Martin CountycuRRentsCounty legal costs soar pg 6

Heards and Lake Points tug-of-war

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All Aboard Florida not greatest threat Pg 10

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14Missing EAA land south of Lake O

ColumnistsTina McSoleyGuest Editorial ... 10Nyla PipesOne Florida Foundation ... 15Capt. Don VossOne Florida Foundation ... 17

Maya EllensonArt Kaleidoscope ... 25Rich VidulichPompano Reporter 28Suzanne BrileyHopscotch 26Barbara ClowdusUnfiltered 11

Calendar 30-31

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12Farmers levy a legal challenge

6County's legal costs soaring

5Opposition gels

against AAF

21Flash Beach Grille

may settle suit?

Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 3

6-7Lake Point and

Heard tug-of-war

Martin County CurrentsMarch 20154 News Stream

Not unexpectedly, theopinions voiced duringthe Board of CountyCommissionersmeeting Feb. 10 took nearly opposite tacksregarding whether or not to attempt an-other sales tax referendum, which was de-feated by 68 votes in November. It wouldhave raised $88 million over four yearsand was narrowly restricted to repairs ofroads, stormwater projects and bridges.

The current backlog of maintenanceprojects is more than $250 million, in-creasing by approximately $15 millionannually, according to county officials.

Commissioner Anne Scott suggestedthat a consultant be hired to show themwhat needed to be done to clean out ourclosets...We need someone to say, Look,these are the problems you and othergovernments are facing.'

Commissioner Sarah Heard con-curred, adding also that the county needsa long-term solution for funding infra-structure maintenance, particularly inlight of the fact that a two percent salestax hike would not cure the currentandnow growingmaintenance backlog.

Commissioner John Haddox has oftenstated his support for immediatelylaunching another sales tax referendum,because approximately 20 percent of thefunds raised would come from non-resi-dents visiting the county. He disagreed

with hiring a consultant, however, addingthat a study would require too much time,all the while the county was just diggingthe hole deeper, and would tell us whatwe already know: You've got to cut ex-penses and bring in more revenue.

Commissioner Doug Smith remindedcommissioners that County Administra-tor Taryn Kryzda had already slashed thecounty's budget by 63 percent as a resultof the 2008 financial crisis, so there is nota lot of fat left to cut.

Kryzda said that the county had excel-lent department directors, and they wouldfollow the board's direction. If they're toldto cut their spending by five percent, oreight percent, or whatever, she said,they'll find a way to do it. It will be done.

No conclusion was reached as to thebest method to increase county rev-enues; however, Commission Chair EdFielding said he felt the discussion hadbeen beneficial, and hoped they wouldcontinue it during the commission'sstrategic planning session that followedthe commission meeting.

The City of Stuart,whose commissionerscommitted someyears ago to providingcity wide water and sewer lines, recentlyannounced that its Public Works Depart-

ment launched the AquaHawk alertingprogram in order that customers may mon-itor their residential or commercial waterusage from their smart phone, tablet, lap-top, Mac or PC without additional charges.

The goal is to catch potential problemsbefore they get out of hand, according toDavid Peters, assistant public works di-rector, such as broken lines or water me-ters, even when out of town. Customerswill have continuous data, so they alsocan use the technology to adopt more ef-ficient water-usage practices to savemoney, if they so choose. For more infor-mation, contact the City of Stuart PublicWorks Department.

The Florida EthicsCommission still isinvestigating threeethics complaints filed during the summeragainst Martin CountyCommissioner SarahHeard by Palm City busi-nessman John McAuliffe,according to an FEC-spokesperson.

The complaintsabout which the commission will notcomment further until after either a hear-ing is held, or fines are levied and paid,or the case is dismissedinclude chargesthat Heard allegedly falsified county ex-pense reports, did not report ownershipof an airplane, undervalued her propertyin Martin County, and omitted ownershipof out-of-state properties on her financialdisclosure form, which is required by law.

In an additional complaint, McAuliffealso charged that Heard accepted giftsfrom the 1,000 Friends of Florida prior tovoting on a case in their favor.

The Ethics Commission requestedtranscripts of the behind-closed-door ses-sions of the two county commissionmeetings when the commission dis-cussed the court sanctions of the 1,000Friends of Florida and Martin CountyConservation Alliance, McAuliffe said.The (Martin County) commission for-gave most of the attorney's fees andcourt-ordered sanctions for their frivo-lous lawsuit against the county. TheEthics Commission is looking at this as apossible Sunshine violation, as well as aviolation of ethics law.

Three commissioners were members ofthe Martin County Conservation Alliance,Heard, Fielding and Commissioner AnneScott, yet none recused themselves fromthe vote, which ultimately forgave about$30,000 in attorney fees.

In addition, the commissioner discus-sions were held in executive session,which McAuliffe says the Ethics Commis-sion also will look at as a possible viola-tion of Sunshine laws. The countyattorney, Michael Durham, advised thecommissioners at the time that an execu-tive session was appropriate, because thecase was still listed as an open case on thecourt docket, even though the litigationitself had ended.

Commissioner Doug Smith refusedto participate in the two closed-doorsessions.

The Florida ElectionsCommission closed its case in December regarding Palm City businessman John McAuliffe,which had been filed by attorney DonnaMelzer on Oct. 7, charging a violation ofelection laws since McAuliffe had filedhis Martin County Residents for Tax Fair-ness Political Action Committee's reportstoo late for voters to examine the namesof PAC contributors prior to the election.The PAC's fines for a late filing were paidto the Martin County Elections Office.

The case was closed, according to aletter from the Elections Commission toMcAuliffe, because Melzer had failed torespond to a request by the commissionfor more information.

Within a few days, Melzer filed thesame complaint against McAuliffe again,and a separate complaint with the samecharges against John Hennessee of PortSalerno, also identified as a member ofthe Martin County Residents for TaxFairness PAC.

Melzer also charged that the PAC hadallegedly mailed political postcards in ad-vance of receiving the funds to cover thecost, also a violation of election law, andwhich was based on the date that wit-nesses Virginia Sherlock, of Stuart, andMyra Galoci, of Rio, had allegedly re-ceived PAC postcards in the mail, in addi-tion to other charges.

Stuart music protg, HannahGeisinger, a studentat Colburn's Young

Artists Academy in LosAngeles, spent part of herChristmas vacation play-ing viola at Carnegie Hallin New York City. Shehad been named firstplace winner (age cate-gory 13-18) in the Ameri-

can Protg International ConcertoCompetition 2014, which earned her theprestigious assignment.

She began studying viola at age 7,and was the principal violist for theTreasure Coast Youth Symphony forthree years and was a featured solo artiston WQCS Young Artist Spotlight from2009-2012.

She recorded with the Treasure CoastYouth Symphony Academy Orchestraand Gabriel Silva on his CD, AngeloCasto E Bel, as well as with counter-tenor Terry Barber on his CD, Classical

MELZER COMPLAINT CLOSED, THEN FILED AGAIN

SARAH HEARD ETHICS INVESTIGATION ONGOING

INNOVATIVE WATER-USAGE MONITORS

SALES TAX: YES OR NO?

SHE PERFORMED AT CARNEGIE HALL!

continued on PAGE 5

Opposition to All Aboard Florida onthe Treasure Coast and in PalmBeach is beginning to gel into aforce that can no longer be ignored, inlarge part because money from countygovernments and citizen advocate groupshave strengthened its underpinnings.

The Citizens Against Rail Expansion,comprising neighborhoods like Jupiter Is-land, Loblolly, Admiral's Cove and dozensof others, collected enough cash almostimmediately upon its incorporation lastsummer to hire an expert in railway lawsand administration, Washington DC attor-ney Steve Ryan.

They also commissioned an economicstudy released Feb. 18 that adds validity tothe argument that All Aboard Florida'sbusiness model is flawed. The passengerrail company would have to charge $273 fora one-way train ticket between Miami andOrlando to cover its debt payments, accord-ing to the study by John N. Friedman, anassociate professor at Brown University.

The soundness of CARE's tactics, andthe resolve by at least another dozen citi-zen groups, such as Florida NOT AllAboard, in all likelihood bolstered Com-missioner John Haddox's move for MartinCounty to allocate $1.4 million from emer-gency reserves to assist in funding the op-position effort.

The way I look at it is, the destructionthat will be caused by All Aboard Florida,Haddox said, is the same as any hurricane.

All appropriations of those funds, how-

ever, must come before the commission andthe public to be approved prior to spending.

The Indian River County Commissionalso approved $500,000 to be allocated tothe opposition effort this year, with apledge of $1 million more each year for thenext two years.

Brevard County, the only TreasureCoast county to support AAF's project,voted 3-2 to participate in AAF's privateactivity bond financing. AAF agreed, in re-turn, to pay for upgrades and maintenanceof Brevard's rail crossings for eight yearsand to reimburse the county for costs as-sociated with issuing the bonds, accordingto Florida Trend magazine.

The AAF financing plan calls for $1.75billion in Private Activity Bonds to be soldto private investors. (Its first loan requestlast year was for a $1.6 billion federal Rail-road Rehabilitation and Improvement Fi-nancing loan at 5.75 percent interest for 35years that requires an Environmental Im-pact Study prior to approval. The draftEIS, released Sept. 18, received more than10,000 public comments, the majority op-posing the project.)

