While most have had their attention directed to the Brevard County planned purchase of the economically unbuildable Thousand Islands in Cocoa Beach for triple the appraised price, sliding in under the rug is another purchase of far more mammoth proportions.

Hunter’s Brooke, an estimated 2,400 acres of land and 500 acres of water, is to be purchased for $25 million. That’s about half of all remaining EELS funds. However, as Paul Harvey would say, here’s the rest of the story.

The current owners purchased the parcel in Spring of 2005, near the peak of the Housing Bubble, for $15 million. They now are pulling back hundreds of acres from their original purchase, and in a decidedly down real estate market. They are selling the rest to the County for a $10 million profit (plus whatever land they pulled back). With prices plunging, and the Titusville area certain to plunge even harder due to KSC job reductions, Brevard County is paying $25 million for a chunk of land (2,852 acres are being purchased - 1,494 wetlands, 864 uplands, 494 water). This same property is carried on the Property Tax Roll for less than $200,000. Now I would never say this large parcel is only worth about as much as one decent single family home in Brevard County, but I sure do not understand how after the 2005 transaction for $15 million the property owners continued to pay virtually no taxes. And do not look for the cows, they are not there.

The EELS program (Environmentally Endangered Lands Program), working with The Nature Conservancy, is going into overdrive to blow the remaining $55 or so million from the last EELS bond. This insane purchase is not the only one, but it is the biggest. Another is planned for two large parcels in Scottsmoor for about $20 million, a couple of lucky mosquito impoundments are up for a million bucks each, and of course, the Thousand Islands. I do not blame property owners for trying to sell their land to the taxpayers when it cannot be built due to economic or environmental reasons, but I sure do blame the County Commission, the EELS program, its supporters, and The Nature Conservancy for Brevard County paying prices to landowners that exceed the prices these guys could have got at the absolute peak of the Housing Bubble in the late Summer of 2005. The latest EELS deals are beginning to make the Sarno Landfill (now surplus property!) look like a bargain.

The Orlando Sentinel ran a great article about the rush to sell undeveloped property to local governments now that it is finally sinking in to many people that the Housing Bubble is finished. Seller after seller transformed from developer to environmentalist when they realized their property value had fallen and no one but foolish local governments would continue to pay 2005 Bubble prices, or more. Now with housing busted in Florida, they all prefer to see it preserved - at taxpayer expense, of course.

In the article, Keith Fountain, who runs The Nature Conservancy program working with the Brevard County EELS program, told the reporter it was important to prioritize acquisitions before all the money was spent. Unfortunately in Brevard County, this does not seem to be the case.

We are rapidly moving to blow the entire bond issue within a few months on a handful of disjointed properties without rhyme, reason, or plan, other than somehow they got to the front of the line during the EELS bank run to get the money. Tuesday’s planned purchase alone of the west Fox Lake property is nearly HALF of the bond issue.

If there is any justice it will be as I have warned the greens before who show up to support every single EELS purchase, no matter where it is, how much it costs, or how much it is worth. Within a few months all EELS funds will be exhausted. The greens and EELS believe they have room under the millage for another $15 million bond issue, but they will soon see that the same collapsing housing market that brought these ‘willing’ sellers in to dump their land on the taxpayers will likewise evaporate the monies generated by the fixed EELS millage (tax rate), ensuring there is nothing left to bond.

Let us hope they enjoy the purchases they have driven. I am sure the sellers will.