Just so you know, the Army Corps is very lame. They hardly ever, if ever, deny filling in wetlands. They do require mitigation if wetlands are filled. Mitigation means they require some good, somewhere else...never a good tradeoff. So here is a case of what happens in the long run (thank you reader for sending me this):
http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/regulatory/pnwebshare/florida.htm
Project Name: Shoma Development Corporation/Proposed Admin Penalty County: Miami-Dade
The project is located adjacent to Biscayne Bay, east of Old Cutler Road (Ingraham HWY) and north of SW 196th Street within Sections 2 and 3, Township 56 south, Range 40 east, Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The District Commander, Jacksonville District, proposes to issue an Order assessing a Class I Administrative Penalty against Shoma Development Corporation for an alleged violation of a permit granted under the Clean Water Act. The permit was violated as follows:
1. Approximately 20.11 acres of created, red mangrove, offsite mitigation are currently not meeting the required survivorship. The existing permit required 80% survival of red mangroves, and currently there is approximately 50% survival.
2. Approximately 9.48 acres of onsite enhancement mitigation has also not met the required success criteria. Nuisance/exotic plant species were to be removed and maintained at no more than 10%; however, there is approximately 50% nuisance/exotic plant species.
4 comments:
Well at least the Corps wrote a letter! WOW.
Wetlands mitigation is a disaster, and hopefully Craig Pittman of the St. Pete Times is writing about it in his forthcoming book.
Bet it will take a prize-winning book on Miami wetlands disasters, before the Herald picks up the story.
It's worse than you think. The mitigation the developer was required to perform was based on far fewer acres of wetlands than were actually filled, because the line delineating what was and wasn't wetlands at the development site was based on an old outdated determination. This ranks right up there with the worst developments in So Fla., one that should never have happened. Look at the site on Google Earth and you'll see what I mean. It's like a big middle finger pointed right in the face of Biscayne National Park.
Why is it that this stuff happens in FL? Look at wetlands protections in MA, if water falls on an area and fails to dry in a week or two watch out cause you wont be allowed to build anything within 200 feet of the outer border of that "wetland." And this in a place where the industrial revolution poluted just about everything over a 100 years ago.
I AM JUST ASTOUNDED, AT HOW CORRUPT MONEY CAN MAKE PEOPLE SELL LAND THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SOLD AND LET IT BE DESTROYED FOREVER, I AM A RESIDENT THAT HAS BEEN LIVING HERE IN CUTLER CAY FROM SHOMA DEVELOPMENT AND HAVE WATCHED BY MY WINDOW ACROSS FROM THE MANGROVES HOW THE SHOMA CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEES HAVE POLLUTED THE MANGROVES AND TRASHED IT WITH TOXIC CHEMICALS FOR EXAMPLE PAINT OR ANYTHING THEY COULD THROW IN AND THIS HAS ALL BEEN LET DONE.
AND MORE AMAZINGLY IS THE FINE IS YET SO LITTLE FOR SO MUCH LOSS. I REALLY WISH MORE COULD BE DONE TO REPRIMAND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN.
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