Updated: Yarborough Ranch property takes step closer to conservation

UPDATE 1/24/24 9 p.m.

The expected vote on Seminole County’s option plan for the Yarborough Ranch did not take place during Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting. Instead, an update on the project was given by County Manager Darren Gray.

“We recently got some good news a couple weeks ago,” he said at the meeting. “The state contacted us to keep us going through the process for [the Florida Forever] application, [and] asked us to get the [Yarborough] family in touch with the state, so we have done that.”

Gray said that the county helped connect the Yarborough family representatives with the state real estate office and Florida Forever program to meet.

”Right now, we are just sitting in a support role, and ensuring that they have all of the information that they need,” Gray said.

The Florida Forever Board of Trustees will meet on a still-to-be announced date in March to vote on the list of potential properties.

”We made it on the list, we just need to be approved, though,” Gray said. “We have all indications that we will get approved, and then the state will continue to work with the family.”

As the sides wait for a final determination, the option plan is being put on hold, according to county officials. If it is picked up by Florida Forever, the county will still have involvement in maintenance of the property. 

Representatives for the Yarborough family were not immediately available for comment.

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1/10/24 article

A key piece of Seminole County land may be on its way to being saved for conservation purposes. The more than 1,300 remaining acres of the Yarborough Ranch property in Geneva have been at the center of a fight between the county, state, activists and developers over what to do with regard to a sale. 

For more than a year, the Yarborough family, who sold about 5,000 acres of the ranch in the early 2000s to the St. Johns River Management District for conservation purposes, have been looking to sell the remaining acreage, with the original intent for the $34 million-property to end up as public conservation land as well. However, the Yarboroughs have entertained offers from developers as well. 

If it becomes a public entity, the land would be a vital connection point in the Florida Wildlife Corridor between the Little Big Econ State Forest and Charles H. Bronson Wildlife Management Area.

“This is a little jewel out in the heart of the rural boundary, and to develop, this would be the beginning of the end for the rural boundary,” said Katrina Shadix, founder of the citizen group Bear Warriors United. “It’s a wonderful piece of wildlife habitat and corridor. We have bears, panthers … we have endangered species that call that home that would be killed should development come in there.”

Those hoping for the land to become a conservation area, including activists and county commissioners, earned a victory when the property was added to the Florida Forever Partnerships and Regional Incentives list in December, less than a year after the county submitted its application for the list.

“Normally it takes sometimes four to five years, if ever, for a piece of land to get on their priority list, so that it was done in record time is a demonstration of the state’s commitment to putting this land in conservation,” Shadix said. “This is a huge accomplishment. It’s a huge victory.”

The program is “Florida’s premier conservation and recreation lands acquisition program; a blueprint for conserving Florida’s natural and cultural heritage,” according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection website. The state has purchased more than 900,000 acres since 2001.

While the process of being purchased under the program could take years, officials are optimistic about the Yarborough property being selected and purchased quickly.

“I’m very confident,” Seminole County Commissioner Bob Dallari said. “It’s right in the middle of the wildlife corridor, and if you want to save the wildlife in the state … wildlife needs to traverse the state and go to the northern piece, which is up in the Ocala area. To do that is in this corridor. The state has been looking at this land in this corridor for a long time.

“I’ve talked to several people that are involved in this and they are very interested in the Yarborough property,” he said. 

Being added to the list, however, does not eliminate the possibility of the property being sold to developers. The Seminole County Planning and Zoning Board voted in December 2022 to approve a preliminary subdivision plan (PSP), which would allow for a 300-home development to be built on the land. This led to a fiery public hearing in February, with citizen groups worried about the future use of the acreage. 

“It’s our understanding they already have a handful of buyers who are ready to buy the property and build homes on it,” Seminole County Commissioner Jay Zembower said. 

If sold to a developer and built, they would have a direct impact on the surrounding environment.

“Those 300 homes [would be] smack-dab in the middle of the wildlife corridor for the state of Florida,” Dallari said. “About a third of them would sit on the Geneva Bubble (Freshwater Lens).”

Additionally, both Zembower and Dallari said adding a new community in the area would require a new fire station, which could cost between $15 million and $20 million, in addition to other necessary utilities.

