Extraordinary and ordinary. Expensive and economical. Pleasurable and practical.

There’s something for every taste going on the auction block at the Eastern Lancaster County Library Dinner and Auction on Saturday, Jan. 11, at Yoder’s Restaurant, 14 S. Tower Road, New Holland.

Carla and Tom O’Neill found the perfect present for their daughter Alex’s 13th birthday — a hot air balloon ride — at last year’s auction.

The East Earl couple purchased one of two tickets for the balloon ride donated by Garden Spot Village. Pat and Linda Castagna, Alex’s grandparents, from Lancaster, purchased the the second one.

A third ticket was purchased from the U.S. Hot Air Balloon Team so younger sister Abby, 11, could join Alex and their grandfather, Pat, on what the birthday girl described as a “breathtaking” flight.

Said Pat Castagna, “It’s a memory I’ll always treasure, especially seeing the excitement of my granddaughters.”

Both the O’Neills and Castagnas agree that purchasing the balloon rides was a wonderful way to support the local library while giving the family a great memory.

The hot air balloon rides, donated by Garden Spot Village, will again go on the auction block this year. Other items, such as a 2002 Ford Taurus, quilts, artwork, pottery, artisan carvings and children’s toys and furniture, are also going up for bids.

Joining them on the auction block will be day trips to Philadelphia and New York, vacations to Cape Cod and West Virginia, a Super Bowl party package, Pellman’s desserts for a year, gift certificates for landscaping and restaurants, 100 gallons of home heating oil and a singing holiday telegram.

Auction chair Barbara MacMaster explained that for the first time this year’s auction has corporate sponsors, who CNH America LLC; Garden Spot Village; Chester County Solid Waste Authority; and Ephrata Charter Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.

“Also, the high bidder for each live and silent auction item will have his or her auction number put in a hat,” MacMaster said. “At the end of the evening, three to five numbers will be drawn to win special gifts.”

Cost for the dinner and auction is $25 per person. Tickets are required for dinner and can be purchased at the library,at 11 Chestnut Drive, New Holland.

Auction preview takes place at 4 p.m. and dinner is at 5 p.m. The auction runs from 6 to 9 p.m. There is no cost to attend the auction. There will also be a silent auction.

“The dinner/auction is our biggest fundraiser and we appreciate the continued support from the community,” said Donna Brice, library director.

Jim Costello, treasurer of the library’s board of trustees, said annual state, county and municipal funding has fallen from a total of $175,991 to $95,804 since 2008 — a decrease of $80,187. Private donations have also decreased, from $199,000 in 2007 to $130,000 this year.

He said the board has adjusted operating hours, staffing and programs to accommodate the funding decrease. The 2014 budget accounts for planned deficit spending of approximately $15,000, spending down meager reserves for future capital repair needs.

“We provide this wonderful community resource, open to the public 46 hours per week, Monday thru Saturday, for under $250,000 a year,” Costello noted.

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In fact, bylaws for the Davidson County Extension Master Gardeners Association require members to perform a minimum number of community service hours.

Much of the group’s handiwork can be seen around town and the county. The demo gardens at the extension center’s headquarters at 301 E. Center St., for example, is a project that is pruned and tended by master gardeners.

In addition to offering a college scholarship, helping with landscaping and plantings around county buildings and such places as Boone’s Cave Park, they are also available for consulting about design plans.

The creation of the Community Garden in Thomasville, which is conveniently located near the farmers’ market, is due in large to the group.

On Feb. 12, the organization will host its third annual Gardeners’ Conference at First Lutheran Church.

Julie Dayvault, the event’s chairwoman, is emphasizing that the conference is open to anyone interested in plants and gardening, not just master gardeners.

Mark Weathington from the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh and Pam Beck, noted garden writer and photographer, will be the main speakers.

Weathington will address new and underutilized plants for distinctive landscapes. Beck will talk about garden sites in North Carolina.

