FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   

Contact:   Karen Forsyth or Lynda Riley, Lee County Lands Division
                (941) 479-8505

COUNTY CONSERVATION 2020 LANDS COULD GO OVER 10,000 ACRES

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 19, 2002) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners today unanimously agreed to begin negotiating for 2,883 more acres of Conservation 2020 land – purchases that would bring the total bought through the voter-approved program to 10,544 acres. 

In 2001, the county bought more land through the program (4,630 acres) than in any previous year, and to date has spent $45.6 million to preserve environmentally sensitive lands for future generations (see year-by-year totals below). 

The five parcels under negotiation include a 1,983-acre tract just east of Southwest Florida International Airport’s boundary.  The parcel also is just north of a 588-acre Conservation 2020 tract bought in 2001.  The asking price is $14.9 million and the trustee is Louise H. Schewe. 

The other four parcels are (with owners and prices in parentheses): 

• 305 acres east of Business 41 and north of Del Prado Extension in North Fort Myers (Fort Myers Little Ranches Co., $5.67 million;
• 260 acres on Hendry County border south of State Road 82 (Leonard L. Martin, $1.43 million);
• 72 acres just north of Daniels Parkway at Chamberlin Parkway (trustee Gerald A. McHale, $779,000);
• 263 acres just west of Business 41 and south of Jacaranda Parkway East in North Fort Myers (Mastec Inc., $3.6 million)

Lee County voters approved Conservation 2020 in November 1996 through a referendum that increased property taxes for seven years by 50 cents for every $1,000 of taxable property value.  The increase raises about $12 million a year to buy environmentally sensitive lands.  In addition, 10 percent of the funds collected are set aside for land stewardship activities such as exotic pest plant control and provision of passive recreation facilities. 

Last year, 4,630 acres at a cost of $23.5 million was purchased and set aside for long-term preservation.  Totals purchased in other years are: 2000 (2,075 acres at $15 million), 1999 (696 acres at $6.3 million), 1998 (40 acres at $157,000), and 1997 (39 acres at $600,000). 

The Conservation 2020 Program is a willing seller program, which means that only properties that are nominated by landowners are considered for acquisition.  The county does not pursue acquiring properties by its legal power of Eminent Domain.  The Board of Lee County Commissioners appointed a 15-member citizen advisory committee – the Lee County Conservation Land Acquisition and Stewardship Advisory Committee (CLASAC) – to recommend appropriate properties to be pursued for purchase.  The committee has been meeting nearly monthly since February 1997.