"Alachua County Forever" on ballot

"Alachua County Forever" on ballot
Pam Zaber
October 2000

Water, wildlife, resourced-based recreation. Three facets of our lives which profoundly affect our health and the way our communities grow and prosper socially, emotionally and economically. Three vulnerable and finite resources which are truly in the public interest to protect. Protecting natural resources are public issues which we must embrace with public solutions. One part of the solution is public acquisition of environmentally significant lands, a popular and very successful method for protecting the environment throughout the country. Alachua County Forever, a citizen's grassroots effort promoted by Legacy Lands, PAC will do just that.

Simply put, Alachua County Forever ordinance and funding source will allow the County to acquire, protect and manage environmentally significant lands, to protect water resources and wildlife habitat, and to provide areas for resource-based recreation. The ordinance is designed to be simple and straightforward, and similar approaches have worked well for other Florida counties:

A citizen's Land Conservation Board will use predetermined, scientific criteria to choose appropriate environmental lands, with final approval given by the County Commission.
Environmental properties will be acquired outright or as a conservation easement from willing sellers only.
Efforts will be made to acquire matching funds to leverage our tax dollars.
Up to 10% of bond funds can be used for capital improvements and public access. Capital improvements are such things as a trail, a parking lot or exotics removal.

On November 7, Alachua County voters have a chance to implement this public land acquisition program by voting FOR BONDS of approximately $29 million to fund the Alachua County Forever land acquisition program. These will be paid for with a dedicated property tax millage of .25 mills or $25 per $100,000 of assessed property. Without this dedicated funding source there will not be money available to implement the program, and we will lose out on the millions of dollars available through federal and state matching programs (Florida's Preservation 2000).

Answers to questions about Alachua County Forever and Legacy Lands can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions available on the following website:

www.LegacyLands.com or www.AlachuaCountyForever.com or by calling 336-4340 or 375-6694.

We must protect the environmental treasures of Alachua County now before it's too late or our children will not be able to enjoy them and our grandchildren will never know they existed.

Pam Zaber is chair of Legacy Lands. You can reach her at 336-4340 or pameva@earthlink.net.