St. Augustine's Fish Island will be protected from future commercial development if Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet give their okay Thursday.
Fish Island is one of three environmentally significant pieces of land state leaders are considering purchasing with money from the Florida Forever conservation fund.
The 57 acre parcel on the Matanzas River is one of the last remaining undeveloped waterfront properties in St. Augustine.
Public Works Director Mike Cullum said the city plans to turn Fish Island into a public park. "It'll be a series of trails, very limited infrastructure, a little bit of parking at the entrance. We’ll have hiking, we’ll have off-road biking type trails so that people can just enjoy this beautiful piece of Florida."
In addition to Fish Island, the cabinet is also considering buying 700 acres in the Wakulla Springs Protection Zone south of Tallahassee and 130 acres in Charlotte County in Southwest Florida.
The price tag for the three properties is around $11 million.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
