BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Less than a dozen Lake Region residents showed up at the beach pavilion Monday night to tell officials how they want land preserved throughout Clay County.
Ramesh Buch and Heather Nagy of the North Florida Land Trust, in addition to county Planner Dodie Selig were in town to gauge the public’s priorities about a developing plan to preserve land in Clay County.
Commissioners held a workshop in January to discuss preserving acreage. They discussed a possible property tax increase that would fund public land acquisitions. Any such tax would have to be approved by voters, and commissioners said they were aiming to put a referendum on the November 2024 ballot.
Buch said Monday’s workshop in Keystone Heights, along with two more planned for Middleburg and Green Cove Springs, is meant to help the county prioritize the top land preservation values the county might use to acquire lands.
During an earlier workshop, commissioners ranked preserving threatened or endangered species as their top value, followed by conserving drinking water, increasing access to recreation, preserving surface water, increasing connectivity between preserved lands, protecting cultural and historical resources and saving farmland.
Buch said Clay’s approach to land acquisition and preservation follows the successful implementation of Nassau County’s plan. He added that the strategy is for the county to create its own fund for land acquisition and then partner with state and federal agencies to acquire properties.
The North Florida Land Trust helped Nassau County devise and execute its land preservation plan.
Buch said other Florida counties have used the same approach, beginning with Miami-Dade in 1996.
“And now it’s been replicated up and down the state,” he said. “I think there’s a total of 27 or almost 30 counties now that have done this kind of thing. So, there’s a playbook. It starts with a sense that there’s a need for a program, and then those values need to be identified by the county commission and then also by the public, which is what we’re doing right now.”
Buch said once commissioners have settled on land acquisition values, then the Land Trust will help the county put together a plan, which will be presented to voters through a referendum.
Buch said Clay County is important to the Land Trust because of the organization’s efforts to create a wildlife corridor between the Ocala and Osceola National Forests.
“We also have a contract with the Army to buffer Camp Blanding, which is right here in western Clay County,” he said. “So, we thought it’s a natural for us to work with the county and help them build a local land conservation program.”
