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Staff reports progress on multiple acquisitions and plans to expand Volusia Conservation Corridor
Summary
Resource Stewardship staff updated the Volusia Forever Committee on active acquisition negotiations (Triple T Ranch, McMillan, Double Eagle, Tomoka Marsh and others), a planned sale of Edgewater canals to the city and a proposed expansion of the Volusia Conservation Corridor that could add tens of thousands of acres for voluntary conservation.
Staff reported a series of ongoing transactions, partnerships and mapping work at the April 4 Volusia Forever Committee meeting.
Tim Telfer, chief of conservation acquisition, and Hunter Falmer, chief of land management, provided project-level updates. They said negotiations are advancing on agricultural-easement projects (Triple T Ranch and McMillan), that a large southern project (Double Eagle, roughly 990 acres) is nearing legal agreement with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and that a Tomoka Marsh transaction (about 1,300 acres) is progressing in partnership with the Florida Forever program.
Staff described an Edgewater-area conveyance in which the county will transfer a 9.06-acre canal corridor to the city of Edgewater so the city can maintain stormwater outfalls; the county will convey upland parcels differently and the state may take ownership of a portion through Florida Forever. For a related Carter property, staff said the state has closed and Volusia County will serve as land manager for the adjacent Deep Creek Preserve; the county will prepare management agreements and develop a passive-recreation plan funded in part by a previously approved county allocation.
Other updates included near-complete recording for a Cooper acquisition that will be absorbed into Wiregrass Prairie Preserve, ongoing appraisal and negotiation work on the Tallmadge and Tomoka Farms Road projects, and preliminary discussions on a 5,500-acre Lake Kearney opportunity with the Department of Environmental Protection.
Staff also summarized a GIS-driven target analysis for an expansion of the Volusia Conservation Corridor (a Florida Forever project area). The draft map identifies roughly 1,900 private owners to contact and a potential corridor expansion that could add tens of thousands of acres; staff said the map is tentative, that willing-seller responses will revise the boundary, and that the process enables faster consideration ("triage") by the state when parcels are already inside a Florida Forever project area.
Committee members asked for additional map layers (wetlands, floodways) in the packet and for staff to keep the committee informed. Staff asked that members consider attending the County Council meeting where proposed updates to the Volusia Forever resolution are scheduled for early May.
