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Developer armed with experts

Two former Corps of Engineers officials have interests in an environmentally sensitive housing project in Hudson.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published January 16, 2007

HUDSON - What's better than getting a former top environmental regulator to steer an environmentally sensitive development?

Getting another.

John Hall, who retired as regulatory director of the Army Corps of Engineers in January 2006, is now the chief environmental consultant to Sunwest Harbor Towne, a project to build 2,400 homes on 2,263 acres of a limestone mine sitting right on the Hudson coast.

The project's conceptual plan also includes a marina village and resort, a 167-acre golf course, a hotel and convention center, and 33 acres of stores.

"Hall is the single point of contact," said Tracy Hurst, a corps official who is evaluating the project. "Our communication with them is all funneled through John Hall."

In July, Col. Robert Carpenter, retired commander of the corps' Jacksonville office, was hired as president of Grubbs Emergency Services.

Grubbs Emergency Services is linked to Sunwest Harbor Towne through John "Gary" Grubbs, president of Sun West Acquisition, the developer of Sunwest Harbor Towne. Grubbs, a former contractor in Hernando County, profited from hurricane cleanups but went bankrupt in 2003 under the onslaught of debt and overexpansion.

Hurst said Carpenter and Hall shared periods of service in the corps and would have known each other well. Hall ran the corps' regulatory permitting for 15 years; Carpenter was the corps commander for three years.

Environmental activists, including Palm Beach lawyer Lesley Blackner, have criticized such cross-pollination between developers and their regulators, calling it an example of Florida's "developer-regulatory complex." The term is a riff on "military-industrial complex."

But Sun West officials have denied that the appointments mean their proposal would get special treatment at the corps.

"This is still the United States of America, and you have the right to make a living," said Honey Rand, Sun West's spokeswoman. "If you made a living supervising laws and regulations, you would do that after you graduate from regulatory work."

Hall was not available for an interview, Rand said Monday.

Rand said the relationship between Sun West and the former regulators began years ago, when Carpenter met Grubbs while Grubbs was still a civilian employee for the corps.

Rand could not confirm when Hall was hired by Sun West but estimated that it took place sometime in the third quarter of 2006.

Rand also said the corps' general counsel had cleared Carpenter's and Hall's private sector appointments.

There are obvious advantages to Sun West having Hall on board, Hurst said, but Sun West so far has not formally applied for a permit from the corps.

"He has a knowledge of our programs, and it helps when somebody knows the process," she said.

Sunwest Harbor Towne sits in an environmentally sensitive corner of gulffront Pasco.

Longtime Aripeka residents and environmentalists have spoken out against the project.

They fear the development would choke off a black bear corridor that extends along the coast from Citrus County to Pasco.

Residents said the area's high and dry sandhill habitats, hardwood forests, and coastal marshes support a variety of animal species that would be threatened with large-scale development.

"If you keep shrinking the corridor, the writing is on the wall," said Richard Stauffer, an Aripeka resident.

"I want the (shrunken) corridor to be the last-case scenario," said Julie Wert, an Aripeka resident and a trustee of the environmental group Gulf Coast Conservancy. "The first-case scenario would be that the county had it all."

The residents also fear that plans to dredge a canal at the mine site would ruin the marshy grass flats lining the coast, which is so much of a fishing hot spot that fishing guides frequently bring groups out there.

Add to that fears that a massive development would clog roads and worsen the risks in hurricane evacuation, they said.

Residents are closely watching how the environmental battle takes shape.

With Hall and Carpenter on Sun West's side, Wert said, the residents are now working on also getting their own environmental experts when the real hearings start. Corps officials are working to ascertain exactly how much wetlands are on the site, Hurst said.

In its preapplication documents, Sun West had asserted the site has no Class 1 wetlands. The Class 1 category refers to top-quality wetlands that would typically be barred from development.

Times staff writer Dan DeWitt contributed to this report. Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development. He can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 23:30:50]