**Exercise 3.3**

**Creating a Statement: Guana River State Park and the Ponte Vedra High
School Controversy**

-   Which statements did the best job of presenting a professional
    opinion? How was that accomplished?

-   Which statements, if any, made appeals to emotional views and
    personal opinions? How? What could it be improved?

-   Which statements made the listener feel more knowledgeable about the
    subject? How was this accomplished?

-   Invite the group discuss what they learned.

**Handout 3.3**

**Guana River State Park and the Ponte Vedra High School Controversy**

**Introduction**

A barrier island off Florida's northeast coast is home to some of the
most unique natural and cultural resources in the region. The Guana
River Tract includes the 2,400-acre Guana River State Park, managed by
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and a 9,800-acre
wildlife management area, managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission. The land was purchased in 1984 by the state
with funding from conservation groups. The island, which is about
half-way between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, is also home to the
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, a
60,000-acre protected area comprised of mangrove tidal wetlands, salt
marshes, and estuarine lagoons. The reserve contains the northernmost
mangrove habitat on the eastern coast of the United States. It serves as
a calving ground for the endangered right whale and also provides
habitat for manatees, wood storks, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons.

Guana River State Park provides recreational, economic, ecological, and
cultural resources to the

local community and visitors. The park contains two public-access
beaches and offers fishing, birding, and educational programs. A portion
of Guana River was dammed in 1957, creating Guana Lake. The lake is
brackish near its southern boundary at Guana Dam and gradually becomes a
freshwater reservoir as one travels away from the dam. Both saltwater
and freshwater fish and shellfish species of commercial and recreational
value can be found in the lake. Three species of sea turtles nest on the
park's 4.2-mile stretch of undeveloped beach, and a variety of
shorebirds and migratory songbirds, as well as indigo snakes, gopher
tortoises, and alligators live in the park. There are seventeen known
historic or prehistoric cultural sites in the park. The Shell Bluff
Landing site contains an early-nineteenth-century Minorcan coquina block
well and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Wright\'s Landing site is believed to be the location of a
seventeenth-century Spanish mission, the Nativity of Our Lady of
Tolomato, and contains a prehistoric earthen burial mound. In 2004, the
fate of Guana River State Park became a major topic of debate in the
community.

**The Issue**

Ponte Vedra, a wealthy coastal community immediately north of Guana
River State Park, was growing rapidly. With limited new land to develop,
the population expansion was putting development pressures on Guana
River State Park. A Publix shopping center was built at the northern
border of the park\'s wildlife management area. Local officials approved
the development of a new community in the area for approximately 30,000
residents. Local residents became concerned about traffic and crowded
schools. About 1,300 students in the Ponte Vedra area were traveling 24
miles round-trip to attend high school. Local citizens proposed the
development of a high school to meet the increased demand from the new
community and to reduce students' traveling time. Three potential sites
were identified, one of which was inside the Guana River State Park.
Many people favored this site, claiming it offered more land at a lower
cost, greater access, fewer traffic problems, and more opportunity to
create a buffer between the school and area residential developments.
Approximately 100 acres of the wildlife management area within the park
would be needed for the school. (According to state developed formulas,
a 1,500-student high school would require a minimum of 100 acres to
accommodate all the necessary facilities.)

The St. John's County Commission will recommend which site would be most
appropriate. The final decision will be made by the Board of Trustees of
the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, comprised of the governor and his
cabinet members.

**Stakeholders in favor of the Guana River State Park location:**

Ponte Vedra High School Coalition

St. Johns County School Board

County residents

**Stakeholders opposed to the Guana River State Park location:**

Friends of Guana River State Park

Division of State Lands, Department of Environmental Protection

Florida Governor (at the time) Jeb Bush

County residents

Some pros and cons of using the Guana River State Park as the site for
the new high school:

**[Pros]{.underline}**

-   Offers more available land than the other sites

-   Offers more convenient access than the other sites

-   Could be donated by the state to the county (and therefore costs
    less than the other sites)

-   Some people dispute the accuracy of the pristine classification, for
    example, the area is just "planted pine forest behind the new Publix
    store"

-   Could be a magnet school for environmental studies

-   Herbert Peyton, local business owner, offered to swap 100 acres in
    the area in exchange for the Guana River State Park Lands.

**[Cons]{.underline}**

-   If state-designated conservation lands are reversed for development,
    a precedent would be set for all state-designated conservation lands
    to be considered for development

-   The area is designated as pristine

-   The high school will create negative effects on the environment with
    roads, runoff, traffic, and related development such as gas stations
    and fast food restaurants

-   Guana River is a part of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National
    Estuarine Research Reserve System that creates research
    opportunities to better understand and improve estuarine water
    systems

-   A decision to build in the park will result in five to ten years of
    litigation and an uncertain outcome

**Sources**

Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas
National Estuarine

Research Reserve, http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/gtm/
(accessed September 27, 2005)

Ponte Vedra High School Coalition. Inc. http://pvhsc.com. (accessed
September 27, 2005)