Local Government County Hopes Loophole on Longboat Pass Plan Sets Precedent

BRADENTON – If things go the way Manatee County staff hope, linking their Inlet Management Plan (item 39 on linked agenda) to a conceptual permit could allow individual structures to receive specific regulatory permits on their merits, while not being as vulnerable to challenges to their necessity, because of the vetting that would have already been done. The permission for recurring maintenance dredging could be given under something as simple as a ”Notice to Proceed“ if judged to be consistent with the conceptual plan.

So said Manatee County Natural Resources Director Charlie Hunsicker in an email to county officials this week. Hunsicker said that the idea was first brought up by Deputy Secretary of Regulatory Programs, Jeff Littlejohn in an informational meeting held with the Executive Committee of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association earlier this month. The main topic was to discuss issues and concerns pertaining to a proposed "Beach Management Agreement" concept being tested in Palm Beach County.

While Hunsicker said he believes that the strategy could possibly improve the regulatory process by establishing a precedent for the inclusion of general permit conditions along with the approval of the inlet management plan, critics aren't so sure.

”Permitting agencies issue conceptual permits to reduce their workload, not to get better review of a project,“ said Glenn Compton, Chairman of the environmental group Manasota 88. ”The issuance of a conceptual permit usually gets less public attention, as most people believe the conceptual permit has been adequately reviewed by the permitting agency. However this is not the case, general permit conditions contained in the conceptual permit are not site specific.“

So while overburdened governments with shrinking staffs welcome the opportunity to streamline a process, Compton says that we should be careful at what expense such simplifications are made.

”Budget cuts to those agencies charged with protecting the environment of Florida continue to shrink,“ explained Compton. ”Linking Inlet Management Plans to 'conceptual permits' is a bad idea. Less public oversight is likely to occur. People having local knowledge of seagrass areas, sea turtle nesting sites, and hard-bottom habitats will have less of an opportunity to participate in the permitting process.“

Compton says that such a process would impact protections to the environment and ecosystem without the safeguards that often sound alarms when plans are flawed.

”Florida's coastline has a wide array of habitats,“ he said. ”Fish and invertebrate communities of the adjacent marine areas are diverse. Issuing conceptual permits for coastal habitats is equivalent to issuing rubber-stamped permits. This allows for more coastal habitat impacts, with less review of what those impacts will be.“

County Commissioner Joe McClash, who opposed the plan, has requested that the Army Corps of Engineers (who must approve it) call a public hearing on the issue, suggesting that it also warranted an Environmental Impact Study. In a letter to USACE and DEP officials, McClash said that county officials were "avoiding a public process" by way of a creative one. The public comment period of the plan is open until May 16.