North county 20/20 land buys approved
The latest batch of land parcels that Lee County has decided to pursue for its Conservation 20/20 program may be on the smaller side, but local experts say they’re important pieces of the conservation puzzle.
At Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, a motion passed unanimously to allot $30,000 for county staff to begin acquisition of seven parcels – two in the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve, two in Pine Island Sound, and three in the Cecil B. Webb Wildlife Management Area off Burnt Store Road.
Lee County Conservation Lands Manager Cathy Olson said these parcels will fill in the gaps in existing county and state preserves.
“It’s always really good to try to build onto existing conservation lands, because you get more bang for your buck that way rather than having an isolated parcel,” she said.
Three parcels, a combined 249 acres, are grouped together in the Yucca Pens unit off Burnt Store Road north of Cape Coral.
“That region along the Burnt Store corridor is some of the nicest pine flatwoods we have left in Lee County,” said Olson.
Carl Veaux, president of the Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, is encouraged by the move to acquire more parcels in that area.
“That’s good they’re doing something in the Cape Coral area. We don’t get too many nominations, and this will help add to what little we have in Cape Coral,” he said.
Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman, whose district includes Cape Coral, said because the area was pre-platted into residential lots, it’s difficult to find land large enough to preserve there.
“As a person that was born and raised in Cape Coral, we look for opportunities wherever we can to try and purchase land that is going to benefit Cape Coral, and I believe several properties we’re going to pursue here around the Yucca Pens will be a great addition to that preserve,” he said.
Hamman thinks it’s important to grow existing preserves to maximize environmental benefit, and Olson agrees.
“For conservation use, it’s much better to have bigger parcels than smaller parcels, and although these are small individually, they add onto a much bigger portion of super important hydric flatwoods in the area,” she said.
Hydric flatwoods are a unique ecosystem that function as both a wetland and an upland, depending on season.
They have the highest plant diversity of any habitat in South Florida and are also the least protected, according to a report by Florida Fish and Wildlife.
The parcels are located within the Charlotte Harbor Watershed and straddle a small creek called Greenwell Branch, which creates an opportunity for water quality improvements.
“It’s always good to buffer the creeks from potential pollution. That area definitely recharges the water table, so that would be an important consideration as well,” said Olson.
The other parcels are mostly made up of mangroves, a vital ecosystem.
“Mangroves are obviously important because they provide shoreline stabilization, particularly during large storm events such as hurricanes. They’re like a buffer against storms and they’re also major hatcheries for both commercial and recreationally important fish,” Olson said.
Two of those parcels in Pine Island Sound are directly adjacent to existing conservation lands – one 133-acre parcel south of Charlotte Harbor State Park, and another 181-acre parcel south of Carver Preserve, a Conservation 20/20 property.
“We need to add to our preserves. I’m thankful they’re getting the Pine Island ones, that’s going to add to what’s over there,” Veaux said.
The other two are located within the Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve – one is a 9.6-acre manmade island within the Mound Key Archeological State Park, and another 91 acres of mangroves on Big Hickory Island.
There’s potential for these parcels to be managed by the state, as they’re already located within state preserves, but Olson said it’s still too early in the process to say whether that will happen.
“If we’re able to negotiate a successful deal, that’s certainly something we would look at, particularly for Mound Key, since the state is managing the rest of the preserve and it wouldn’t really be cost effective for us to manage it. We haven’t had those conversations yet,” she said.
The Mound Key property is owned by Ted, Todd, and John McGee, who offered to sell it to the state in 2006 for $15 million, according to news accounts.
In 2009, according to a previous Observer report, Lee County offered $500,000 for the property, and the owners countered with $5 million.
In May last year, the property hit the market for $2.9 million, well above asking prices for the other parcels the county is pursuing.
The 91-acre parcel on nearby Big Hickory Island is listed for sale by Barron Collier Partnership for $750,000, and the 32-acre and 125-acre parcels in the Yucca Pens are listed for $72,000 and $281,250, respectively.
The next step in the process is to have the properties appraised and begin negotiating the purchases.
“At this point, we will go and get appraisals on these properties. The appraisals will tell us what the market value is of the property, if the value is over $500,000, we’ll order a second appraisal, just to make sure that we get a correct price on it. Then they go into negotiations similar to any other real estate transaction… it’s just dependent upon how those talks go,” said Hamman.