Bills would change the EPC

The board would have either five or nine members.

By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published November 3, 2007

TAMPA - Two competing bills have been filed with the Hillsborough County legislative delegation that would change the way residents are represented on the Environmental Protection Commission.

Currently, the seven-member EPC board consists solely of county commissioners.

A bill submitted by City Council member Mary Mulhern and sponsored by state Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, would expand the board to nine members, with the composition as follows:

Four appointed by the County Commission, three appointed by the Tampa City Council and one each appointed by the governing bodies of Temple Terrace and Plant City.

The plan would give the cities, which have about 33 percent of the county's population, 55 percent of the representation on the board.

The other bill, filed and sponsored by Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Lutz, suggests changing the makeup of the EPC to five county commissioners, two Tampa City Council members, one Temple Terrace City Council member and one Plant City city commissioner.

Ambler's bill also would increase the county's representation on the Planning Commission and the Tampa Sports Authority, and reduce the city of Tampa's representation on the sports authority.

Mulhern suggested changing the makeup of the EPC this summer after members alarmed environmentalists by weakening wetlands protection rules.

Mulhern said Hillsborough's cities have an interest in such EPC missions as the protection of the air, water and soil, and reduction of excessive noise, but are powerless when those matters go before the EPC.

She said Ambler's bill means the County Commission would dominate all of the boards.

"What I'm asking for is to make the one board that doesn't allow the cities to have a voice, to have that voice," she said. "I'm not asking for anything different than what the other boards have."

Ambler said he agrees with Mulhern that the EPC should include the cities, but he also believes the boards should move towards proportional representation to reflect the larger population of the unincorporated county.

Ambler introduced a similar bill last year, without the EPC component.

"The addition of the EPC was the result of a unanimous vote taken by the City Council that they wanted to have a seat on the EPC," he said.

Mulhern's proposal sparked a fight with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who sent a strongly worded letter to the legislative delegation saying "the City of Tampa" does not support changing the composition of the EPC or any other governing board.

Glorioso said he agreed to support the bill before he received Iorio's letter, and would have thought twice about it if he had heard from Iorio before he made the commitment to Mulhern.

"I'm not sure whether it's going to go anywhere now, but it does raise an interesting point that all countywide organizations should have some representation from the cities," he said. "What the representation is we can argue that for days and weeks."

He said he may pull the bill after he spends time reviewing it and talking to elected officials in Plant City and Temple Terrace.

Glorioso also sponsored a bill on behalf of Hillsborough County farmers that would relax the EPC's wetlands regulations of agricultural lands.

"It puts them in line with every other county in the state," he said. "Agriculture is the second-largest economic generator in the state. I want our farmers and agricultural people to be able to compete statewide."

Glorioso said some of the EPC's regulations are unreasonable, pointing out that some farmers have had manmade ditches suddenly designated as wetlands that need protecting.

Three other local bills were also filed, including one that would revise investment policies of the city of Tampa's general employees pension plan; one that would allow the Public Transportation Commission to issue temporary permits to cab drivers during special events; and another that would allow the PTC to regulate all privately owned wreckers.

A public hearing on all the bills is scheduled for Dec. 7. The bills need the support of three of Hillsborough's four senators and eight of 12 representatives to move forward to Tallahassee.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@spitmes.com or 813 226-3401.

[Last modified November 3, 2007, 00:54:23]