PLACEMENT: Departmental
TITLE:
title
ACQUISITION OF BAR-B-RANCH CONSERVATION EASEMENT - ENVIRONMENTAL LANDS ACQUISITION PROGRAM
end
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
executive summary
In November 2024, the voters of Martin County approved a referendum authorizing the collection of a 0.5% sales tax to fund the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands. On June 25, 2025, the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee, a nine member BOCC appointed citizen advisory board, met and recommended acquisition of a conservation easement over a portion of the Bar-B-Ranch property. This item seeks initial BOCC authorization to use sales tax funds for the conservation easement. Before final acquisition, separate Board action will be required to approve a funding agreement with the state of Florida.
body
DEPARTMENT: Public Works
PREPARED BY: Name: Michael Yustin
Title: Senior Project Manager
REQUESTED BY: Board of County Commissioners
PRESET:
PROCEDURES: None
BACKGROUND/RELATED STRATEGIC GOAL:
On February 20, 2024, the Board of County Commissioners (Board) voted to place a referendum on the 2024 general election ballot for the purpose of leveraging a 10-year 0.5% government infrastructure sales tax to acquire environmentally sensitive lands. The anticipated total revenue from this surtax is approximately $220 million, and approximately $7.9 million has been collected to date. The collected funds are designated solely for land acquisitions within four designated project areas: IRL South, Pal Mar, Loxa-Lucie, and the Blueways. In November 2024, the voters of Martin County passed the referendum. Concurrently, Ordinance #1221 was adopted to establish the framework for this land acquisition program. The Board then appointed a 9-member Environmental Lands Oversight Committee (ELOC) to review, evaluate and provide recommendations for environmentally sensitive lands that have been nominated for acquisition using surtax revenue. The Board also approved an ELOC Manual to...
Click here for full text