FL - County's Data on Wetland Parcels Not So Clear Cut
The 66,000 parcels cited by the county as impacted by local wetland buffer requirements include developed subdivision parcels, mobile home and RV parks, FPL-owned land, mining industry parcels, and even publicly owned lands.
BRADENTON — Public records are providing a clearer perspective on the latest narrative meant to justify Manatee County Commissioners’ recent approval to roll back local wetland protections and defer oversight to the minimums required by the state.
Despite some commissioners asserting that 66,000 parcels are subject to “over-regulation” and that “private property rights” were being infringed upon, the number of parcels cited as being directly impacted by the county’s wetland buffer requirements appears to be misleading.
At a recent luncheon hosted by the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club, Manatee County Commissioner Ray Turner participated in a Q&A session with local Republican voters. Among the topics raised was the commission’s recent adoption of changes to the county’s comprehensive plan regarding wetland protections.
When questioned about the board’s action, Turner told attendees that the decision was a matter of “private property rights.”
“What staff presented was that there’s over 66,000 private residents with private property rights,” Turner told attendees of the luncheon. “Smaller plots, right, that the restrictions stopped them from developing. It was private property rights and government overreach.”
Turner was referencing information provided by Manatee County Interim Director of Development Services, Nicole Knapp, during the Oct. 5 BOCC meeting and adoption hearing for the comp plan changes.
During the meeting, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge asked staff to provide the number of county parcels that are subject to local wetland buffer requirements which Van Ostenbridge considered an “unconstitutional taking” of private rights.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of false information being thrown out there,” Van Ostenbridge prefaced his question. “Some of the things I have heard that I really question is that this move (removal of local wetland protections) only benefits a few select property owners. Can you tell us how many total parcels in Manatee County are affected by the local wetland buffers?”
Although Knapp stated that there are “just over” 66,000 parcels in Manatee County that would be subject to the county's wetland buffer requirements, Knapp herself never asserted that the parcels counted were indicative of only privately owned lands. However, Van Ostenbridge did insinuate as much in his follow-up comments.
Van Ostenbridge implied that single-family property owners were negatively impacted by the local requirements whenever those private property owners attempted to obtain a permit to construct a mother-in-law dwelling, install a residential swimming pool, build a basketball court or erect a shed.
Later in the meeting, Van Ostenbridge again drilled down on the “facts,” as he read a concluding statement from his monitor.
“I’ve asked the Manatee County building department to provide us with an accurate number of property owners who are impacted by wetland buffers. The additional regulation results in the taking of private property rights from over 66,000 parcels,” Van Ostenbridge stated while repeating “sixty-six thousand parcels” again for emphasis.
Before the board’s vote, Van Ostenbridge again highlighted the numerous persons whose private property rights were likely infringed by local wetland buffer requirements by pointing to the quoted “66,000 parcels.” “
I seconded the motion and I will be supporting it, and I certainly hope that the media covers this accurately and that the headline tomorrow reads, The Board of County Commissioners Reinstates Property Rights to 66,000 Parcels in Manatee County,” Van Ostenbridge said.
Through a public record request, TBT obtained a map that the county said shows the 66,000+ parcels identified by staff as “intersecting with wetlands” as mentioned during the text amendment's adoption hearing.
“Represented in yellow on the attached map are the parcels that contain any size of wetland on them. This equates to approximately +/- 66,000 parcels, as broken down by zoning district on the attached wetland parcel count,” Interim Director of Development Services Nicole Knapp described the map and list provided per the record request.