All three Treasure Coast counties withthe most negative impacts, Indian River, St.Lucie and Martin, plus the villages ofJupiter and Tequesta, found the draft EISstatement to be woefully inadequate, ac-cording to Terry Rauth, deputy county en-gineer for Martin County, explaining that itaddressed only about 30 percent of theplan. The draft analyzed only two road

crossings of Martin County's 26 crossings.All three counties called for a supplementaldraft EIS; however the Federal Railroad Ad-ministration has given no indication ofwhat may be included in their final report,expected some time this spring.

Congressman Bill Posey (Floridas 8thDistrict) has requested that the GAO (Gov-ernment Accountability Office) conduct a fi-nancial analysis of the AAF plan todetermine the potential risks and costs totaxpayers, the possible interest rates that

would be appropriate for the RRIF loan andwhether or not private financing could besustained for the project. The loans will pro-vide the funding to add a second rail to theFEC right of way to carry 32 high-speedtrains daily between 6am and 9pm travelingbetween Orlando and Miami.

Freight trains also will increase toaround 20 per day, according to FEC offi-cials, who are quick to remind residentsthat prior to the financial crisis, there were24 freight trains daily. Residents respondthat those trains were not nearly as loud,neither were they as as heavy as the trainsapparently are today, perhaps due to FEC'srecent purchase of 23 new engines.

Since railroads were deregulated in the'70s, many boating residents and the Ma-rine Industries Association of MartinCounty look to the U.S. Coast Guard, ratherthan the FRA, for assistance. The CoastGuard is responsible for issuing bridge per-mits and ensuring the navigability of thenation's waterways, and is considered bymany to be the county's last best hope forinterceding with a project that will impactall boat traffic on the St. Lucie and Newrivers. Bridge closings have been as esti-mated as much as 45-50 minutes per hour.

The Miami to West Palm service willbegin in 2016 without the northern leg of thetrip to Orlando, AAF officials announced inJanuary, and will begin laying track to Or-lando in 2016. After the Orlando inter-modal station is completed, AAF plans toextend service to Tampa and to Jacksonville,according to the AAF website.

5Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 News Stream

for Everyone. In 2012 Hannah per-formed Debussy Trio for Flute, Harpand Viola, mvt #1, with Latin Grammyaward winner Nestor Torres.

Shock waves rippledthrough the JupiterIsland and HobeSound communities in December after learning of the murder-suicide deaths of former mayor andJupiter Island Commissioner Charles Fal-cone, 72, and his wife, Nola Falcone, 75,at their second home in August, Ga.

The Richmond County Coroner reportshows that Nola Falcone, whose fatherwas once mayor of Augusta, shot herhusband multiple times and then killedherself. Their bodies were found by theirhousekeeper the same morning as theshootings, say Augusta police.

The couple's son, the Rev. CharlesChip Falcone, pastor of the HobeSound Community Presbyterian Church,said recently that he is still in shock...I'mthe only child, the only one to have todeal with all this, and I just don't knowhow long it's going to take to recover.

He released a statement on behalf ofhis wife, Aimee, their two sons, and him-self soon after his parents' death to hischurch congregationwhich respondedwith standing-room-only attendance

thanking them for their support andprayers in the loss of his parents.

A memorial service was held at theHobe Sound Bible College on Saturday,Feb. 21.

The Rally in Tallywill be held after Currents goes topress, but organizerssay they expect hundreds of Martin, St.Lucie and Indian River county residentsto gather in concert with the FloridiansClean Water Declaration and Amend-ment 1 activists on the front steps of thehistoric Old Capitol in Tallahassee.

Those committed to attending in-clude the League of Women Voters, theRivers Coalition of Martin County, theConservation Alliance of St. LucieCounty, One Florida Foundation andothers to let lawmakers know that citi-zens expect the doc stamp funds that willbe collectedestimated at $750,000 justthis yearfor the next 20 years will bespent only on conservation projects, pri-marily the purchase of land.

Some groups, including the RiversCoalition of Martin County, will zero inon the purchase of agricultural landsouth of Lake Okeechobeewhich wasidentified specifically for purchase inthe new constitutional amendmentfor which the state's option expires Oct.12, 2015.

Support grows for legal action to stop All Aboard

AMENDMENT ONE RALLYFALCONES SON STILL RECOVERING

continued from PAGE 4

The inaccuracies in the draft EnvironmentalImpact Statement and the lack of informationregarding the All Aboard Florida project, wasnever more evident than during an AAF forumlast fall, when Martin County Assistant Engi-neer Terry Rauth--among dozens of others--could get none of her questions answered byAAF officials, who referred her to FEC officials,who referred her to an AAF attorney. The ap-parent stonewalling by AAF has added to thefrustration and mistrust brewing along theTreasure Coast.

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Two years of legal wrangling be-tween Lake Point attorneys andMartin County CommissionerSarah Heard over emails sent to and fromher personal computer referencing theLake Point project appear to be what'sdriving up the majority of the costs ofoutside attorneys in the Lake Point vMartin County, South Florida Water Man-agement, Maggy Hurchalla lawsuit.

Then-chair Commissioner SarahHeard in February 2013 told County Ad-ministrator Taryn Kryzda that she ex-

pected the county to pay her personallegal fees in the Lake Point lawsuit. Theoutside legal expenses for attorneys inthe Lake Point case have been paid$237,656 since April 2014, after thecounty settled Lake Point's 2013 chal-lenge of its Comp Plan amendments byreversing its decision not to revoke LakePoint's development order for 1,008acres of what had formerly been LakePoint Ranches, an exclusive, equestriandevelopment near Indiantown.

The county's reversal eliminated all

the code enforcement actions taken bythe county in January 2013 in its attemptto shut down the rock-mining operationby claiming it was still a housing devel-opment excavating rock outside the pa-rameters of its site plan.

Negotiated by attorney LindaLoomis Shelley of Tallahassee, the settle-ment confirmed Lake Point's status as abona fide rock mining and waterrestoration project, fully permitted byboth the state Department of Environ-

Included is a projected $300,000 forthe county to hire an outside attorneyto fight the petition filed Jan. 15 by 10Martin County farmers with the FloridaDivision of Administrative Hearingschallenging the county's recent amend-ment to Chapter 10, the sewer/septic el-ement of the county's ComprehensiveGrowth Management Plan.

Martin County Attorney MichaelDurham estimated the cost of potentiallitigation to be around $300,000 to$400,000 during the Oct. 21 county com-mission meeting as commissioners con-sidered the suggestion by CommissionerJohn Haddox to work on the amendmentfurther before transmitting to the state.He said that the amendment, as written,will likely violate the state's Right toFarm Act and devastate Martin Countyfarmers; it would undermine agri-tourism and incur unnecessary legal ex-penses, when those issues could beaddressed by county staff.

We could've done that with the otherComp Plan amendments, Haddox said,and saved ourselves a lot of money.

The county retained Tallahassee attor-ney Linda Loomis Shelley, legal counselto two former state governors and a for-mer Secretary of the Department of Com-munity Affairs, the state's watchdog oflocal growth plans, which was later dis-mantled by Gov. Rick Scott. Shelley set-tled most of the challenges out of courtresulting in rewritten amendments.

The one challenge remaining comesfrom Midbrook 1st Realty (owners of the

former Hobe Grove development), whichis continuing to challenge the county'snew rule that would combine In-diantown's rural residential capacity withthat of the densely populated eastern por-tion of the county to determine thecounty's total housing capacity. Mid-brook;s attorneys also argued against thesuper-majority vote now required for de-velopment approvals.

The judge's recommended order inthe Midbrook challenge has yet to befiled, reportedly due to a backlog ofcases from the summer, according toNikki van Vonno, director of the GrowthManagement Department. I expectwe'll have that by the end of March, shesaid, during a recent Growth Manage-ment conference.

Shelley was retained again to litigatethe farmers' challenge of the Chapter 10

Comp Plan amendment. The hearingdates of April 28-29 to have the caseheard in Stuart before Judge Suzanne vanWyk. (More details of the farmers' chal-lenge are on Page 8.)

Other significant legal challenges tocounty commission majority decisionsinclude Flash Beach Grille, a restaurantin Hobe Sound contesting an un-recorded 40 x 60 preserve area; H.M.Properties, an industrial developmenton Route 714 in Palm City at the I-95 in-terchange; and the Seabranch condo-minium development in Hobe Sound,which was denied a zoning change tomatch their project's medium density, al-though the regulations call for a highdensity development.

Another ongoing cost to the county isthe Lake Point Mining and WaterRestoration Project, Lake Point Phase 1

and Phase II, a lawsuit currently takingplace in the 19th Circuit Court in MartinCounty, although Lake Point's adminis-trative challenge to the Comp Plan wasone of the challenges settled out of courtin Lake Point's favor in March 2014.

Barbara Clowdus

Martin Countys to soar

The Martin County Commission's quiet approval Feb. 17 of an additional $500,000 topay outside attorney fees, plus its approval in January to spend $200,000 to purchaseland in Hobe Sound to settle a dispute there, brings the county's projected outsidelegal costs to $1.2 millionor more for only the 2015 fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.The total for outside legal expenses since election of the 'New Majority' through the2015 fiscal year will be more than $2 million.