There will be four other speakers at breakout sessions: Debbie Roos will talk about pollinators and other beneficial insects; Diane Demers Smith, gardening with hydrangeas; Sherry Koontz, pondscapes and hardscapes; and Madge Eggena and Jane Albe, the woodland herb garden.

Tickets are $25, with lunch included. Registration is required by Jan. 28. Local vendors will be on hand, and door prizes will be awarded.

“We have speakers from all over the state to talk and show slides of different aspects of gardening. This is for anyone,” Dayvault said.

She said the conference is held in the dead of winter because that’s when the gardeners have most of their down time.

“We try to get ideas about what people would like to hear about. We had 49 people the first year and over 60 the second year. This year we are hoping to have about 100,” Dayvault said.

As part of the Davidson County Cooperative Extension Service and a national volunteer gardening association, Dayvault and others take part in various workshops across the land.

She attended one in Alaska this past fall.

“We go through training to learn about plants and disease,” Dayvault explained. “We take a six-week course and are required to do 40 hours of community service.”

The group also has a plant sale and a tour of various gardens in Davidson County in the spring. Fundraisers are held to help with projects.

Dayvault, who writes for a gardening magazine, said being a member of the organization is a great way to be involved in the community and to meet others interested in gardening. The local master gardeners meet once a month.

Most members are retired, which allows them time to be involved in volunteer work, she pointed out.

Dayvault’s favorite plants are perennials, she said, “because they come back every year.”

She has a small yard and has planted mondo grass, which doesn’t require mowing. “You still have to spray it for weeds,” she said.

The local extension office offers free soil testing.

Dwight Davis can be reached at 249-3981, ext, 226 or at dwight.davis@the-dispatch.com.

For at least a decade, Laurel residents living near Laurel Lakes’ upper lake have complained about overgrown vegetation blocking the water view. Now, the city is asking community members who snubbed the shrubbery to pool their creative ideas for a new landscaping project that will restore the lake’s appearance.

In July, the city will partner with the Prince George’s County Department of Environmental Resources to dredge the west forebay of Laurel Lakes and remove silt and buildup.

So, it seemed like an ideal time to give the landscaping a makeover, said Mike Lhotsky, director of the Laurel Department of Parks and Recreation.

“We’re looking for something that would be a little more manageable, as far as how tall and how the plant would spread,” Lhotsky said.

Other factors the department will consider are erosion and weather-related issues.

The city began taking requests Dec. 23. Lhotsky said he is hopeful for a large response.

“I think we’ll get a fair amount of input for this — just from the amount of people who live around the lake,” he said. “There are a lot of people who walk the lake.”

It is fairly common for the city to consider community input when taking on projects, such as when it held a public meeting to discuss a new dog park on Van Dusen Road, Lhotsky said.

The county’s Department of Environmental Resources will oversee dredging of the lake, Lhotsky said.

Lester Louis, 54, who has lived near the lake for more than 20 years, said he would like the tall trees currently surrounding the water replaced with short bushes.

“All those trees are basically blocking the lake,” he said. “It used to be real, real pretty. That was one of the things that attracted me to move here.”

Tanya Hill, 47, Louis’ neighbor, moved to the area in 1990. She said she hasn’t been able to see the water from her house in years.

“I thought I was getting waterfront property, and that’s not what I got,” she said.

Hill said cherry trees planted near the lake would look good, but would not block the view.

The Parks and Recreation department has not set a deadline for when landscaping ideas must be submitted, but will discuss any input with officials and project managers, Lhotsky said.

eeastman@gazette.net

Posted Dec. 29, 2013 @ 1:01 am

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BISBEE — The Muheim Heritage House Museum committee will be holding an open house on Sunday, Jan. 5, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the historic home on Youngblood Hill Avenue in Old Bisbee.

The committee has some new plans for the home that was donated to the city years ago by the Muheim family, said Doreen Edwards, committee member. They include renting the home as a place for functions such as weddings, birthdays or anniversaries, to expand its use to the public.

