It is. Good morning everyone. We will go ahead and get started here with our last resolution forever advisory committee uh year meeting of the year. Uh we will start with roll call.
>> Jessica Gal here. >> Suzanne Shriber. Kelly Frasa >> here. >> Gerald Faser >> here. >> John Gamble >> here. >> Derek Lontaine >> here. >> John Maluso >> here. Uh Wanda Vanam
>> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Fantastic. >> And one vacancy. >> Perfect. Thank you everyone for being here. Um just to start in terms of public participation, I do not have any slips. If you would like to speak generally outside of an agenda item, you
can come up and and speak and we'll fill out a form. Otherwise, if you have a form and you'd like to speak, just coordinate with staff on that and we will get you up here for three minutes. Um, the first item on the agenda is review and approval of the October 24th, 2025 meeting minutes.
Everyone had a chance to review if we have any comments or we'll entertain a motion. >> I'll move we accept the minutes as presented. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second for those minutes. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Perfect.
And then we have one item of old business which is our July meeting date. I think we had some conflicts um with the proposed July. So the proposed is July 24th. I think we just need general discussion and to identify if that works for the committee in general.
>> Yes. So this is Ashlin. So whenever I sent out the dates, everybody that uh corresponded with me with the dates that I presented um everybody seemed that July 24th was okay. >> Um so I just I selected that date. So
great, perfect. Well, no action needed then and just mark it on your calendars. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. And then we will quickly move into new business. So we have two items for eligibility and then we have three rankings. So we will start with eligibility. Our first one is Little
Hall Creek. >> Tim Teler with uh Blush Forever Program. First item for your consideration this morning is a Little Hawk Creek application. This is a fee simple application. Staff scored a 16 out of 21 with a minimum required is a 10 out of 21. acreage is roughly 818 acres in
size. It is within the uh Florida Wildlife Corridor area and it is adjacent and contiguous with Heart Island Conservation Area and the Pal Plum Creek Conservation Easement. Stand by for any questions. >> Does anyone have any questions for staff
on this one? It's a beautiful property. Seeing no questions, do we have a motion? >> Move to uh make this eligible. All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Right, we have a motion and a second.
Any further discussion? All right, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, that is found eligible. We'll move on to Lake Winona. >> Good morning everyone. Hunter Falmer, chief of land management. Our next
property is the Lake Winona Road. Uh, this application is an egg easement. Staff scored this 13 out of 19 out of the required nine. It's 115 acres and um it is also adjacent to Hard Island and
within wildlife corridor. Take any questions. >> Questions for staff on this one? >> I move to motion to um to make Lake Winona Road eligible. >> Second. We have a motion and a second.
Any further discussion? No. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Perfect. That one is also found eligible. Fantastic sites here. Then we will move into rankings. >> Okay. So, um the first item for your
consideration was found eligible at a previous meeting. This is the bots landing project. It's been submitted to Lush County as a fee simple application, 62 acres in size. uh staff had it scored as a 10 out of 21 with a minimum uh required score of 10.
We don't have any matching funds identified at this time and its attributes are is within the wildlife corridor in the natural resources management area. >> Questions for staff on this ranking or comments? >> So, do you have any questions for staff
or comments on this site before we move to a motion? Yeah, I'd like to make a comment on this property because I know last time when we talked about it there there seemed to be a little apprehensive whether what this was and I guess because I wear two hats here in the county both for on echo
and forever and and after what we've been going through with echo on the the properties or what the the survey that was sent out and the number one thing on there was people want access to nature and basically I took that as parks. They
want a place to get out and get away from their cell phones and electronic devices. The this is out there where the county and the city of Dand are-c because it's in the rail uh where the rail station is is a lot of active and a lot of growth going on.