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Martin County CurrentsMarch 20156 News Feature

Outside Legal ExpensesIncurred by 'New Majority'County Commissioners*

2015 Fiscal Year through Sept. 30, 2015Martin County records show more than$700,000 expended since Jan. 1,2014, in legal expenses. Total legal ex-penses, including non-departmental,are projected to top $1.2 million bySept. 30, 2015.2014 Fiscal Year, ending Sept, 30, 2014 Total Paid in Outside Attorney Costs $490,551.85Insurance Settlements Received $2,4002013 Fiscal Year, ending Sept. 30, 2013Total Paid $493,417.26Insurance Settlements Received $52,978.96*Statistics Provided by Martin CountyClerk's Office

Martin County's Outside Legal Costsin 2012, prior to New Majority

2012 Fiscal Year, ending Sept. 30, 2012 Total Paid $5,187 Insurance Settlements Received $11,691.66

Heard and Lake Point tug-of-warover public records driving up cost

The 'New Majority' of the Martin County Commission, which took control of county decisions in2012: from left, Commissioners Anne Scott, Ed Fielding and Sarah Heard.

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Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 News Feature 7

mental Protectionand the South FloridaWater ManagementDistrict as a miningoperation, verifyingalso the legality of its2009 agreement withMartin County.

From January 2013until February 2015, thebiggest driver of legalcosts in the Lake Pointsuit against MartinCounty and MaggyHurchalla (for tortiousinterference with countyand SFWMD contractsthat benefited LakePoint) appears to be theanswer to this question:Are county commission-ers' emails sent from per-sonal computers (orother electronic devices)regarding county busi-ness considered to bepublic records that mustbe protected and pre-served to comply withstate Sunshine Laws, orare they not? Lake Pointsays they are.

The county says all thepublic records that existmore than 105,000 docu-ments, according toCounty Attorney Michael Durhamhavebeen turned over to Lake Point, but LakePoint attorney Ethan Loeb insists thatMartin County has not complied withLake Point's public records request in full.

He points to two copies of emailsprovided to him that he says indicatethe existence of other email correspon-dence regarding Lake Point, which isrelevant to their case. (One from Com-missioner Ed Fielding's personal com-puter from Hurchalla appears to informFielding of the steps to take to shutdown Lake Point's mining operation,and since that email appeared ninemonths after Lake Point's first publicrecords request, the court ordered aforensic examination of Fielding's per-sonal computer. All those files havebeen turned over to Lake Point, accord-ing to Durham.)

The other is an email from Commis-sioner Heard to Hurchalla that LakePoint alleges has been altered and ma-nipulated with portions being cut andpasted and deleted identifying emailheaders. Lake Point has asked for theemail's complete and original stringfrom Heard's personal computer, butHeard told attorneys that her computerhad been hacked and some of heremails had been deleted.

Her attorney argued in court that Heardcannot produce what does not exist.

Heard also reported that she hadtaken her computer to a local computerfirm to attempt to retrieve the missingemails from her computer's hard drive,but they were unable to do so. SinceHeard used the web-based Yahoo emailservice, Lake Point attempted to retrievethe deleted emails directly from Yahoo,according to court records; however,

Yahoo will not conduct a forensic searchexcept in a criminal investigation, Loebtold the court.

Circuit Court Judge James McCann,calling the Hurchalla and Heard emailsabundantly relevant to Lake Point'scase, ordered on Sept. 17, 2014, thatHeard was to sit for a deposition within90 days to explain how her emails gotdeleted from her personal computer andwhat attempts she had made to retrievethem. She complied on Dec. 10, 2014, ac-cording to court records.

As a condition of Heard's legislativeprivilege as a sitting county commis-sioner, however, Lake Point attorneyshad to exhaust all other possiblemeans of getting the same informationthat Lake Point alleges is housed onHeard's computer, said Judge McCann,before he would order the commissionerto sit for Lake Point's deposition.

That pre-condition resulted in thedepositions of dozens of county em-ployees, a dozen or more public recordsrequests, production of thousands ofdocuments, and resulted in extendingthe length of the discovery process,adding significantly to the county's ad-ditional legal costs.

A case management conference be-fore 19th District Court Judge ShieldsMcManus has been set for March 25 tosettle some or all of the disputed issuesbefore going to trial. The county attor-ney plans to hold an executive sessionwith commissioners at their March 3county commission meeting, accordingto the posted agenda, in order to discussthe Lake Point case.

If no settlement is achieved duringthe March 25 case management confer-ence, the case will proceed to trial.

continued from PAGE 6

A copy of the email allegedly from Martin County Comm

issioner

Sarah Heard's personal computer provided to Lake Poin

t attorney

Ethan Loeb as part of a Lake Point public records reque

st in 2013.

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The most recentamendments to theComprehensiveGrowth ManagementPlan, although notyet fully clear of legal challenges, are be-ginning to snag small developments. Allnew development applications are beingadvised to conform to the new rules, al-though not yet enacted by law.

The concern expressed by the GrowthManagement Department Director Nikkivan Vonno comes from the rule that thefinal site plan, which includes engineer-ing drawings, landscaping plans, etc.,must conform to the county's existingcode, and it also must match fully theoriginal master site plan as approved bythe Board of County Commissioners.

In the case of some developers, suchas designers of the Rio Town Centerthe10-year-old centerpiece of the Rio Com-munity Redevelopment Area, originallycalled Stuart Harborinitiated their Mas-ter Site Plan under the previous codes oneyear ago, but have had to redesign theirplan to accommodate current rules withgreater setbacks, thus fewer buildings.

The Rio Town Center, a mixed-usecommercial development, will be 11.6acres of land in Rio, which lies across theSt. Lucie River from downtown Stuart,which was once occupied by a restaurantand a marina, built 50 years ago. Thebuildings, which had fallen into disrepair,were razed several years ago. The waterrunoff from the former developmentdrains directly into the St. Lucie River, de-signers said, but the new plans will treatthe water on-site.

"Our water management will actuallyclean up the site," said Raul Ocampo,project designer.

The property, owned by iStar Finan-cial, is bordered by the St. Lucie River onthe south and the revitalized CountyRoad 707 on the north. Plans call for anew marina, restaurants, office space andcondominiums, in addition to a 50-footlighthouse (less than half the height of theJupiter lighthouse) and a ferry to takepassengers back and forth across the St.Lucie between Stuart's downtown andRio's downtown.

The developers plans to meet with theRio Neighborhood Advisory Committeeon Feb. 26 to go over the updated plansand to get neighborhood feedback priorto presenting the project to the LocalPlanning Agency.

Other developments running into ob-stacles are those with previous countycommission approval of a Master SitePlan, such as the Pitchford's Landingproject in Jensen Beach, approved in 2007.When designing their final site plan,however, planners were required to fol-low current codesalthough not yetcompletely clear of legal battlesthere-fore, the final site plans of 2015 no longermatch the approved Master Site Planfrom 2008.

The staff-requested changes of the 83-unit, low-density project on 17.7 acres be-

tween Indian River and Skyline drives inJensen Beach to comply with currentcounty code will require a new MasterSite Plan, thus causing the project to loseits previously approved status, accord-ing to Martin County Growth Manage-ment Department staff during aconference in February. The project willreplace the 150 hook-up Pitchford's by theSea RV Park west of Indian River Driveand renovate an existing 3,000 sq. ft.restaurant on the east side of the roadway.

As a public benefit, the owners hadproposed a public fishing pier, which hadbeen originally approved by the Depart-ment of Environmental Protection, and apublic boardwalk with a public restroom.The entire project would be connected toexisting water and sewer lines; however,the staff warned that the entrance to thepier would need to be moved due to wet-lands recently identified on the shoreline.

We moved that to here, because that'swhat you told us last year, said designerKen Natoli, of the Cuozzo Design Groupat the confence, but it seems to me you'resaying maybe this year, we can probablyonly have one access? That may be a bit ofa stretch, if the pier can ever be built...

The differences between the originalapproved plan and the new rules becamemore evident as the meeting progressed.

And then the coup de grce here is,since the Master Site Plan is being openedup, said Jim Christ of the utilities depart-ment, there's design non-conformitieswith this project per Martin County de-sign and construction standards on thesingle family lots that need be to ad-dressed...Those designs were allowed be-cause the Master Site Plan had beenaccepted by the county at that time. Butnot anymore.

Much to the obvious frustrationof some countycommissioners and the usually vocal critics of the Pitchford'sLanding project in Jensen Beach, MartinCounty Assistant Attorney Krista Storeyreported to the county commission Feb.17 that the Pitchford's Landing develop-ment is not in breach of its developmentcontract with the county.

They filed in a timely manner for ex-tensions... Storey said, two of which werestate-mandated, and one had been county-approved. The current project deadline tobegin construction is August 2015.

