{"id":409,"date":"2017-11-05T16:39:14","date_gmt":"2017-11-05T21:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/conservation\/?p=409"},"modified":"2017-11-05T16:39:14","modified_gmt":"2017-11-05T21:39:14","slug":"renewable-energy-green-swamp-sprawl-questions-face-lake-alfred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/?p=409","title":{"rendered":"Renewable Energy, Green Swamp Sprawl Questions Face Lake Alfred"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Monday night Lake Alfred officials will face a complicated discussion that will combine renewable energy, appropriate development choices in the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern and the city’s future development aspirations.\n<\/p>\n

Last summer TECO proposed a change in the city’s development code to allow solar farms, which were not covered in the city’s code at that point, to be allowed in many parts of the city, including residential areas.\n<\/p>\n

When the case came to the city’s Planning Board last month, city staff argued that solar farms should be treated the same as power plants, which is that they should be restricted to rural areas or industrial areas. They based that on local practices in the area that contain similar restrictions.\n<\/p>\n

This was a setback for TECO because it was negotiating with Berry Groves to buy land along Cass Road in rural northwest Lake Alfred in an area zoned for residential subdivisions but still dominated by citrus groves, small lakes and marshes.\"\"\/\n\t<\/p>\n

Entrance of Green Swamp near proposed solar farm site
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City officials argued putting a 300-acre solar farm in this undeveloped area would discourage future subdivision development. Instead, city officials wanted to steer TECO to another site, though that would still be subject to negotiation with another property owner and further zoning review.\n<\/p>\n

The City Commission on Monday will consider whether to accept the Planning Board’s recommendation.\n<\/p>\n

Looking at the city’s zoning map, it appears to focus most of its future residential growth to the north. Some of this is out of necessity because its ability to expand in any other direction is hampered by the fact that Winter Haven, Auburndale and Haines City have already staked out claims on any property that’s not floodprone.\n<\/p>\n

A story in The Ledger revealed<\/a> the city had already agreed to a $1 million subsidy in connection with plans to put a 750-home subdivision on the site by charging cut-rate impact fees. How that would impact the city’s taxpayers is unknown. If there were that kind of development approved there, road improvements would be necessary because the development would empty onto a curve on County Road 557 with limited visibility.\n<\/p>\n

It is well-documented that residential developments are money pits for local governments in the long run because they require more in services than they provide in tax revenue.\n<\/p>\n

Solar farms would generate some tax revenue\u2014a 2016 constitutional amendment and subsequent legislation authorized tax breaks\u2014and would not burden city services or local schools.\n<\/p>\n

Additionally, there’s something appealingly symbolic about placing a green energy complex in the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern as well as the practical result of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the water pollution from hundreds of rooftops, driveways and new streets.\n<\/p>\n

Lake Alfred has a long-term opportunity here. Let us hope for a thoughtful discussion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday night Lake Alfred officials will face a complicated discussion that will combine renewable energy, appropriate development choices in the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern and the city’s future development aspirations. Last summer TECO proposed a change in the city’s development code to allow solar farms, which were not covered in the city’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gci"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientislands.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}