That whole area is being covered up with houses right now. Yet, I've seen no parks planned or anything for that area. And I don't know how to go to how to do this. This is something new for me. But this is a project that probably should go before
Echko and forever because half of it is environmentally property. Uh I would not be surprised one day if there's other parcels that might come to available that would allow river access from this parcel. Uh and yet there's also an area
to have it a very active park. And so I don't know how to how to go about that. I mean, I I would make a motion that we put it, you know, on our list subject to it going before Echo because it should be a joint project like several of the other projects we're looking at like
Talmage Gardens and and the uh piece out in the center part of the county with the motocross track. Um, and so I would ask staff what would be what would be the proper motion to to to make that where it would go before both entities or how would we do that? Uh the motion
today should be for eligibility for Valicia forever only. Um if this were to be an echo project, it would need to be submitted through the echo program process. >> Now now who would submit that to the echo pro process? >> If it is um a nonprofit or municipality,
um they can submit that through Echo. If it is a county owned already, that could be considered a direct county expenditure project. >> So So we would need to buy it first through Echko. I mean through forever and then go from there on down through the other entities
uh echo or whatever you're what you're saying. We have to start the ball rolling here then. >> Right. Well, there's a couple pathways through echko. You know, one is the acquisition side through echko where it's a direct acquisition. Um two is the I'm going say the amenity side through
echko where it's a county owned property already and echo pays for the amenities on the property. So, if we wanted to find this on the A-list because we're sorting today, it's found eligible just A or B. I don't know that we can legally condition it. Um,
but I think that we could state to staff strongly that we think this would be a great joint partnership to review as you look through the potential funding partnership options. >> Well, Madam Chairman, I would move that we put this on the A-list. >> All right, we have a motion. Do we have
a second for the A-list? >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Further discussion on that ranking. >> All right, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, that will be found on the A-list and as noted, we
think it'd be a great partnership with our echo friends. >> See where it goes. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. The next property for ranking is going to be the wire grass in holding. Um, this is proposed fee simple. It's 10 acres in size. Um, this was ranked 12
out of 21 out of the required 10. Uh, we have identified no matching funds and it is also within the wildlife corridor and surrounded by Wiregrass Prairie Preserve. >> Any questions for staff or comments on this one?
Seeing none, we will entertain a motion. >> I move we place this on the A-list. >> I'll second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second to designate this as the A-list. Any further comments? All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That will also be found on
the A-list. >> Final uh project for ranking is the crude egg LLC project. This would be a fee simple acquisition approximately 261 acres in size. Staff had scored it 11 out of 21 with a minimum require required score of 10. We do think we
have some potential matching funds with the St. John's River Water Management District here. Um attributes. It is within the e eco area and it is also within the Florida wildlife corridor. >> Questions or comments for staff? >> Can you explain a bit more about what
this water management district said, I guess, or how that communication's going? >> Well, in general, um, when we reach out to the waterfront or pardon me, when we reach out to the St. John's River Water Management District, they've let us know that they're looking for certain types of properties to partner on. So that is
uh expansion of their existing preserve areas. Uh you know you saw little hall earlier. Little Hall is something we've already had some discussions with the water management district on. It makes a lot of sense for them to engage with us in a partnership as well as all these waterfront areas. These waterfront areas fit their core mission of uh you know
protecting the uh uh what I would just call the the the waters of of Florida uh particularly northeast Florida St. John. So it's a core mission fit for them. They think there's a lot of potential for their for them to get engaged also. Any other questions or comments? Seeing
none, we'll entertain a motion. I >> I'll make a motion to place Crude A LLC on the A-list. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Not seeing any further discussion. All those in favor?
>> I. >> Any opposed? All right. We have three new A-list properties. Thank you everyone. That will shift us um into staff comments and property updates. >> Okay. Um got some quick updates for you
this morning. First, I'll start with the uh McMillan Agricultural Easement. This was approved by the county council for uh closing on that easement. Was also approved as a partnership with the St. John's River Water Management District by their governing board this past Tuesday. Uh so we now initiate the
closing process which for us means that we are going to get uh a phase one environmental assessment and a survey done that will move towards a closing table as soon as those documents come in. The next one that I'll bring to your attention if you recall the triple T ranch property a little bit east of
Wiregrass Preserve. Uh this was a piece of property that's been in our system for roughly I would say about 18 to 24 months. Uh we have had continuous dialogue with the owner. uh he's come come in and and uh indicated to us that
he's ready to move forward at this time. He does have some deal terms that we need to discuss internally, but um it does have some forward momentum and so we'll see how those conversations go. I'll slow down a little bit so folks can catch up.
