INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The cluster of specific jobs associated with the Indian River Lagoon is a key economic driver that needs to be better recognized and protected, according to real estate and economic development consultant W. Thomas Lavash, who spoke at a forum in Fort Pierce on Friday.
Lavash and fellow economic development expert Tom Moriarity were hired by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council to to provide a clearer picture of and plan for the “Economics of the Waterways.”
The specific focus of the study is on the economic value and potential of the lagoon and other waterways in St. Lucie and Martin counties, but the consultants’ data and preliminary conclusions encompass Indian River County and its stretch of the estuary in a number of ways.
Moriarity reported that there are 9,983 boats registered in IRC, which is just one indicator of how central the lagoon is to life in our county.
More importantly, both men noted the broad economic value of clean water, water access and water proximity to lagoonside counties.
Lavash said that a clean, healthy waterway is “terribly important” to the economy of the area, a view echoed by Vero Beach City Councilmember Pilar Turner, who has been a consistent champion of protecting the lagoon.
“A clean, healthy lagoon is vital to our economy and quality of life,” Turner said in a phone interview last week.
The economic power of the lagoon has been something of truism since 2008 when the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program published a detailed report documenting the waterway’s $3.7 billion annual impact in the five counties along its 157-mile length, but it needs to be reiterated now as our county commission faces the expensive challenge of dealing with septic tank pollution that is destroying the estuary.
The 2008 report found the lagoon adds $47 billion in total real estate value to houses and land on or within a third of a mile of the water, accounting for 22 percent of the market value of all property along the waterway. In Indian River County, the charm and recreational opportunities provided by the lagoon add more than $5 billion to the value of property near the water and billions more to other homes and lots that, while more than a third of a mile away, also benefit from proximity to the lagoon.
The lagoon supports 15,000 full-and part-time jobs with a payroll of more than $600 million, including more than 1,200 jobs in Indian River County that pay out $43 million per year.
And, as the consultants pointed out in Fort Pierce, those are jobs that cannot be outsourced. “A lot of industries can go anywhere,” said Moriarity, “but these jobs are site-specific. You have a geographic advantage.”
The jobs can’t be outsourced, but they can be eliminated by a failure of will and/or vision by our county commissioners and other local leaders if they sit idly by while tens of thousands of septic tanks continue to pour nitrogen, bacteria, antibiotics and household chemicals into the waterway, allowing the lagoon to turn into a stinking sewer.
In 2007, investigators found that an incremental improvement in lagoon water cleanliness would result in an additional $80 million in economic benefit. The opposite is also true. The dirtier the water gets, the less it will support real estate values, recreational activity and our general quality of life.
According to the 2008 study, which can be found here: http://floridaswater.com/itsyourlagoon/pdfs/IRL_Economic_Assessment_2007.pdf, fishermen and other boaters spent $96 million in Indian River County in 2007, including $15 million for boat fuel, $11 million for boat rental, $12.8 million for food and beverage and $28.5 million for shopping and sundries in stores on the island and downtown.
That number has probably already fallen as sea grass and fish have disappeared from parts of the lagoon and it will certainly plummet further if conditions continue to deteriorate.
“It would be devastating to our economy if the lagoon becomes severely polluted,” says Turner. “It wouldn’t just hit property values and jobs. It would impact our quality of life and create dangers for people with allergies, who would be affected by algae blooms.”
It is not going to be easy or cheap to solve our septic system pollution problem but it has to be solved and anyone presenting himself or herself as a leader who cares about this county should be working on it damn near full time.