The caretaker’s residence on the rear of the old home is up for lease by the month or by the year, Edwards stated.

These ideas will help the Muheim House become self-sustainable and enjoyed by the citizens of the county, which are two goals of committee members Christine Rhodes, Cynthia Conroy, James Bond, Joe Saba, Lyle Reddy, Mary Bond, Mary Killary, Shirley Doughty and Edwards.

Freeport McMoRan, Inc. and the city have helped with the new landscaping and parking lot which the committee members want the public to see, she added.

Sassy Transport will be providing rides up the hill and tasty delicacies from Mornings Cafe and the San Jose Restaurant will be available for visitors.

For more information, call Edwards at (520) 227-4686.

 

 

If you find a correction for this story, please contact our editorial department

In 2014, Ruth Campbell and 17 volunteers with the St. Luke’s Board of Visitors are tweaking tradition: The fundraising arm for St. Luke’s Home will change up its signature fiesta and present a Western-themed 95th Baile Celebration on April 12.

The celebration will combine time-honored customs with fresh ideas, reflecting a similar evolution in the past year at the assisted-living facility for seniors of limited financial means, Campbell said.

“Our new director, Beverly Heasley, has started something very exciting called ‘The Eden Alternative,’ which is about self-determination and involvement and choosing their way of life for St. Luke’s residents,” Campbell said. “It helps them to become very involved in the community through intergenerational experiences and is just wonderful.”

The Eden Alternative is a philosophy of care developed by Dr. William Thomas, a New York geriatrician who based his ideas on the belief that the well-being of seniors can be improved by transforming the communities in which they live to eliminate loneliness, helplessness and boredom.

The antidote is surrounding residents with plants, animals and children, according to Heasley, a certified Eden Alternative educator.

“What we are doing is creating a habitat for human beings. The key phrase is, ‘It is better to live in a garden,’” Heasley said. “Here at St. Luke’s Home we are resident-centered, and all decisions are made as close to the residents as possible to give them purpose and allow them to embrace life on their own terms.”

Heasley said St. Luke’s is nearing completion of phase one in the four-phase process of becoming Tucson’s only registered Eden Alternative assisted-living community. In the past year, residents have adopted their first animal — a desert tortoise they named Daisy Mae — that they care for. The home also is in the process of adding more plants to its gardens inside and out.

St. Luke’s residents also tutor area students, and young people ages 18 to 21 from the Goodwill GoodFutures Program visit St. Luke’s to volunteer with tasks such as landscaping, housekeeping and culinary work, and to share lunch with residents.

Next year St. Luke’s will continue collaborations with the UA Center on Aging and with students from the UA Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health.

“The intergenerational component allows young people and students to share their life experiences and hear residents’ life experiences; our residents can mentor these young people and the young people can mentor the residents as well,” Heasley said.

“Residents can give back to the community as well as receive, and it is very exciting.”

St. Luke’s Home is a 64-unit assisted-living facility that accommodates men, women and couples age 55-plus living on incomes of less than $25,000 a year.

Residents pay based on a sliding scale: Heasley said about 40 percent of revenue is generated by resident rent and service fees; the remainder of the $1 million annual budget comes from donations, grants, private gifts, contributions from people who care about low-income elders and funds raised by the board of trustees and from the Baile, which was Tucson’s first fundraiser.

“The Board of Visitors are an integral part of St. Luke’s Home. I don’t know what we would do without them and the funds and the volunteer hours they provide, as well as the love and caring they have for the people who live here and the people who work here.” Heasley said.

Campbell said the Board of Visitors is committed to evolving along with the facility. She said they are seeking new volunteers on every level — including those who may want to commit for a limited time, volunteer for only certain activities or work directly with residents on specific tasks such as baking or gardening.

“We are looking for people who want to be members of the Board of Visitors even for a short term and for people who may just want to help out at the home. Like many other organizations, we are trying to be more flexible so we can allow people to volunteer at their convenience,” she said.

