Friends,

Attached is a copy of a file from Florida's Department of Community Affairs.

Page four is a letter from Joel Ivey, urban planner, who is working with Miami Corp's local attorney, Glen Storch.

They are pushing for a state designated Rural Stewardship Area for Miami Corp's land 57,000 acres in Volusia and Brevard counties.

I understand Brevard wants all the homes on Volusia's side.

As you know, a RSA is an enormous increase in density via clustering.

Literally, they will build a new city here.

  It could be 30,000 homes. It could be 100,000.

The word is county staff is already pushing for a widened Maytown/Osteen Road which has been barely paved.

We value the aquifer and her recharge areas over draining down Blue Springs for developers or paving over our Conservation Corridor. $800,000 worth of unwanted congressional pork for an Expressway Authority study to pave over our Conservation Corridor was insulting to say the least Mr. Mica. We want our troops home too, please stop threatening Volusia County , our troops need the conservation corridor for clean water when they do come home.

This is why Congressman Mica keeps shoving the toll road at us.

And most disturbing, the county seems to be intentionally leaving Volusia's environmental community out of this.

Joel refers to an environmental sending area committee (the area where the densities will be located). The map indicates the black mitigation lands as the sending area. They are working with out-of-Volusia groups.

Think property taxes are high now? Wait until we pay for a toll road and widened Maytown for the sole benefit of Miami Corp's profits.

Think Indian River Lagoon has been poisoned enough?

What about water?  Will they tax us to build a diesel plant at the Indian River Lagoon just so we can over populate Volusia?

A RSA is marketed as environmentally a great bargain because half the property is supposedly put into conservation. But the truth is this RSA is totally unnecessary.

We, the citizens of Volusia and its government are under no legal obligation to grant a landowner, especially one of this magnitude, thousands of new homes above the present density of primarily 1 home per 25 acres.

We could tell Miami Corp that they can build at the present allowable density AND we could require clustering and open space without rewarding them with a new city we can't afford.

Please, email Walker Banning of DCA and ask to be kept informed.

Walker.banning@dca.state.fl.us

FYI: Walker Banning AND the county were copied on a Resolution passed by Environmental Council and concurring environmental groups protesting an RSA in Volusia. Why were none of these groups contacted for this Environmental Sending Area Committee? ANSWER: We were intentionally kept in the dark.