The Environmental Lands Oversight Committee in Martin County is gearing up for a meeting on Sept. 5 to review the success of the county's half-cent sales tax, which was passed to help preserve the area's natural beauty.
"Basically, it's just to provide them an idea of what kinds of properties that we're reviewing, where they are, what the major purposes and intents of the different acquisitions are, so they can learn about all these different properties and why they've been selected for potential acquisition and still get a chance to see and hear also who we might find as funding partners, because one of our big metrics is we're trying to make these dollars go further," Michael Yustin said.
That was Senior Project Manager Michael Yustin. He dived a little bit into what people can expect going in.
"They're designed to give the citizens some say in terms of what we would be acquiring. So it's a citizen advisory committee that makes recommendations to the board. So basically, we bring forward a series of potential acquisitions. They review them looking at a series of different metrics, and then they score them based on how well they feel that that proposal goes in terms of furthering those different metrics," he said.
There's already been substantial progress on different projects utilizing the sales tax, Mike said.
"Well, we've already actually had two proposals that came forward. We wanted to go small first before we tackle a huge number of properties. We have Bar-B Ranch conservation easement where we were approached by the state of Florida, Florida Forever Program, who have been negotiating with the landowner about putting a conservation easement on a portion of their property, and that keeps the land in private ownership while ensuring that it can't ever be developed," he said.
Between Barbie Ranch and the other property they have worked on, Pal-Mar, the sales tax is making some headway.
"We're looking at close to 3,000 acres of land that have already been protected through the sales tax once the deals actually get done. So at this point, they've been approved by the county commission. We still have to go back to them for like final closing and to seal these deals," he said.
Why it all matters? Mike said the county thrives on its natural resources.
"The citizens of Martin County have consistently over the years shown a desire to protect and preserve lands. I think it's very important to the community and the way of life around here, you might have heard the expression the Martin County difference. It's been a real big tool in terms of making sure that our county doesn't become like some of the other counties to our north and south that have developed so much," he said.
Mike also said there are economic benefits to be had as well. It also helps to protect our waterways, which are very important in this area.
"So much of our economy is based on our waterways and whether it be boating or tourism industry through hotels and restaurants. It's very important for us to have these places protected to help to preserve those resources," he said.
Also to be discussed at the meeting are the invaluable partners which make it all possible. Based on what we'd like to acquire and what areas that we've targeted, we wouldn't have enough money with our sales tax on its own to reach those goals.
"So having these partnerships and making the funding go forward will help us get further along with those goals while reducing the amount that would be required from our sales tax. So typically we try and get at least a 50 matching partnership with the state to double our investments," he said.