As Hillsborough County considers selling the valuable Cone Ranch property to wealthy investors, questions are arising. The Times today points out that hunting might be an allowed activity under the preservation easement. Is that what this deal is all about? A private hunting preserve?
Denise Layne has an excellent track record protecting the environment and sits on the citizen panel looking at the project, but she can't do it all by herself. There are many questions, and the first one is why in the heck are we even considering selling this property to these rich guys?
Why take any chances at all with the property? It is currently owned by Tampa Bay Water, and it is a well field. Why not just leave things as they are? When the county has more funds, we can look at improving the ecosystem, and repairing damage from past ranching on the land. But any move to sell it, inevitably risks something happening to the land that might not be permitted if the land remained in public hands.
And isn't anyone besides me suspicious? Why are these guys offering us something for nothing? Does anyone really believe they are doing it because they love the environment? When the hunting issue came up, it began to look like a private, but publicly subsidized, hunting preserve. That's just not right. It is public land, and shouldn't be handed over to a few rich guys as their private playground.
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