Ultimately, Campbell is dedicated to helping an underserved senior population of those who are no longer unable to live alone but are unable to qualify for state-supported long-term care.

“St. Luke’s meets a unique need in Tucson that most other places don’t. It is directed at the people who fall in the gap between the truly indigent and those who have the ability to pay at higher-rate resident facility sites,” she said.

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Saturday, December 28, 2013 3:05 AM EST

Rome: Stray off the typical tourist path

BY BILL WARD | STAR TRIBUNE (MINNEAPOLIS)

The Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy, is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and is near Rome. (Richard Sennott/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT)

Stand within the Colosseum’s massive bowl, and you can practically hear the roar of the ancient crowd. But to capture the sounds of today’s Rome, it’s best to get away from the flurry of tourists and settle into a quaint trattoria like Da Tonino, where everyone within its rustic walls chatters away in Italian.

No sign outside announces the restaurant; my wife and I dined there courtesy of a local’s tip. And that cloaked quality was precisely its appeal.

Hidden gems — ignored by the guidebooks, well off the tourist path — await in nearly every nook of this wondrous city. Of course visitors should crane their necks at the Vatican, sip espresso at an open-air bar in Piazza Navona and climb the Spanish Steps. But in a place with a history so long and rich that it is dubbed “the Eternal City,” only one approach seems plausible: Peel away the layers, savoring each one, to get a deeper sense of the place.

In our journey to do just that, we hoofed everywhere, from an underappreciated villa with some of the world’s foremost fountains to a neighborhood bakery with marzipan confections — and places beyond. Our feet are still recuperating, but our souls are soaked with indelible memories.

Cul De Sac

Cork dorks should head posthaste to Cul de Sac (Piazza di Pasquino 73; www.enotecaculdesac.com ), to sample scores of wines they can’t get elsewhere (start with a glass of the cesanese, although it’s impossible to order poorly here). But this locals-laden enoteca has way more to offer: a locavore menu with eight kinds of pâté, sundry salumi and cheese and homemade pasta, friendly service (a waiter actually asked an indecisive customer how much she wanted to spend on wine) and a fabulous vibe inside and out.

Tucked into a prototypically quaint but preternaturally quiet piazza a block west of the Piazza Navona, Cul de Sac’s outdoor tables are filled by 7 p.m., which is still happy hour for Romans. The booths inside rest under shelves of bottles reaching to the 12-foot-high ceiling, with the nets in between to keep any errant bottles from conking customers on the head.

-Jewish Ghetto

At a couple of entrances to the Jewish Ghetto, you must pass through turnstiles (no coins needed) that we dubbed “pedestrian roundabouts.” Sadly, the Jews who were forced to live in this flood plain near the Tiber River in the 16th century (after two millenniums of being a free community), had to come in and out through locked gates in massive walls.

The walls came down in the late 19th century, and a stately, imposing synagogue (Lungotevere Dè Cenci) went up on the neighborhood’s edge. The old ghetto now has a few Jewish merchants and restaurants serving Roman Jewish specialties. Don’t miss the fried artichokes at Giggetto (Vie del Portico d’Ottavia 21; www.giggettoalportico.it ), and walk off your meal on tree-lined riverside Longotevere de Cenci.

Villa d’Este

Villa d’Este’s array of eye-popping frescoes are almost worth the 20-mile trek from Rome to Tivoli by themselves. The grandiose fountains in the “back yard” more than cinch the deal.

Installed by one Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, the son of Lucrezia Borgia, these 25 acres of waterworks (Piazza Trento, Tivoli; www.villadestetivoli.info ) use ancient Roman hydraulic- engineering principles and range from the simple to the massive, from an endless row of smaller jet streams to a multifaceted “nymphaeum.” These spigots aside, the gardens include lovely landscaping and some gravity-defying trees. Similar landscapes are depicted inside, spread through a suite of art-filled rooms that, were they housed in Rome, would be anything but “hidden.”

