WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Nearly 1,000 acres of farmland in Pasco County is a step closer to being sold.
The buyer is the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The goal is to protect the 974 acres of Kirkland Ranch from development.
“We appreciate Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature’s commitment to preserving this conservation land in one of the fastest-growing areas in Pasco County,” District Executive Director Brian Armstrong said in a statement. “This important purchase will help preserve the region’s lands and water resources for future generations.”
Pasco’s population has grown by nearly 200,000 people in the past ten years. With that has come development.
“This is one of the last large, green spaces in eastern Pasco County,” said Ellen Morrison, the District’s land resources bureau chief. “If you look around to all the connecting, it’s all residential development around it.”
Morrison said walking around the land east of Curley Road is like stepping into the county’s not-too-distant past.
“It’s completely unrecognizable from what it was five years ago. Just the development, the roads, the houses. What exists here is what, five years ago, was all around it,” she said.
The same family has owned Kirkland Ranch since 1956. Now, the District wants to buy it for $30.8 million.
“Our understanding is the Kirkland family wanted to preserve this property for that reason — to protect the natural resources that were on it,” Morrison said.
That includes wetlands, the District says, which make up 41% of the property.
“This property has some really nice, intact natural systems that will help protect the water resources long term,” she said. “Just the ground cover, the grasses, the trees.”
Across the road in the Epperson community’s Robin’s Cove neighborhood, residents had already heard the news.
“I, personally, support it. I would rather keep the land like it is,” said resident Carl Phillips.
Phillips said he built his house in the community two years ago and has seen a lot of changes in that time.
“It’s good and bad, but I’ve seen a lot of development, and infrastructure potentially may not be keeping up,” he said.
Phillips said he understands wanting to protect land like Kirkland Ranch. As a farmer in Washington state, he did something similar.
“We sold development rights to our land to the county to where they can’t build a Walmart. The land, it has to be farmland forever,” Phillips said. “You’ve got to have some sort of nature. You’ve got to have something still producing water, still producing oxygen.”
Morrison said the sale is expected to be finalized by the end of the year. The $30.8 million is coming from state funding. She said the district is evaluating the best use of the land. Agriculture and recreation uses are among the possibilities.
Sarah Blazonis
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