Option agreement in the works

This led to the county looking at creative options to acquire the land. In a December meeting, the commissioners voted 3-2 to begin work on a potential option agreement with the representatives of the ranch. 

While details are still being worked on between the county and the Yarboroughs prior to the upcoming Jan. 23 vote, officials said it would most likely include an initial $3.4 million option payment to take the property off the market, then yearly payments — possibly for three to four years — until the county could own it. Watch the meeting, which starts at 9 a.m., on the county YouTube channel here.

“If, for whatever reason, the Florida Forever program decides they’re not going to buy the property over the next several years, then the county will continue its option and ultimately own the property,” Zembower said.

If the Florida Forever program decides to purchase the land during that time, the payments would be refunded to the county, except for its initial one, which would allow it to be a partnership between the county and state.

“The state always looks for funding partners,” Dallari said. “If there’s a funding partner, you move higher up on the list.

“Our staff has told me that the people involved with Florida Forever are extremely excited about the Yarborough piece, and it seems that it’s a perfect piece for their funding, and they’re excited that the county is a willing partner,” he said.

The funds would come out of the county’s general fund reserves, which currently contain more than $50 million, Zembower said.

Some citizens are concerned about the spending and would like to see the Florida Forever process play out.

“It depletes money from the general fund, and we need that for our water crisis, too,” Shadix said. 

Waiting, however, may not be an option, as the Yarboroughs have been wanting to sell for more than a year, and may have potential buyers lined up.

“It’s a time crunch from the Yarboroughs because they have the right to sell their property and they [may] want to sell it to developers,” Dallari said. “I don’t know the deals that they’re having in place, but I do know that there’s a couple of developers that want to tie up that property so that they can develop.”

The option agreement would buy the county important time to figure out whether they will partner with Florida Forever or for the county to continue the options on its own, which could include monies from available grants, Zembower said.

“Sufficient time would be achieved by them entering into an option agreement,” Yarborough family representative David Axel said. “It would be, I believe, the goal of the county to get the bulk of the money to purchase the property to be paid by Florida Forever or a similar program.”

Lawsuit challenges subdivision plan

Following the February meeting, citizen groups Bear Warriors United and Geneva Citizens Association filed a lawsuit against Seminole County challenging the 300-home subdivison plan. 

The lawsuit is currently in a “holding pattern,” Shadix said, adding that the judge has to order the county to answer the complaint, which she said has not been done yet, though she is “thinking positively[,] and [is] assuming that the judge is not ordering the county to answer us because the court wanted to give time to the state to go through the Florida Forever process.”

But waiting for the process to play out is risky, Dallari said. 

“The question is, do you want to risk that and call the bluff, or do you want to protect the property?” he said.

While Shadix hopes the lawsuit will deter developers from wanting to purchase the property, it may not be enough if the Florida Forever program does not purchase it or the county cannot come to an option agreement with the Yarboroughs.

“It’s my understanding, strictly my understanding from the family representatives, that the developers who are ready to write a check right now to purchase the property have no problem with the outstanding lawsuit,” Zembower said. “They’re willing to buy the property regardless if the lawsuit’s pending or not.”

Parts could still be developed

While the county plans for the land to end up in conservation with or without a partnership from the state, there is a possibility that parts could be sold to developers.

If an economic downturn occurs during the option period, and Florida Forever has still not purchased it, officials said they would have to look at other options.

“Let’s just say the economy goes to heck and the county is hurting for money halfway through this [potential] agreement,” Zembower said. “The county will have the ability to sell that property, or sell a part of it.

“If we have the option contract and something goes bad in the economy and we have to pull the plug halfway through it, or after we’ve completed the purchase because the taxpayers need the money, we could, for example, say, ‘we’re only going to sell half of it, and we’re only going to allow 100 homes to be built,’” he said. “We will control the narrative if it ever had to go to development.”

Zembower emphasized that this would be a “worst-case scenario,” however. And he sees the importance of having the land owned by either the state or county for conservation purposes.

“We owe it to the next generation,” he said. “If we don’t do it now, it’ll never be able to be accomplished again. And the additional cost of those homes being there is going to far outweigh the purchase price over the next 30 years.

“You only get that opportunity one time.”