Dagnino

Taking a hungry kid to Pasticceria Dagnino (Via V. Emanuele Orlando 75; www.pasticceriadagnino.com ) would easily make the shortlist of Worst Ideas Ever. Popping in as an even slightly ravenous adult isn’t such a grand notion, either. The almost unending assortment of mouthwatering sweets at this Sicilian-style bakery includes ice cream and cake, cookies and cannoli.

But what marks it as Sicilian is a boundless batch of that island’s cassata cakes and marzipan crafted into brightly colored, exquisitely detailed fruits. Drool alert! You can skip all that eye candy by sitting and ordering at a table in the tony gallery near the Termini station, but why would you? Bonus points for the best cappuccino by far we had during our two weeks in Italy.

-‘Monumental Cemetery’

Most of us have found ourselves in a museum gawking at some oddity and thinking (or saying) “Is this art? Really?” That’s certainly the rote response at the catacombs in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (Via Vittorio Veneto 27; www.cappucciniviaveneto.it ), where thousands of bones have been fashioned into light fixtures, hourglasses, arches and even flowers in rooms with names such as “The Crypt of Pelvises.” The Catholic Church’s Capucin sect, which has a history of an often-cultish relationship with the dead, crafted these “works of art” with the remains of 4,000 of their flock. Appreciating, or at least understanding, this attitude is enhanced mightily by a fabulous museum above the crypt, leading to a plaque that advises “What you are now, we used to be. What we are now, you shall be.” OK, then.

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Editor:

On Sunday night, Dec. 22, around 10:30 p.m. someone driving a red SUV ended up in our yard, thereby damaging some landscaping and hitting a tree. While there was no damage to the tree, and minor damage to the landscaping in our yard, it is important to know that whoever had the accident, immediately fled the scene after retrieving the vehicle license plate out of our yard so that we could not identify the vehicle or driver.

Ending up in our yard and hitting the tree was definitely an accident. Whether it was caused by driving too fast for conditions, the curve of the street, or icy road conditions, it does not matter. But what does matter is that the individual driving the vehicle, as well as the passenger, felt the need to flee the scene leaving various car parts in our yard. So, if your son or daughter drives a red SUV and it has recently incurred front end damage, please alert the police department. When the accident happened, we were concerned that someone was hurt. However, when the vehicle fled the scene, it became apparent that maybe there was more to hide than just getting into an accident.

We hope that the individuals involved in this accident were not injured in any way, and it is unfortunate that they were not able to report the accident and take responsibility for their actions.

All that preparation culminated in a long-term master plan the company submitted to the county Dec. 12 that calls for developing portions of the land with a balance of housing and commercial space big enough to lure large employers while putting large swaths of land in conservation with Plum Creek retaining timber rights.

The company is pitching the development portion of the plan as a way to address economic disparities on the east side of the county, while the conservation land would remove the ability to build one home with well and septic tank per every 5 acres, as allowed in the current agricultural land use.

The portions slated for development cover 11,000 acres of the 17,000-acre Windsor tract between Newnan’s Lake and Hawthorne with a maximum of 15.5 million square feet of commercial space and 10,500 homes. The commercial space includes 8 million square feet for advanced manufacturing, 6 million square feet for research and development, office and institutional uses and 1.5 million square feet of retail and service space.

At least 30 percent of the developed areas must remain open space in the plan, leaving about 7,500 acres available for development.

The developed acreage would be reduced further if Plum Creek is allowed to concentrate homes and businesses over a smaller area.

The company is eyeing two areas in particular that make the most sense for development because of their proximity to Gainesville and Hawthorne with access to State Road 20.

However, developing the portion closest to Gainesville would affect wetlands, which is not currently allowed under the comp plan.

