Government Digest 02/26/10

Lee approves huge land buy
LEE COUNTY — County commissioners approved the purchase of three parcels at its Feb. 23 meeting totaling 1,213 acres for $36.3 million, or roughly $30,200 per acre. Located in the city of Fort Myers, a portion of the property is along the north side of Buckingham Road and State Road 82. The sellers, Keystone Creek LLC, and C-Hack LLC, originally sought $65 million for the parcels. The county purchased the properties through an option agreement allowing the land to be acquired in four stages. The initial purchase is for 517 acres for $10.8 million. The remaining acreage may be purchased as funds are available from the county's Conservation 20/20 capital fund. Some of the land may be used for future road rights-of-way. To date, 22,684 acres have been purchased through the program.

Port Manatee seeks bids
MANATEE COUNTY — The Manatee County Port Authority is seeking bids for a major dredging project at Port Manatee. Dredging of the port's new Berth 12 will provide a navigational depth of 41 feet for ships utilizing the south channel area. The nearly 1,600-foot-long berth is designed to accommodate containerized shipping, and is expected to be operational by late 2010. Berth 12 completes a $200 million port expansion project started in 1999. For more information, see the request for proposal at www.portmanatee.com/requests.aspx.

Rubio extends lead over Crist
FLORIDA — A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio adding to his lead over Gov. Charlie Crist in their U.S. Senate Republican primary race. A month ago Rubio took a 49% to 37% lead after the poll showed them tied at 43% in December. Now, Rubio has an 18 percentage point lead according to the latest telephone poll results putting him ahead 54% to 36%. The seat was originally vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. Crist filled the seat with his chief of staff, George LeMieux, to serve the rest of Martinez term, but LeMieux is not seeking a full term.