The Forgotten Coast and Greenbelt Laws

Florida's forgotten coast has been getting some good publicity lately. For those that don't know, the Forgotten Coast is referring to Port St. Joe. Although Port St. Joe isn't really "on-the-way" to anything, it is still thought very highly of by many vacationers. The News Herald published an article on it referencing some of the other articles that have been written about that area. I know we have some readers that work in the Port St. Joe area, let me know if you have more information on the articles written. The News Herald article can be found here.

Also, Florida's Greenbelt law is in the spotlight along with St. Joe. The recent decrease in pulp demand has resulted in a decrease in assessed value for much of their land holdings across Florida. The Greenbelt law was enacted to protect the state's agriculture farmers from receiving increasingly higher tax bills every year. This way, if property values were increasing, yet the farmer’s product yield was the same (and so is his profit), the farmer is essentially prevented from being "taxed" out of his property. The article can be found here.

Right now, however, to some people it would seem that St. Joe is abusing the "agricultural protection" of the Greenbelt law. Although to many people today, St. Joe is known as a real estate development company, it's roots stem from the paper business. The big question is: When do we start assessing the property as something other than agriculture?

Edited: One of our readers provided me with an article about St. George Island. This article can be found here.