Manatee County pays $11.2 million for 68-acre riverfront property

Manatee County is buying a 68-acre parcel of riverfront land in Parrish in order to preserve it.

Manatee County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to buy Crooked River Ranch along the Manatee River for $11.2 million. In a statement, the county says the property “will provide for coastal resiliency, water quality protection/improvement and native habitat protection/improvement.”

The piece of land is between Interstate 75 and Fort Hamer Road and gives the county rights to one of the last remaining sizable, privately owned parcels along the river, according to the statement.

Manatee made the purchase through its Environmental Lands Program which allows the use of tax money to buy, improve and manage land to protect natural resources and for parks.

In the statement, the county says conserving the property will benefit manatees that graze on vegetation along the shoreline as well providing a habitat for birds, including roseate spoonbills and wood storks.

Elizabeth Hunter Skidmore, whose family has owned the property, says in the statement that the sale honors “the wishes of my parents who envisioned a future where this land flourishes untouched.”

Manatee staff has been working on the deal with the family and the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast for several months and the sale is expected to close early next year.