The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage recently voted 14-1 to oppose a second attempt from Long Bar Pointe LLLP to operate a 260-acre wetland mitigation bank on Sarasota Bay along a 2-mile stretch of pristine shoreline southeast of Cortez.
Next to the submerged mitigation site of mostly mangroves and seagrasses, the same developers are planning a large-scale, mixed-use development, Aqua By the Bay, which is under review by Manatee County planners.
Long Bar Pointe LLLP lists as owners/managers Carlos Beruff and Larry Lieberman.
Vice president Jane von Hahmann asked the FISH board Jan. 2 to “discuss and decide” whether it wants to join former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash and Suncoast Waterkeeper Inc. — as it previously had done — to fight against the developer’s state mitigation permit.
Member John Stevely said he favored the appeal to battle dangerous precedents.
“Take it from me, never give up,” FISH member Rick Stewart said.
Member Rose Lipke moved to authorize FISH to join McClash and Suncoast and file for a formal administrative hearing. It was seconded by Stevely.
FISH Secretary Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fish Co., voted no. After the meeting, she explained her vote.
“I’ve always said FISH, as a nonprofit, shouldn’t be involved in legal issues,” Bell said.
While she doesn’t totally approve of the proposed project, Bell believes owners should have the right to develop their property. The county should consider purchasing and preserving the Long Bar property, she added.
FISH is dedicated to preserving the commercial fishing industry, the environment and fishing culture of Cortez.
Also a nonprofit, Suncoast Waterkeeper, founded by executive director Justin Bloom, aims to protect and restore Florida waterways through advocacy and education.
The FISH-Suncoast-McClash petition was prompted by a Jan. 6 deadline for objections after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced in December its intent to issue the permit.
Permits from the DEP as well as the U.S. Corps of Engineers are required for the project to move forward.
The Corps denied Beruff-Lieberman a federal permit in September at about the same time Beruff-Lieberman withdrew its first plan from the DEP.
As of Jan. 5, a revised prospectus had not been filed with the Corps, according to Nakier Nobles, Corps public information officer.
About a week after its DEP withdrawal, Long Bar developers re-filed another mitigation plan for the state permit.
Mitigation bank plan
McClash and other objectors say there is little difference between the first plan and the new one, except for the removal of four drainage ditches owned by Manatee Fruit Co. — reducing the site by about 2 acres.
FISH, McClash and Suncoast members consider the proposed bank a developer ploy to build a channel for a marina complex for Aqua, which will threaten a shoreline of already-protected wetlands, mangrove swamps and seagrasses.
The Corps, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration raised similar concerns.
The new plan assigns 18.01 credits, a decrease of 0.52 credits. Each credit translates roughly to 1-acre of restoration.
Developers — including Beruff and Lieberman— could pay the Long Bar Pointe LLLP bank to “mitigate” in exchange for the destruction of wetlands elsewhere.
Each credit runs $100,000-$200,000. Payments of the “credits” would fund the bank’s preservation and enhancement activities, such as exotic vegetation removal.
The proposed credits are allocated at 7.38 for seagrass-dominated submerged bottomlands, 0.23 for salt marsh, 7.07 for mangrove swamps, 0.68 for trimmed mangrove hedge, 2.65 for coastal freshwater marsh.
McClash acknowledges wetland mitigation banks can provide a positive impact to the environment — but not in this case, he said.
Bloom of Suncoast has likened the plan to putting “lipstick on a pig.”
The second petition
Attorney Ralf Brookes of Cape Coral Jan. 3 filed the petition for a hearing opposing DEP’s second “intent to issue” the mitigation permit.
The petition alleges Beruff did not meet the “purpose and intent” of state laws — that such banks “should emphasize restoration and enhancement of degraded ecosystems.”
Brookes calls out the mitigation plan for failing to prevent mangrove trimming and suggests a reduction in credits for mangroves that can be trimmed to 12 foot in height.
Also in the petition, Brookes argues the seagrasses are “already healthy” and “already protected.”
Brookes and McClash dispute 7.34 credits for seagrasses.
McClash said the proposed buoy-placement “will actually increase motorized boat traffic and increase scarring” because the markers in the water will attract boaters.
“To destroy seven acres of seagrass somewhere else for these credits, it defies logic.”
“The big picture is the DEP has failed in its responsibility to protect the public interest against the destruction of the environment,” McClash said.
According to DEP public information officer Dee Ann Miller, the petition will undergo a sufficiency review by DEP attorneys and forwarded to the Office of Administrative Hearings if deemed sufficient.
A judge and hearing date will be assigned.
McClash expects the process to take about a month.
No other objectors have filed petitions, Miller wrote in a Jan. 5 email.