Several Regency Cove residents attended the site selection team public meeting downtown tonight of the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP). Eighty-four acres of the Georgetown waterfront property were in the running with several other sites to be purchased for public recreational use.
Representatives from several of our neighboring neighborhood associations were in attendance, giving Georgetown the highest representation present, a total of 38 individuals. An additional 45 emails were sent to the panel from those who could not attend. Many people spoke up to give their reasons why Georgetown should be selected. Jerry Frankhouser, our Bayside West Association president pointed out that there are NO parks in our association area. He is just to the left of Chet in the photo.
The Cone Ranch, around 12,000 acres in size, the last ranch in northeast Hillsborough County was closely represented, with 21 supporters. 
The panel took public comments for almost an hour, and then began to rank each of the sites. A variety of environmental criterion were set, and each site was scored on each item. These ranged from ease of acquisition, to public interest (we scored high here), to environmental importance and cost, to name just a few. After a very long deliberation, Georgetown scored 57 points, but the Cone Ranch sailed past us with 73 points.
The panel took public comments for almost an hour, and then began to rank each of the sites. A variety of environmental criterion were set, and each site was scored on each item. These ranged from ease of acquisition, to public interest (we scored high here), to environmental importance and cost, to name just a few. After a very long deliberation, Georgetown scored 57 points, but the Cone Ranch sailed past us with 73 points. I didn't stay til the end, we left around 9pm, after 3 hours of meeting. It doesn't look like there will be a public park in our neighborhood any time soon.
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