BRADENTON — At Thursday's Manatee County Commission land use meeting, commissioners voted unanimously on a continuance for its wetland policy reversal after state agencies provided an onslaught of negative comments, citing a unique interpretation of a state statute passed in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
In 2023, the previous board voted 6-1 to gut the county's wetland protection policies after successfully defending them multiple times in court. Despite being advertised as "county-initiated," it was later revealed to be driven by local developers. When staff members declined to make the requested recommendation, an outside "consultant" was brought in to do so.
The issue was front and center in the August 2024 Republican primary when candidates who were against the gutting of the wetland protections and not funded by developers won in a clean sweep. After they were seated, the new board immediately sought to reverse the policy.
Senate Bill 250 was ostensibly introduced to help communities rebuild after a hurricane. However, the statute prohibits communities from implementing more restrictive or burdensome requirements than the current comprehensive land use plan, including additional requirements for wetland mitigation until Oct. 1, 2026. When the county attempted a text amendment to reverse the policy, it needed to transmit the proposal to the state for comment.
This is typically a routine matter and rarely draws any form of criticism, even for the most egregious amendments to facilitate developments that are grossly out of step with the county's comprehensive land use plan. However, in the eleventh hour, the county received an onslaught of comments that shared strikingly similar concerns regarding SB 250. The agencies that commented included the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Florida Department of Commerce.
Commissioners were unanimously infuriated by the turn of events.
"I came in with a clear mandate to deliver on this and a number of other issues," said Commissioner Tal Siddique. "I was not voted in to listen to unelected bureacrats at the state and federal level give me permission to do my damn job. Unequivocally, I will say, I will do what the voters want me to do and what I can to protect the residents and the county as well."
"We're just gonna have to put ourselves on that hill to die," said Commissioner Carol Felts.
"This is weaponizing unelected bureaucrats for certain people's benefit..." said Commission Chair George Kruse. "I fundamentally believe that Senate Bill 250 is, at best, unconstitutional, and at worst, illegal... It's a bill that says if your area was destroyed by a hurricane, you can't rebuild it better, so it doesn't get destroyed again. That's asinine. The bill is terrible."
Kruse suggested that if developers wanted to use influence at the state level to restrict the board's ability to govern itself, the board could fight back in various ways.
"People are coming here and asking for things they don't have an inherent right to," said Kruse. "If you come in front of us and you say you want 25-foot buffers, 15-foot minimum buffers, you're gonna get denied ... You have to live with your consequences of working with your friends to get us to not do this ... If that's in there and you don't have right to it, I'm declining your project, I'm just gonna tell you that right now. I don't care what people say."
Kruse added that if the county did not get the buffers back, he would direct staff to schedule a special meeting on October 2—the day after SB 250 expires—to propose 100-foot wetland buffers.
"Actually this is batshit crazy," added Commissioner Bob McCann.
McCann had previously suggested a building moratorium, which he said "brought developers to the table." The commissioner suggested he would go one step further than Kruse suggested and renew those calls should the board be prevented from reversing the policy, which he noted should have been voided for having failed even to attempt to demonstrate an overriding public benefit, as required, when it was passed.
"They wanna play games, we can play games," said McCann. "We need what's best for the people of Manatee County."
Kruse had suggested that it may be a trap to set up commissioners for removal from office for knowingly violating a state statute so that the same guy who replaced our retired Supervisor of Elections with former County Commissioner James Satcher (Gov. Ron DeSantis) could stack the board with replacement candidates and give developers back the influence they lost.
Commissioner Jason Bearden echoed that concern, saying he felt certain there were at least four commissioners that special interests were looking to get rid of by any means necessary.
"In my opinion, there are pawns at play right now, trying to set us up," said Bearden. He added that he was willing to pay any price to see that the county got what it wanted. "If you guys are ready to fight, I'll fight."
Most noteworthy, Commissioner Mike Rahn, who voted in favor of gutting the wetland policy and against reversing that decision, said he favored fighting to move forward in reversing the policy. While Rahn went out of his way not to speak ill of SB 250, which he noted our local state legislators had helped write and then voted in favor of, he nonetheless said he was with the board.
