Will Wetlands Sentinels Get County Budget Ax?

Published: Aug 15, 2007

Who: The Hillsborough County Commission, sitting as the Environmental Protection Commission

What: Public hearing on whether to eliminate county's wetlands division or to keep it with a new, streamlined permitting process

Where: County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., downtown Tampa

When: 9 a.m. Thursday

What's at stake: Developers and some county commissioners want to eliminate the wetlands division with its 29 employees and $2.1 million yearly budget. They say the division performs the same duties as state and federal agencies, and that the duplication of effort adds time and costs to building projects.

EPC officials, with the support of former county commissioners and a wide array of environmental and neighborhood groups, say the division should survive because it gives county wetlands greater protection than they would get if regulated entirely by state and federal agencies.

History: The wetlands division was created in 1985 to enforce the county's wetlands rule. The rule, part of the county's land-use code, says that it shall be a priority to avoid disturbing wetlands and to encourage their use only for purposes compatible with their natural functions and environmental benefits.

Because of the rule's wording, the county prohibits destroying wetlands unless a land owner can show he will lose "reasonable use" of his property if he can't fill the marsh. The county also protects wetlands smaller than a half acre. State and federal agencies do not provide the same protection for these smaller, isolated wetlands.

Developers have always resented the extra hurdles they've had to clear because of the county's stricter wetlands rules. In 1996, they found an ally in County Commissioner Dottie Berger, who also chaired the EPC. Berger convened study groups and commissioned an independent audit in an effort to show that the wetlands division was superfluous and slow in responding to permit applications. The effort couldn't withstand the opposition of Roger Stewart, the longtime executive director of the EPC. Berger left the commission with the wetland rule and division intact.

This year, the development community found a new champion in County Commissioner and EPC Chairman Brian Blair. In April, Blair began publicly challenging the agency's wetlands division, saying they didn't provide any more protection than state groups such as the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Blair's assaults set the table for the EPC board's June 21 vote to eliminate the wetlands division. Blair was joined by commissioners Kevin White, Ken Hagan and Jim Norman in voting to ax the division. Commissioners Rose Ferlita, Mark Sharpe and Al Higginbotham voted against the move.

In the meantime, the commission agreed to let EPC Executive Director Rick Garrity finish developing a "hybrid" permitting process that would eliminate some duplication and red tape to save developers time and money. If the commission votes Thursday to keep the wetlands division, it is likely to also approve Garrity's hybrid proposal.

Mike Salinero