BRADENTON, Fla. — A heated debate took place Thursday in Manatee County over wetland buffer zones. The county plans to move forward with plans to gut wetland protections to give more room for development.
County commissioners voted 6-1 to approve text amendments to the county’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Codes that will reduce wetland buffer zones by five feet and more.
Tempers flared at the end of the Manatee County Board of Commissioners meeting over the green light to gut wetlands protections.
“It blows my mind that we’re talking about reducing wetlands protection when we should be doing the opposite,” Rusty Chinnis, board chair of Suncoast Waterkeeper, said.
The vote came despite very passionate submissions from residents and pleas against the move over fears of further water quality deterioration and depleting natural habitats and green spaces.
“It’s certainly a big disappointment and deflating to sit through five hours of testimony from the citizens of Manatee County that they don’t support,” Chinnis said.
The proposed changes would allow developers to skirt the current minimum requirement of a 30 -50 foot buffer zone to build closer to wetlands.
A county consultant who made the recommendation said it’ll eliminate duplication and align with the state’s own wetlands protection policy.
“Right now in Manatee County, you have an increased wetland buffer but if your goal is water quality, that’s probably not your most effective means of providing for water quality benefits. There other means within your water quality system that are better at filtering nutrients,” Daniel Delisi, the land use consultant for Manatee County, said.
But many questioned the consultant’s assessment in light of previous connections to litigation brought by the area’s big developers.
“We’re taking everything based upon one consultant who was against us on the exact same policy twice and that’s what we’re hanging our hat on here? Not on staff. You know staff are not trying to say anything, it is a consultant who lost to us twice,” Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse said.
“It’s like we just won the Super Bowl and we went out there in the off-season and hired the quarterback for the losing team to run our team next year. It doesn’t make sense,” Kruse explained.
Leaders of a key environmental protection group in the county have said they’re now considering various options as a next step including a possible legal action.
“Right now all we’ve seen is that more buffers are better at protecting wetlands and wetlands are tied to our way of life,” Abbey Tyrna, director of Suncoast Waterkeeper, said.
This vote in favor of the text amendment makes way for transmitting this comprehensive plan amendment to the state for review as several public meetings on the topic continue.