"Do we need to have the buffers?" asked Rhan. "Yes. Do we need to defend the buffers? Yes. I've lived here longer than any member of this board has and we need to protect the wetlands, protect what's out there, and do what's right ... I will vote with the board, however the board votes."
The board voted 6-0, with Commissioner Amanda Ballard absent, to continue the item with a date uncertain.
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David Daniels
First and foremost, Manatee County would not be in this position except for the fact that Jason Bearden, Mike Rahn and Amanda Ballard basically gave the middle finger to their constituents in voting for the “county initiated” policy to remove the buffers in Oct. 2023. That decision has already resulted in the loss of pristine wetlands in SW Manatee County along Sarasota Bay in Carlos Beruff’s 529 acre Aqua development. Now, that decision has allowed developers to block reversing the policy. And most costly, if the BoCC follows up their words today with actions, that 2023 “county initiated” policy will cost taxpayers $10’s of thousands, perhaps $100’s of thousands in legal fees.
What does the term “county initiated” mean? It means that the County Administration requested the policy change and argued that wetland buffers were unnecessary, unimportant. The Administration hired Carlos Beruff’s consultant to present their “facts.” They lied through their teeth. We, the taxpayers, pay the Administrator well over $200K, plus a deferred salary, COLA increases, retirement benefits, paid sick and vacation time, top notch health insurance, expense accounts, a new vehicle, travel and hotel etc… In return, the Administrator and all of his top management are supposed to work for us.
But the Administration was working for developers, secretly. This is the definition of corruption. The Administration was actively working against the public. This cannot continue to be swept under the rug. There must be accountability. There must be consequences for what this has already cost us and will soon cost us. Commissioners, stop burying your heads in the sand. This Administration’s fraud and deceit has done great damage to this entire county. We deserve the truth of what happened. Taxpayers deserve an investigation.
Also, isn’t it ironic that what Commissioner McCann was proposing in taking legal action against the Board’s process in removing wetland buffers is the same legal strategy that Joe McClash was pursuing - namely that the BoCC didn’t follow the legal process by stating a public benefit to removing the buffers. So instead of hiring 7 outside attorneys to go after Joe for $250K, the BoCC is now considering filing the same lawsuit to void the 2023 vote by Bearden, Rahn and Ballard. I think that may be the best move. Maybe we could hire Joe to advise our county attorney. He’s probably already done the research.
Thursday, May 8 Report this
David Daniels
Continuing my previous comment: An investigation is necessary for the BoCC to comply with Florida Ethics Statute 112.311(3), which states: … "In order to preserve and maintain the integrity of the governmental process, it is necessary that the identity, expenditures, and activities of those persons who regularly engage in efforts to persuade public officials to take specific actions, either by direct communication with such officials or by solicitation of others to engage in such efforts, be regularly disclosed to the people."
Additionally, an investigation would determine whether the Administration’s 2023 actions violated Florida Statute 112.311(6), which states in part: "It is the declared policy of the state that public officers and employees, state and local, are agents of the people and hold their positions for the benefit of the public. Such officers and employees are bound to observe, in their official acts, the highest standards of ethics ... recognizing that promoting the public interest and maintaining the respect of the people in their government must be of foremost concern."
Friday, May 9 Report this
sandy
When SB 250 became effective July 1, 2023, the wetlands buffers requirement had not yet been removed from the Manatee County Comprehensive Plan. The final vote for the removal was October 5, 2023, 3 months later. The Land Development Code was never updated to reflect the removal. I do not feel reversing the removal as being more restrictive because of this. Just putting back what was in the Comp Plan at the time of SB 250. HB 1-C revised the expiration date to October 1, 2026.
Orange County approved a 100 foot buffer for most projects December 13, 2023, after SB 250 became effective. I couldn't find any challenges to this new buffer for being more restrictive.
A lot of damage to wetlands will be done between now and October 1, 2026. Watch your backs Rahn, Ballard and Bearden in 2026. You are the last 3 who helped create this debacle.
Friday, May 9 Report this
RRICH69176
The State is under the thumb of developers and big money...I Thank the Commissioners (almost all) for standing up for the environment, and the will of the people. And YES, proceed with caution we have a controlling and vindictive state government.
Friday, May 9 Report this