complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

ITEM 13:
REQUEST: Presentation of information on interagency efforts to develop a uniform
process and guidelines to follow when considering conservation lands for surplus
declaration.
STAFF REMARKS: Legislative direction in the past few sessions has been for agencies to
identify potential lands that may no longer be needed and which may be surplus to the state’s
needs. Conservation lands are a sensitive issue, not only because of the constitutional
protection afforded them but also the need to maintain important resource values for which
these lands were acquired. There is also the need to comply with IRS regulations governing the
use of tax exempt bonds with which many of these lands were acquired. These conditions, as
well as recent issues that have arisen over proposed specific surplus lands declarations have
led the Division of State Lands to initiate and interagency effort to develop uniform process and
guidelines for the surplus declaration of conservation lands.
The Division’s goal is to obtain agency input for the development of criteria and guidelines for
surplusing Florida Forever and P2000 lands that not only honor the original purposes for
acquisition, but also allow for coordinated efforts between agencies and local governments.
Such criteria will allow the evaluation of issues regarding management, connectivity of habitat
for species and recreation, other recreational and public access opportunities, and analysis of
conservation values to be conducted in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
An initial workshop/videoconference was held on August 18, 2010, in which each agency and
water management district discussed their current process for declaring conservation lands
surplus as well ideas for what should be included in the proposed guidelines. After collecting
this information and obtaining subsequent input from each agency, the Division has developed a
draft document which will be discussed at a second teleconference on October 4, 2010. It is
hoped that this meeting will result in a draft document for which interagency agreement can be
achieved. Staff will be providing this document to the ARC for discussion as it relates to BOT
lands at a future meeting.