ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — Trees partially cover a piece of land called Hawkins Island. The rest is marshy land. All natural.

"It’s literally an island in the Matanzas River behind the Marsh Creek neighborhood," Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk said.

The county bought this pristine property in order to preserve it, using money it had in its Land Acquisition Management Program – or LAMP fund.

"For the last two years the LAMP program has been funded at $2 million per year," Lomberk said.

However, the county commission earlier this year decided to cut LAMP funding by 75 percent.

Lomberk explained, "Because they did the tax rollbacks, the LAMP funding was cut to just half a million."

Now the county is considering creating conservation impact fees, specifically impact fees that developers

See Full Page