Years ago, Sarasota County made a deal with its taxpayers that if we agreed to pay an extra tax, the money would be used to buy and protect environmentally sensitive land areas.
The promise was simple: these land areas would be preserved for the citizens of Sarasota County, and they would not be sold off.
In 2014, Sarasota County spent $2.3 million through the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program to buy 1.67 acres of beachfront property.
That land was leased to the Hermitage Artist Retreat, an artist community in Englewood.
The Hermitage provides cultural programs that many residents enjoy.
But let’s be clear: this property was purchased to always serve as a public area. It was not purchased to become a privately owned retreat.
Now the Hermitage wants to buy the land.
It has offered $600,000 for the beachfront parcel and $100 for nearly four acres of adjacent parkland.
In addition, the Hermitage wants the bayside parking lot to be included in the deal – and at no cost.
This is not a fair offer.
It is a request for a land grab at bargain-basement prices.
To justify its low offer, the Hermitage points to the money it has spent – or will spend – on work to maintain the beachfront property (some of which, according to Sarasota County officials, may have been unpermitted).
But the Hermitage has enjoyed a virtually free lease for years; it pays merely $1 annually.
And under a proposed new lease, the Hermitage would pay only $10 total for 30 years of using six acres of taxpayer-owned land.
In that context, the work done by the Hermitage to maintain the property should be seen as a basic responsibility – not as a down payment on ownership.
The Hermitage also argues that Sarasota County has been too slow in making hurricane repairs to historic structures on the site. Indeed, the Hermitage’s attorney has hinted that the county may even be in default of its lease due to the slow repairs.
But after a hurricane, Sarasota County’s first duty must be to help families trying to repair their homes, landlords scrambling to restore rental housing and businesses fighting to reopen.
These major priorities should not be leapfrogged to address the temporary inconveniences experienced by artists who are unable to use taxpayer-subsidized beachfront housing.
The bigger issue is what comes next. If Sarasota County agrees to this proposal, it will set a dangerous precedent.
Other private groups will line up with similar lowball offers of our park lands, and they will chip away at the land areas taxpayers were told would be protected forever.
Every time Sarasota County collects the voter-approved Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program tax, it is making this promise: “We will use your money to safeguard our environmentally sensitive lands and parks for the benefit of everyone in the county.”
Breaking that promise for the benefit of a single organization would undermine the entire program.
It would also betray the trust of the Sarasota County voters who made the program possible.
And that’s why the county must honor its word.
It must protect the lands taxpayers have paid to have protected.
And, above all, it must keep our public lands public.
Lourdes Ramirez is a Siesta Key resident and a longtime advocate for responsible growth in Sarasota County,
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: We pay you to protect our land, Sarasota County. Don’t you dare betray us. | Opinion
Reporting by Lourdes Ramirez Guest columnist / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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