Wetlands: Hybrid adopted
August 16, 2007 at 4:38 pm by Wayne GarciaHillsborough County commissioners voted late this afternoon 7-0 to adopt what has been called the Hybrid Plan to change the way that wetlands are protected and development is approved.
Hillsborough is one of 19 counties that have local wetlands rules, and really only one of two counties that have tougher guidelines than state or regional regulators. The Hybrid will make it easier for farmers to destroy small wetlands; allow for more wetlands mitigation in which developers can fill wetlands for a promise to re-create them elsewhere; encourage more mitigation banking, in which those mitigated wetlands can be far away from the original wetlands that are destroyed; and speeds approval for new subdivisions and commercial centers, among many other known and unknown results.
The Hybrid didn’t please most environmentalists at the meeting today, but the choice was between seeing all local wetlands rules abolished and accepting the compromise Hybrid.
August 16th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
“Wayne Garcia: The Hybrid will never happen”
That was the setup all along…
August 16th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Yep, I’m eating crow today. Although my sources confirmed that the commissioners who were ready to kill the EPC wetlands had no idea that Blair was going to make the motion he did at the start of the meeting. It took them by surprise too, but also took the wind out of their sails to go for the full kill.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Don’t be in a rush to trust the County Commission – they will avoid the spot light like cockroaches in the kitchen, scamper away and do their evil deeds later with less eyes and media watching. They will delay, reschedule, and so forth till the coast is clear. We must stay vigilant against these fools.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
True enough, Eric. Another real test tonight will be whether they allow the Sydney Mines development outside the Urban Service boundaries. We need to recall these clowns so we don’t have to watch them all the time to make sure they do the right thing.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I simply see a CC that sneers at voters. The rescheduling of the meeting was a great reminder of the Rhonda way of snubbing the public.
These small minded greedy despots are not beholden to the voters because of the public apathy and lack of attention-span, combined with a main stream media that does not hold them (or any of our institutions) to task.
I fear for our community, I mean that, we can not simply allow things to be run like this at a critical stage in our growth and economy.