Stalled Wildlife Refuge To Get Help From Highlands County

SEBRING - Highlands County commissioners this week committed county staff to assist the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in finishing land acquisition for a national wildlife refuge at Flamingo Villas.

Since 1994, Fish & Wildlife has acquired about 90 percent of the 1,200-acre site near Sebring Regional Airport and Sebring International Raceway.

A shortage of federal dollars for conservation lands and speculative land buying at Flamingo Villas has put Fish & Wildlife in the position of needing help to complete this conservation project, Boyd Bilhovde, of the federal agency told commissioners Tuesday.

Flamingo Villas, north of U.S. 98 and south of Kenilworth Boulevard, was platted as a mega-lot subdivision in the 1950s but exists only on paper. No homes have been built there and the county has imposed a building moratorium. The site is home to 12 federally and state listed animal and plant species, including the Florida black bear, Bilhovde said.

Commissioners voted unanimously to instruct county staff to work with Fish & Wildlife on developing a plan for acquiring the remaining 300 lots, most of 1/4 acre, that are privately owned.

"The overall goal is to protect the area for conservation," said Jim Polatty, director of county planning. Sale prices sought on Flamingo Villas lots have risen beyond what Fish & Wildlife can pay, due to "clear-cut land speculation," Polatty said. He said several lots, purchased sight unseen by the buyer, are under water.

Commissioners endorsed the project but said there may be little, if any, money that can be allocated from the county's Conservation Fund. Funded by a surcharge on building permits., this fund now totals about $1 million, Polatty said.

"I think it's great and we need to get it done," Commissioner Barbara Stewart said about the wildlife refuge project. But, she said, county Conservation Fund dollars will be limited if sought by Fish & Wildlife.

"We're making plans to spend this money in a lot of different areas and it is very quickly going to run out," Stewart said.

Butch Neil, a consultant with the firm of PBS&J, representing Sebring Regional Airport, said the airport is investigating a partnership with Fish & Wildlife, the county and the Conservation Trust in finishing the Flamingo Villas wildlife preserve.

Development at the airport may require environmental mitigation, Neil said. One form of mitigation could be aiding in the Flamingo Villas conservation project. Neil said airport officials haven't made a commitment to this project but are interested in exploring the possibility.

Bilhovde said the planned wildlife refuge would form a "green buffer" between the airport and the raceway, providing public access for "wildlife-related recreation."