Martin County CurrentsMarch 20158 News Stream

continued on PAGE 9

DEVELOPMENTS CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

PITCHFORDS LANDING NOT IN BREACH

Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 News Stream 9

The demand to investigate Pitchford'salleged breaches came originally fromStuart attorney Virginia Sherlock, whohad filed a suit on behalf of the JensenGroup residents against Martin Countyafter the project was granted approval in2008, charging that the development oftwo-story condos and single-family KeyWest-style homes totaling 83 units vio-lated the Affordable Housing Act.

Sherlock claimed in the suit that thenew project would displace residents liv-ing in the Pitchford's RV campground,which has hook-ups for 150 RVs (recre-ational vehicles) on 17.7 acres betweenSkyline Drive to the west and IndianRiver Drive to the east. The court ruledthat the county had not violated Afford-able Housing laws; however, heateddemonstrations that included vandalismof the owners' property, including unex-plained fires, which were reported to po-lice, and alleged dissemination of alteredsite plans showing five-story buildings onthe property, rather than two-story, led tolibel lawsuits and counter-suits that de-layed the project until the private partiesreached a settlement. But their criticismdid not abate, and over the past 12months, has increased in volume and fre-quency until the Pitchford's project is atopic of public comment at nearly everycounty commission meeting.

The project took advantage of state-mandated time extensions during the re-cession, and they emerged successfullyfrom bankruptcy, butjust as dozens ofother projects waiting for a better econ-

omytheir time extensions are runningout. The Pitchford's Landing projectdeadline is August 2015.

After several SnugHarbor residentssought assistancelast fall from theMartin County Commission to protestthe City of Stuart's annexation policies,the county requested a meeting with cityofficials. The residents complained dur-ing a county commission meeting thatthey felt the city was extorting theminto signing a voluntary annexationagreement in return for hooking up to thecity's sewer system.

The city was offering a discounted feeof $5,000 per household (the county's feewould be approximately $22,000 to reachthe same residents), but since residentsreceive water through an interlocal agree-ment between the city and the county,residents said they should be compelledto pay city taxes on their property in ad-dition to county ad valorem taxes.

Discussions between County Admin-istrator Taryn Kryzda and City ManagerPaul Nicoletti has led, not to a discussionabout annexation, but a workshop thatwill cover the differences between cityand county governments, as well aslocal government ethics to meet the

statutory requirements for both entities,said Nicoletti at the Jan. 12 City of StuartCommission meeting. I anticipate thedate (for the workshop) will be sometimein March.

The agreed-upon presenter will be Dr.Bob Lee of the Institute of Local Govern-ment at Florida State University at a yet-unannounced site.

In addition to annexation issues to ad-dress, the city and county are contemplat-ing merger of their fire departments toreduce redundancy and lower costs. Thecounty has issued a Request for Proposalsin search of a consultant with expertise insuch mergers.

The Martin CountyS.P.A.M. roboticsteam and their supporterssome new and some old, like founding sponsorPratt & Whitneyare ready for tourna-ment play after six weeks of their buildseason. The challenge is called RecycleRush (SM), a recycling-themed gameplayed by two Alliances of three robotseach. Robots score points by stackingtotes on scoring platforms, capping thosestacks with recycling containers, andproperly disposing of pool noodles, rep-resenting litter.

S.P.A.M.'s 2015 robot, named "Bin

Diesel," weighs 110 lbs. and stands 6' 3"tall. Once the design was agreed on,there were sub-teams that worked on dif-ferent parts of the robot. The mechanicalsub-team built a robot that has two armswith wrists and elbows that elevate androtate to pick up totes, which can bestowed on saddlebags on the back of therobot until they are able to be placed ona scoring platform.

The 2015 South Florida FIRST RoboticsCompetition will be held February 26-28from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm at the Fort Laud-erdale Convention Center. For more infor-mation, go to: www.firstinflorida.org.

EASTING CITY-COUNTY TENSIONS

S.P.A.M. TOURNAMENT

continued from PAGE 8

Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015Voices10

Editorial: All Aboard not county's greatest threatAs significant as it is, All AboardFlorida is not the greatest threatto our quality of life. The biggestthreat is the ongoing pollution of ourwaterways, which we only half-heart-edly address, while it harms our health,our wildlife, our tourism, our real estatevalues and our marine businesses, at thesame time we proclaim solutions bychanging the Comprehensive GrowthManagement Plan with substandard,easily challenged amendments that costus millions of dollars in unbudgetedlegal feesbefore they get rewritten andparts tossed out. We pretend much, ac-complish little, and at great expense.

The biggest threat comes from stran-gling the diversity of our tax base at thesame time our infrastructure crumbleswith a narrowly focused intent to replaceour old Comp Plan that ensured a thriv-ing community of arts, education, jobs,business, agriculture, historical preserva-tion and environmental protection, sub-verting it to an extremist agenda thatinevitably will lead to a menu of muchhigher taxes, more fees and random clos-ings to make up the shortfall in rev-enues. We pretend to seek balance, butattain imbalance and high costs.

The greatest threat to our quality oflife comes from the decisions currentlybeing made by our county commission

majority when they vote as a blocCommissioners Ed Fielding, SarahHeard and Anne Scott.

They adopted a pretense of gettingtough on septic tanks to rewrite Chapter10 of the Comprehensive Growth Man-agement Plan affecting less than onepercent of the septic tanks in this county,which are miles from water bodies, yetcreated NO plan to remove septic tanksalong our riverbanksbeyond stealingTIFF funds earmarked for revitalizationfrom Old Palm City and Golden Gate tobuild sewer line extensions there.

They banned sewer lines into the sec-ondary urban services district over theobjections of the Loxahatchee River Dis-trict, whose testing proved that the en-teric bacteria entering the LoxahatcheeRiver is from a human sourcemostlikely the septic tanks in the Rivers Edgecommunity, who were subjected to in-tense myth-mongering that their ruralcommunity would transform into an in-tensely developed urban one. We shouldfeel a moral imperative to rid our water-ways of all septic tanks, as we did whenwe allowed ENCON in Jupiter to runsewer lines into Jonathan DickinsonState Park years ago, adding simple lan-guage to the Comp Plan that could beduplicated for Rivers Edge.

By banning sewer lines into our rural

lands and allowing only one septic tankper lot, even it's 600 acres, will addressNONE of our current pollution issues,but it hog-ties our farmers, 10 of whombegan legal proceedings against thecounty. We have yet one more substan-dard Comp Plan amendment that willcost us thousands in legal feesagainbefore it's eventually rewritten.

Their hidden agenda, and that oftheir supporters, is to drive down thevalue of rural lands to make it easierand less costly to acquire more conser-vation acreagetaking more propertiesoff the tax rolls and adding payroll tomanage themand to drive out or dis-courage business and industry.

Aside from the bungled Comp Planamendments, our commission majority'sdecision to deliberately shut down awater restoration project that could di-vert at least 10 percent of the Lake Okee-chobee discharges that impact ourestuary, clean the water, and send itsouth at no cost to taxpayers, and with-out harming wetlands, not only stole achance to mitigate the Lake Okeechobeedischarges, but the lawsuit is costinghundreds of thousands of MartinCounty taxpayer dollars.

They not only shut down the restora-tion project, but attempted to shut downthe entire rock mining operation we

know as Lake Point. Its contracts werevalid, which the county has since quietlyacknowledged, but we still are spendingthousands of dollars for outside attor-neys, in large part because Commis-sioner Sarah Heard refuses to turn overthe public records regarding Lake Pointhoused on her personal computer, andtaxpayers are paying for her private at-torney to defend what most of us con-sider a violation of Sunshine Laws.

We now have dozens of projectswhose deadline extensions are runningout, but their old plans must now meetthe county's new rules to get thecounty commission's approval. Notlikely to happen.

But this we can be sure will happen:We will watch millions more dollarspour down the drain on multiple newlawsuits as a result of the extremist com-missioners' decisions, as pollution con-tinues to pour into our rivers and morelimitations are poured onto the backs ofbusiness and industry. Then we'll seeour residents, who already are carrying75 percent of the tax burden, begin topour sweat.

As potentially devastating as AllAboard Florida is, it is not the greatestthreat to our quality of lifeand atleast we can see that train comingdown the tracks.

Education reform, like dessert, canbe so enticing at first, yet we leavethe table feeling physically ill. Theinformation coming to us now about thepublic education system we wanted toimprove is difficult to digest. Parents areoverloaded with information; its virtu-ally impossible to sort the wheat fromthe chaff and understand the issues.

Arguably, the most important thing asociety does is educate its children. Overthe last 20 years, weve moved fromclassrooms providing fun and engagingeducational opportunities to classroomsconcerned mainly with standards eachchild must meet. Todays classrooms aredriven by data collection and attemptsto monitor learning gains. The seemingquestion, Which one worked better?The answer, Neither.

Prior to this shift, school was fun.But, students werent challenged andperformance rates in Florida werebelow the national average. With testingand accountability came the ability forteachers to isolate and analyze individ-ual student data and target specificneeds. This was similar to a yearly

check up at the doctors office. Teachersand schools became experts at isolatingwhy a child struggled to read, write ordo math. Florida became a standardbearer for education. Data showed ourstudents were improving at unprece-dented rates. It was working. We wereteaching children.