The next one that I'm going to bring up is Tamoka Farms. So I was in Tallahassee yesterday at the acquisition and restoration council meeting. We I presented this to the ark staff. That is one of the first steps in
expanding the Valuchia conservation corridor to also include this property. Significant for this property is that twothirds of it is encumbered by that OT to O boundary that we've discussed in the past that opens up another funding route through DP.
Um, so it it was uh reviewed by the ARC staff yesterday. Um, we've got a process where it now needs to go before the governor and cabinet in March to be formally listed. After that, we'll start discussions with the um owners uh about
uh you know the acquisition and uh present it to the county council as soon as we can hopefully with a partnership with D. The next one that I'll up I'll bring forward is the Bennett Road project. Just a quick update on that Bennett
road. So, this is an agricultural easement and uh we are in communication with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. This is the rural and family lands protection program on a partnership. The first step is to
present um memorandum of agreement to the county council. So, we're working on that behind the scenes right now. You'll see that go in front of the county council in the upcoming weeks, hopefully, maybe months. Uh but that's the first step in our partnership with FDAX and uh right now we're proposing a
50-50 cost split on this agricultural leasement. Next one is going to be the feast project. So this is actually it's going to be complic complicated to bring up on the maps but it's actually four ownerships that are essentially family members all
contiguous property. Uh we continue to have dialogue with the owners on this. We uh are in the appraisal stage right now. We've agreed to some conservation easement terms. That e that draft easement has been turned over to the appraisers. We're in the appraisal process right now. When those documents
come in, we'll reapproach the owners and uh consider making an offer on that one. And then the final one I'll present for an update is going to be the Riverbend project, southern Valuchia County. So we've seen this one in the past. It
was before you a couple years ago. It's now returned through. Um there is still an interest in working with the Valuchia Forever program. So we've initiated appraisals on this one. Also, as you'll notice, this has frontage on the St. John's River. It's also a fit for the St. John's River Water Management
District. So, as part of that appraisal process, they've identified some uh wetlands on there that they think fits their core mission. So, we have a separate breakout value on the appraisal for there to bring their dollars in. We've also had some discussions with Ducks Unlimited to see if we can bring in what we call a NOKA grant, North
American Wetland Conservation Act grants, a federal grant that Ducks Unlimited has a uh a great tracker record with. And as long as long as we can get that documentation to them, we think that that is a potential funding source for this project also. So that's the extent of my updates today, but
happy to answer any questions you may have. Before we go to questions, I just want to note that I have heard u from many people, including those in Tallahassee, that they greatly appreciate Valuchia County staff for always being present for meetings like the art committee. Um, so I want to thank you guys for all the work you do.
Um, and just noting that we talked last time about funding sources and kind of the lack of stability, I think, at the state level right now in terms of where that is. And so, it's great to see that you guys are already looking at partnerships and different funding sources. So,
Yeah, just to just to follow up on that, I'm going to express to this uh advisory committee that we are going to keep trying. I mean, it's a complicated f partnership world out there, but we keep pushing forward and try to bring these outside dollars in to the extent we're told not to. >> All right, other questions or comments
for staff? Absolutely. >> Yes. Uh the Lake Moore property out here that city of Dand is supposed to be putting in the parking corral and the amenities and the trails. Correct. >> Correct. >> What is their timeline? Do we have a timeline yet for it, Nick? I know we talked earlier, but
>> no, we'll be talking to the city to get a accurate timeline, but the management plan is complete and there will be public access to that property. >> Do you think they'll have something by our next meeting? >> I'll have to talk to the city on that. >> Yeah, we put a little fire under them a little bit out there to because that that's been going on. It's it's looking
bad. The property I mean, you know, it's kind of growing up where the entrance was. Yeah. The signs out there and the signs been there for a long time and it just I get questions. It's like, when are you going to do something with it? Well, you know, it I'll find out. So, that's what we're trying to do today is find out when is this going to move on
and get it open up to the public. I think they're going to have those subdivisions, it looks like, built before they ever get the trail put in. So, uh, Dan needs to step up and get it going. >> Thank you. >> Right. Any other comments or questions to staff?
