LONGBOAT KEY – The mayors of the three Anna Maria Island cities and Longboat Key are considering making a joint application to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to obtain local control over mangrove regulations.
The discussion took place at the Coalition of Barrier Island Elected Officials (BIEO) meeting on April 17 at Longboat Key Town Hall, and followed a presentation by Suncoast Waterkeeper Executive Director Dr. Abbey Tyrna.
Tyrna began her presentation by displaying a 1940s-era aerial photo of the north end of Anna Maria Island, which showed a lagoon lined with mangroves.
“I wanted to show you this because later you’re going to see where mangroves were removed from a place that is now on what they call a manmade canal,” she said. “From the 1940s you can see there were a lot of naturally-occurring mangroves.”
In the 1990s, a large amount of mangroves were removed during a period of development, she said.
“Most of that was occurring on the Sarasota Bay side of things,” she said. “At the time mangroves decreased by 26%.”
She said that number has increased exponentially with further development.
“Canals are a particular focus, because the mangroves are vulnerable right now to development,” she said. “Older homes are developed, out with them goes not only the older home, but also the mangrove area.”
Any mangrove in a canal system can be removed under the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, she said.
“So the state will allow that removal” in Manatee County, Tyrna said, adding that it’s different in Sarasota County, because officials there have opted to accept the delegation of enforcement of the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act. The county does not allow mangroves to be removed on manmade canals without mitigation.
Tyrna then displayed a photo of a home at 111 Gull Drive in Anna Maria prior to its development and the subsequent removal of 116 feet of mangroves, which was allowed under an FDEP seawall exemption.
“You’ve probably seen 111 Gull Drive in the news,” Tyrna said. “Here’s 111 Gull Drive before the development with the mangroves lining the shoreline.”
She then showed a photo of the Gull Drive property following the mangrove removal there under an FDEP seawall exemption.
“You can see all the trees that used to line the coast are now gone,” she said. “This isn’t happening in a vacuum. There are property listings where it says ‘on a manmade canal. Mangroves will be removed.’ That means there is a lack of understanding about how beneficial they are.”
Tyrna said mangrove removal is a crisis occurring throughout the Suncoast in the rivers and bays. Suncoast Waterkeeper in the last year received 18 violation reports about the removal of mangroves.
“We need strong local policies that protect our wetland systems,” Tyrna said. “The good news is, local governments can actually take delegation and enforcement of the 1996 Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act.”
She listed municipalities that have done so, which included Sarasota County and Sanibel.
“Sanibel is a barrier island much like your own and has a great robust program that puts education at the forefront of its delegation,” she said.
At the conclusion of Tyrna’s talk, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy asked what the first steps would be if a municipality, or all the towns on the Island, wanted to accept delegation of mangrove enforcement.
Tyrna suggested Murphy speak to Sanibel and Sarasota County officials and refer to the state statute which outlines the delegation application process.
Hannah Westerveldt from the FDEP mangrove division will be giving a presentation at a Longboat Key work meeting on Monday, May 20, according to Town Manager Howard Tipton.
“We could continue the conversation then,” he said.
“I wonder if we could do this under the auspices of the barrier islands (BIEO), where we band together,” Murphy said, noting that while Anna Maria likely couldn’t afford to set up the program alone, the four cities coming together could be a viable option.
“One of us could house the function and others could, through an interlocal agreement, avail themselves of that,” Longboat Key Mayor Ken Schneier said.
Schneier asked Tyrna to send him program information from Sarasota County and said he would distribute it to Murphy, as well as to Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie.
“This is in our own backyard. The scalping (of the mangroves) is not going to stop,” Murphy said. “It’s going to continue until we do something about it.”
“We really need to have the mangrove replacement remedy available,” Schneier said.
Tyrna said local governments that have delegation authority have the ability to be stricter than the state regulations.
“The state is the floor, you have all the way up to the ceiling,” Tyrna said.
