A recent news story suggested that Sarasota County missed an opportunity several years ago to purchase an environmentally sensitive property now known as the Isles of Athena. A developer now plans to turn that same 5,800 acres of forests and wetlands into 10,500 houses and 4.2 million square feet of commercial development. That’s four Sarasota Square Malls and enough rooftops and cars to support it!
The story raised, but failed to answer, two important questions. Why did Sarasota County pass up the opportunity to and preserve the property in 1998, at a fraction of today’s price? And why is the property prime for development if it was so environmentally sensitive?
The answers to these questions require a little historical background. During the 1990s, county staff, landowners and private citizens were bringing numerous proposals for environmentally sensitive land purchases to the County Commission. At that time, the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Acquisition program did not exist nor did the county have a dedicated funding source for environmental land purchases. Commissioners did not have guidelines to determine which purchases made the most sense. So they decided criteria were needed to evaluate acquisition proposals to assure that taxpayers’ money would be wisely invested.
Yes, the county missed an opportunity on the Isles of Athena property. But everyone who didn’t purchase at least one piece of waterfront property in 1998 missed the same kind of opportunity. But did everyone have the money then? Could everyone have afforded to carry the property until they resold it? We all should have purchased more real estate in the late 1990s, but we all weren’t financially able to do it. Waging this sort of criticism retrospectively is like betting on the outcome of a football game while watching its rerun.
In 1999, however, the county did create a program with a funding source that would generate money for future land acquisitions. The program has been’ enormously successful, but you can’t buy every property on the market.
Since the late 1990s, Sarasota County officials have been actively pursuing the acquisition of the environmentally sensitive Isles of Athena tract. The county has made numerous offers to the various owners who have purchased and resold the property. Each time the county was outbid by competitive real estate developers and investors who based their purchase offers on anticipated profits. The county couldn’t effectively compete in that market because it must use appraised values, which typically are based on historic sales and less ambitious development scenarios.
The most recent price of $61.5 million for this parcel is based upon outrageous expectations for development. The proposed development will destroy the land’s environmental qualities and create unavoidable traffic congestion in South County. The instant this land was annexed into North Port, the development potential skyrocketed, dragging its tethered price tag into the stratosphere.
Just five short years ago, some were questioning the wisdom of Sarasota County buying preservation lands in the far eastern areas of the county, seeing “no imminent threat of development.” To date, the county’s Environmental Lands program has cost the citizens of Sarasota County just over $3,000 per acre purchased.
This figure includes lands within the urbanized area, bayfront properties and lands to the east. I would say the county has invested wisely, especially considering the Isles of Athena owner paid more than $10,000 per acre.
Do you get the feeling taxpayers are going to be the ones to suffer to ensure that Isles of Athena is not a financial boondoggle? If not now, maybe you will when you’re asked to pay the bill to fix the overcrowded roads and schools that cost far more than the development fees will cover. For me, seeing yet another irreplaceable natural landscape become a casualty to bad development decisions and selfish motives is far too expensive a price to pay.