All right. Before we switch over to advisory committee comments, I did get a request for public comment. So, we'll have Jim Chapen come up with FWC. Um, you have three minutes. >> Hey, good morning. Uh, yeah, I won't take too much of your time. I just wanted to uh walk in this morning and
say hello. I'm with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Um, I'm also a Valuchia County resident and uh have been grew up here as well. Um but I just mostly wanted to express uh that our support within my particular uh
team in FWC, the office of conservation planning services um that uh we just are you know consistently uh impressed uh with what blue forever is doing and you know to the extent possible to the extent that I can uh supply support or
technical advice on any front uh we're always willing to do so but mostly just here to kind of listen and and see how how this all comes together this morning. Um, but yeah, just a a word of appreciation and also uh again, we're here to to help in any way, shape, or form, but y'all are doing an excellent
job. >> Thank you. Thank you for being here. >> All right, we will shift to advisory committee comments. Any comments? >> A question if I could. The first two properties that uh we had today, the new
ones, why are we not moving on to the sorting today? Is that something that the property owner has to specifically approve ahead of time or because I thought that was the goal in trying to move these forward faster.
>> So I describe it as a case by case basis. Um we do bring it up uh with certain projects. So we know time is of the essence. If there's not a uh a measure of haste involved on the ownership side, we do like to take our time and make sure these things are
properly processed here and everybody has time to kind of let it resonate in. Um but if there is feedback from the owners that it is imperative that we move quickly, we we still have that option. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Great. Other questions or comments by
the team? Absolutely. >> Yeah. I I would encourage this uh group here, if we if you have not been listening to any of the county council meetings, the last couple, I would encourage you to go to YouTube and listen to some of the comments,
especially as it concerns Valuchia Forever. Uh I found it very troubling listening to what some of our council people are are uh uh talking about. I found it I I kind of felt after listening to it that I'm somewhat wasting my time sitting here. Uh I I
think we it would be nice and hopefully the council the first year will will figure out where where how they want to go with it. But uh uh it's somewhat troubling and um so maybe those of you in the areas where some of these council members live may need to have a
discussion. I know I've reached out to mine. I've not heard back from him yet. So I I guess he really cons, you know, values my opinion. But uh nonetheless, uh something if you have nothing else to do, listen to the to the uh the audio of the meetings.
>> And I do agree. I think that voicing our support of the program and kind of what has been accomplished by staff and the whole county team under this program is a great reminder, especially at year end for those who appointed you to the board. If you have the time and inclination,
Yeah, thank you for bringing that up and and yeah, which I haven't watched through all the the meetings, but yeah, I definitely will check that out and I hope um yeah, again, there's continued support uh for for this uh program and I appreciate everyone everyone's participation and of course the staff
are doing a great job. Um but yeah, I guess maybe I should have brought this up during staff comments if I had a couple questions. I hope that's maybe okay. But um perhaps can you anyone on staff um uh again this is kind of a question I've received uh confirm which
properties uh and I guess you maybe can't list all of them that are perhaps getting um access for the uh current bear hunt that's going on. Um is is anyone here eligible or able to kind of explain which areas those are taking
place in? Yeah, we we have various properties throughout our conservation lands where hunting and is allowed. Um the Lake George Forest and WMA is one of those properties that is eligible for the bear hunt through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. We also have two other properties um where
the leases are on Longleaf Pine Preserve, a portion of Longleaf Pine Preserve and a portion of Deep Creek Preserve where hunting is allowed as well. >> Okay. And is staff being uh informed about like if someone is you know using one of their licenses I think that they
have to get for that or any are they is Valuchia County being informed or is that kind of kept with the on the state level? I guess >> that's at the state level. We don't receive uh notifications of individual permits. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Um and I
might have uh well just one other question. Um and this is to unrelated I guess. Um but when we receive our emails uh from for the meetings um there's always like a restriction placed on it. I guess everyone gets those through the little link secure. I was just wondering
why we do that. Um I mean these are public um documents, right? So, I mean it's just an extra step and it's kind of a at least for me I' I'd rather it just be sent as a PDF or whatever. I mean instead of the having to log in and like get a passcode and I mean it is public
record accessible, right? These aren't secret meeting agendas. >> I think they're usually too large to send over email. >> Yeah, if you're referring to Biscom, it's just because of the size of the PDF. We have to transmit it outside of the email system. >> That's why. Okay. I just didn't know if there was some other reason. Um but
okay, that's I think all my comments. So again, thank you everyone >> and and if I may, those all those documents are also available online at the Fore River website. Um so the public has the same packet that you guys get when it goes out. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Uh I'm reading right off of the minutes
from uh from last meeting. Mike Ponitansky from Tobokco Farms Villages described the 96 acre environmental environmentally sensitive property in Port Orange and explained that there was currently a contract for purchase by a
developer to construct 135 homes. He said that Tamoka Farms Villages was working with the current owner to get permission to bring the property to the Valuchia Forever Committee for preservation. Has anything happened with that? Have you been notified at all?
