ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Lawmakers allocate nearly $20M to buy partially submerged land, a 'curious appropriation' (Mark Harper, Daytona Beach News-Journal, June 24, 2025)

While stiffing the Florida Forever program, our other-directed 2025 Florida legislature is spending $19.7 million for partially submerged land, dwarfing what it allowed for the entire Florida Forever program.  Are you kidding me?  This misbegotten measure, not sponsored by any Volusia County legislators, requires great scrutiny before Governor considers wielding his line item veto.  

Fun fact: The "professional" evaluation of the property in quo is stated to have been performed by Atlantic Ecological Services of St. Augustine.  

Good article by an actual still-functioning GANNETT newspaper, which was apparently unaided by the third-rate services of the lone reporter at the sixth-rate incredible shrinking  St. Augustine Record, also owned by GANNETT.  

Too bad about what GANNETT has done to our hometown newspaper, with evisceration of reader columns and letters, with dismemberment. an d disinvestment and retaliatory personnel moves.    GANNETT has still not provided a point of contact to complain about the Record, no longer having a local office, editor or publisher.   

Oligopolistic control of Florida newspapers has consequences.

Oleaginous one party rule by corporations here in DeSANTISTAN has consequences. 

From Daytona Beach News-Journal:

Lawmakers allocate nearly $20M to buy partially submerged land, a 'curious appropriation'

Mark Harper

Daytona Beach News-Journal

• Florida lawmakers allocated $19.7 million for a 114-acre parcel on the Intercoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach.
• Environmentalists question the high cost of the land, assessed by the Volusia County property appraiser at $174,750, and the lack of transparency in the appropriation process.
• The land purchase was sponsored by lawmakers outside of Volusia County, bypassing the local delegation and the established Florida Forever program.

Lawmakers appropriated more money in the state budget, $19.7 million, to purchase a 114-acre, partially submerged parcel on the Intercoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach than they did for the entire Florida Forever conservation program.

The land located just southwest of the Ponce de Leon Inlet is a "curious" appropriation, environmentalists say. And the cost tops the $18 million the state Senate and House assigned to Florida Forever. It is also considerably more than the Volusia County Property Appraiser lists the land's 2025 market value, $174,750.

Clay Henderson, a longtime environmental lawyer and former Volusia County councilman, called the New Smyrna Beach land buy a "big fat local turkey," a term that refers to appropriations without proper procedure and scrutiny. He and others say lawmakers should stick to more adequately funding Florida Forever − which follows a rigid process of evaluation and transparency to ensure purchases are worthy of conserving and prices are fair.

But the landowners call it a "unique environmental property" that deserves to be in public hands.

"Increasing the lands under public ownership in the Indian River Lagoon will provide immeasurable environmental benefits by continuing to provide habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife species, fishes and migratory birds," the owners said in a written response to questions.

A professional environmental assessment by Atlantic Ecological Services, of St. Augustine, states two threatened species, loggerhead sea turtles and gopher tortoises, have been observed there, while the Indian River Lagoon is the only habitat worldwide for the threatened Atlantic salt marsh snake, according to the owners.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is reviewing the budget and has an opportunity to line-item veto the potential land buy. 

Purchase sponsored by lawmakers from Zephyrhills, Dade City

The request to have the state buy the New Smyrna Beach property was made by Martin Rosato of Ponce DeLeon NSB, LLC, which has a Largo address. Ponce DeLeon Realty Corp., with a residential address in Port Orange, is also listed as a manager.

"We appreciate that the Florida Legislature sees the value in preserving this unique environmental property to be owned and protected forever by and for the citizens of Florida," the owners said. "The property is located within the Indian River Lagoon ... and is surrounded on all sides by state-owned conservation lands and two state parks adjacent to the mouth of Ponce de Leon Inlet."

Volusia County's Smyrna Dunes Park and Lighthouse Point Park are nearby.

None of the Volusia County Legislative Delegation made the local funding request. Rather, Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Rep. Randy Maggard, R-Dade City, filed paperwork on the owners' behalf.