Instead of stepping back, however,we kept gorging ourselves on reform.Like the glutton at the dessert table, wekept eating, each bite less tasty than theprevious. Since 2005, districts statewidehave submitted legislative proposals ev-idencing the growing understandingthat enough is enough. Unfortunately,the typical response to these proposalshas been, Several bills were intro-ducedhowever, none were taken upfor consideration.

Pam Stewarts announcement indi-cating the Florida Department of Educa-tion will establish a task force, Floridiansto Keep Florida Learning, to investigatethe use of standardized testing in severalkey areas, leads me to believe we may beready to put down the fork.

Teachers, administrators, districtsand school boards have long under-stood the impact of these policies andthe need for change. We have failed,however, to convey this understandingto our communities and rally the neces-sary public support to effectuate change.My goal is to change that.

Please read the Community Alertbelow and take a moment to contact

your legislators. Please join us, and oth-ers around the state, in alerting legisla-tors of our insistence on both excellenceand responsible oversight. Balancingthese principles ensures districts makethe best decisions for students, teachersand staff. We need your help.

COMMUNITY ALERT: STATE ACCOUNTABILITY & ASSESSMENTSThe Martin County School Board andSuperintendent of Schools support stateand regional School Board groups whobelieve: Assessment and accountabilitymeasures must be designed to supportand enhance student learning. Collabo-rative efforts that include educationstakeholders such as parents, teachers,and district leaders must continue to en-sure Floridas accountability system isvalid, recognizes individual studentlearning styles, and accurately reflectsstudent progress and achievement.There is widespread agreement on theseissues throughout the state.

We are asking for your support to in-form our legislators about these issues:

Allow districts to identify theirown means for determining studentpromotion, graduation, and educatorevaluations during the transition periodthrough 2016-17;

Use state-required test results fordiagnostic purposes only;

Provide paper-based option, at theexpense of the state, for all state re-quired assessments;

Increase state funding for educa-tor professional development andtraining on Florida Standards, the re-lated assessments, and required use oftechnology;

Assemble an independent repre-sentative panel that includes stakehold-ers to oversee the implementation of therevised accountability system.

Call to Action -- Email our legisla-tors and/or call them: House SpeakerSteve Crisafulli:Steve.Crisafulli@myfloridahouse.gov(850)717-5051 or (321)449-5111; SenatePresident Andy Gardiner:gardiner.andy@flsenate.gov (850) 487-5013 or (407) 428-5800; House EducationH. Marlene OToole:marlene.otoole@myfloridahouse.gov(850) 717-5033; Senate Education JohnLegg: legg.john.web@flsenate.gov (813)909-9919; Senator Joe Negron:Negron.Joe@flsenate.gov (772) 219-1666;Senator Denise Grimsley:Grimsley.Denise@flsenate.gov (863) 386-6016; Rep. Gayle Harrell: Gayle.Har-rell@myfloridahouse.gov (772) 871-7660;Rep. MaryLynn Magar:MaryLynn.Magar@myfloridahouse.gov(772) 545-3482; Gov. Rick Scott:http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor (850) 488-7146.

Tina McSoley is a long-time resident, amother, an education professional and amember of the Martin County School Board.

Guest Editorial: Push lawmakers to fix reformsTina

McSoley

Guest Editorial

One of the great things about livingin the town you grew up in iswatching people you know "grow-up" and be recognized for their contribu-tions to the Treasure Coast community.

One of these people, for me, is MarkPerry, who I have known since my earliestmemories. Today, Mark is the ExecutiveDirector for the Florida OceanographicSociety, (www.floridaocean.org), the epi-center in Martin County for education,protection, and advocacy for the St LucieRiver/Indian River Lagoon.

Mark is older than me. I was born in1964, and I believe Mark is about 10years my senior. When you're a kid,that's "a lot." But it's just enough for con-stant admiration "from younger toolder." I have been admiring Mark Perrymy entire life...

Mark, his brother, Chris, and his par-ents, Clifton and Mimi Perry, attendedSt Mary's Church as my family did anddoes today. I first met Mark at StMary's...I was probably 3 or 4 years old.

As I grew up, I remember my par-ents talking about the "older kids" in theyouth group getting to go on a canoetrip down the Peace River, chaperones,sleeping bags, marshmallows, etc....Itwas the 1970s....I wanted so badly to beolder and get to do the "cool" things theolder kids did, but I was just a "kid,"and had to stay home.

Over the years, my parents kept meabreast of the Perry family, and what wasalways most interesting to me was Mark'sjourney with Florida Oceanographic, anorganization his father helped found in1964 that was originally located in mychildhood neighborhood of St Lucie Es-

tates, along Kruegar Creek,in Stuart. I often visitedthere on my bicycle.

Over the years I grewup, moved away, at-tended the University ofFlorida, lived andworked in California,Germany, and Pensacola,and when I came home in1997 to Stuart, to con-tinue my teaching career,Florida Oceanographichad expanded from thatneat place I saw on mybicycle to become theshowcase institution it istodayan organization

that symbolizes the love and fight forthe St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon,and the life of Mark Perry.

Tonight (Feb. 6) at FAU/HarborBranchs' "Love Your Lagoon" gala, MarkPerry will be honored for his St LucieRiver/Indian River Lagoon work. It isthe foundation's fourth annual, andthose who preceded Mark in beinghonored are: 2012 Nathaniel Reed;2013 Bud Adams; 2014 AlmaLee Loy.

Mark follows in big footsteps,and he has filled them "com-pletely." Thank you, Mark Perry,for a lifetime of admiration, re-

spect, and guidance in our love andfight to save the St Lucie River/IndianRiver Lagoon!

View Mark Perry's FOS PresentationLibrary power point's on the SLR/IRL here:(http://www.floridaocean.org/p/177/presen-tation-library#.VNTBDFriuR8)

Palm Beach Post article:(http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/florida-oceanographic-society-head-marks-35-years-/nWnzC/)

Reprinted from the Feb. 6 blog byJacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, communityactivist and Sewall's Point commis-sioner, at jacquithur-lowlippisch.com.

A Great Blue Heron who lost his way

The Great Blue Heron reignedsupreme among other birds of theEverglades when my weekendswere spent guiding tourists along theAnhinga trail in Everglades NationalPark decades ago. His sophisticated col-ors lifted straight from a designer'spalette were unique among herons witha coat of slate blue over splatters ofwhite that melted into gray, wearing ablack mask tied with feathered wispsthat floated behind his head.

When he took to the air, his six-foot,two-toned wingspan was as impressiveas his size. His long neck curved into aflattened S to make his huge body moreaerodynamic; his long legs trailed in thesky like streamers. Yet, this gigantic birdweighs only about four to five pounds.

They comb their feathers with afringed claw on their middle toes, whichfrays the feathers to create a powder.The rangers told me it was to keep fishslime off their feathers, but I also sawthem powdering fish they'd caughtand tossed on the bank. My opinion?

They don't like slime running downtheir gullets either.

Several years later, after we weretransferred to West Virginia, our chalet-type home in the mountainsamong bighills, reallyhad walls of sliding glassdoors on every level, giving us a win-dow on the natural world. Drapes werepulled back to bring the outdoors in.

We lived on the side of a mountaina hill, reallyin one of those glass-fronted chalets with sliding glass doorson every level, giving us a window onthe natural world. Drapes were rele-gated to only the living room, oftenopen to bring the outdoors in.

During one of West Virginia's fero-cious snow storms, a Great Blue Heronlanded on my bedroom deck. He stoodjust three feet away from me, on theother side of one of those glass doors.He could not see me because of the re-flective film, but I could see him clearlyagainst the snow banked a foot tallerthan he. My breath caught in my throat,my heart pounded, and it seemed hewas looking urgently at me for help ashe clawed at the glass.

My husband was as surprised as I tosee this heron so far away from home. Itwas not until later that I learned my ed-ucation about Great Blue Herons hadbeen incomplete. Other than those fewpermanent residents, the Great BlueHeron is less a child of the Everglades,

than a visitormore Canadian thananything else, where tens of thousandsof them live, most migrating across theUS to warmer climes when the water be-gins to freeze there. Still, crossing the Al-legheny mountains likely was not thisheron's intended flight path.

We decided to slide open the glassdoor, with help from some hot water onthe tracks, so perhaps the bird wouldcome inside. After he was safe, we sur-mised, we'd call the rangers at the gamefarm across the road to come and gethim. It was below zero outside, and theheron hopped on one foot, then theother, standing for only seconds at atime. We were racing to keep his feetfrom freezing to the deck.

Then, suddenly, as soon as we gotthe door open, he leaped into the air,flapping those gigantic wings, andsoared over the hemlocks and maples.He was gone. We were silent. After amoment, my husband said, At least heheaded in the right direction.

The next day on the job, my hus-band, a project manager for a coal mine,heard his men talking about a strangebird one of them had never before seenin these hills flying overhead the previ-ous night. My husband described theGreat Blue Heron. Yeah, yeah, that'sit, the man said. I ain't never seennothin' like it. I shot him, so I could seewhat it was.

My husband, struggling to keepcontrol, ordered the man to give himthe bird, which was covered by a tarpin the back of the man's truck. Hisprized trophy. Where you takin' him,the miner queried.

