State Agency Delivers Sugar City Smackdown
A state agency released a blistering 24-page rebuke of a proposed massive city in the Everglades while environmentalists renewed calls for the state to purchase sugar land to send water south.
More than 5,000 protest dirty water, not sent south, but to the Indian River Lagoon in the summer of 2013. www.tcpalm.com/videos/detail/indian-river-lagoon-rally
Among 34 major objections to the project, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO) report called U.S Sugar's proposal "vague," with "no assurances of natural resource protection," and puts "significant urban development" in an area without flood protection.
The proposed 67-square-mile city called "Sugar Hill" includes 18,000 residential units and more than 25 million square feet of commercial development southwest of Lake Okeechobee on land vital to Everglades Restoration.
The FDEO report comes on top of two also highly-critical responses from state environmental agencies. The South Florida Water Management District recommended against the plan saying it threatened Everglades Restoration, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection wrote it "does not adequately protect against adverse impacts to important state resources, including the Florida Everglades."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/photo/business/sugar-hill-plan-rejected-landowners-to-try-again/pCStRL
The report was surprising because the FDEO is essentially an economic development agency that Governor Scott created to replace the Department of Community Affairs, the growth management agency he dismantled. The report also comes amid news reports that U.S Sugar has been taking Florida politicians, including the Governor Scott, on hunting trips to the King Ranch in Texas.
The Sugar Hill project has been widely condemned by the environmental community. Sierra Club and allies held simultaneous rallies and press conferences opposing the city and urging the state to buy sugar land instead.
Environmentalists want land bought now
The proposed city reinforces the need to buy sugar land now. The U.S Sugar land purchase of 2010 enabled 26,000 acres to be purchased with an option for the remaining 153,000 acres. The next deadline of October 2015, allows a block of 46,800 acres to be purchased at market prices. Much of the land lies within the Sugar Hill proposal. If Sugar Hill were approved, the land would be immediately more valuable as land slated for development rather than agricultural uses, making it more difficult for the public to acquire.
Governor Rick Scott has repeatedly ignored deadlines to buy sugar land. Last year he allowed the state's exclusive rights to buy US Sugar land to expire. He opposed U.S. Sugar's purchase as a candidate in 2010.
The enormity and grave consequences of this sprawling city cannot be overstated. It would wall off the Everglades from half of its overland water source – Lake Okeechobee. It would also end efforts to purchase the next parcel of sugar land for restoration – either for direct use or through swaps with other sugar lands farther east.
The final rejection of this city will serve as a wakeup call. A restored Everglades and healthy estuaries require more sugar land. Governor Scott and his appointees at South Florida Water Management District should lay the groundwork for the purchase now.
U.S. Sugar has until May 1, 2015, to revise and resubmit the Sugar Hill city plan. The deadline to purchase 48,600 acres is Oct. 12, 2015.