Environmental Groups Challege FDEP Approval of Mitigation Bank at Long Bar Pointe

FDEP issued a notice of intent to give Beruff and his development partner on the project, Larry Lieberman, the mitigation bank permit last month. The notice followed a withdrawal of the initial application–which McClash and the environmental groups also contested–after it was discovered that it included parts of a neighboring property that Beruff and Lieberman did not own.

A wetland mitigation bank is a device that allows developers to use preservation, enhancement, restoration or creation of a wetland, stream, or habitat conservation area to offset or compensate for expected adverse impacts to similar nearby ecosystems. Long Bar Pointe is a large Medallion Homes coastal development, located behind IMG Academy on the last major undeveloped parcel of Sarasota Bay in Manatee County.

McClash and the groups make numerous arguments against the approval in their petition (click here to view PDF) including a failure to meet the statutory purpose and intent of a mitigation bank, under-valuing the assessment of ecological and hydrologic functions that the site currently provides, while disputing the UMAMA scores assigned to current conditions and arguing that the proposed mitigation credits are unsubstantiated by data.

They argue that the sea grasses in question are not only currently protected by Manatee County codes but that they are already healthy, noting that Sarasota Bay’s sea grasses have exceeded restoration goals, demonstrating a steady increase to its current 9,741 acres–a total of 2,472 acres more than targeted goals of restoring its 1950 total.

The mitigation bank also fails to provide for the prevention of trimming the mangroves, including existing, mature mangroves in areas with high ecological value within the Mitigation Bank Boundary, which is intended to be protected under state law.

McClash, who is also the publisher of TBT, suggested that there were political forces at work when the intent to approve was announced last month.

"Beruff continues to play by his own rules, ignoring permitting rules and operating without respect for the fragile environment that the rules are intended to protect," McClash told TBT at the time. "By permitting the mitigation bank, FDEP will essentially allow him to destroy Sarasota Bay by giving him the credits he'll need for a newly dredged channel and marina."