Feds put block on S. Dade community
[Regulators concerned about impact on a project intended to restore the coastal wetlands of Biscayne Bay]

BY CURTIS MORGAN, cmorgan@herald.com

Miami Herald, 9/10/05

Federal regulators have temporarily halted developers from filling hundreds of acres of wetlands at the proposed site of Florida City Commons, a step certain to complicate and even potentially derail plans for the controversial community.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers had approved a wetlands permit for the fill years ago, but said it took the unusual action of partially suspending it because the permit was intended to allow only ``low-impact agriculture.''

The landowner, Atlantic Civil, has since agreed to sell the property to developer Lennar Corp. and filed applications with state agencies to raise houses for 18,000 people instead of potatoes or palm trees.

The project -- 6,000 homes, shops, schools, a movie theater and a 240-room hotel planned for a degraded and previously farmed marsh that's severed from the Everglades by U.S. 1 -- has become a focal point in the politically charged battle over whether to open new land to development in Miami-Dade County.

In a Thursday letter to Atlantic Civil, the Corps wrote the Commons proposal would pose ''dramatically different'' impact on the watershed and on an Everglades restoration project intended to restore coastal wetlands and fresh water flows to Biscayne Bay.

The letter did not threaten to block the housing development but stressed
that ''a dense residential community'' would require new, ''careful'' permit review.

John Studt, chief of the south permits branch for the Corps, said he didn't know what the answer would be.

''I am telling you as clearly as I can that we have serious concerns about development in that area going into this,'' Studt said.

The agency's action angered developers, who accused the federal agency of an unprecedented abuse of its authority.

Ed Swakon, a consulting engineer for Lennar and Atlantic Civil, said the companies were doing exactly what the permit allowed, dumping up to 6.5 feet of rock and sand on 535.7 acres the Corps had signed off on years ago.

''They clearly jumped the gun,'' Swakon said. ``The mere fact that someone acts and explores our options, doesn't justify for the Corps to come down with this heavy hammer.''

Environmentalists praised the move, even though they were disappointed the
Corps had backed off on an initial Aug. 18 letter that suspended the fill work entirely.

On Thursday, the agency reinstated the permit -- but with a ''voluntary'' agreement from developers not to demuck or fill the most sensitive wetlands in the project's southern half, at least until after Nov. 15 and more discussion with the agency.

John Adornato of the National Parks Conservation Association said he hoped the Corps' concerns signaled ''a clear message that they're committed to restoration.'' The agency, along with the state, is managing the $8 billion effort to revive the Everglades.

Last month, the agency denied a developer's request to fill drainage ditches for a proposed St. Lucie County subdivision called Harmony Ranches because about 1,800 acres fall within an area that is supposed to be restored into a marshland to help the Indian River Lagoon.

POLITICAL TOOL

''They have certainly taken that step with Harmony Ranches,'' Adornato said.

''Now they need to take it with Atlantic Civil. They need to revoke that permit,'' he said.

Even if the Corps agrees to fully restore the permit, activists said the agency's concerns about development impact in the areas are likely to become a powerful political tool, adding to opposition against opening new areas to mega developments.

But Swakon and John Shubin, an attorney representing Lennar and Atlantic Civil, said the Corps had exceeded the scope of the law.

They said the Florida City project, unlike Harmony Ranches, was not a new permit, but a routine request to extend a previously approved project. Atlantic Civil's original fill permit is set to expire on April 26.

They argued that the Corps had rarely suspended existing permits in the past, and then for egregious violations or the discovery of an endangered species -- neither of which applied.

Instead, the Corps based its action on plans developers had filed with the South Florida Regional Planning Council for Florida Commons -- a project that still faces other extensive local, state and federal regulatory hurdles. For instance, the County Commission must vote on over whether to extend the urban development boundary, which limits growth, to encompass the project.

''We maintained to the Corps that the action was unprecedented, inappropriate and without an adequate legal basis,'' Shubin said.

Studt, the Corps permits chief, admitted the step was extremely rare but warranted because the change from farm to suburbs raised substantial new issues that were within the agency's authority to reconsider.

He said the Corps suspended the permit because developers had begun filling in the southern section of the property just as plans are being finalized for how to go about restoring water flow through the area. The impact on the coastal wetlands project, and on the public interest in seeing it completed, was a major consideration, he said.

''We are looking at every project that has overlap with [Everglades restoration] projects very carefully, and we do want to try to get that message out as clearly as we can,'' he said.

But Swakon said developers had offered several proposals to not only accommodate the necessary water flow to Biscayne Bay but to construct the projects as well. And as part of the original permit, he said the company also agreed to set aside about two-thirds of the property, 1,800 acres, as a conservation easement.

PURCHASE LAND

He also said Atlantic Civil's owner, Steve Torcise, has delayed work on the property for years to give the county and state opportunities to purchase the land. Negotiations never panned out; the last offers of less than $10 million were well short of what the company thinks the land is worth, Swakon said.

Last month, the South Florida Water Management District, which is in charge of buying land for Everglades projects, wrote regional planners that it has no interest in acquiring the property.

''If they want to stop us,'' Swakon said, ``they can buy us.''

He added: ``We're convinced, as I have stated all along, that at the end of the days we will have the permits we need to do the project, and the environment won't be any worse as result of it. In fact, it may be better.''