The Volusia Forever/ECHO Alliance is a successor to the political action committee that coordinated the successful campaign to approve Volusia Forever and Volusia ECHO.  This position paper represents a consensus among the stakeholders for successful implementation of these programs based on  polling and information gleaned from the voters who overwhelmingly approved both programs. 

Volusia Forever and Volusia ECHO represent important values of our citizens.  In 1986, Volusia County was the first in the nation to approve a bond issue for conservation lands acquisition.  In 2000 Volusia Forever and ECHO were approved as programs to work in tandem to protect conservation lands and fund improvements for environmental learning centers, cultural and arts projects, historic preservation, and outdoor recreation.  Approval of continuation of these programs by 72.4% (ECHO) and 75.6% (Forever) of the vote is a mandate for these quality of life programs and places Volusia County among the highest tier in the country.    

These earlier programs were award winning and nationally recognized conservation efforts.  Key factors in their success were (1) established transparent procedures to objectively rank property (2) insulation from political influence (3) ability to partner with other government entities (4) willingness to work with national conservation organizations, and local land trusts and (5) decision to bond early to make funds available as needed.  

We appreciate that the County Council has appointed Volusia Forever and Volusia ECHO oversight committees that are participating in and hosting public listening sessions.    

Volusia County should revise existing  procedures to rank and review projects for funding to be consistent with the purposes and goals expressed in both the ballot language and Council resolution.  The revised implementation procedures should be based upon objective standards of environmental values, management considerations, potential for partnership, and independent appraisals.  The procedures should include the ability to partner with established conservation organizations such as an accredited  local land trust or national conservation organization to provide experience and special skills with conservation lands acquisition.  The Trust for Public Land was an important partner in this campaign.  It contracted for the polling, assisted with ballot language, and provided important technical assistance to the campaign.  It has vast nationwide experience in local government conservation finance.  The county staff should engage TPL to develop a set of procedures and best practices to rank projects, negotiate offers, and administer the program. 

Volusia Forever should be insulated from political influence. Council members should not be engaged in direct negotiations with landowners and the County Council should not independently decide that a property should be moved to a priority acquisition position prior to full review by staff and the oversight committee. Council members who have a contractual or property interest in an application under consideration, should declare a conflict, not participate in the discussion with Council, and should abstain from voting on the matter

 Volusia Forever projects should consider both acquisition in fee, and less than fee, otherwise known as conservation easements, or purchase of development rights.  Conservation objectives can often be met through easements rather than outright purchase.  The program should utilize only pre-qualified independent appraisers and offers should not exceed appraised value.  The county should also consider reinstating the small lot acquisition program for specifically targeted areas such as Cape Atlantic and University Highlands that has been very successful. This sub-program could be utilized for shoreline conservation easements and habitat buffer zones restored with native plants.  

As a beginning, priorities for the land conservation effort should be completing projects from the original Volusia Forever program, such as the Volusia Conservation Corridor.  Partnering with Florida Forever, Florida Communities Trust, the Rural and Family Lands Program, and the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) to complete projects approved under Florida Forever and the WMD Five-year acquisition plan will be key to this process.  Other priorities should be lands identified as potential conservation lands under the adopted Springs Basin Management Action Plans, Mosquito Lagoon Reasonable Assurance Plan (ML RAP), Indian River Lagoon Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), East Central Florida Regional Resiliency Action Plan (ECF RRAP), Florida Department of Environmental Protection Greenways Plan, Volusia Council of Governments’ “Map A”, Environmental Core Overlay (ECO) lands, and shorelines along the St. Johns, Halifax, and Indian Rivers and their tributaries in Volusia County.  Staff should be encouraged to track and meet the grant cycles of any available state and federal funding that can be matched to ensure local dollars are extended to the greatest degree possible.   The county should become familiar with all of these conservation programs including the Great American Outdoors Act, passed by Congress last year.  

The renewed Volusia Forever has goals which are broader than the previous programs.  One of these goals is protection of forests and farmlands.  We feel this is a good opportunity to utilize conservation easements and to track criteria in the Rural and Family Lands Program and Natural Resource Conservation Service USDA conservation easement programs. 

The renewed Volusia Forever program is expanded to include water resource protection.  Revised policies should also track recommendations in the water quality programs listed above, including shoreline buffers, acquisition of areas for restoration of wetlands, and lands identified in springs BMAPS, or IRL-RAP. 

Given that Volusia Forever benefits from partnering with other government entities, and successful implementation requires resources from various departments within Volusia County Government, we recommend that it be administered by the County Manager’s office with assistance from departments with historical knowledge of the program.   

Interest rates for local governments are at a historic low.  The county’s finance staff should evaluate the relative costs and benefits of bonding some of the revenue toward the beginning of the program reauthorization to save properties and make investments that can be enjoyed as soon as possible.     

For Volusia ECHO, we believe that for the most part, the current process works well.  Nevertheless, we heard a number of concerns that should be addressed going forward.  There is an ongoing concern about transparency of the program, that should be addressed in revised procedures.  All projects for funding should be reviewed by the ECHO Oversight Committee prior to approval by County Council.  All projects should be considered or approved by the County Council only after they are fully documented with notice to the public and placed on the regular agenda.  Consideration should be given to review of the match requirements for small projects and inclusion of Green Infrastructure. 

Finally, we believe the current annual trails set-aside of $1 millon a year should be continued through the life of the renewed ECHO program. Volusia is at ground zero with The Coast-to-Coast Trail and The River to Sea Loop trail intersecting in our county. Both trails are of statewide significance, ranked 1 and 2 by Florida’s office of Greenways and Trails. With approximately 70 miles now on the ground in Volusia, the need remains for a funding source to complete all sections of the showcase trails system, provide for amenities and ensure that the system is maintained as a first-class trails system for our residents and visitors.  

The staff should also establish a dashboard on the county’s website that includes the annual independent audits and key metrics to comply with the ballot language and ensure ongoing public accountability for these two respected and award-winning programs.