News

Be Informed.

Member Portal

Mixing Money With Propaganda

deceit copy

deceit copy

“Plum Creek mixes money with propaganda.”  It persists in calling its Envision Alachua a grassroots organization when it is staffed, directed and paid for by Plum Creek…”

This opinion piece in today’s Gainesville Sun contends that Plum Creek has used many lobbyists to work its way into legitimacy in order to achieve its goals which will result in thousand of acres of development and a huge demand for more resources which are simply not there.

This is Dr. Robert Knight’s conclusion after studying the proposal.  North Central Florida’s Floridan aquifer can not support the current withdrawals permitted by the water management districts, let alone new ones of the magnitude of Plum Creek, disguised as a panacea of jobs and progress.

Following is the article by Larry Keen, which can be seen in its original form at this link.

Larry Keen: Plum Creek mixes money with propaganda to win approval

By Larry Keen
Special to The Sun

Published: Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 5, 2015 at 5:06 p.m.

The list of lobbyists registered in Alachua County has doubled in the past year, and Plum Creek is by far the leading employer of these influence brokers. There are 19 lobbyists paid by Plum Creek, and at least two more work for the corporation without it being named.

The list of lobbyists registered in Alachua County has doubled in the past year, and Plum Creek is by far the leading employer of these influence brokers. There are 19 lobbyists paid by Plum Creek, and at least two more work for the corporation without it being named.

Seattle-based Plum Creek is paying big to win approval of its plan for the equivalent of a city of 30,000 and 15 Oaks Malls in the timber farms and woods beyond Newnan’s Lake and Windsor. If it succeeds, the price to Alachua County will be higher.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars Plum Creek spends on its growing force of lobbyists, it continues to dole out hundreds of thousands more of what it calls “grants” to buy favor with local organizations that serve the community.

Plum Creek mixes money with propaganda. It persists in calling its Envision Alachua a grassroots organization when it is staffed, directed and paid for by Plum Creek, and in which some members are on the Plum Creek payroll.

Plum Creek says it intends to stay in Alachua County. Yet this $8 billion corporation seeks lenient development rights for its 60,000-plus acres to sell to the highest bidders. If successful, there is little reason for Plum Creek to stay.

Plum Creek is a national-scale realtor. Its real estate investment trusts sell land and have tax advantages. Land sales are increasingly critical for Plum Creek, which is not doing as well selling wood. To this end, Plum Creek CEO Rick Holley said the corporation seeks to sell its Alachua County holdings. Plum Creek also is increasing the amount of land nationwide to sell for development.

Holley sits on the board of the National Association of Real Estate Trusts. He admits Plum Creek wants to increase the value of its land through generous development rights before selling as “value for shareholders.”

Plum Creek has heavy-handed allies. Local Realtor Mark Glaeser last fall went to the Florida Elections Commission to shut down Stand By Our Plan, a group of local citizens opposed to Plum Creek’s plan. The commission rejected Glaeser’s charges, recognizing that Stand By Our Plan is “a group of people” with a website. Undeterred, Glaeser filed another complaint, which the commission again rebuked as “legally insufficient.”

Glaeser is brother of the immediate past chair of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, which also has as incoming chair Plum Creek executive Todd Powell.

Seeking legitimacy, Plum Creek hired Florida water expert Robert Knight. However, Knight reported the harm Plum Creek’s proposal would do to a regional water supply already degraded and vulnerable to further damage.

Knight observed that most of Plum Creek’s proposal is in our 1,300 square mile regional springshed that extends to Silver Springs. He notes that the 1,000-plus springs in North and Central Florida already have an overall reduction in average flows of over 30 percent.

“It is reasonable to conclude that the Floridan aquifer throughout North and Central Florida is already over-utilized to the point where many if not most surface water-dependent environments (wetlands, springs, lakes, streams, etc.) are past the point of significant harm,” he wrote.

“Any new use of groundwater whether from the Upper or Lower Floridan aquifer will add additional harm,” Knight wrote. “In other words there is no more capacity” and the Plum Creek proposal is “environmentally unacceptable.”

Plum Creek knows that plenty of development is allowed by our comprehensive plan, the growth policy written and approved by residents and the Alachua County Commission. All development in the center of town, including Innovation Gainesville, is blessed by our city comprehensive plan and its county twin. Same goes for the rapidly growing Progress Center and commercial and high tech corridor along U.S. 441. But Plum Creek has its own interests and wants a sector plan to blow away the comp plan and allow 10,500 homes and 15.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial space in a semi-wilderness.

Our comprehensive plan has procedures and safeguards. Plum Creek’s plan counts on permissive development that amounts to free reign to a 19-state corporation with a national record of controversy in developing rustic areas.

Plum Creek plays with the truth. It claims to set aside land for conservation, but that land already is set aside by our comp plan and conservation easements. It’s prudent to remember that half of that land is in a 100-year floodplain.

Plum Creek tells residents of East Gainesville that its plan would provide more jobs and a robust economy. Yet Plum Creek never explains how the remote development — as far from East Gainesville as Tioga — would provide such prosperity.

Considering Plum Creek’s deceit, obfuscation, intimidation and manipulation, it is foolhardy to believe it will do right for Alachua County. It could use its holdings for continued timber farming. It could sell development rights already allowed by our comprehensive plan. Instead, Plum Creek wants it all.

Plum Creek counts on money and influence to push the County Commission into gutting our comp plan. If our current commission does not agree, Plum Creek will relentlessly work on the next, or the next. It has invested millions of dollars and intends to win.

If Plum Creek wins, it leaves. We stay, and lose.

Larry Keen lives in Gainesville.

This post rendered with LFS

You might be interested in …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to content