Tim Jackson, director of real estate for Plum Creek, said they could build out the maximum developed space without touching the 1,700 acres of wetlands within the 11,000 acres, but Plum Creek is asking to concentrate the development in smaller areas while affecting a few wetlands in the southern portions in return for greater wetlands protections on land to the north.

Jackson pointed out the areas on a poster-sized map during a Dec. 19 press briefing.

“We’re suggesting that you get the county, from a policy perspective, to look at a better environmental solution than just protecting every wetland, primarily for the purpose of accommodating a job center down here.”

The development would still conform to state and federal environmental standards that do not address wetlands of less than a half-acre.

The plan would also put about 23,000 acres in conservation, preventing future development while Plum Creek keeps the timber rights, in addition to the 24,000 acres of its land already in conservation.

The master plan was submitted as an amendment to the county’s comprehensive land use plan as a rarely used sector plan available in Florida for properties of at least 15,000 acres with a 50-year planning outlook compared to the usual 20-year horizon.

The master plan covers the 60,136 acres that Plum Creek owns in the unincorporated county and not the nearly 5,000 acres it owns in the city limits of Gainesville and Hawthorne.

While the sector plan lays out the broad parameters for land uses, development would also require county approval of detailed specific area plans that would include the location of buildings and units per acre, among other criteria, for areas of at least 1,000 acres.

Although it is not stipulated in the plan, Plum Creek intends to serve as the master developer, hiring other developers and builders to handle construction, Jackson said.

The amendment faces scrutiny by county staff, the county planning commission and state regulators, with the County Commission having final say on approval.

Missy Daniels, senior planner for the county, said county staff from growth management, public works, fire/rescue and environmental protection will analyze the plan to see if it is consistent with the county’s comp plan and how development would affect the environment, roads, adjacent lands and historic resources such as a cemetery on the property.

Staff will then recommend that the plan be approved or denied as is or recommend changes before sending it to the planning commission, an appointed board of volunteers that then makes a recommendation to the County Commission.

That could take a few months depending on whether staff requests more information and how long it takes Plum Creek to answer, Daniels said.

“It’s obviously the biggest thing we’ve ever reviewed,” she said.

Once the planning commission makes its recommendation, the County Commission votes on whether to send the plan to the state as is or to propose changes. From there, the plan goes to the state Department of Economic Opportunity, which has 60 days to review it and gather comment from other state agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Once the state issues any comments, recommendations or challenges to the plan, county staff has 180 days to take it to the County Commission for a final adoption hearing.

Plum Creek officials are hoping for approval by the end of 2014.

The company has sent letters about the plan to the owners of 1,900 properties within a quarter mile of its land and will be required to do so again before the planning commission hearing. Plum Creek also hired 10 people to install 420 road signs as notices of the proposed changes along 85 miles of roads fronting its property.

Daniels said she has already gotten a ton of phone calls since notices were posted, mostly from hunters wondering if they will be able to continue hunting on the land slated for conservation.

Greg Galpin, Plum Creek’s senior manager of planning, said hunting leases will not be affected.

Environmental concerns

A couple of organizations weighed in with concerns about environmental issues prior to the plan being submitted.

The Suwannee St. Johns Group of the Sierra Club has come out in opposition to the plan over concerns about water issues, loss of wildlife habitat and sprawl.

In a letter to the editor published in The Sun on Nov. 30, club representatives wrote that the quiet rural character of nearby rural clusters “will be lost to traffic, sprawl, noise and destruction of wetlands.”

The letter also expressed concern that a proposed conservation corridor that would meander through the development is only a half-mile wide on each side of Lochloosa Creek.

The county’s Land Conservation Board, also an appointed advisory board of volunteers, wrote a letter to county commissioners dated Dec. 6 expressing concern that the lands designated for conservation do “not adequately protect ecological connectivity along Lochloosa Creek” and asks that the commission support additional conservation land that connects wildlife corridors.

