BRADENTON – The map says it all.
A jaw-dropping 200 acres east of the Robinson Preserve in northwest Bradenton could become one of two things.
It could become a golf course, as planned.
Or it could become the front yard of Eden.
Third Place
Editorial
2010
With the loss of two golf courses in recent years in northwest Bradenton – Palma Sola and Village Green – property owner Bill Robinson has a good argument that the area needs a new course, an argument that persuaded Manatee County to permit a golf course there.
But in July, 2008, when Robinson Preserve was opened, Robinson told applauding spectators that the reason he sold his farmland to Manatee County (and knocked $6.4 million off his price) is because he had come to the realization that once a place is developed, it’s gone for good.
Golf courses are great recreational opportunities, getting people out into nature – although a highly idealized version of it – for four hours at a stretch and forcing them to get at least a little walking in (more so without the cart).
But the fertilizers, pesticides and high water use that golf courses require don’t belong next to the wetlands of Robinson Preserve, newly restored and enhanced to increase circulation among several surrounding bodies of water, including the mouth of the Manatee River and Tampa Bay on one side and Palma Sola Bay on the other side.
How much better would it be to really, truly preserve the “Old Florida” that everyone always says they love, just before they come in with the bulldozers and trim down the mangroves, turn the bays brown with runoff, suffocate the nursery fish, relocate the gopher tortoises, uproot the pine trees and try to plant the place to make it look like a Hawaii travel brochure.
Hands down, Eden wins.
