SEBRING — When Ave Maria opened last year in Collier County, two large landowners in Highlands County started working on a plan to conserve their land so they could organize the same kind of city, minus the controversies that surround that development. But after a series of fits and starts, the Rural Land Stewardship Area Program appears dead in Highlands County. First, Lykes Bros. dropped out of the program. Now, Atlanticblue has put in a more traditional rezoning request. Susie Bishop, an Atlanticblue spokeswoman, said Atlanticblue got tired of waiting for the state to review the program rules, and was discouraged by what she described as a new leadership in Tallahassee that stripped the program of incentives. ...more

June 8, 2008