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"The land, Scarlett. The land."

That's what Gerald O'Hara tells his daughter in "Gone With the Wind."

The land is what's important. The land is what's valuable. Always remember that someone who owns land can be rich, while those who don't run the risk of being trampled upon.

And it's the land, I suspect, that's at the heart of more than one controversy here in Florida.

For example, take a look at what's happening at Riviera Golf Estates. This 31-year-old East Naples development consists of 692 manufactured and built-on-site homes — and the Riviera Golf Club. The 94-acre executive golf course at the heart of the community is one of the few in the Naples area that is open to the public.

However, developer MDG Capital is about to sign an agreement with the Minnesota-based owners of the golf course to build 1,000-1,200 units of "workforce housing" where golf course now exists. Workforce housing is like "affordable housing," except that it does not involve government subsidies.

Quite understandably, the community's home owners don't want low-cost housing to replace their golf course.

Apparently, however, the original sales contract for the Riviera Golf Estates contained a codicil that the land on which the golf course is situated is to be used as a golf course and for no other purpose.

Lo! And behold! That codicil has disappeared from the county's documents.

At least one Riviera owner claims he has the original wording in his files. MDG President Bill Klohn has stated that the housing project won't go ahead until it can be determined if the golf course is a "right or a privilege" of the community's residents.

In other words, do those residents have a legitimate legal guarantee that the golf course cannot be used for any other purpose?

This sort of disappearing act has happened in the county's offices before.

More than a dozen years ago, my civic-minded wife led a community struggle to stop the Registry Resort Hotel from building a restaurant on the county park at Clam Pass beach. The original plans for the restaurant showed a sewer pipe going across the beach to connect with the City of Naples sewer system. Lo! And behold! The sewer line disappeared from the county's documents while citizens struggled to preserve their park from private development.

It only reappeared when concerned citizens found out about it. Sleight-of-hand?

It's the land, Scarlett.

The current owners paid $4.8 million for the land on which the Riviera Estate's golf course exists. How much will that land be worth once more than a thousand housing units have been plunked on it?

Could the Riviera Estates owners have bought the golf course themselves, and assured themselves that their community would not be changed?

Thought experiment: How would the members of Royal Poinciana or any of the area's copious other country clubs react to plans to build a dense development of "workforce housing" on their golf courses?

The land. It always gets down to the land. And the money that the land represents.

Much the same thing is happening across the state, in Palm Beach County.

Two years ago, with great fanfare, Gov. Jeb Bush and county officials announced that the prestigious Scripps Research Institute would open a research center in Palm Beach County.

Scripps, which has its headquarters in San Diego, Calif., is a leader in biotechnology studies. In addition to bringing thousands of high-paying jobs to the area, the Florida branch of Scripps would help shift the region away from its "banana republic" dependence on tourism.

Alas, environmental groups have protested Scripps' plan to build the new research center in Mecca Farms, a former orange grove, an area they deem to be ecologically sensitive. A federal judge has ruled that Scripps did not obtain all the necessary permits for building to be allowed. Getting those permits could take two years or more.

Scripps Florida has already hired nearly 200 scientists, and scientists don't work alone; they need supporting staff. So this initial cadre of people is working in temporary laboratory facilities on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. Like most temporary accommodations, the facilities at FAU are crowded and far from satisfactory.

Fearing that the high-priced (and highly prized) scientists will leave and go elsewhere, Scripps management has floated the idea of abandoning the Mecca Farms site and building new facilities at both FAU and the Florida Research Park, located a bit more than two miles from Mecca Farms.

Critics have complained that splitting the research center between two sites is far less than satisfactory: stick to the Mecca Farms location, as originally planned. Palm Beach County officials look forward to an entire community growing around the Scripps center: new homes, a science-oriented high school, and a town center. The county has agreed to put as much as $200 million into such development.

The research park is already zoned for industrial development, but the environmental groups protesting the Mecca Farms site have indicated that they would protest having Scripps build at Florida Research Park, as well. They do not want new development of any kind, especially a development that could include thousands of new homes and families.

Will Scripps fight this battle to its conclusion? Will Palm Beach County become a center of biotechnology industry?

Or will Scripps back away and drop the whole deal? If so, what will happen to the Mecca Farms property? The county has already spent a reported $110 million to improve the Mecca Farms site, but this apparently could be recouped by selling the land to — you guessed it — developers.

The land, Scarlett. The land.

Mecca Farms won't be an abandoned orange grove for long, one way or the other. Scientists may decide not to fight for the land, but developers will. And, as almost always, they will most likely win out in the end.