Increased Protections for Myakka River Obstructed by SB 180

BRADENTON — The Myakka Management Coordinating Council believes stronger protections are needed for the Myakka River and its Manatee County watersheds, but Senate Bill 180 stands in the way of local officials' ability to enact any new or increased regulations.

During a Manatee County Commission meeting last week, Chairman of the Myakka River Management Coordinating Council (MRMCC), Jono Miller, provided a presentation before commissioners regarding the council’s recent advisory opinion.

Commissioner Carol Ann Felts, who represents the county’s District 1, which includes Myakka City and areas near Myakka River Head, added the presentation item to the Sept. 16 meeting agenda.

“As we are looking at more and more growth into our rural areas of Myakka, I would like to make sure that we’re taking proactive steps to protect our waterways out there,” said Felts as she welcomed Miller to the podium.

The MRMCC was established in 1985 by the Myakka River Wild and Scenic Designation and Preservation Act to provide interagency and intergovernmental coordination in the management of the river.

Council members comprise staff from state agencies, local governments, regional planning councils, agricultural interests, environmental organizations, landowners, businesses, and other key stakeholders. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection appoints members.

MRMCC Chair Jono Miller was first appointed to the council in 1985.

Miller is a multigenerational Floridian who has lived along the river for over a decade. He earned a Master’s in Florida Studies from USF and managed the environmental studies program at New College from 1981 to 2014.

Miller began his presentation with a brief history of the Manatee County boundary lines as drawn in the 1920s, which divided Manatee and Sarasota into separate counties, with portions of the Myakka River running through each.

In 1985, following a study by the US Department of the Interior National Park Service, the Florida Legislature designated the 34-mile portion of the Myakka River within Sarasota County as a National Wild and Scenic River.

As Manatee County’s Director of Natural Resources, Charlie Hunsicker, explained, Manatee County was left out of the Wild and Scenic River designation because the county was concerned at the time that such a designation could significantly and negatively impact the county’s agricultural industry. In the 1980s, agriculture was a significant, stable, and foundational part of the Manatee County economy.

Miller explained that the designation on the Sarasota side has encouraged more robust protections of the river there, including 50-foot wetland buffer requirements, 150-foot building setback requirements, and even some area-specific additional protections that can extend up to 220 feet.

Manatee County had wetland buffer requirements that mandated buffer setbacks of 30 to 50 feet adjacent to viable and sensitive wetland areas. However, these protections were rolled back in 2023 when a former county commission voted to defer to the state's lesser requirements, which included just a 15-foot minimum buffer with an average of 25 feet.

The Myakka River is a less-defined series of wetlands and tributaries in Manatee County until it reaches Sarasota County, where it enters Myakka State Park. Its headwaters and watershed lie in northern Manatee County. With Sarasota’s more enhanced river protections being downstream of the river’s headwaters and watershed areas, the lesser regulatory protections of Manatee County work against those protective measures adopted in Sarasota.

During his presentation, Miller shared graphs and data from the Manatee Water Atlas, which he said showed a “dramatic increase in turbidity in the river in recent years.”

River “turbidity” refers to water cloudiness caused by suspended particles like sediment, algae, and organic matter. Increased turbidity can reduce light penetration and harm river ecosystems. 

Miller also displayed data that suggested possible increases in phosphorus content in the river, although he admitted the data could be imperfect. He pointed to another graph that showed a similar increase in fecal coliform presence in the river.

In August, the MRMCC voted to approve language for the issuance of a non-binding advisory opinion to be provided to Manatee County Commissioners.

The letter informed commissioners, “At our most recent meeting on Friday, August 8th, Council member Becky Ayech motioned that the MRMCC contact the Manatee County Commission Chair and fellow commissioners and request the commission adopt a protection zone for the Myakka River by ordinance.”

The council’s recommendations were for the ordinance’s provisions to be modeled after similar strategies adopted in Sarasota County for managing the river and its wetlands.

The council proposed that the county consider enacting a 50-foot wetland buffer beyond the ordinary high-water line, the maximum extent of the wetlands' vegetation, or the FEMA 100-year floodplain.

Additionally, no fill should be allowed within 150 feet landward of the protection zone boundary, and buildings should be required to have a 150-foot setback from the protection zone.

