Manatee County leaders are ready for a final vote to restore local wetland protection, so state officials shocked them with last-minute opposition.
Florida agencies can review comprehensive planning revisions made by the county government. During the months-long process to revive Manatee County wetland buffer, state agencies did not raise concerns, county staff said.
However, as the final vote to restore the wetland buffer approached, the county received a sudden load of emails from Florida officials.
In what appears to be a coordinated effort, four state agencies used similar languages to explain concerns about wetland buffers and questioned whether Manatee County could legally recover them.
Manatee County Commissioners expressed their anger at the state’s opposition. The move to revive wetland protection has received widespread public support in Manatee County, so committee candidates successfully campaigned on the issue in the 2024 election.
“This is ridiculous,” said Commissioner George Cruze, who accused Tallahassee of “weaponizing” the developer “in collaboration with (their) friends” and opposed Manatee County’s plans.
“What we’re doing isn’t wrong,” Kruze said. “All we’re doing is to undo what was there.”
But at a state agency that Manatee County claims it violates the law in its vote to restore buffer forces, the commissioner said there is no choice but to delay the vote.
Florida moves in surprise
Manatee County Wetland Buffer Rules have been part of the county’s comprehensive plan since 1989. They are designed to protect environmentally sensitive areas from pollution and to protect water quality, wildlife and economic resources.
Scientists call wetlands the “renals of the environment” because of their ability to filter nutrients that contribute to harmful algae flowers and other water quality problems.
County regulations went beyond Florida law to protect wetlands by mandating larger buffers of 30 to 50 feet and requiring builders to take additional steps to blunt the impact of development on the environment.
Scientific research supports the idea that the benefits of wetland buffers increase with size.
But in 2023, an Intest group of local developers appealed to county officials to remove these rules in a series of behind-the-scenes exchanges, Bradenton Herald previously reported. Authorities voted to do so. The group, formerly known as the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association, has changed its name to the Suncoast Builders Association.
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The vote to remove wetland protections has infuriated many residents and may have affected the outcome of last year’s local elections.
Two commissioners, Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Raymond Turner, who voted to remove the protection, were voted. Kruze, who voted only in 2023 to maintain wetland protection, kept his seat.
The three new commissioners voted on – Carol Anne Feltz, Tar Sidike and Bob McCann – all campaigned on the recovery of wetland conservation. And the sitting commissioners – Jason Bearden, Amanda Ballard and Mike Larne, first voted to reduce the wetland buffer, then reversed the course.
State agencies refer to Senate Bill 250
Currently, state agencies claim that restoring wetland buffer violates a law passed in 2023.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of Water Management in Southwest Florida, the Florida Department of Transport and the Florida Department of Commerce recently sent an email to Manatee County citing some of the law.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Board was the only agency to find that changes to the rules were unanswered.
One state agency, Commerce Department, said the law is attempting Manatee County to “invalidate” remedies for wetland buffer.
The law, known as Senate Bill 250, prohibits 10 counties affected by Hurricane Ian from creating “more restrictive or burdensome” development rules until October 2026. Some of these counties received bill funding to support hurricane recovery efforts, but Manatees were not one of them.
Kruze argued that it was an unfair exchange.
“Senate Bill 250 is illegal at best and at worst, it was an insanely bad bill,” Kruze said. “It’s a bill that will not be destroyed again if your area is destroyed by a hurricane, as it cannot be returned better. It’s an acinin.
“The SB 250 was for hurricane disaster relief,” McCann said. “How can you say you can remove wetlands… has something to do with disaster relief?”
“It’s all on the frontline,” Bareden said. “This is when most of this board needs to be gathered together and maintained strong.”
The entire state legislative delegation in Manatee County supported the bill in 2023.
At land use meeting Thursday, the Manatee commissioner said he feared legal action if he voted to restore wetland buffer against state leadership. Kruse argued that this move would allow Gov. Ron Desantis to remove board members from his seat and even appoint a commissioner with a more developer-friendly attitude.
Manatee County Leaders React to State Opposition
“In fact, this is… crazy,” McCann said. “All we wanted was to… undo what we had before. It worked well with all the institutions out there. If this is truly Florida’s free state, let’s make it Florida’s free state and give people what they want.”
“I brought a clear power of attorney to make this happen…I wasn’t voted to listen to unelected bureaucrats…give me permission to do my damn work,” Siddiq said. “Clearly, I do what voters want to do to me.”
However, Sidike argued that the board should focus on winning the “wideer war” against the protection of wetlands, and other commissioners agreed.
“We just need to put ourselves on that hill to die,” Feltz said.
The state opposition also appeared to shake up the only board member who still opposed the restoration of the wetland buffer.
“Do I need to prepare a buffer? Yes. Do I need to protect the buffer? Yes,” Lahn said. “I’ve probably lived here for longer than anyone on this board. We need to do the right thing.”
What happens next?
The committee members voted 6-0 to delay voting for future meetings, with Ballard missing.
“It’s a difficult drug to swallow, but it’s the best drug right now,” Larne said.
Manatee County staff said they would try to resolve concerns from state agencies so plans to restore buffers can move forward.
In the meantime, Kruse argued that the board could reject a development proposal that could not include wetland buffers beyond the state’s minimum.
“If you come in front of us and say you need a 25-foot buffer (or a minimum of 15-foot buffer), you’ll be denied,” Kruse says. “That’s what this board wants.”
If Manatee County has to wait until the expiration date of Senate Bill 250 to restore wetland buffer in October 2026, Kruze said commissioners could consider using their time to mandate even larger buffers.
“If we don’t get those buffers back, we’re going to propose a 100-foot buffer soon,” says Kruse. “In the interim, this board can actively modify themselves without Tallahassee allowing us.”
Several counties in Florida require more than 50 feet of wetland buffer. In 2023, Orange County passed one of the most powerful rulesets in the state. This requires at least 100 feet of wetland buffer for most development projects.
