Don’t Let ELAPP Lapse
October 24, 2008 at 6:58 am by Alex PickettIn this week’s Urban Explorer, I profiled local crabber Gus Muench and his proposal to turn Cockroach Bay into a sanctuary.
This isn’t the first time Muench has worked with county leaders to protect Cockroach Bay. In 1986, the editorial boards of both daily papers wrote about the local crabber and his mission to preserve Cockroach Bay. It caught the attention of several county leaders, including then-Hillsborough County Commissioner Jan Platt, who was working on a program that would pool a small fraction of county property taxes into a fund allowing the county to buy undeveloped land to preserve. It was called the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Preservation Program (ELAPP).
The next year, the proposal was on the ballot and voters approved it for three years. In 1990, even as the savings and loan crisis led headlines, voters approved it again.
So far, the county has bought over 44,000 acres of wilderness through ELAPP. Many of these areas are prime recreational spots for kayaking, fishing and hiking.
This year, ELAPP is again on the ballot. But county leaders and environmentalists worry voters might not be as keen on the program.
“I’m voting for it,” Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham told me. “But I’m concerned people will vote against it because of the economy.”
He’s not alone in his opinion. Convincing residents to vote for any tax in this economy is not easy feat, even though the program is not a tax increase and currently costs residents very little. For example, the owner of a $225,000 home pays only $44 a year.
“Looking at the landscape [of Hillsborough County], we can absolutely see that lands not purchased [by the county] will be developed like Pinellas County,” says Ann Hodgson, sanctuaries manager for Audabon of Florida. Without ELAPP, she says, “[Development] would be so much worse.”
Hodgson says many Hillsborough County voters are just not educated on ELAPP’s benefits. ELAPP proponents agree and have formed a volunteer group, headed by former Republican Gov. Bob Martinez and the former (Democratic) county commissioner Jan Platt, to get out the vote. Their call to action is below:
Parcels along Cockroach Bay were some of the first properties preserved by ELAPP and, just this year, Hillsborough County purchased over 50 acres on another part of the bay. This isn’t lost on Muench, the crabber.
“In 1986, Cockroach Bay became the catalyst moving Hillsborough County into the future,” he says. “Now, 22 years later, Cockroach Bay again offers us a chance to plan for our future.”
October 24th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Thanks for writing about this. The main challenge facing this referendum is simply that many voters don’t know what ELAPP is. A recent poll showed that when people are informed about ELAPP, the majority will support continuing this successful nature preservation program.
Broad-based support comes from the cities of Tampa & Plant City, businesses like TECO and Mosaic, the Tampa Bay Partnership, The Planning Commission, the Agency on Bay Management, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, as well as every local & regional environmental group including Audubon & Sierra Club. Both the Tribune & Times have endorsed it.