property taxes pay for good, too
Although I have seen stories complaining about the County’s haphazard conservation attempts I thought it was good to see an article that looks at this difficult job and shows what it’s positive effects can be. Because they compete with aggressive and well-funded developers, the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program of Hillsborough county is at severe disadvantage. But they are able to preserve some natural parts of the increasingly sub-urbanized Hillsborough county from being swallowed by low density sprawl.
There is a lot of discussion here about overdevelopment of the area and how infrastructure improvements are not always concurrent with new construction. However, here we see a program which buys land that might otherwise become another subdivision spilling cars and people onto unprepared roads and schools. According to the county’s official website, about 42,300 acres are now preserved in pristine condition for public enjoyment. In addition to preserving these lands for everybody’s enjoyment they force developers to make better use of existing space than they would otherwise.
The county includes a vast pdf database with areas under consideration for conservation and the status of these parcels including maps. Take a look and see if that wooded area behind your house is on it. If not you can ask the county ELAPP Acquisition Manager Kurt Gremley to look into buying it before it becomes the next “Generic Subdivision Name Here” planned community.
Tags: county, development, environment, tampa, taxes
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