Hillsborough acquires undeveloped land along Little Manatee River

The county has been trying to purchase the 84 acres since the mid-2000s.

Hillsborough County is acquiring 84 acres of what it calls the Bahia Beach coastal restoration area to help complete a nature preserve at the Little Manatee River.

The county has been attempting to acquire the land since the mid-2000s and now will use RESTORE Act dollars to complete two separate buys via its Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.

The land, sitting between the river and Shell Point Road, is the last remaining large undeveloped property in the area along the Little Manatee River. It can provide public access to the river and completes a landscape corridor of coastal preservation lands along Tampa Bay stretching from Apollo Beach south to the Hillsborough-Manatee County line, the county said.