Landowner's plans draw foes
Some Hernando Beach residents say two subdivisions will hurt the area's wetlands. But the planning commission recommends approval.
By DAN DeWITT
Published October 10, 2005
HERNANDO BEACH - Cliff Manuel says he and his father, Gene, bought property in Hernando Beach for the same reason most of their neighbors did.
"It looked like the parts of old Florida that we liked," said Manuel, president of Coastal Engineering Associates of Brooksville.
But Manuel's plans for his two parcels, 17 residential lots on a total of 41 acres on the northern end of Hernando Beach, will undermine the atmosphere he says he cherishes, says Linda Prescott, a Hernando Beach environmental activist.
For that reason, opposition to the projects is growing steadily, Prescott said. She expects a large turnout at today's county Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, where the Manuels are scheduled to present plans for the second of the developments, Eagle Point.
"If he bought it for that reason, let's keep it that way," Prescott said.
Besides typical concerns about residential projects, including increased traffic on quiet streets, Hernando Beach residents have a lingering fear the Manuels will destroy the fragile coastal marshes on their land.
Cliff Manuel said that is not part of the plan.
"We are not anticipating ... filling in lots" that include marshland, he said. "We don't want to develop the wetlands."
And County Planning director Larry Jennings said the county can all but guarantee that neither the Manuels nor the people who buy the lots will destroy the marshes.
Because of that, and because the uplands on the property are already zoned for residential use, the county is recommending approval of the plan.
Residents remain concerned for several reasons.
The Manuels have volunteered the use of the land as a dumping ground for spoil from the upcoming dredge of the Hernando Beach channel. Development interests have been pushing hard to reduce protection of wetlands, especially on small parcels like the lots in the Manuels' projects. And the plans the Manuels have submitted do not include the boundaries for protected wetlands.
"If this is all above board, why are they playing these games?" Prescott asked.
"I feel he's been vague in supplying information," said Nancy Messineo, whose yard on Eagle Nest Drive borders the Manuels' property. She, along with Prescott, led a discussion of the projects at a meeting Thursday night of the Hernando Beach Property Owners Association.
The planning commission has already approved the conditional plan for the first of the two subdivisions, called Insteada. The 21-acre project will include six parcels fanning out from Eagle Nest into the marshland, much of which is usually covered during high tide.
The county approved the plan, but with the condition that the Manuels resubmit it showing the boundaries of the wetlands. County officials also required that houses be built at least 25 feet upland from that line.
A final requirement is that the plan must show the "mean high water line," the limit of the typical high tide. The area outside of that is considered public property, according to county lawyers.
"We can't do what all of Hernando Beach did, which is create totally new land. That's the funny part. Those are the people who are complaining, and all of Hernando Beach would be illegal by today's rules."
- CHARLES MIXSON, county engineer
The plans for Eagle Point, with 11 lots on 20 acres, do include the mean high water line, and much of the land outside of it is listed as a "conservation tract." County planners are also recommending approval of that project, with most of the same conditions that apply to Insteada.
The conditions include a survey, approved by the appropriate environmental agencies, that may ultimately reduce the number of lots allowed in the project. The county is requiring they cover at least 7,500 square feet of uplands, about 41/2 acres, meaning there may not be enough space for 11 lots.
Gregg Sutton, an assistant county engineer and the project manager for the Hernando Beach channel dredge, said Manuel was one of three landowners to volunteer their property for placing spoil.
But he and County Engineer Charles Mixson said the county's permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection will require that the spoil not be placed in wetlands. Instead, Mixson said, the spoil would further elevate the uplands, helping to protect houses from flooding.
"So the house pad, instead of 5 or 6 feet above sea level, will be 6 or 7 feet," Mixson said.
"We can't do what all of Hernando Beach did, which is create totally new land," Mixson said. "That's the funny part. Those are the people who are complaining, and all of Hernando Beach would be illegal by today's rules."
Prescott said that is one reason she is determined to prevent more of the same.
"It's a total environmental disaster," she said of Hernando Beach. "Once I realized that and understood that, I thought, hey, you have to make up for it. People on the beach don't want this to set a precedent for other properties that have wetlands."
Manuel and county officials say it won't be a harmful precedent.
Not only will the county requirements prohibit the filling of marshes, Manuel said, they can be further protected by deed restrictions.
Mixson said the costs of mitigation, buying and setting aside other coastal wetlands, for example, or planting sea grasses, would make it unfeasible for individual landowners to fill wetlands.
But both he and Jennings said that laws can change, and nothing prevents landowners from seeking permits in the future.
"Our intention with the upland buffer was to have a conservation area where the wetlands would not be disturbed and not be filled," Jennings said.
"But can we forbid it forever? Forever is a long time."
--Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or 352 754-6116.