Posted on 04/14/2005 8:39:22 AM PDT by I still care
WEST PALM BEACH - A man who fought for years to keep his swampy home and rock mine business in the rural Everglades settled for $4.95 million with the state, which plans to restore the former wetlands area. The deal, approved Wednesday by a Collier County circuit judge, gives Jesse Hardy until Nov. 30 to get off the 160 acres.
The former Navy SEAL lives in a clapboard house he built, hidden down a maze of dusty dirt roads about 40 miles east of Naples. The property has no electricity or other utilities, but Hardy dug a 60-foot well for fresh water and uses propane tanks for power.
He scraped up $60,000 to buy the land in 1976 and has rejected repeated offers to sell, even as they reached $4.5 million last summer. He said he wanted to hold onto a dying rural lifestyle and pass it on to the 9-year-old boy he has raised on the land with the boy's mother.
``He tried, he tried his hardest to keep that land. I guess they just wore him down,'' said Pat Humphries, a longtime friend. ``He doesn't care about the money. But you can't explain it to anyone else because this is such a materialistic world.''
After negotiations failed for more than two years, state officials went to court six months ago to take the land using eminent domain, a law that lets governments force people to sell private land for a public purpose.
A mediation hearing Tuesday lasted more than 12 hours, ending after 10 p.m.
State officials say Hardy's land sits in the path of the nation's most ambitious environmental project, the $8.4 billion Everglades Restoration. The project aims to restore the natural water flow to the Everglades, a slow-moving river that once stretched uninterrupted from a chain of lakes near Orlando south to Florida Bay.
Construction on Hardy's property will include filling in canals and tearing apart roads that carved up much of the fragile ecosystem decades ago. Crews will start work in mid- 2006, said Ernie Barnett, the state Department of Environmental Protection's director of ecosystem projects.
Hardy used the property for a fish-farming business and contracted with an excavation company to mine the lime rock there for use in construction. The first house he built was ravaged by fire, so he built a new one - a simple wood- frame home with a corrugated metal roof and large porch with screens that flap in the breeze.
``He was very proud of his property. We all agreed this was best for the state of Florida, the best for him,'' Barnett said. ``It is a big relief. We're most excited about clearing one of the last major hurdles to get the restoration project moving forward.''
4.5 mil would wear me down real quick
4.5 mil....
Good for him. It was his land, fair and square.
Eminent domain gives me the willies...
My grandparents used to have land there on Turner River. I have many many fond memories of spending the weekend out there at the cabin they owned. Unfortunately they sold it to the government in the late 70s.
As a RECIPIENT of the water in the Everglades, I can understand both sides. I don't want the everglades dug up like a mine. But it was his land. Oh well, gimme 4.5 mil and I'll move also.
My thoughts exactly.
Plus, this is just another example of government do-gooders doing stupid, STOOPID things with taxpayer money!!
Ping.
My Grandparents didn't have a mine on their property. They had a few acres and a small one bedroom cabin. Maybe 1000 square feet at most. Their biggest sin was probably raising some bees on the property. My Aunt & Uncle also had property with a small house there. When I was little, I used to love going out playing with the small frogs and watching the aligators. My Grandfather even saw a Florida Panther there one night.
Man, I can't imagine living in the everglades in a clap-board house. The summers must be brutal.
No, the whole damned country is loosing a dream; the dream of property rights, and sensible, limited government.
The everglade is not fragile, and is not in need of 'restoration.' What's next? How many stinking swamps do we need? Malaria? Yellow feaver? Encephalitis?
Man, this story was going even back when I lived in MyAmUh.
well...4.5M.
could be worse I reckon.
Hey, I've got 3 acres I'll sell him.
I thought the USSC just called or questioned Eminent domain ....calling it BS.... ? Maybe tha's why the state paid so much for swampland ?
The everglades are becoming an area off-limits to humans. Heard a radio interview with a fellow named Frank Denninger who lives downt there. He said the more places that are taken out to get restored, the fewer places humans are allowed to go. He also said that some of their "restoration" projects kill more wildlife than they save. He cited an animal of somesort that needed an area to be flooded, so the Army core of engineers built some levees to flood land they had condemned. It ended up killing a lot of other animals to "save" one. He also said there is a group of people pushing "restoration economy" down there. That means you can't build new buildings, you can only "restore" old ones. Its a really crazy idea but the government is paying some author a lot of money to push his book on "restoration economies".
What a load. There's nothing now nor will there be natural about the 'glades. I'm just glad to hear Jesse didn't get run off or shot.
Now flood 'em out, drain the swamp, and sell to the Nature Conservancy. They know how to develop swamp land better than US Homes.
Water mellon?
Bump to you my FRiend.
I imagine he has to go find a large apartment complex to invest all that in, or he'll be paying lots of taxes.
Good news is he can buy something for nearly all cash and make a nice income, depreciate it over 20 years. Move the investment elsewhere and do it again.
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