I don't know, my husbandsnapped, but my wife was born in theEverglades, and I cannot go hometonight and tell her you shot her heronand are hauling him around in the backof your truck like a circus sideshow. I'vegot to find a way to bury him.

He drove to the top of the mountain.In the storm's wake, the trees weredraped, heavy with snow. The rarefiedair transporting the senses to anotherplane, redefining silence. The groundwas frozen solid, impenetrable. Hefound a sheltered spot under an oak,shoveled aside the snow, and laid hisbundle on the ground. After a momentof self-debate, he removed the tarp. Helaid stones and squaw wood over thelifeless, bloodied heron, then stood andlooked up at the branches overhead.

This mountain top had once beenhome to hundreds of wild turkeys whonested in those same trees at night. Onehorrific winter storm had frozen all thebirds' feet to the tree branches, the leg-end goes, and thereafter, the mountainwas called Turkey Bone.

He thought it a fitting place to layone magnificent bird to rest.

Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 Voices

Mark Perry 'Loves His Lagoon': FAU/Harbor Branch honors his life and work for the SLR/IRL

JacquiThurlow-Lippisch

Guest Columnist

BarbaraClowdus

Unfiltered

11

Mark and his wife, Nancy, at 50th anniversary of theFlorida Oceanographic Society. (Photo from event.)

1970 Martin County High School funeral for the SLR/IRL. Markwas one of the students who participated in this iconic EarthDay event. This event had a huge impact on me as a kid. (Thur-low Archives.)

Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015News Feature12

More than one month ago, onJan. 15, a total of 10 MartinCounty farming operationsfrom the nearly 20,000-acre TesoroGroves, primarily citrus and cattle in In-diantown, owned in part by KingRanch, to the 20-acre Kai-Kai Farm onKanner Highway, owned by a marriedcouple committed to growing vegeta-bles without pesticideschallenged theMartin County Commission's adoptionof new rules regarding septic tanks inChapter 10 (Amendment 14-6) of thecounty's Comprehensive Growth Man-agement Plan.

Environmental objections also weresubmitted prior to the county's adoptionof the new rules by the LoxahatcheeRiver District Chairman Dr. Matt Ros-tock, who wrote a letter to CommissionChair Sarah Heard urging an exemptionfor the Loxahatchee River watershed.

The county's ban on extending waterand sewer lines to Martin's rural areasrun contrary to sound environmentalpractices and Martin County's statedgoals, Dr. Rostock said, and will resultin an unintended consequence of allow-ing continued degradation of surfaceand groundwater ... by prohibitingproactive steps to improve water quality... He pointed specifically to the septictanks in the River's Edge community,which lie within the Loxahatchee RiverEnvironmental Control District that can

provide sewage connections to all resi-dences in the Loxahatchee watershed.Recent tests have confirmed that humaneffluent is polluting the LoxahatcheeRiver at a testing site near Rivers Edge.

No exceptions were granted by thecounty commission in its 3-2 vote to ap-prove the new rules, including also theagricultural exemptions recommended bythe Local Planning Agency in September.

News of the petition asking the stateDivision of Administrative Hearings toremand the amendment back to thecounty for revision has received little at-tention in local newspapers, and neitherdid it get included on the list of casesitemized by County Attorney MichaelDurham at the county commissionmeeting Feb. 17 as he explained thelegal department's heavy workload overthe past eight months.

The additional case also was notmentioned during the commission's ap-proval at the same commission meetingof the transfer of $500,000 from the gen-eral fund to pay outstanding invoices tocontracted attorneys. Also not discussedwas the selection of Tallahassee attorneyLinda Loomis Shelley to represent Mar-tin County in this Comp Plan challenge,in addition to the landowners' challengeof last summer's rewrites of Chapters 1,4 and 6 of the Comp Plan. (Most of thoseissues were settled out of court, except inthe case of Midbrook 1st Realty, owners

of the Hobe Grove development west ofthe Florida Turnpike on Bridge Road.Midbrook insisted on a legal review ofthe rewrites, which was heard by JudgeSuzanne van Wyk on Sept. 30 in Stuart.)

The other plaintiffs in the case chal-lenging the most recent rewrite of Chap-ter 10 include Tesoro Groves affiliateTurner Groves LP of Ft. Myers, SeminoleLand Co. of Okeechobee, Agri-Gators,Inc. and its affiliate, Long Land Co.,both of Palm City, Turnpike Dairy onFox Brown Road in Indiantown, HobeSugar Co. of West Palm Beach, StarFarms Corp. of Belle Glade, Bull Ham-mock Ranch Ltd. of Indiantown, andMartin Land Co. of Palm City. Incorpo-rated in 2009, Martin Land Co., theyoungest of the operationssome ofwhich have had farms or ranches inMartin County since 1968filed a sepa-rate petition, which was consolidatedwith the first petition.

Filing Feb. 13 as interveners in thecase are 1,000 Friends of Florida, MartinCounty Conservation Alliance, and theTreasure Coast Environmental DefenseFund, Inc. (a Florida not-for-profit cor-poration doing business as the Indian

Riverkeeper), according to state records.The farmers state in their petition that

they object to the lack of scientific dataand analysis, which nonetheless, led thecounty to conclude that to protect thewatersheds of the St. Lucie and Loxa-hatchee rivers and the Indian River La-goon, the only remedy was to ban anyseptic tank larger than 2,000 gallons a day,to prohibit more than one septic tank perlot, regardless of whether the lot is 600acres or one acre, and to prohibit regionalsewer and water lines in the county's Sec-ondary Urban Services District.

The farmers claim that the county'snew rules will inhibit their ability to con-duct bonafide farming operations on theirproperty and violate the state's Right toFarm Act. Since the number of septictanks in rural Martin County is less thanone percent of the total, they also chal-lenge the county's motivation for the newrules that apply only to unincorporatedareas, without addressing the thousandsof septic tanks on lots lining water bodieswithin the urban services district.

A hearing date has been set of April28-29 in Stuart before AdministrativeJudge Suzanne van Wyk.

Farmers challenge change to septic tank rules

T H E B E S T I N C O M M U N I T Y T H E A T R E

God of Carnage

MAY 29 -JUNE 14

The Man Who Came to Dinner

APRIL 17 - MAY 3

Five of the 19 surviving Little Sisters of Hoboken dis-cover that their cook, Sister Julia, accidentally killedthe other fifty-two residents of the convent with hertainted cichyssoise. With the deceased nuns on ice in

the deep freeze, they decide to stage a variety show in the Mount Saint Helens Schoolauditorium to raise funds for the burial. Participating in the project are Mother SuperiorMary Regina, a former circus performer; her competitive rival, second-in-commandSister Mary Hubert, Sister Robert Anne, a streetwise nun form Brooklyn; Sister MaryLeo, determined to be the worlds first ballerina nun; and wacky, childlike Sister MaryAmnesia, who lost her memory whan a crucifix fell on her head.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW $25Nunsense March 6 - 22Wednesdays - Saturdays 8pm Sundays 2pm

TICKETS ARE $20 'THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER' AND 'GOD OF CARNAGE'Show times are 8pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2pm Sundays

Times are Wednesday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday at 2pm.

Tickets can be purchased at www.barn-theatre.com or 772-287-4884 or at the box office at2400 East Ocean Blvd. in Stuart Monday-Friday 12-4pm or one hour prior to shows.

Possibilities for new uses of theTimer Powers Park arena in In-diantown keep popping up in justabout any Indiantown gathering, fromstatewide equestrian eventsparticu-larly barrel-racingto high school grad-uation ceremonies, since the county doesnot have a civic center or any indoorvenue for large gatherings...until now!

I'm excited for so many reasons,says Hilary McKeich, executive directorof the Indiantown Western MartinCounty Chamber of Commerce, as thisarena will allow us to showcase MartinCounty year round, rain or shine, but itdidn't seem it was really going to hap-pen, until I saw those huge steel beamsstart going up.

Martin County commissioners ap-proved a request from the MartinCounty Parks and Recreation Depart-

ment to spend $2.2 million to put a roofover the horse arena at Timer PowersPark from county sales tax funds andimpact fees. The meeting in Stuart wasattended by dozens of Indiantown resi-dents, many of whom are equestrianswho must travel long distances to com-pete in events.

The first major event the IndiantownChamber plans to host in the new cov-ered arena, of course, is the next In-diantown Rodeo, Oct. 16-17.

If you have not yet signed up to bea sponsor of this great event, McKeichsays, then you better get busy and con-tact the chamber office right away. Thisis going to be the best year ever!

For information, contact the In-diantown Chamber of Commerce officeat 772.597.2184, or by email: info@in-diantownchamber.com.

Indiantown's rodeo arenagets long-awaited roof

The Timer Powers Park arena roof first began to take shape with the placement of its "legs,"huge beams that towered above the landscape.

13Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 News Feature

Already, the initial constructionstages of a reservoir andstormwater treatment areas onthe C-44 canal, which connects LakeOkeechobee and the St. Lucie River, hasmade a difference in how much freshwater is retained, according to Sue Ray,C-44 project manager for the SouthFlorida Water Management District.