No, I have not. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Question, Suzanne. >> Um, so two of our fellow members here commented on the Valuchia County Council meeting.
It's actually some of those um comments that you're referring to have been going on for a few meetings. Um, I am just going to be a little more direct here to get this on public record. Uh, there's
been discussion concerning uh wanting less than 50% of land conservation, which is uh staff's goal. There has been discussion on um not wanting land kept in perpetuity.
There has been discussion on um possibly not wanting matching funds and most recently discussion on um whether to bond or not. So um I have watched those
meetings. they are concerning and uh I just wanted to spell out what I mean I I do encourage everyone to go back and watch the meetings for sure but I wanted to spell out on public record what has been discussed so far. So thank you for
bringing that up. >> Um if I may um if the committee would like um we can provide some information on what the program has accomplished. We were already preparing this information for the uh annual report that's going to be coming in January. Uh but we can get
you that information if you would like to uh share it with your council members uh before that January meeting. >> That would be fantastic I think to have. >> I appreciate um and I guess just to make sure Suzanne or um Mr. Uh, Dunham, uh,
if you can tell which meetings, uh, because again, I'm not sure if these are agenda items, but if there is an agenda item for Valuchia Forever, I guess I don't know if someone notifies us or this board because I again, I don't read every single agenda item on the county uh, council's website. So, um, if that
comes up, can we be u told? And also I guess if there was some comments again if any one can give direction on where to find those because you know at the end of a meeting if there's just uh council comments then you know that's not on the agenda easy to search for. Um so again just for people looking to to
see where these things were said to craft their their response and message. Um any if we can get those specifics on when those comments were made that would appreciate I'd appreciate that. I'm just going to say um I mean Nick will have his own answer, but they've
been spread throughout meetings. I can't give you specifics. I will tell you that um bonding was on the last agenda, but they have come up throughout for a few meetings now. So, I'm sorry that I can't
give you like agenda item numbers, but >> understood. If it comes up as >> and I do want to make this clear so that it's it's not said that I none of these things that I just stated have been discussed have been voted on yet. I want to make that perfectly clear because I
don't want to said that I, you know, crashed the program by saying they did these things. I want to make that perfectly clear. But they have been discussed. They have. And yes, it is concerning. It is. So, and I don't know, Nick, if you want to address agenda
items or not, but that's up to you. >> Well, I think that staff does try to give us a heads up when larger forever projects are going on the agenda if we want to be there for support. >> Right. any we we've had committee members show up to council meetings before when items are on the agenda, but
um you know all the item the all the agendas are posted on the Valia County website um for every council meeting uh that you could always go in there and check the uh schedule and related to resource stewardship and you can see any volu forever item that is on the agenda for the upcoming meeting.