Burgess' legislative aide said he was unavailable to comment. Maggard's office did not respond to a request seeking comment.

An appropriations request form offered by the lawmakers states the St. Johns River Water Management District would be responsible for acquiring and managing the land.

As a justification, the form offers: "Preservation of environmentally sensitive lands rather than development."

The land owners say a new appraisal will be ordered by the state before a sale commences, so the sale price could be lower than the appropriation.

Could the Ponce DeLeon/NSB site be developed?

The landowners say there have been efforts to develop the property in the past.

Documents supplied by the owners indicate a Volusia circuit judge approved a 1980 agreement between Ponce DeLeon Realty Corporation and the city, allowing for an easement in the Inlet Shores subdivision where a bridge might eventually be built to the property. In the 45 years since, no bridge has been built and while the park remains, the Ponce DeLeon/NSB land is only accessible by boat.

The landowners also provided a letter from the city dated Sept. 20, 1982, reiterating the judgment and stating the property was zoned for single-family residential development. It's unclear when that changed, but New Smyrna Beach currently has the parcel listed for zoning and future land-use purposes as conservation.

Henderson said there doesn't appear to be much chance for the property to be developed.

"Not only is it inaccessible, but it will also probably be under water in our lifetimes," Henderson said. "It's certainly not worth $19 million!"

Julie Wraithmell, vice president and executive director of Audubon Florida, said there may be reason to protect land like the Ponce DeLeon/NSB site, but sea-level rise should also be a consideration when determining the purchase price.

“We need those marsh habitats and others to have the room to march up slope. Otherwise, we lose those. So there is a justification for protecting coastal habitat," Wraithmell said. "However, their vulnerability likely should also factor into the appraised value and the purchase price.”

One-off conservation projects outside of Florida Forever are occasionally budgeted by lawmakers.

"This year it particularly draws into kind of sharp contrast the difference between Florida's science-based, criteria-based land conservation program," Wraithmell said, "and then, you know, separate individual member projects that don't have the same ... level of rigor or scrutiny as the Florida Forever program.”

NSB property not listed by Florida Forever, but it is inside the Blueway

The Ponce DeLeon/NSB property is not specifically listed among the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Forever Priority List.

It is, however, within the boundaries of the Indian River Lagoon Blueway, an area that is part of the Florida Forever priority list because it is one of the nation's "most productive, diverse and comercially and recreationally important estuaries," according to the DEP, with one-third of all U.S. manatees and many other fishes and birds.

The Blueway spans 150 miles along the east and west sides of the Indian River Lagoon, where marshy lands are mixed with maritime hammock.

The land owners contend theirs is the last privately owned parcel at the mouth of the Ponce de Leon Inlet, and its purchase is consistent with the goals of the Blueway project.

While the Volusia County Property Appraiser notes the land is "submerged and partially submerged," the owners contend it is not.

"The site is composed of approximately 50 acres of uplands and approximately 65 acres of ecological and environmentally significant lands," the owners said.

Environmental groups decry funding level of Florida Forever

State environmental groups were disappointed lawmakers, who had pledged to invest at least $100 million annually on Florida Forever, only doled out $18 million this year.

That figure is a far cry from the previous year, when it was $229 million, which was the highest appropriation the program received in 16 years, according to the Florida Policy Institute.

"It's certainly frustrating in a year when Florida Forever received such anemic funding to see other projects basically ... you could call them jumping the line, or avoiding the prioritization process of Florida Forever," Wraithmell said.

Casey Darling Kniffin, conservation policy director with Florida Wildlife Federation, said she can't comment on the importance of conserving the Ponce DeLeon/NSB land specifically, but advocated for state land purchases to remain within the Florida Forever program.

“The way to acquire that is through the Florida Forever process, because it does have an an outlined public, transparent and priority basis," Kniffin said. "If ($19.7 million) is what the valuation is, obviously this year’s budget wouldn't cover that one parcel. ... It is curious.”