We recognized the importance of re-taining as much water as we could, Raytold a town hall gathering of Indiantownresidents recently, so we increased theheight of the weir by 5.7 feet to a total of19 feet, which adds 7,000 additional acrefeet of water storage....not a hugeamount, but every little bit we can keepout of the St. Lucie helps the estuary.

The state funded construction of thestormwater treatment area component,system discharge and pump stationcomponents to reduce stormwaterrunoff to the St. Lucie estuary and In-dian River Lagoon, undertaken by theSFWMD, occurred at the same time theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers beganworking on the project in 2014 in orderto expedite its construction.

When completed, the C-44 reservoirand stormwater treatment project willreduce the peak flow of water to the St.Lucie estuary by about 33 percent, Raysaid, and will also reduce the nitrogenand phosphorous nutrient loads thatspawn algae growth that kills nativesea grasses.

During the first phase, several canalswere backfilled and the Troup In-diantown Water Control District pumpstations were relocated to make way forSFWMD's three-story, electric S-401pump station with a 21,000 sq ft foot-print, capable of pumping 1,100 cubicfeet of water per second.

Since the pump will not be used forflood control, Ray said, we weren't re-quired to have it diesel-powered; it willbe electric.

Florida Power & Light had to relo-cate power lines, 12,000 acres of citrustrees were removed, a 300-ft microwavecommunication tower was installed So we can operate the pump station re-motely. an interim spillway was built,as well as raising the height of the weir,Ray added. Canals were filled and thefirst stormwater treatment area cell wasconstructed.

The Army Corps of Engineers com-pleted construction last summer of theintake canal, the project access road, andthe Citrus Boulevard bridge and culverts.

Currently, the SFWMD must removesoil that poses an ecological risk wheninundated with water, Ray said. Thishad once been a citrus grove, so therewere areas with copper in the soils thatmust be removed.

The area is approximately 260 acreswith approximately 440,000 cubic yards

of soil that must be removed, she said.The contractor is Guettler Brothers Con-struction of Ft. Pierce, and the work isanticipated to be complete by June 2015.

A permanent, poured-concrete systemdischarge spillway is expected to be fin-ished by Nov. 2015, and construction ofthe stormwater treatment area is ex-pected to be finished by September 2017.

The western berm of STA 2, whichwill be 6,300 acres, has been started byBlue Goose Construction of Fort Pierce,and is expected to be finished by Sep-tember 2018.

No contractor has been selected asyet for the next Army Corps of Engi-neers project, the 3,400-acre reservoir,with 10 miles of embankment capable ofmaintaining a 15-foot water depth.

Approximately $110 million is cur-rently under construction with another$150 to $300 million expected to beawarded by June 2015. Ray said about 250construction jobs will be created on theIndiantown project, and all constructionwill be completed by September 2019.

That's not that far away, Ray said,and although it's not going to fixeverything, it is going to make a hugedifference.

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Land in the agricultural area southof Lake Okeechobee often is calledthe missing piece in Evergladesrestoration. Around 50,000 acres lie be-tween the Lake and state-owned landthat could redirect the billions of gallonsof excess water currently flowing to tidein the St. Lucie and Caloosahatcheeriversdestroying their estuaries in theprocessto the water-starved Ever-glades and the aquifer that providesdrinking water to six million residents.

Many feel it's the only solution tostopping the Lake Okeechobee dis-charges, but it's a missing piece in moreways than just one.

That land, for which the state cur-rently holds a contractual option to pur-chase that expires in October, also ismissing from any of the Central Ever-glades Restoration Plan projects ap-proved by Congress in 2000, none ofwhich have been completed after beingon the books for nearly 15 years.

Not one plan or project targets use ofthat land or even suggests building aflow way to the Everglades through theEverglades Agricultural Area, since theArmy Corps of Engineers determinedthat the flow way, called Plan Six, wasnot feasible and removed it from theCERP project list. Plan Six proponents,however, have increasingly gained trac-tion among activists and residents, how-ever, largely due to the RiversCoalition's education efforts and rally-

ing slogan, Plan Six, the Only Fix. Purchase of agricultural land south

of the lake also is missing from Gov.Rick Scott's proposed budget for 2015,causing alarm to reverberate throughthe state as the public becomes awarethat this land purchase is consideredcrucial by many to saving the St. LucieRiver and Indian River Lagoon.

Passage of Amendment One ensureswe'll have at least $750 million avail-able, said Eric Eikenberg, chief execu-tive officer of the Everglades Foundation,when he spoke to the Rivers Coalition inStuart on Jan. 29. The agricultural landpurchase would be around $350,000 but we don't need all 48,600 acres.

He turned to a map of the Ever-glades Agricultural Area that includedshaded spots to indicate the farmlandcurrently under option. The largest par-cel is about 28,000 acres and lies directlysouth of the lake.

That is the piece we need in order tobuild a reservoir, Eikenberg said, as hetapped the wall, and you'll notice, Isaid 'reservoir.' We can figure outhow to get the water the rest of the wayto the Everglades later, but we ab-solutely must have that land first.

Noted environmentalist Jupiter Is-land resident Nathaniel Reed concurred,noting that the particular parcel undercontract is also considered the most fer-tile farmland in the U.S., so its pur-chase may be worthy of

reconsideration, but he added he's con-vinced there are sufficient tracts ofworn out land no longer producinghealthy crops that might be more suit-able to building a reservoir.

Environmental engineer Kevin Hen-derson, of Stuart, objected to allowingthe option to expire.

If we own the land, we have a lever,he said. We'll have what the other guyswant....to get what we want. If we don'tbuy the land, we have nothing.

Reed stood up and shouted, Righton! You're exactly right.

Former Gov. Charlie Crist negotiatedwith US Sugar when he was in office topurchase large tracts, putting othertracts under option. He bypassed theLegislature to initiate the contract, andonly a portion was purchased by thewater management district in 2010 dueto the downturn in the national econ-omy. Afterward, the Legislature alsoslashed the water management district'sbudget by 30 percent, and the talk oflarge land purchases evaporated then reignited with the passage in thelast election of the constitutionalamendment that sets aside 33 percent ofthe documentary tax to be used solelyfor conservation, including the specific

purchase of land in the EvergladesAgricultural Area.

Critics of the plan, which apparentlynow also includes the U.S. Sugar Corp.itself, point to the fact that no plan cur-rently includes building a massive reser-voir or a flow way south of the lake.

Reed also seems to have changed hismind, since the last time he spoke to aRivers Coalition meeting, he had advo-cated a more cost-effective solution thanPlan Six that would include building areservoir further east, so that the easterncanals already built could be used toshunt water southward.

He also advocated that a university,specifically the Water Institute at the Uni-versity of Florida, study the issue, look atthe alternatives, and decide once andfor all the best method for movingwater south. Sen. Joe Negron took thatproposal to the legislature and secured$250,000 to fund the study currently un-derway, due to be released in March.

I'm worried about that report,Reed said to an audience member sit-ting next to him, and when remindedthat it was his idea in the first place, helaughed as he shook his head. I know,I know.

--Barbara Clowdus

Eikenberg, Reed: Must unite efforts to buy land

14 Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015Water News

Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith dumpedsome collective frustration onto the shoulders of Col. TomGreco of the Army Corps of Engineers at theJan. 20 county commission meeting whenthe colonel explained that heavy rainfall hadbeen predicted for this year's rainy season,thus they had begun slow releases of waterfrom Lake Okeechobee in mid-January.

If the rains come, we're going to bedumped on by Lake discharges anyway,Smith responded, which will wipe outeverything anyway, so why start discharg-ing now? Why not wait a little longer to seeif (the rain that's predicted) actually comes?

Attempting to protect the April-Mayoyster spawning season and sea grassgrowing season dictated smaller releasesnow, according to Greco, yet Mark Perry, ofthe Florida Oceanographic Society, agreedwith Smith, reporting to the commissionthat the salinity already had begun to fall inthe St. Lucie River threatening the survivalof its oysters, which die in the presence oftoo much fresh water and are vital toachieving good water quality in the estuary.

The oysters likely will die in either case,so Perry also requested that the Corps holdoff on discharges a little longer; however,with lake levels now exceeding those of2013, the Corps announced in early Febru-ary, it will be increasing the discharges.Lake levels must be lowered by more thanthree feet prior to June 1, the start of hurri-cane season, Greco said, in order to ensurethe integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dikesurrounding the lake.

The Martin CountyBoard of CountyCommissionersvoted unamimouslyunanimously to pay $50,000 annually tobe a member of the new Indian RiverLagoon Council comprising representa-tives from each of the counties border-ing the lagoonexcept Indian RiverCounty, which opted outas well astwo water management districts and thestate and federal Departments of Envi-ronmental Protection.

The former Indian River Lagoon Na-tional Estuary Program, created 25 yearsago after the federal Environmental Pro-tection Agency designated the IRL an es-tuary of national significance, proposedthe interlocal agreement creating the newcouncil, which was approved by the EPA.

The federal DEP will contribute$500,000, as it always has for IRL estu-ary projects, the state DEP will con-tribute $250,000 annually, as will boththe South Florida Water ManagementDistrict and St. John's River Water Man-agement District.