The letter also says that much of the conservation land in the plan is already under decades-old conservation easements and should not be included as mitigation against development, and that conservation land used for “industrial silviculture” — or tree farming — should not be traded to fulfill the county comp plan’s 50 percent strategic ecosystem set-aside requirement.

Environmental groups were represented on the task force that Plum Creek convened to steer the plan, including members of the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy and Audubon Florida.

Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, who was not a member of the task force, weighed in at the Dec. 19 press briefing.

“There are some people whose desire is to stop growth and stop development and stop more people from being here. We don’t believe as an organization that that’s a practicable objective,” he said.

“The more green that you can get left in the system at the end in exchange for getting some kind of smaller, more condensed development from our point of view is a better plan and a better way to approach things.”

He said Audubon Florida was not ready to take a stand on the plan’s treatment of wetlands but has flagged the issue for additional discussion. He said that restoring some wetlands while conceding others can provide a greater ecological lift than a “no net loss” approach.

“I don’t think that Alachua (County’s) current law gets you to the right place, but I’m not sure the recommended change gets you there either,” Draper said.

In response to environmental concerns, Plum Creek is proposing that:

— Development restricts water use with a goal of using 50 percent less water compared to conventional uses. That would be achieved by prohibiting the use of potable water on lawns, using Florida-friendly landscaping, prohibiting wells and septic tanks, using high-efficiency plumbing and reusing treated wastewater.

The development would include its own water and sewer plants.

— Development is compact to shorten car trips and promotes walking and bicycle use.

— One or more projects to improve water quality in Lake Lochloosa will be identified before submitting the first detailed specific area plan. Jackson said they are looking at creating a treatment pond that would filter nutrients in Lochloosa Creek.

The issue of jobs

For the developed land in the plan — referred to as employment-oriented mixed use — Plum Creek is proposing to balance commercial and residential space by creating three jobs per household. If the ratio is not reached in one detailed specific area plan, the next DSAP would have to make up for it. If the ratio drops below two jobs per household, approval of the next DSAP would be suspended to develop a remedial plan.

The ratio assumes that four people are employed for every 1,000 square feet of research and development/office/commercial space and 1.2 people for every 1,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Jackson said the idea behind the jobs ratio is to provide an incentive for people to work in the Plum Creek development and live in nearby east Gainesville and Hawthorne.

“There’s a deficit of housing and so where would that housing go? Hopefully as redevelopment infill in Hawthorne and east Gainesville,” he said.

Consultants hired by Plum Creek estimate that the commercial space will create between 18,000 and 24,000 jobs in the research and development/office/institutional space over 50 years and 6,000 to 12,000 advanced manufacturing jobs.

Adrian Taylor, a task force member and vice president of Innovation Gainesville for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, said the job estimates are “very doable” because of demand that is already here and strategic advantages that the area has in fields such as information technology, advanced manufacturing, logistics and agrisciences.

The consultants have been interviewing University of Florida deans and professors to see what companies can benefit from UF research and what relationships they already have so Plum Creek can partner with the chamber, UF and Santa Fe College to market the area to those companies.

Plum Creek would provide larger tracts of land for big employers than what is currently available, Taylor said.

“Now we’re in the ballgame on the national and international stage where we’re not now,” he said.

Plum Creek officials have regularly touted the economic potential of its land closest to Hawthorne for its proximity to a CSX rail line and U.S. 301 between Jacksonville and Tampa.

“This makes the land available,” Jackson said. “If the land isn’t available, the jobs aren’t coming. If the jobs don’t come, you still get the conservation land and you don’t consume the land for manufacturing.”

While the plan is designed for a 50-year buildout, Plum Creek is also sensitive to calls that it do something right away after stirring optimism among its advocates in east Gainesville and Hawthorne.

To that end, Plum Creek has teamed with Santa Fe College to see how it can expand community programs SF already provides in east Gainesville, said Karen Cole-Smith, executive director of community outreach and east Gainesville instruction for SF College.

