April 27, 2007
Bill
add-on eases wetland restrictions
By Jim Ash
Naples developer barred from building a $4.5 million marina on the Caloosahatchee River could go ahead with the project under a provision added to a bill in the final days of the legislative session.
Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, added the proposal earlier this week to a bill (HB 957) that would make it easier to get wetlands permits for strip malls and other projects on fewer than 5 acres.
''These legislators are taking up our water recharge areas and now they're helping this special interest get a marina, despite the impact on manatees. They just don't get it,'' said Susie Caplowe, a lobbyist for the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club.
The amendment does not mention the project by name but was pushed by a lobbyist who represents the developer, Donald Epler and his business, Hancock Bridge Marina.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission denied Epler permission in February to expand his 28-slip marina on Hancock Creek by adding 352 dry-storage slips.
Regulators cited aerial and satellite surveys showing a high manatee population and 27 manatee deaths from ''watercraft-related causes,'' within a five-mile radius between April 1974 and September 2006.
Lobbyist Frank Mathews said the legislation merely fixes a ''glitch'' in a bill last year that streamlined wetlands permitting but somehow let his client's project fall through the cracks.
''It was an omission,'' Matthews said, adding that the commission decision would ban all new marinas on the river despite last year's compromise.
An identical bill (SB 2082) in the Senate contains the same amendment and both are expected to pass before lawmakers adjourn May 4.
The legislation would limit daily boat traffic from Epler's marina to 15 percent of his storage capacity, or about 50 boats.
That's 13 more than approved by Lee County in 2005. The county allowed the development because the expansion was requested before the county adopted a manatee protection plan.
Epler said he does not want special treatment, just fair treatment for a project he has been pursuing since 2003.
Epler said he has $4 million worth of steel sitting in Tampa while his costs mount.
''I think it's important to the state and Lee County,'' he said. ''We might as well hang out a sign that says we do not want more boats in Florida. The environmentalists would have everybody go out of business.''
Also on Thursday, the House gave unanimous approval in a final vote to a measure that would give Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet authority to approve logging of rare cyprus trees and tenant farming on the 74,000-acre Babcock Ranch preserve.
Rep. Will Kendrick, R-Carrabelle, backed off a measure that would have opened up the preserve without restrictions, citing opposition from environmental groups.