Commissioners suspend Eagle training discussion

To the disappointment of a crowd who wanted to express their opposition to the proposed Eagle National Security Center, the Highlands County commissioners put off discussing two agenda items.

The first, a rezoning for the 12 acres south of Venus, was deleted Thursday. The second, the settlement agreement with the Florida Department of Community Affairs, made it onto the agenda, then was pulled Tuesday morning as people were still settling into their seats.

Ellen Peterson, president of Save Our Creeks, thought the item might have been pulled on purpose, knowing the opposition was coming.

Harris Friedman, with the Settlement Agreement Advisory Board, said his group is taking no position on the proposed Eagle training center, but they are concerned and watching closely

"We all live in the same watershed," Panagioti Tsolkas, co-chair of the Palm Beach County EnviroCoalition, reminded the commissioners. "This is not just a local issue."

The School of the Americas, a similar live-fire training center at Fort Benning, Ga., has attracted hundreds of protestors, some showing up daily at the gates, according to Internet Web news. Some who came to Tuesday's meeting implied that Highlands County could be letting itself in for that kind of problem.

"Is that what's coming down here?" Tsolkas asked.

"It's a bad site for that kind of military training," said Leonard Bryant, a Lake Placid photographer. "Bert Harris describes it as a (Hurricane) Katrina-related facility. I don't think it has too much to with Katrina. Not with them shooting .50 caliber bullets." Eagle is represented by Lake Placid attorney Bert Harris III.

Tom Fennell, who lives on a branch of Fisheating Creek, pointed out that this is pristine land, home to many wildlife species.

Albert Ewing said the takeoff direction of the 6,000-foot airstrip is over Florida black bear habitat.

In a coincidental presentation, Mark Hammond, an environmental specialist with Southwest Florida Water management District, reminded the commissioners that southern Highlands County was the home of plant and animal species that exist nowhere else in the world.

The settlement agreement is due to come back on the agenda on Oct. 6, commission chair Barbara Stewart said.

Background

In documents submitted to the Highlands County Planning Department, Eagle National Security Training Center proposed to build 100,000 square feet of classrooms and administrative buildings, 40,000 square feet of military-style shoot-houses and three five-story training buildings, 1,000 dorms, 25 single-family homes, 100 multi-family apartments, and two 250-feet tall training towers - a total of 950,000 square feet of buildings.

Eagle will have its own central water and sewer facilities, 1,000 square feet of security gatehouses, a welcome center, and food and beverage facilities.

Eagle's document describes the property as 7,696 acres, or 12 square miles in the southwest corner of Highlands County. The property is in Highlands County, but borders Glades, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.

For comparison purposes, Avon Park Wal-Mart is 190,819 square feet; Lakeshore Mall takes up 650,000 square feet. Twelve square miles is bigger than the city of Sebring, which takes up 11.1 square miles.

"It is anticipated that the Training Center will create approximately 250 jobs with a student body of 1,000," Eagle's document says. U.S. military and civilians will be the initial focus, the document said, but "the international market ... will be accepted for training, education and exercises."