FL - Manatee County votes to cut local wetland protections in favor of developer interests
The Manatee County Commission voted to cut back the government’s environmental protections for local wetlands over the protests of hundreds of residents.
After an extended debate on the issue, which saw dozens of residents concerned about conserving sensitive wetlands in the Bradenton area, the board voted 5-1 to reduce buffer requirements. Scientists predict the change will have a negative impact on local water quality, which in many cases already fails to meet state standards.
Based on the new rules, developers will have more real estate to build homes and businesses along wetlands, generally described as marsh or swampland. A buffer between construction and wetlands is still required, but Thursday’s vote cuts that buffer in half.
County staff estimated the rule change would affect 66,000 pieces of land that contain some portion of wetlands.
“Right when we need to be doing more for our water quality, we’re going backwards,” said Suncoast Waterkeeper chairman Rusty Chinnis, who was among speakers pleading with county leaders to reconsider. “This is going to affect all of the citizens of Manatee County for decades and generations to come.”
County officials first began revising the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code, two documents that guide local development rules, earlier this year after the Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association sent staffers a list of requested changes, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
MANATEE: BUFFER REDUCTION RESTORES PROPERTY RIGHTS
Speaking during Thursday’s public Land Use Meeting, the commissioners in support of the change said they voted in favor of the rollbacks because it limits government regulation and restores property rights for landowners.
It will cut the width of buffers required adjacent to “environmentally sensitive coastal wetlands” from 50 feet down to the state’s minimum requirements, which call for minimum buffer widths of 15 feet with a 25-foot average.
Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge noted that this rule change could make it easier for everyday families to do things like install a pool, a basketball court or a mother-in-law suite because less space is required to be preserved.
