Location: County Commission Building

301 N. Olive Ave.

West Palm Beach

March will be held on the sidewalk in front of the building on N. Olive.

Rally to Save Farmland from Rooftops in the Ag Reserve, July 21, 2015

 ~ West Palm Beach, FL: Fed-up taxpayers, conservationists and long-time supporters of preserving vegetable farmland in Palm Beach County’s protected Tier known as the Agricultural Reserve will send a loud message outside County Commission headquarters next Tuesday.

Chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho – Developers in the Ag Reserve Have Got to Go!” a collection of young people, adults and seniors will wave their signs and march in solidarity against plans by some County Commissioners to gut the rules in the Ag Reserve in a vote to be held on July 30.

According to one of the marchers, 13-year old Ari Silver, whose Bar Mitzvah project was collecting signatures to protect the Ag Reserve, “I’m marching to send the message that my generation cares about our country’s ability to feed our own people and protect our vital natural resources. The vegetable farmland in the Ag Reserve feeds our county and the Eastern Seaboard in winter – why are six Commissioners allowing over 10,000 homes to be placed on this farmland when everyone I spoke to told me they want to save our farmland?”

Drew Martin, Conservation Chair of the Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group adds: “These changes as recommended were rejected by the Advisory Committee set up by the county.  If approved, they could significantly increase traffic congestion, flooding risk and reduce the amount and value of important agricultural land that has been set aside by a county bond issue of over $100 million. Further, these changes will reduce water stored in our aquifers, by preventing aquifer recharge. We need to protect existing farmland in Palm Beach County and support a buffer to protect the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. Agriculture produces long term sustainable jobs that last generations.”

Despite the County’s Comprehensive Plan which mandates that the Agricultural Reserve Tier be “preserved primarily for agriculture,” over the past 15 years GL Homes has been allowed to build 12 sprawling residential developments and a shopping center in the Ag Reserve. An even bigger outrage say the protesters, is that the County Commissioners are now handing GL Homes large farming parcels that were previously protected as Preservation Parcels to be preserved for vegetable farming and getting in return from GL Homes a patchwork of tiny 5 and 10 acre parcels which can’t be adapted for commercial vegetable farming – the premise that led to taxpayers agreeing to invest $100 million in the Ag Reserve under a 1999 Voter Referendum that passed by a two to one vote.