The college will also start offering community and continuing education courses in Hawthorne in January and is working with Hawthorne Middle/High School on an agreement to make the computer lab available for online courses in time for the spring B session, said Dug Jones, Santa Fe associate vice president of economic development.

Jones said the idea is to get people in the habit of taking classes and getting registered and enrolled with an eye toward future job training.

Other provisions of the plan include:

— Within the developed area, a majority of housing will be within a half-mile of employment uses and a majority of jobs will be within a half-mile of future transit access to east Gainesville or Hawthorne.

— 2,300 acres are designated for agricultural land in the Windsor tract. The land is already zoned agricultural, which would allow one home per five acres. The proposal would further limit that to one home per 40 acres.

Jackson said the idea for the agricultural land is to hopefully attach it to a large agriscience business or a research campus of the UF Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences in the employment area.

— 340 acres of rural land would surround the town of Windsor to act as a buffer to development in response to concerns from residents who want to preserve the rural nature of the community. In addition, the employment area would include its own internal street network to discourage travel on County Road 234 through Windsor.

— “Edges” would be protected around rural clusters such as Campville and Grove Park so that adjacent uses are the same or would include a 100-foot natural barrier. Conservation land in public ownership would be surrounded by a 50-foot natural barrier.

— Within the 1,500-acre Hawthorne Urban Reserve Area — designated for future annexation in the county comp plan — Plum Creek’s plan calls for residential uses adjacent to nearby residential areas south of State Road 20 and industrial use near adjacent industrial land to the north. Development there would also likely hook into Hawthorne water and sewer service.

— According to company projections, existing schools could handle 80 percent of the likely population growth in the developed area.

For gardners – or potential gardeners – who have issues with physical, time or space limitations, help is on the way.

The Oconee Master Gardeners Association and Putnam County Cooperative Extension are teaming up for a four-part series on “Gardening with Limitations,” with second-Wednesday-of-the-month sessions from January through April.

“We will introduce you to the latest tools and methods which will help you continue your love for gardening,” said Shawn Davis who volunteers with both organizations.

“All presentations are free and open to the public. All products demonstrated will be given away as door prizes.”

“Introduction and Garden Helpers” is scheduled for Jan. 8. The Feb. 12 session will cover tools; irrigation and chemical applications will be the topics March 12. The final session, set for April 9, will address plantings and container gardening.

Davis said Putnam County Extension Coordinator Keith Fielder’s annual needs assessment “showed that our community wanted additional programming information and ideas on how to make gardening and landscaping activities easier.

“Since a large segment of our population is retirement age, this made great sense,” Davis said. “Additionally, with people choosing smaller gardens and limited landscapes, this brought forth request for raised beds more efficient irrigation systems.”

Davis said the “excellent working relationship” between the two organizations provided “the perfect venue” for the program.”

Between OMGA’s monthly educational programs, Fielder’s needs assessment and feedback Davis said he’s received from local master gardeners “filled out an A-Z outline of a program we felt would address the community needs.”

Davis said similar programs across the state have covered individual topics, “but none have addressed the topics as a whole.”

Unique aspects of the program will be the chance for individuals to get Fielder’s “one-on-one instruction and advice” and the chance to see gardening products up close – and, perhaps, take them home.

“The companies participating in the presentation have provided us with unique gardening items that will address one or all of the limitations we will be presenting,” Davis explained. “We will be demonstrating tools, gardening helpers, automation, process changes and maintenance methodology from around the world.”

The items “will be donated to attendees by random drawing” at the end of each session, Davis said.

All sessions will be from 10:30 a.m.to 1 p.m. at The Hut community center, 400A W. Marion St. in downtown Eatonton.

Emphasizing that the presentations are free to participants, Davis said pre-registration “would be appreciated to ensure adequate attendee packets.” Call the Putnam County Extension Office at 706-485-4151.

For more information about the program, contact Davis by sending an email to mosshappyness@gmail.com