A.G. Gancarski
Florida Cabinet aides on Wednesday set up a meeting of the full Cabinet in Tampa next week. The meeting largely will focus on pending land deals.
Cemex Construction seeks 630 acres of surplus conservation land in Miami-Dade in exchange for $14,765,000 deposited into the State School Fund.
The land is currently leased to a Miami-Dade park, which contains a motocross track.
Cemex wants to mine on 380 acres of the land, which will abut the extant motocross track and canals. After mining, the property will be ceded back to the county.
In exchange, Cemex will convey the 1,080-acre parcel in the Pennsuco Wetlands to the South Florida Water Management District for restoration. The 1,080-acre parcel is the last privately owned parcel held by a mining company in the Pennsuco Wetlands, which collect water from the Water Conservation Areas to the west.
A land swap in Winter Springs will see the state cede about a half-acre of land no longer needed for conservation purposes; that area will be used as part of the space for a proposed amphitheater near the Seminole Trail.
Per the agenda: “The conveyance of the 0.44- acre parcel to the City will also benefit trail users by providing improved trail access from an existing parking area and restroom facilities. In addition, the City will provide a trail use agreement to the County within an existing public right of way for completion of the trail to the north. In order to provide trail users access from the existing trail terminus to the south, the Seminole County School Board has agreed to convey a 0.05-acre easement to the County over an existing sidewalk along the roadway.”
The state also looks to cede 4.63 acres of non-conservation land in Miami-Dade for a production plant for the Natural Vitamins company, in exchange for $3,031,001 in the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. At one point, this land was a prison work camp.
In other news from the meeting — the only discussion point that approached the level of quasi-contentious exchange — Judge Robert Cohen defended the status quo on the Division of Administrative Hearings’ standards, noting that “big complex cases … make it hard to set performance standards too much higher.”
Pressed by aides to challenge his team more, Cohen noted that “we have very strict performance standards” relative to the clerk’s office, offering to demonstrate how stringent the standards are.
