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Sinking feeling

The move to save Three Sisters Springs is short on money and running out of time.

Florida's budget crisis has the chance to stop or at least slow down the continuing efforts to purchase the Three Sisters Spring property.

The Legislature is considering a freeze on the Forever Florida program that buys environmentally sensitive land.

If legislators approve that plan to help balance the budget, it puts into question the $6.3 million Florida Communities Trust grant that Crystal River received approval for in September.

Crystal River City Manager Andy Houston said Monday that he believes the grant approved in September will be awarded for the Three Sisters purchase once money becomes available.

Houston said during the city council meeting that he spoke with the director of the Florida Communities Trust who said the last batch of projects that received support, including Three Sisters, will still receive funding.

State, federal and regional agencies are planning to combine financial forces to buy the property to save it from development.

Funding is also coming from community organizations and private trusts.

The Kings Bay Rotary Foundation presented council members with a $35,000 check for the Three Sisters purchase that was raised during the inaugural Stone Crab Jam festival in November.

The Conservation Fund, a national organization that acts as a conduit of government purchase of private property, has a $14.2 million option contract on the Three Sisters land that expires at the end of April.

Tampa businessman Hal Flowers, who leads a group of investors that bought the property in 2005 for $10.5 million, said the state's financial crisis does not necessarily spell doom for the Three Sisters project.

"It doesn't take Three Sisters off the table," Flowers said.

Flowers supports the sale of the property to the government for conservation. Asked if he is willing to delay the sale to allow state money to be freed up, Flowers said: "I have investors. It's what they're willing to do."

Houston said that freezing the FCT funds has placed the entire project at a standstill. The state must still conduct an appraisal before allocating the funds, but the appraisal is on hold until the program's future is clarified.

Still, he said that there is optimism that the state funds will eventually be awarded.

"The message I'm getting is it's certainly a setback and a delay in the project," Houston said. "I would not say the project is dead at this point."

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