEDRICK 850-339-5462, DECEMBER 24, 2003
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