LONGBOAT KEY – With an eye toward teaming up with the three Anna Maria Island cities to obtain Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) authorization to regulate mangroves, the Longboat Key Town Council invited FDEP Environmental Manager Hannah Westervelt to speak at its May 20 meeting.
“We’ve been discussing with the communities in Anna Maria Island possibly working to put together a joint program to preserve the mangroves on our two islands,” Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton said.
Westervelt provided a slide presentation beginning with an overview of the Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act (MTPA) of 1996.
“The legislative intent of the Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act is to protect mangroves,” Westervelt said.
She noted that the MTPA protects both living and dead mangroves and does distinguish between the two, however, dead mangroves provide structure and habitat.
“Something to think about,” she said. “Don’t remove mangroves because they’re dead. Contact me first, please.”
Westervelt discussed the process for local governments to obtain FDEP delegation authority over mangroves.
“I know that’s been a topic of discussion here so I wanted to talk about that,” she said. “Local agencies are able to adopt delegation. Something that is important to note is that they’re not allowed to limit the exemptions if they do get that authority.”
Westervelt said it’s up to local government to apply for that authority and FDEP will assist in the process.
“We have pre-meetings before that application is submitted so we can assist wherever needed,” she said. “But essentially it is up to that local agency to determine if they have the needed number of resources and the budget available for this project.”
Anna Maria City Commission Chair Mark Short, commissioners Gary McMullen and Charlie Salem and Building Department General Manager Dean Jones attended the May 20 Longboat Key Town Council meeting.
During the May 23 Anna Maria City Commission meeting, Short said he reached out to Westervelt and asked if it’s possible for FDEP to notify the city before any FDEP-approved mangrove removals take place in Anna Maria.
“If a property owner wants to alter their mangrove – alter basically means to do anything other than trim – they have to go to DEP to get the permit. DEP has no requirement to inform the city that a property owner has made this request,” Short said.
“I asked her if the city of Anna Maria formally requested DEP to inform us if any such permit requests are made for a property in Anna Maria, they would inform us. She did not see any reason why they could not honor that but that would require approval at a level higher than she is. So, I have asked the mayor to work with the city attorney to draft such a request to send to FDEP,” he said.
“If it can be approved, then going forward we can have this ability when a property owner does request to alter the mangroves on their property,” Short said. “I’m not saying it’s going to make everything right, but it sure seems to make sense to me that we at least know what’s going on.”
– Sun Correspondent Joe Hendricks contributed to this story
