Many thanks to each of you who contacted the county commissioners and state agencies to voice your opposition to the Extreme Sports project. In an excellent example of “If the people will lead, politicians will follow”, Commissioners Heard and Fielding (who have accurately articulated concerns about the project for months) were joined by the other commissioners in the unanimous decision to deny the Comp Plan changes.
Your emails, calls, and discussions with commissioners all contributed to this unexpected unanimous vote on July 10, 2012 to support staff’s recommendation to not change the Comprehensive Plan to allow these urban uses on existing agricultural lands miles outside the urban services district.
The ploy to use a superficially-innocuous cable-driven water sports project as a stepping stone to hotel, gas station, restaurant, RV Park and cottages and potential future development of agricultural lands was simply not a trap into which we would fall. Commission Chairman Ciampi indicated that, in his opinion, the project was falling not to a single silver bullet, but due to a number of contributing factors. Issues (e.g., urban sprawl, legal nuances regarding the designation of Bridge Road as a minor arterial roadway, concerns voiced by various state agencies (most notably the Fl Dept of Transportation and the Fl Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), the likely presence of the nearly-always fatal Naegleria amoeba, et. al.) certainly played into it, but the overwhelming reason for the about-face by three commissioners who had previously supported the project was each of you. The commissioners heard loud and clear the opposition from across the community. With nearly every seat in the commission chambers occupied by project opponents (many of whom had been there for hours), this time there was no denying the community sentiment. |