>> Thank you. >> Other comments? >> Yeah, one one I love the strategy of having multiple partners And so when things get crazy in government with short-term elected officials, we don't do stupid stuff
because there's always another party or sometimes two parties. That's a great strategy. Um, and if you guys need us to do something to uh endorse that or or whatever, if the committee can, you
know, the advisory committee here can do something, I would more than entertain that because I love what you guys have done. I thought it was pretty clear when the t taxpayers voted for this that they it was perpetuity. There wasn't any talking about limiting
it. there was, you know, and when you get that kind of what 70ome percent or whatever it was, which is really high. Nothing at the gets voted on that well, especially when you're going to tax yourself, you know, that's crazy good.
And for people to be talking about that, they need to go back and look at what was approved. And you know, it it just bugs the heck out of me that oh my god, you know, we can't, you know, we need to be able to do this, we need to be able to do that.
That's not what the voters voted for. If you wanted that, run with it, you know? I mean, I I just I it just irritates I I can't even listen to it. I mean, other people obviously did, but
they start talking about that and I I hope there's not four votes for that because that is would totally destroy what we're trying to do here. Um, and I don't care whether there's a goal of 50%
or 75% or 48%. Doesn't make any difference. We should spend every dollar that we're collecting as as as well as we can. And you know, if bonding is the way to do it, bond it, you know, and do
it. Let staff who are the experts handle it and keep it out of the political thing because it's not a political deal. I mean, we're buying environmental land. And we're buying it so no one builds subdivisions on it, you know, 50 years
from now. And that might piss people off that, oh, I can't ever have a house out there because the government owns that land. By God, there's land like that all over this country and it's a good thing. I mean, who would want to sell Yellowstone or the Tetons or something for
subdivisions? Hey, would we do that? I don't know. In this crazy world, you never can tell. But, I mean, I I hope we never do because those places are fantastic. So, enough said. So, thank you.
I really appreciate that. Um, I just wanted I think you all know this. Um, it probably I know it doesn't even need to be said, but I I want to say it three times. Um, I've attended the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation
Summit and uh spread through a few years now and um through my own own organization and I have to tell you all and you you're already know it and you're saying it. Valuchia County has
been the leaders of land conservation and it's known at the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation meeting. They talk about it. They talk to me about it. They appreciate staff. They even have staff
do presentations there. Uh the respect has been incredible. And um I I think we all appreciate you and what you've done and I I just really want to thank you because I think the
program has done incredibly well. Have there been um any types of blips here or there? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But I I think that you are um upholding the program as good as you can and I
really do appreciate that and I think we all do. So wonder. >> Yeah, it's um the actual number was 75.6% 6% of the voting population voted for this and um I think we just need to
keep doing what we've been doing because staff has handled all of this very well and I have no objections to in our goals just reemphasizing the fact how committed we are um as a group to this program and that we want to continue to
work it as we are. Uh but other than that it's 75.6% 6% of the people that voted said this is a program they want and it was presented to them without limitations except to the amount of money. So I think it's our
responsibility to just move forward put in front of them good properties which we have been doing and um and do what the people asked us to do. >> Absolutely. All right. Any other comments from the Y >> I'm sorry one more thing. I happened to
be at an event last former state representative was there and and uh we were discussing uh conservation in general and he also commented that Valuchia County is known um for leadership in all of this. So just I think kudos to you guys for the job
you're doing. >> Fantastic. Absolutely. Um I have one quick technical question and then a a comment in line with kind of what's been discussed. Um, my technical question is when we're ranking properties, is there a way we could at least have the map series from the eligibility and the backup?
>> I I just had that discussion earlier with in the next packet when we're sorting, we'll throw a map in there for that property. >> Perfect. That'd be great. Um, and then my my general I think final comment um is one I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season. Um, and as we go into
the new year, we'll be looking at our goals, our master plan for the committee. Um, I think this will continue to come up as a topic, especially as we go into an election year. Um, I want to note that I think if anyone visits the dashboard or talks to our staff, the program speaks for
itself. Um, but sometimes things that should speak for themselves are not heard. So, anything we can do to get that word out and kind of promote what this program is doing is absolutely fantastic. I will be doing so and I hope you all do as well. And with that, um, happy holidays and we are adjourned.
>> Thank you.