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Wetland Windfall In The Works

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

LITHIA - On paper, it looks like Hillsborough County is willing to pay nearly 20 times the official value of about 7 acres of swamp to add it to a 2,000-acre preservation parcel known as the Alafia South Prong.

But that's not the case, said Kurt Gremley, Hillsborough's longtime negotiator of land purchases through the county's Environmental Lands and Acquisition Protection Program.

He said the acreage was incorrectly appraised as entirely wet by one county agency, when another agency, the Environmental Protection Commission that oversees wetland protection, provided information that the tract off Welcome Road could support at least two home sites.

That led to a price of $96,000, authorized last week by county commissioners. They also agreed to pay up to $12,000 for fees associated with the deal.

The Hillsborough County property appraiser lists the acreage, divided into two 3.6-acre lots, as worth $2,715 per lot. Owners Edwina and Nowell Jordan Jr. had an annual tax bill of less than $60 per parcel.
County staff conducted an analysis that included recent property sales in the area to come up with the price tag of about $13,700 an acre, Gremley said. The amount included consideration of some access issues that would require an estimated $50,000 to resolve, Gremley said.

For purchase prices of more than $100,000, the county would have been required to obtain at least one independent property appraisal, he said.

The ELAPP advisory committee recommended approval of the deal before it went to county commissioners, Gremley said.

He said the property includes some wetlands that could be enhanced and possibly used to offset wetland destruction for road construction by Hillsborough's Public Works Department.

The practice of preserving or restoring wetlands in one area to make up for loss in another is known as mitigation. In cases where land bought for preservation is used for mitigation, ELAPP typically recoups much of the purchase price, which can then be used to buy other properties, Gremley said.

Fencing the two parcels, which are almost surrounded by preservation land, will help keep out poachers and improve management of the preserve, he said. The acreage contains untouched native habitat, but it's how it fits in with the surrounding preserve that made it appealing, Gremley said.

"These parcels in isolation ... I'm almost certain we would not have considered" buying them, he said.

The property, near Welcome's intersection with Walter Hunter Road, is part of about 600 acres county ELAPP officials have earmarked as desirable to add to the Alafia South Prong preserve.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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