1000 Friends of Florida is proud to announce the recipients of the 2006 Better Community Awards:

COMMUNITY STEWARD AWARDS

Jennifer L. Seney, Executive Director, Pascowildlife, Inc.

Jennifer L. Seney, Executive Director of Pascowildlife, Inc., received a Community Steward Award for her leadership in the successful passage of "Penny for Pasco," a local sales tax referendum for the purchase of environmentally sensitive lands. More than 53 percent of Pasco voters supported the referendum when it came up for a vote in March of 2004. Seney now chairs the Environmental Lands Acquisition Selection Committee, which evaluates land for possible county acquisition.

Seney was also honored for her active participation in the local planning process. Her many activities have included leading efforts to establish rural character areas to limit development in the county. She served for five years on the citizen advisory committee that shaped the county's comprehensive plan amendments that were recently transmitted to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for final review.

Nominating Seney for the award were Sue Mullins of The Nature Conservancy, and Pasco County resident Alison Berke Morano. Wrote Mullins, "The changes Seney has wrought in one Florida county will last forever." The award was presented August 8 at the meeting of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners, Commission Chambers, Historic County Courthouse, Dade City.

Bob and Sharon Blanchard, Little Everglades Ranch

Also receiving a Community Steward award at the August 8 County Commission meeting were Pasco County residents Bob and Sharon Blanchard. They were recognized for their environmentally sensitive stewardship of the 1,798-acre Little Everglades Ranch in Green Swamp. The Blanchards have reforested the ranch and put their property under conservation easement with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, protecting it from development in perpetuity.

With Sharon as president and Bob serving on the Board of Directors of the Coalition to Protect Our Water Resources (CoPOWR), the Blanchards also have been leaders in protecting the region's water resources. They played a key role in convincing the Board of Tampa Bay Water to reduce groundwater pumping through 2012. Serving as watchdogs, they continue to monitor decisions and make sure agreements regarding water pumping are upheld. Reaching out to conservation groups and landowners, they have helped to create a powerful coalition of advocates for water protection.

In nominating the Blanchards, Downtown Dade City Main Street Director Amy Ellis noted that they are preserving their own land and working to protect water resources for the entire region, calling them "role models for citizens and landowners."

Beaches Watch, Duval County

The grassroots organization Beaches Watch, Inc. received a Community Steward Award for its successful efforts to promote smart growth in Northeast Florida's coastal cities. The award waspresented on Thursday, August 17, at a reception held at the Jacksonville Beach Municipal Golf Course Club House.

Duval County attorney and citizen activist Wendell Finner nominated the group, writing that "Beaches Watch has shown citizens that positive results can be achieved by participating in the process." The group first drew attention when it sponsored a 2004 ballot initiative to limit new construction in Jacksonville Beach to 35 feet in height. The measure passed resoundingly, garnering 76 percent of the vote.

Beaches Watch did not stop there. When oversized development was proposed for Atlantic Beach, the group helped coordinate concerned citizens. After holding a series of workshops on preserving community character, Atlantic Beach is now modifying its land development regulations to conserve its small town feel. With support from Beaches Watch, numerous development projects in sensitive coastal areas throughout the region have been downsized or halted.

BETTER COMMUNITY AWARD

The Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa

The Florida Public Officials Design Institute at Abacoa will receive 1000 Friends' Better Community Award for its innovative approach to promoting the principles of smart growth and design throughout the region. The award will be presented at a Design Institute on November 2. Over the last four years, the Design Institute team has worked with public officials to develop workable solutions for 28 problematic sites in 26 towns and cities in South Florida.

The results are impressive. The City of North Miami Beach sought and won concessions from Wal-Mart and Miami-Dade County regarding the design and placement of a new, big-box retail building. The City of Vero Beach went on to hire top talent to create a vision-based plan to protect the community's historic character while accommodating development. A 400-acre site in Coconut Creek slated for half-acre residential lots will now accommodate a mixed-use, high-density town center. Other successes are being tracked at www.floridadesigninstitute.org.

A program of the Center for Environmental and Urban Solutions (CUES) at Florida Atlantic University, the Design Institute regularly hosts nationally known keynote speakers, and offers tours of the new urbanist community of Abacoa.

BILL SADOWSKI AWARD

Jono Miller

Jono Miller of Sarasota will receive the Bill Sadowski Award, presented annually to "a public servant at the regional or state level whose work exemplifies the high level of negotiation for which the former DCA Secretary was known." The award will be presented at a New College of Florida Board of Trustees meeting on November 4.

A leading force in Sarasota County for three decades, Miller has played a major role in the preservation of the Myakka River Watershed, serving in a leadership capacity on its Management Coordinating Council since 1986. He helped served on and helped facilitate a stakeholders group that laid the foundation for the county's 2050 Growth Management Strategy, calling for dense villages surrounded by greenways for areas outside of the urban service boundary.

In addition, Miller was instrumental in passage of the county's 1999 and 2005 referenda on environmentally sensitive land acquisition, which passed with 65 percent 80 percent approval, respectively. Sarasota County's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program has protected over 25 square miles and attracted $21 million in state matching funds. The 2005 referendum also includes funds to acquire neighborhood parks.

Co-chair Director of the Environmental Studies Program at New College since 1981, Miller has mentored numerous students on environmental and planning issues. He is also leading the College Steering Committee to develop a campus master plan that will allow New College to continue to grow while protecting and restoring habitat on campus.

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1000 Friends has been presenting awards since 1990. It honors those citizens, organizations, agencies and projects that use innovative approaches to growth management which have resulted in major, tangible accomplishments that can be replicated elsewhere in Florida.

Click here for a nomination form for 1000 Friends' Better Community Awards. For more information on 1000 Friends please visit www.1000friendsofflorida.org.