Shell Creek landowner suggests swap
HILL
HILL
SUN FILE PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA
This photo, shot during a helicopter tour provided by Fred Hill, shows the verdant terrain of eastern Charlotte County where a regional garbage dump is proposed.
SUN FILE PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA
A wetland meanders between hardwood hammocks on Bryan Paul's ranch in the Shell Creek watershed in eastern Charlotte County. Paul is among several area landowners who contend the region should be preserved.
EASTERN CHARLOTTE COUNTY — Fred Hill, an eastern Charlotte County ranch owner who has rallied a group of neighboring property owners to oppose the proposed Calusa Green regional garbage dump, now is proposing a land swap that would give Charlotte County an option to buy land from him in the future to expand the county’s existing Zemel Road landfill.
That option would negate the need for the proposed Calusa Green landfill, which would be developed in the headwater region of Shell Creek, a natural water-storage area rich in wildlife, according to Hill.