Miller said that while these added provisions were the official advisory opinion of the council for the health of the river, he personally would not vote to support them if they were put to a vote today, due to Florida Senate Bill 180 becoming law.

Signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June, SB 180 is the broad emergency management bill that includes vague language regarding "more restrictive or burdensome" changes to land development or building regulations.

Miller cautioned commissioners against introducing any new regulatory solutions needed to protect the Myakka River and watershed until the SB 180 “situation can be resolved.”

Instead, Miller proposed that the board consider exploring other options or tools within the county’s existing regulations that could be better utilized while SB 180’s preemptions remain in effect.

Some viable solutions, he suggested, could be better monitoring of development activities along the river and more consistent enforcement of existing codes.

“I think the job is not getting done right now,” Miller told commissioners. “So there needs to be ways that the county steps up. Whether that’s through better monitoring, better enforcement, more inspections, more land acquisitions, it could be a variety of techniques, but we are losing ground right now, as you saw in the graphs of the water quality monitoring and the land use changes.”

Commissioner Felts agreed with Miller’s assessment, “We can’t do much to change things with SB 180, so we've got to think harder about the things we can do.”

County Administrator Charlie Bishop bolstered Felt’s concerns, adding that he and the Natural Resources Director had engaged in multiple conversations with Felts regarding the need for improved river protections. 

“We had numerous discussions with the commissioner about current situations of protecting the river during construction; what our oversight is, what our compliance is,” said Bishop. “And it’s lacking.” 

Director Hunsicker proposed that, with official direction from the board, staff could begin work to evaluate and identify areas that aren’t working and improvements that could be made to the county’s existing enforcement structure.

“You can do a lot of damage with a bulldozer in a matter of hours,” Hunsicker said, offering an example. “Site inspections that occur during those initial phases for the environmental impacts would be important, and I’m not so sure we are up to speed on being able to make that happen at the moment.” 

Likewise, explained Hunsiker, at the state level, there are requirements that developers must meet for environmental considerations; however, even the state lacks the oversight infrastructure and staff to conduct regular inspections. 

“They rely on the local governments or residents to be their eyes and ears,” he explained. “But a lot of time can lapse between notification of an issue and a boots-on-the-ground inspection.”

Hunsicker confirmed that Congressman Vern Buchanan is currently focused on working for a Wild and Scenic River designation for the Little Manatee River and that Representative Greg Stuebe is working to secure an expanded federal designation of the current Wild and Scenic River designation of the Myakka River in Sarasota County.

Commissioner Mike Rahn proposed, based on Buchanan’s focus on protections for the Little Manatee River, that staff should engage with Buchanan on concerns for Manatee’s portion of the Myakka River and discuss whether he could assist Manatee County also to achieve federal designation for its portions of the Myakka River. 

Miller agreed that the designation would be beneficial for the river's future, but also explained that a study is required before obtaining the designation, which takes time.

Accepting that SB 180 would thwart any effort by the commission to increase land development protections for the Myakka River, and that federal designation would take significant time, Felts motioned for the board to direct staff to create two additional staff positions to provide for better monitoring of the river and enforcement of the existing and applicable land development codes.

The county’s Director of Development Services, Nicole Knapp, told commissioners that the motion put forward by Felts aligned with the staff’s recommendations. 

“We’re not very proactive, we’re very reactive right now with our inspections,” Knapp said.  

Knapp said the creation of two additional positions could help improve the county’s landscape and environmental inspection programs, noting that increased inspections would require an increase in staff.

However, the proposal to add additional staff so close to the final adoption hearing for the next fiscal year’s budget, and without a clear plan for effectively addressing the need for better protections for the Myakka River, gave some commissioners pause.

Commissioner Jason Bearden suggested that, without a clear plan, it is unknown whether two staff members would be sufficient to meet the needs or whether the creation of two new positions is necessary at all.

“I think we need a plan to move forward,” said Bearden. “We need a plan to determine how this will be executed going forward into the next 12 months, 24 months, 36 months.” 

Commissioner George Kruse added that he supported identifying effective solutions as well, but agreed that a plan was necessary before approving funding for additional positions.

The discussion concluded with commissioners agreeing to direct staff to evaluate the recommendations by the Myakka River Management Council and to develop a plan to be returned to the board for further discussion.

The action carried 6-0 with Commissioner Tal Siddique absent.