PALM BEACH POST
May 01, 2007

Water district makeover requires one more step

Editorial

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/05/01/a12a_wmdedit_0501.html

 

Gov. Crist rates a big high-five for naming Shannon Estenoz to one of two remaining vacancies on the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board. He'll rate another if he fills the second vacancy even nearly as well.

Ms. Estenoz, a fifth-gegoverning board could consider isolated Phase III restrictions for several east coast communities when it meets May 9 and 10. governing board could consider isolated Phase III restrictions for several east coast communities when it meets May 9 and 10. neration Floridian, is a regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association and worked as Everglades program director for the World Wildlife Fund. She served on the Governor's Commission for the Everglades and has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Ms. Estenoz won't be just a strong voice for the environment on a board that hasn't had one; she has the expertise to ask good questions.

But Gov. Crist has more work to do. Ms. Estenoz fills the Broward County spot. He still must fill the Palm Beach County board slot held by Chairman Kevin McCarty, who is married to Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty. If the governor is serious about Everglades restoration and Florida's environment, Mr. McCarty also must go.

Appointed by Gov. Bush in 2003, Mr. McCarty voted the day he was sworn in to weaken a super-strict pollution limit for the Everglades. Later, he approved a permit for the Harmony Ranch subdivision in Martin County on land earmarked for Indian River Lagoon restoration. That decision enabled the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the permits, and land that easily could have been saved was lost.

Also, Mr. McCarty failed to disclose his role in a deal that may allow landowners west of Boca Raton to become part of Broward County, to avoid stricter development rules. Mr. McCarty submitted to the board a resolution backing the secession, without disclosing that the text of the resolution came from a lawyer for the landowners. And he, along with three other board members who weren't reappointed, approved a permit to allow an unneeded Palm Beach County golf course to suck more than 200 million gallons of water from the Everglades each year. That same day, the board imposed water restrictions on residents. The board reversed its decision after a Post story revealed that a water district staffer who endorsed the irrigation permit shares a house with the project consultant.

Leah Schad, a former National Audubon Society director who served a four-year board term under Gov. Lawton Chiles, has applied for the Palm Beach County spot. She also would provide balance. For that matter, Mr. McCarty's departure by itself would provide balance.