TO: The Honorable Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
THROUGH: Michael C. Zito, Deputy County Administrator
Beth Powell, Parks, Recreation, & Conservation Director
FROM: Wendy Swindell, Parks, Recreation & Conservation Assistant Director
DATE: October 31, 2025
SUBJECT: ELAP Ranking List of Environmental Lands Acquisition Properties for Nomination Periods 2 & 3
__________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND
On March 8, 2022, the County Administrator provided the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners (“BCC”) with a proposed resolution authorizing an Environmental Land Bond
Referendum for the November 8, 2022, ballot. Resolution 2022-016 was passed by majority vote. The Resolution calls for a Bond Referendum Election for the issuance of general obligation bonds as follows:
• To acquire and permanently preserve environmentally significant lands to restore the Indian River Lagoon, protect water resources, natural areas, wildlife habitat, drinking water resources, and construct public access improvements related thereto, shall Indian River County be authorized to issue general obligation bonds up to $50,000,000, maturing within 20 years from each issuance, not exceeding the legal maximum interest rate, payable from ad valorem taxes, with full public disclosure of all spending through annual independent audits?
On December 12, 2023, the BCC approved the Environmental Lands Program Guide (ELP Guide). The Guide is the primary document that contains policies, standards, and procedures relating to environmentally significant land acquisition and management activities. One of the procedures outlined in the ELP Guide is the establishment of a group responsible for reviewing and ranking nominated parcels. The BCC established the Environmental Land Acquisition Panel (ELAP) as a nine-member group to review information provided during the application process and provide recommendations to the BCC regarding the prioritization of the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands. The ELAP held its initial meeting in August of 2023 and continues to meet monthly.
ANALYSIS
The County’s environmental bond process allows the public to nominate properties for acquisition at any time during the year. The first nomination period began on March 1, 2024 and closed on August 31, 2024. Each nomination period is six months, at which time that period closes and nominated properties are ranked by the ELAP. The close of the second nomination period was February 28, 2025. Due to the low number of new nominations, the ELAP decided to combine the ranking process for nomination periods 2 and 3, and rank these projects together at the October 21, 2025 ELAP meeting.
Throughout the process, staff and consultants have reached out to landowners to determine which parcels had owners wanting to have their property considered for acquisition through the environmental bond process (“willing sellers”). Parcels nominated by owners, and agents for owners, are considered as having willing sellers. Owners of parcels nominated by the public were contacted via letter, email and telephone to determine whether the owner was a willing seller. The second and third nomination periods identified ten nominations with willing sellers. All nominations were submitted as “fee simple” nominations whereby the County purchases the property outright.
The ELP Guide outlines the process for how individual projects are to be ranked by the ELAP. The ranking process includes a scoring matrix with ten weighted evaluation factors relating to ecological factors and purchase factors. The scoring matrix is to be completed by each of the nine ELAP members and provided to staff in preparation for the designated ranking meeting.
The September 16, 2025, meeting of the ELAP included a presentation by staff providing an overview of the ten willing seller nominations. Following this meeting, the ELAP members completed their scoring and provided their scoring sheets to staff. Staff assembled the ELAP nomination scores and produced a summary of the scoring to be presented to the October 21, 2025 ranking meeting.
At the October 21, 2025, meeting of the ELAP the cumulative scores for each nominated project were presented in a table. After review and discussion of the project scores, the ELAP developed a ranked list of projects. It should be noted that the ELAP included projects that were designated as Tier 2 and Tier 3 in nomination period 1 into the October 21, 2025 ranking list. The negotiations for Tier 1 properties in nomination period 1 have been completed; either sale agreements were successfully negotiated with owners, properties were withdrawn by the owner, or negotiations failed to establish an agreed upon purchase price.
For reference, the tiering of the nominations reflects that Tier 1 properties would be the first group of nominations prioritized for potential acquisition. Tier 2 and Tier 3 nominations would be pursued once the Tier 1 nominations have moved through the process. Table 1 provides the approved project ranking list developed at the October 21, 2025, ELAP meeting.
BUDGETARY IMPACT
There are no operational or expense funding requirements associated with this item.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIONS
20-1630 06/09/2020 Letter to BCC Re: 2020 Environmental Lands Bond Referendum and Trust for Public Land Report
22-0043 02/01/2022 Presentation from Ken Grudens, Executive Director, Indian River Land Trust, Re: Proposed 2022 Environmental Land Bond Referendum
22-0091 02/01/2022 Proposed 2022 Environmental Land Bond Referendum
22-0194 03/08/2022 Environmental Land Bond Referendum
22-0803 09/20/2022 Updated Draft Environmental Lands Program Guide for the November 2022 Environmental Land Bond Referendum
23-0202 03/07/2023 Indian River County Environmental Bond - Review Committee Selection Process
23-0264 03/28/2023 District #3 Appointee to the Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel (ELAP)
23-0288 04/04/2023 District 4 Appointment to Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel (ELAP)
23-0403 05/16/2023 Appointment of James L. Connaughton ELAP
23-0492 06/06/2023 District #3 Appointee to the Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel (ELAP)
23-0626 07/11/2023 Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel (ELAP)
23-0875 09/26/2023 Award of RFP 2023064 for Ecological Services in Support of the Environmental Land Acquisition Bond Process
23-1155 02/06/2024 Environmental Land Bond - Introduction to the ArcGIS Hub/Dashboard
23-1057 12/12/2023 Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel (ELAP) Recommendation for Finalization of Draft Environmental Lands Program (ELP) Guide
25-0193 02/25/2025 ELAP - District 4 Appointee - Member Resignation & Appointment
25-0319 03/11/2025 ELAP Ranking List of Environmental Lands Acquisition Properties for the Initial Nomination Period
25-0475 04/22/2025 Water & Air Research, Inc. Work Order Number 1, Amendment 2 for Ecological Services in Support of the Environmental Land Acquisition Board
25-0921 09/23/2025 Environmental Lands Acquisition Status Update Regarding a Purchase Contract - Durrance Place
25-0922 09/23/2025 Environmental Lands Acquisition Status Update Regarding a Purchase Contract - Hale Grove Properties
25-0946 10/07/2025 Consideration of a Sale Agreement for the Purchase of the 21.89 acre Hale Grove site through the Environmental Lands Acquisition Bond
25-1002 10/21/2025 Environmental Lands Acquisition Status Update Regarding a Purchase Contract - Jungle Trail Island Club Manor
25-1010 10/21/2025 Environmental Lands Acquisition Status Update Regarding a Purchase Contract - Winter Beach 73rd
25-1056 11/04/2025 Consideration of a Sale Agreement for the Purchase of the 19.6 acre Jungle Trail Island Club Manor site through the Environmental Lands Acquisition Bond
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
Consideration of Tier 1 nominated property purchase agreements.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Quality of Life
OTHER PLAN ALIGNMENT
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff respectfully request that the Board of County Commissioners approve the attached ELAP Final Ranking and Tiered List of Nominations and authorize staff to pursue Tier 1 Ranked Properties for acquisition consistent with the Environmental Lands Acquisition Panel’s recommendation.