County OKs Killing Wetlands Division

By MIKE SALINERO The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 22, 2007

TAMPA - To save money and reduce red tape for developers, the Hillsborough County Commission decided Thursday to end 22 years of local wetlands protection.

Sitting as the Environmental Protection Commission, commissioners voted 4-3 to eliminate a county program that provides stricter rules for destroying wetlands than the state.

Without the program, the Environmental Protection Commission's wetlands division and its 29 employees no longer will be needed. Commissioners still must hold a public hearing on eliminating the program and take a final vote. That could happen next month.

Commissioner Kevin White made the motion to end the program. He was supported by Commissioners Ken Hagan, Jim Norman and Brian Blair. Commissioners Rose Ferlita, Mark Sharpe and Al Higginbotham voted to keep the program.

Those who voted for its end said the wetlands division is performing the same oversight functions as state and other agencies, such as the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Hagan said the county no longer can afford redundant services after the state Legislature last week mandated a large rollback in property taxes.

"Like it or not, the time has come to make some tough decisions," Hagan said. "There is no sacred cow."

The county is facing a reduction in revenue of up to $90 million next year because of the property tax rollback. Hagan said the losses could rise to $217 million if voters approve a proposed amendment next year that would increase homestead exemptions.

White Denies Developers' Influence

Biologists at the wetlands division review development plans to try to minimize wetlands destruction. Scientists monitor mitigation projects that developers must build if they destroy wetlands. Developers can't build without satisfying the wetlands division.

A small group of community activists who attended the meeting angrily promised to bring public pressure to bear on commissioners who voted to end the program. The group, calling itself Hillsborough Residents for Accountable Government and Controlled Growth, said the commission listens to special interests, such as developers, and dismisses constituents' concerns.

"I hope they're ready to pay the price for it," said Terry Flott of Seffner. "We're not going to go quietly. We're going to start rallying the troops."

Developers have been lobbying commissioners to end the wetlands division for years, saying it creates an unneeded layer of regulation that slows development and costs money.

White said he heard those complaints during his campaign last year and that's why he made the motion to get rid of the wetlands regulators.

During his tenure as a Tampa City Council member, White said, he was known as the developers' councilman. In his successful election campaign last year to become a county commissioner, he received $39,550 in campaign contributions from developers and builders, nearly 17 percent of his total contributions.

He said Thursday that the contributions had nothing to do with his vote.

"My vote can't be bought," White said. "I hope that people believed in me and my candidacy and that I will make the most intelligent and informed decision that's possible."

The budget for the wetlands agency was about $2.1 million this year. Agency supporters said eliminating it will barely make a ripple in the county's $3.8 billion budget. EPC's director of finance, Tom Koulianos, said the savings would be less than $1 million because the wetlands division brings in about $1.2 million a year in permitting fees.

Higginbotham, who voted against ending the program, pointed out that County Administrator Pat Bean's proposed budget cuts do not include ending wetlands regulation.

Blair Says He Could Change Vote

Blair has been pushing to eliminate the wetlands division for months. He said there's been an overall gain in wetlands acreage in Florida in recent years. That's proof, Blair said, that state regulators do a good job of making developers mitigate the wetlands they destroy with quality, constructed wetlands. Local regulation is unnecessary, he said.

Not everyone agrees. Critics of state wetlands oversight say mitigation projects are granted easily and seldom mimic the quality of a natural wetland.

"A few of these projects have worked," Peter Frederick, a professor of ecology at the University of Florida, said in an e-mail. "But in the vast majority of cases, the created wetlands do not replace the biological functions of the naturally occurring ones that they replaced."

Jadell Kerr, director of the wetlands division, said the county allows mitigation only if there is no other way to develop a property. If a developer turns in early plans with wetlands impacts, the agency tries to get him to rework the plans.

"To me, what's important is to avoid wetlands impacts in the first place," Kerr said.

After the vote was taken to cut the agency, EPC Executive Director Rick Garrity quickly unveiled a streamlined permitting process that he said could save developers time and also save the county money.

Garrity said he had not worked out all the details, but he envisions a "one-stop" permitting process that would bring together the county planning and environmental departments with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

"We're hoping through my hybrid solution we can show commissioners there is a way to make this work where they can have local control and have savings and economies at the staff level," Garrity said.

Blair said he would change his vote if Garrity can show that his plan will save money and eliminate duplication.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.