Despite a last-ditch effort by developer interests to weaken wetland protections last Thursday, interested citizens prevailed and your county commissioners adopted the final batch of wetland rule changes without any modifications. Having failed to persuade EPC staff to agree to any weakening of the rules in this last part of the Hybrid, developers frantically lobbied [...]
I’ll bet certain special interests were meanly happy to see this headline & subhead in the St. Pete Times, casting aspersions on the Environmental Protection Commission: Auditor slams watchdog’s recordkeeping The Environmental Protection Commission is doing a poor job of keeping track of its work. Like a gossip tabloid making something innocuous sound sensational, the Times makes a [...]
Citizens raised many good questions about the proposed Agricultural Exemption to our wetland protections, and we asked our Environmental Protection Commissioners (aka our county commissioners) to refrain from any action at their last hearing, on Nov. 15. So they postponed their decision until this Thursday, to allow time for EPC to address the citizens’ concerns. [...]
At a public hearing next Friday, Hillsborough County’s Legislative Delegation will vote on 7 state laws affecting our county, including one that would allow half-acre wetlands to be destroyed on any land designated Agricultural, without regard for our county’s wetland regulations. Hugh Gramling, representing the Ag industry, shocked everyone by filing for this sneaky end run [...]
While we were hammering out a deal with farmers to let them out of some of EPC’s local wetland regulations, under certain conditions, the farmers went behind our backs and over EPC’s heads to ask the state to COMPLETELY exempt them from ALL our local regulations. It was a surprise move that stunned EPC staff [...]
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has written your state legislators to say the City of Tampa does not want to do what the Tampa City Council says the City does want to do. Although the Tampa City Council voted unanimously to write this letter (on City of Tampa letterhead) asking state legislators to change the composition of [...]
The next step toward the Hybrid compromise on our local wetlands regulations is a proposed rule change allowing certain exemptions from our local wetlands rules for agriculture. I’m reminded of this anecdotal conversation between a man and woman: “Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?” “Well, I guess I might.” “Would you sleep with me for five [...]
Yep. Here’s more on the HCBOCC’s killing wetlands protection. Before I get to Jadell Kerr, I just want to point out the opening of an editorial from the St. Pete Times – Wetlands sellout: Not since three members were hauled away in handcuffs in a vote-buying scandal 24 years ago has the Hillsborough County [...]
