Wetlands and mangroves — they protect shorelines from flooding and erosion and provide habitat for marine life.
Suncoast Waterkeeper Inc., a nonprofit seeking to preserve Sarasota and Manatee waterways, filed suit Oct. 26 against the city of Bradenton.
The suit seeks to invalidate site approvals for Harbor Sound, a 3.46-acre, four-home project on 40 acres — about one acre in wetlands — controlled by Pat Neal of Neal Communities’ land trust.
In a 16-page complaint, Cape Coral attorney Ralf Brookes, representing Suncoast, alleges the city violated the Florida Community Planning Act by issuing a site-improvement permit inconsistent with Bradenton’s comprehensive plan.
Neal broke ground Sept. 28 and maintains the project — being built by his son Michael Neal and E.T. MacKenzie Company of Florida — has begun in the uplands and not the wetlands, where a pending U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit is required.
Justin Bloom, co-founder and executive director of Suncoast, said his group has a particular interest in defending the comp plan.
“We think these comp plans are really important. They’re supposed to guide a community’s growth and planning,” he said, adding their organization seeks to “hold the line and defend the mangroves.”
Brookes’ lawsuit alleges the site permit was not published or mailed, but posted at the property Sept. 29 after Suncoast Waterkeeper members alerted the city that development was occurring without a permit on site.
The complaint also alleges the city violated the comp plan by issuing a permit:
• Allowing building within a 25-foot wetland buffer and environmentally sensitive area.
• Failing to dedicate conservation easements within 25 feet of wetlands on the parcel.
• Including wetlands development, not a boardwalk or gazebo, and violating the wetlands preservation rule.
• Failing to avoid impacts on wetlands.
Suncoast Waterkeeper seeks a trial, orders to invalidate approvals inconsistent with the comp plan and the restoration, demolition and removal of improvements. Suncoast also wants to halt any inconsistent use of the parcel.
At press time, the city of Bradenton had not been served with the lawsuit.
The complaint was assigned to Judge Gilbert A. Smith Jr.
Another court battle is being waged by Suncoast Waterkeeper, with 50-plus members in Manatee County, Sierra Club, Florida Institute of Saltwater Heritage and former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash.
Pending in the 5th District Court of Appeal, the appeal challenges the Southwest Florida Management District permit granted Aug. 25, which allows for the Neal project, including a four-home compound, associated fill, retaining walldriveway and other facilities.
In addition to spearheading the appeal, McClash has lobbied the city to protect the Perico wetlands for more than a year.
“I think (the city) should to the right thing and follow its own comp plan,” he said Oct. 28.
Clean Water Act action
Environmentalists continue to ramp up their attack against the four-home Pat Neal development on Perico Island.
Letters that are alleging dredge-and-fill violations under the federal Clean Water Act Section 404 are likely what’s catching the attention of federal and state regulators who sent inspectors to the site in early October.
Neal broke ground on the project Sept. 28, contending a Southwest Florida Management District permit — for the construction of a stormwater system, four homes, associated fill, a seawall, driveway and other facilities — allowed work to proceed in the uplands on the 3.46-acre parcel.
Environmentalists, however, say Neal has broached the federal wetlands line without the required U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit.
Attorney Ralf Brookes of Cape Coral wrote a Sept. 29 letter to the Corps, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Attorney General, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Neal-controlled land trust owning the property on behalf of former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash, concerned residents and unnamed environmental groups.
In the letter, Brookes asked the agencies to address the illegal dredging and filling operations under the Clean Water Act.
On behalf of Suncoast Waterkeeper, an environmental watchdog nonprofit agency, attorney Justin Bloom wrote a similar letter dated Oct. 30.
The notices will give the environmental groups and citizens standing under the Clean Water Act to sue if no enforcement action is taken within 60 days.
Corps decision pivotal to Neal project
Even as state appellate and circuit courts are asked to weigh in on the Neal project on Perico Island, the Corps of Engineers may, in fact, be the pivotal decision-maker.
As required for any development in federal wetlands, Neal has applied for a Corps permit for his four-home, 3.46-acre project on Anna Maria Sound.
According to the Corps’ notice seeking public comments on the project this summer, the proposed work would take place on 1.05 acres of wetlands and 36.42 acres of wetlands and surface water are contiguous to project.
The Corps regulates construction in navigable waters, including wetlands.
“If the Corps just flat out denies the permit for the wetlands there, it would moot out our fight against the Swiftmud permit,” said Bloom.
Neal’s federal wetlands permit has been under Corps review since July.
Nakeir Nobles of the Corps communications office said an inspector walked the site Oct. 8 and took soil samples.
Mike Montone, chief of the agency’s west permits branch, said a wetlands determination may include testing for wet soils, wetland plants and presence of water in the upper layer during growing season.
Also on site in early October was an inspector from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Swiftmud environmental resource permitting bureau chief Michelle Hopkins said the agency was on site Oct. 1 and Oct. 9 “as part of the construction taking place under the permit issued.”
She added, “Everything seems to be in compliance with the permit we’ve issued.”