PALM BEACH POST
With a severe
drought bearing down on the region, the chairman of the South Florida Water
Management District's governing board, Kevin McCarty, said Thursday he's
stepping down to make way for a new gubernatorial appointment. McCarty sent a
letter to Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday withdrawing
his name for reappointment. Former Gov. Jeb Bush put
McCarty on the board in 2003, and he was voted chairman in March 2005.
The
district's board constantly weighs the conflicting water demands of
development, agriculture, flood control and the environment. As Palm Beach
County Commissioner Mary McCarty's husband, a Republican Party stalwart and
managing partner of Bear Stearns in
Mary McCarty said
her husband stressed the importance of giving businesses quick answers on
whether to expect the environmental and water-use permits they needed. "He
stressed that businesses deserved to have their issues resolved in a timely
fashion, whether the answer was yes or no," she said. "I think that
is something that has been appreciated."
Kevin McCarty
asked his wife to speak on his behalf for this story. She said her husband
received word a week ago that Crist would not be
reappointing Bush's appointees, and so on Monday, he withdrew his name.
Depluming the
region's canal system must now be the priority, to sustain both the environment
and the urban areas, said Mark Perry, co-chairman of the Everglades Coalition
and executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society.
"We're
dumping as much as we are consuming, and that's just not good water
management," Perry said. "We need to reestablish the natural flow,
and that's going to require some bold action from the water management district
board."
Perry praised Crist's newest appointee to the district's governing board,
Shannon A. Estenoz of
Crist announced Estenoz's
appointment April 27. Estenoz, a civil engineer by
education, said the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan has been the
primary focus of her career. "It's a huge priority for me, and I hope that
I will bring something to the table," Estenoz
said.
She is married to
Richard Grosso, a land-use lawyer who successfully
represented environmental groups opposed to converting the Mecca Farms orange
grove into a biotechnology hub for Scripps.
Kevin and Mary
McCarty, meanwhile, had been strong supporters of the Mecca Farms biotechnology
project. Mary McCarty said it's likely that Thursday's water management
district meeting will be her husband's last.
"Whether or
not he'll be sitting in the audience or sitting in the chairman's seat remains
to be seen," she said.