Treasure Coast Newspapers
For much of the past century, the biggest obstacle to restoring the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades has been the sugar cane fields that stand between the two.
The 400,000 acres of farms in the Everglades Agricultural Area have been the missing link for the onetime River of Grass.
Propped up by federal price supports, the cane fields are a big part of the reason the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries get flooded when Lake O rises too high.
In 2008, then-Gov. Charlie Crist brokered a deal to buy almost half of the sugar land in the EAA. That deal was downsized when the economy tanked.
It’s looking like an even more remote prospect now.
That’s because another obstacle to Everglades restoration is rearing its head south of Lake Okeechobee.
This time, it’s a force familiar to all South Floridians: urban development.
Late last month, U.S. Sugar Corp. and another agricultural powerhouse, the Hilliard Brothers, got initial approval for a long-term plan that would bring 18,000 homes to 67 square miles just west of Clewiston.
The proposal, known as the Sugar Hill Sector Plan, also includes 25 million square feet of nonresidential buildings and preservation of some farmland.
In terms of acreage, it would be twice as large as the island of Manhattan.
And on Aug. 26, the Hendry County Commission agreed to send the proposal to the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity for review.
If it gets final approval, it could drive up the price of land owned by U.S. Sugar that the South Florida Water Management District retains an option to buy for Everglades restoration.
“Is it going to increase the value to a point where, if it’s gone to development, we can’t buy it anymore?” asked Mark Perry, executive director of Florida Oceanographic Society and a longtime advocate for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.
The 430-page application U.S. Sugar and Hilliard Brothers submitted to the state makes no mention of the Everglades or estuaries.
That’s despite the fact that about 12,800 acres of the Sugar Hill proposal is part of an option the taxpayer-funded South Florida Water Management District retains until October 2015. The district has a longer-term option on 153,000 acres of U.S. Sugar land that expires in 2020.
I asked U.S. Sugar spokeswoman Judy Sanchez why the company was pushing this proposal now, even as Crist has promised to revive the U.S. Sugar deal if elected in November.
Sanchez replied via email that the company was “being responsive to the economic development efforts of the state, the region and our local community.”
“Hendry County has been pushing for agricultural land to be made available for business and economic development for years,” she continued, “and it makes sense to begin this type of master planning now, so that the required sector planning is in place when needed in the future.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sugar Corp.’s own website still touts the Everglades land deal.
It proclaims the company “proud to be part of this historic opportunity to make extraordinary progress in Everglades restoration and restore much of the natural footprint of South Florida.”
Which is it?
Time to build on the land south of Lake Okeechobee?
Or time to preserve it?
We can understand why Hendry County would consider this massive development plan.
It has the highest unemployment rate of all 67 counties in Florida (12.5 percent in July, compared with 6.8 percent in Martin County).
But 18,000 new homes won’t transform the economy of Clewiston, which has a population of about 7,000.
And simply building an “employment center” doesn’t mean the jobs will follow.
Just ask the city of Port St. Lucie.
Even if it’s approved, the Sugar Hill plan wouldn’t happen overnight. Its horizon is 2060.
That might sound like a long time — until we compare it with the pace of Everglades restoration.
It’s doubtful the River of Grass will be completely restored by then.
Putting a major development project in the works would only create more obstacles.
Eve Samples is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects her opinion. Contact her at 772-221-4217 or eve.samples@scripps.com.