INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – The County Commission today forwarded for state review an amendment to the comprehensive plan that designates nearly three square miles of county territory as conservation land.
The land is in three parcels, all west of I-95. Two sections are owned by St. John’s Water Management District, one by the county.
The St. John’s land includes a 639-acre parcel 3 miles west of I-95 and 1 ½ miles north of SR-60, and a 531-acre parcel along Fellsmere’s southern border.
The 350-acre county-owned parcel is located on the western shore of Blue Cypress Lake.
“That land was just purchased in December from the Pressley family,” said Community Development Director Bob Keating.
Funding for the $1-million purchase came from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant under the auspices of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
The parcel, which is described as forested wetlands, comprises the northern-most portion of the Pressley family ranch.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve the comp plan amendment at its April meeting.
Today’s public hearing and approval of the resolution by the Board of County Commissioners allows staff to send the proposed changes to state agencies for review. The agencies will reply with any requested changes and then the matter will come before the Board for another public hearing and approval.
The amendment re-designates the parcels from Agricultural-2, which allows one dwelling unit per 10 acres, and Agriculatural-3, which allows one dwelling per 20 acres, to Conservation-1.
Conservation-1 is a protected, zero-density status that preserves the lands in natural state for future generations.
“About a third of the county is now conservation lands,” says Keating, who initiated the amendment. “It is in the neighborhood of 100,000 acres. Most of that – probably 90,000 acres – is owned by St. John’s, the other 10,000 by the county.”
The matter is expected to come back before the Board for final approval later this summer.
