About 200 people (170 inside and about 30 outside) came to the meeting at the Venus Clubhouse Tuesday evening to learn more about the proposed Eagle National Training Center. There was standing room only and many people could not even get in. It was difficult to hear until finally the county got a sound system up. It was also so hot the sweat was pouring down.

The meeting was requested by Al Ewing, a Venus resident, who had asked that Commissioner Don Bates come to Venus, with representatives from the proposed development, to answer questions. However, Commissioner Bates took a firm hold on the "rules" of the meeting and Venus residents did not get their questions answered.

Questions that weren't answered:

1. What about this project is advantageous to Highlands County?

2. Why does the facility need a runway over a mile long, long enough to land C130s and other very large military aircraft?

3. How is the developer going to draw enough water for this city bigger than Sebring and not run down the water table from which Venus residents draw their own wells?

4. Will trainees and residents be carrying their side arms off the facility?

5. How and where will any serious illnesses or injuries be dealt with?

6. Will our county law enforcement be permitted to enter the facility?

7. Who is overseeing this facility to make sure that it is not training terrorists, or jailing CIA prisoners?

8. What guarantee do we have that this facility will not be used for illegal torture?

9. What will the effect of 1000 military men have on our teenaged girls? Will they be able to ride their horses on Venus roads safely?

What Commissioner Don Bates said:

1. That the impact fees were waived for all projects in the entire county.

OUR REPLY: That still means that there will be no impact fees coming in for a HUGE project that will require upgrades on our county roads (731 for sure.) In other words: Highlands County Taxpayers will be footing the bill for the necessary impacts on our county.

2. That the developer would pay for all the development's infrastructure.

OUR REPLY: Every landowner in Venus pays for his/her own infrastructure. You want septic, you build it yourself. You want water, you drill your own well. Paying for their own infrastructure is not a big deal.

3. Commissioner Bates said that he could not answer most of the questions posed by Venus residents and that he did not know much about the project.

OUR REPLY:  Dear Commissioner Bates, we certainly hope you will get the answers to these questions before voting on October 6, 2009. 

What Commissioner Bates and the County staff did NOT tell us.

1. County staff said that it was not true that October 6 was a critical date for the project; that there would be lots of time for input into the project. BUT, if the commissioners vote to change the zoning from Agriculture to Agriculture/Training Center, the zoning change is FINAL. IT CANNOT BE CHANGED.

2. Bates said there were limitations and safeguards. The fact that there are only 3 vague limitations/safeguards in the entire Stipulated Settlement Agreement demonstrates that THERE ARE NO  EFFECTIVE LIMITATIONS OR SAFEGUARDS. The three "limitations/safeguards" are:

        a. DCA requested a significant amount of land in conservation. The settlement agreement calls for only 220 out of 7700 acres put into conservation easement. There is no obviousl effort to comply with the "no net loss" of wetlands which will be destroyed.

        b. The developer will not be allowed to increase the buildings planned for the development. This is just giving the developers what they want.

        c. Water quality will be protected ONLY by the following statement: "Highlands County through EAR-based amendment shall consider objectives and policies relating to the protection of water quality within the Lake Okeechobee watershed through a watershed-based approach." This is just sweeping under the rug all the environment objections made by our state environmental agencies and Highlands County Taxpayers will be paying for it!

And none of these limitations/safeguards protects us from the NOISE, SMELL, LIGHT and other pollutants that Venus residents will suffer.