Say NO to Reducing the County's Wetland Protections!

The courts have repeatedly upheld the county's right to adopt wetland buffer requirements more stringent than the state's.

For us to spend taxpayer money to hire the developer’s expert witness in a minimum of two lawsuits filed against the county is a dereliction of duty by your elected representatives.”

Betsy Benac, former commissioner and AICP Certified Planner

Aug. 17th, BOCC Land Use Meeting, Manatee County Admin Building
1112 Manatee Avenue West
Bradenton, FL 34205
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Though I was pleasantly surprised by the Planning Commission’s vote against the transmittal of proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment PA-23-06/Ordinance 23-66 to delete the county’s long-standing wetland mitigation and buffer requirements,  I was taken aback by the voracious efforts of the commission chair to negate the community's concerns for these changes.

Chairman William Conerly stated that there is no scientific evidence to support the county’s buffer requirements.  This assertion was dovetailed with the staff report and presentation prepared by  Daniel DeLisi, AICP—the consultant hired by the county to push through the amendment (see Dawn Kitterman’s Sunday story). 

I know from my experience as a commissioner that the county had gone to extensive lengths to provide the “scientific evidence” to support the comprehensive plan’s wetland buffer requirements, specifically comp plan policy 3.3.1.5.

In 2015, during my tenure as a county commissioner, the county was sued by Mandarin Development for “unlawful exactions of private property” and a “deprivation of due process” due to the county’s requirement to provide a 50-foot buffer adjacent to a connected wetland in the Braden River Watershed at the Riva Trace development. 

In 2017, the BOCC was told by County Attorney William Clague that the final judgment in the case (Case No 2015-CA-2563) found that the county’s buffer requirements were appropriate, but that the requirement to dedicate a conservation easement was a “taking” that required compensation to the property owner. County staff was actually very proud that the Circuit Court Judge included in his written judgment dated Jan. 24, 2017: "The extensive evidence presented by the County at trial established that the wetland buffers required by Plan Policy 3.3.1.5 serve a legitimate purpose of preserving and protecting wetland areas and drinking water from land development activities and that Policy 3.3.1.5 is rationally related to that purpose. Accordingly, Count 1 fails in challenging the constitutionality of Policy 3.3.1.5. “

Interestingly, in his new role as the county’s “consultant” for its Comprehensive Plan text amendment to delete wetland protections, Mr. DeLisi has maintained that there is no scientific evidence to support the 50-foot buffer requirement and even told me during the July 20 Planning Task Force Meeting that in the 2015 Riva Trace lawsuit, the judge “split the decision” and that he “did not recall the county prevailing in any way.” 

At the time I asked the question, I had no idea that Mr. DeLisi had served as the plaintiff’s expert witness in another lawsuit filed against the county (Mandarin Development vs Manatee County). Because information regarding this lawsuit is available on the Clerk of Court’s website (search court cases involving Mandarin Development Inc.) I was able to read Mr. DeLisi’s deposition in the case in its entirety. 

Not only did he provide “expert” testimony in the Riva Trace lawsuit (although he stated he is not an expert on wetland buffers) he had provided expert testimony on behalf of Cargor Partners, Long Bar Pointe Case, on another lawsuit filed against Manatee County by the developer of both Riva Trace and Aqua by the Bay—previously known as Long Bar Pointe.  

The Riva Trace lawsuit did not end with the final judgment as the plaintiff appealed the decision to the 2nd District Court of Appeals.  Upon reviewing the outcome of the appeal (I am not a lawyer, so I may state the terminology wrong) it appears that the prior court’s decision was upheld—not on its merits, but because four years had passed, too long for a challenge to the language adopted in the 1989 comprehensive plan. 

The county had spent over five years defending this lawsuit. While the outcome meant the county would have to amend the LDC requirement for a dedicated conservation easement over a buffer, the wetland buffer requirements remain in the comprehensive plan and the LDC today, having withstood at least two court challenges.

As an AICP Planner with over 30 years of experience in Manatee County, I've represented many developers who have complied with comprehensive plan requirements, as well as the EPA, State (FDEP), and SWFWMD permitting requirements, I find it ridiculous to say that the county’s requirements are “rigid” and don’t allow flexibility. Most of the recent development approvals in the county have permitted the elimination of wetlands due to “low UMAM scores,” thus no buffers required.  

Developers have consistently made significant profits developing their land in compliance with the county’s rules, paying less for wetlands, and with the State and SWFWMD now permitting some wetland removal consistent with rules which have been weakened, not strengthened, over time. 

For us to spend taxpayer money to hire the developer’s expert witness in a minimum of two lawsuits filed against the county—for his services to “sell” our county on wiping out the comprehensive plan wetland policies that have been upheld in court—is a dereliction of duty by your elected representatives.

This is about someone finally getting rid of local regulatory “roadblocks” replaced by maximum density and profit—not about what is in the “best interest of the public” as is required by the comprehensive plan. 

These regulations have been defended at a great cost to the taxpayers of Manatee County.  Don’t let it be in vain because certain developers have bought and paid for the majority of our current commissioners whose only goal appears to be doing the bidding of their handlers. 

Attend the meeting, this Thursday (August 17) at 9 a.m., and tell your elected representatives that you will not tolerate them selling out Manatee County's environment and our water quality to pay back their debts. 

Betsy Benac served as a Manatee County Commissioner from 2012 to 2020.