Martin is the only county thus far tohave affirmed its commitment, but Bre-vard, Volusia and St. Lucie counties allare expected also to pledge $50,000 an-nually, according to the council's interimdirector, Maurice Sterling. All contribu-tors will be represented on the govern-ing board.

The intent is to broaden local partici-pation in selection and implementation ofIRL projects to increase education andawareness of the estuary's significance.

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Understanding Everglades restora-tion is not for the faint of heart.We all agree that the goal is to getwater to the Everglades by moving itcorrectly to various parts of the entiresystemfrom the Kissimmee River tothe Florida Bayin proper amounts andcleaning it in the process! It sounds sim-ple, but challenges abound.

The St. Lucie River, for instance,never needs fresh water from LakeOkeechobee; however, the Caloosa-hatchee, at times, does need lake waterto hold down its salinity. Also, when arestoration project is brought onlineanywhere in the system, the flow andquality of water changes.

There is no official plan in place rightnow that will halt the Lake Okeechobeedischarges to the St. Lucie, whichprompted One Florida Foundation totalk with hydrologists and meet with of-ficials and experts from the SouthFlorida Water Management District andthe Army Corps of Engineers.

We asked a number of questionsabout sending water south:

Can it be done with the currentspillways?

Will water managers be able tomove water through the system fastenough to accommodate a million acrefeet of water?

Is there enough land area that thewater will be cleansed by the time itreaches the southern end of the system,as required by law?

When rain has already filled themuch-needed water storage areas inthe Everglades Agricultural Area be-fore excess water from Lake Okee-chobee can be moved through them,what happens next?

We asked the same questions at theEverglades Foundation Conference, butgot few answers. The problem is so com-plicated, we also consulted with world-renowned Wolfram Research, ofMathematica fame, whose scientistshave told us that the solution cannothappen.Well, not without a lot ofchanges. Some said, its even impossi-ble. There simply isnt enough land areasouth of the lake for all that water. In-stead, Wolfram Research suggestedsome form of deep water storage, suchas concrete reservoirs, as opposed to amore natural flow way. Concrete reser-voirs are major infrastructure projects,however, which would be neither fast toconstruct nor inexpensive. (These road-blocks prompted One Florida to compilethe ideas already being proposed byvarious engineers and scientiststhroughout the state that require less

time and money to implement, whichwe call S.T.O.Z.E.)

Environmentalist Nathaniel Reed,guest speaker at a Rivers Coalitionmeeting in Stuart in February, 2013, toldthe gathering that water storage southof Lake Okeechobee would take twolakes, each the size of Lake Okee-chobee, to do it.

He also told the audience and Coali-tion members that Plan Six (for a south-ern flowway) was too expensive toimplement, and he urged us to look atbuilding a gigantic reservoir and use theexisting eastern canals....or find someother way...to move water south. He sug-gested that a study be undertaken by auniversity, funded by the state, to give usan objective answer once and for all.

Florida Senator Joe Negron got thestudy funding of $250,000 approved,and the University of Florida Water In-stitute is currently studying how best tomove water south. One of the pointsmade repeatedly at the Everglades Con-ference is that any proposal to govern-ment officials must be based on sciencein order to have credibility and anyhope of obtaining funding.

We expect to have the report inMarch. Unfortunately, that's too late tomake our case to our legislators as theymeet in committees before the sessionreconvenes, to consider the state's op-tion to buy 46,800 acres of land fromU.S. Sugar south of the Lake for $350million, which expires October 12, 2015.The passage of Amendment 1 ensuresthat funding for the purchase will beavailable; however, with people all overthe state clamoring for those Amend-ment 1 funds, the competition for themwill be high.

Although we won't have the credibil-ity of the Water Institute's study untilMarch, One Florida believes that every-one acknowledges that the Evergladesneeds water and that Florida Bay needsit to combat hypersaline conditions.

We also need to store more waternorth of the lake, too, then not as muchwater will fill Lake Okeechobee, and wecan replenish the northern aquifers,which are running out of drinkingwater. We certainly do not want to moveall that water south, even to engineered,

deep-water storage facilities, then haveto pump it north again should a droughthit the northern portion of the state. Weneed to plan carefully. We need to lookthroughout the system for land that thestate can purchase for water storagenot just within the agricultural areasand we all need to continue to pressureour legislators to follow through.

One Florida Foundation pledges to

continue raising awareness of water is-sues, as we wait for the study, whichwill back us up with science. We arecloser to a solution to ending the lakedischarges than ever before.

Nyla Pipes is a founder of One FloridaFoundation, which addresses water issuesthroughout the state.

Conference continues push to send water south

Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, brings to the Rivers Coalition meeting in Stuart on Jan. 29 the same message he gave at the Everglades Conference the previous weekend: Keep pressure on state legislators to buy the agricultural land south of Lake O, before time runs out. Photo: Rivers Coalition

15Martin County CurrentsMarch 2015 Water News

NylaPipes

One Florida Foundation

The St. Lucie River is part of the greater Everglades system, and the long-standing cry to Send water south!is familiar to most residents along its banks. This was thecentral conversation at the 2015 Everglades FoundationConference in Key Largo in January.

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One Florida Foundation officers,Nyla Pipes and Capt. Don Voss,attended several meetings, con-ferences and met with state legislatorsand water managers to continue their at-tention on water issues.

Now is NOT the time to slowdown, said Pipes.

In addition to the EvergladesFoundation Conference in Key Largoand FAU's Indian River Lagoon Sympo-sium at Harbor Branch Oceanographic inFt. Pierce, Pipes attended the CentralFlorida Delegation meeting where 29government representatives, includingthe mayor of Orlando and representa-tives of the Central Florida Water Initia-tive were present.

This was a great opportunity to talkwith people in Central Florida aboutplans to hold back some of their waterrunoff and utilize it more effectively,Pipes said, so that they arent shuntingit to the Kissimmee and out to tidethrough our estuaries.

Pipes used the opportunity to speakwith Michael Minton and JamesFletcher, both members of CentralFlorida Water Initiative, about the rate atwhich the state is running out of waterand how regional partnerships can help.

They committed to a meeting (withOne Florida) in January to further explorehow we can work together, Pipes added.

Additionally, this was anopportunity to meet withmany of our representativesin a more relaxed setting.

She seized the opportu-nity to grab the ear ofSpeaker of the House SteveCrisafulli to ask for a con-tinued focus on the state'swater issues, as well asspeaking for some timewith Senator David Sim-mons of Altamonte Springs.

Sen. Simmons and Italked about how septictank effluent and fertilizershave impaired Floridasprings, Pipes said, justlike it has impaired our In-dian River Lagoon and St.Lucie estuary.

While Pipes wasbusy in Orlando, Vossstayed in Martin County toattend the groundbreaking ceremonyfor the Bessey Creek Hybrid WetlandTreatment Technology Project, whichwill clean water before it reaches the St.Lucie River.

The Bessey Creek project is a primeexample of the kind of work we need tobe doing all over the state, Pipes added.

The Martin County Board ofCounty Commissioners can be proud of

its effort to bring thiscollaboration together.While he was there,Captain Don recon-nected with a numberof our great local lead-ers, including SewallsPoint CommissionerJacqui Thurlow-Lip-pisch and MartinCounty Commissioner Anne Scott.

Voss also talked with Rich Budell, di-rector, Office of Agricultural Water Pol-icy with the Florida Department ofAgriculture and Consumer Services, toassure him of a return trip by OneFlorida Foundation to Tallahassee dur-ing the 2015 legislative session.

One Florida Foundation traveledto Kissimmee twice to attend meetingsregarding the Kissimmee Water Reser-vation rule-making process. Realizingthat they do not have enough drinkingwater for the future, Pipes said,many in this region are working tofind other sources.

The Upper chain of Lakes andKissimmee River is being considered se-riously by water resource managers andlegislators. The rule-making process out-lines how to tap those water supplieswith the least impact to the environment.

We addressed the members of theFlorida Department of EnvironmentalProtection and the South Florida WaterManagement District representativeswho also attended, Pipes said, and alsogot a few minutes in with Senator Dar-ren Soto (minority caucus rules chair)who is watching this process closely.

One Florida Foundation also ad-dressed the Martin County LocalPlanning Agency and, later in themonth, the Martin County Board ofCounty Commissioners as theyamended Chapter 10, the septic andsewer element, of their ComprehensiveGrowth Management Plan.

We encouraged them to make someadjustments, Pipes said, as we have

concerns that they havent gone farenough to get residences off septic tanks.

The One Florida Foundation mis-sion requires not only a continuationof the conversations among residentsand stakeholders regarding the state'swater issues, which they do by partici-pating in meetings statewide and byspeaking out to make water issues a pri-ority, but Foundation members alsotackle projects to improve a situationimmediately, such as a communitycleanup of Moores Creek in Fort Pierce,Pipes added.

Alongside SWORD Outreach re-source program members and TheAmerican Dream Factory volunteers, weremoved piles of trash and two shop-ping carts from Moores Creek in Ft.Pierce, she explained. This is a won-derful opportunity to work with youthand teach them how good it feels to takecare of our water, as well as show themthat it's imperative we do more than justtalk about the issues.

A conference call with Congress-man Patrick Murphy discussed imme-diate steps that can be taken on afederal level to help the St. Lucie River,in