Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Beach time and tide
Consider.
Beach Re-Nourishment from four mile village(Sandestin area) west to the Walton county line is a go . No new emergency permits can be issued now because the project is due to begin within 9 months. They plan to begin this summer.
This end of the county east to the Bay county line could be approved (some say) within 18 months. The same restriction would apply within 9 months of the projected start date.
The above project moved forward only after a legal Challenge to the DEP permit took a year to settle. Any citizen can challenge a DEP permit and from what I read the standard is very low. A challenge could come from the Sea Turtle Watch group.
They have already pointed out in a recent article in the Walton Sun that the number of Loggerhead sea turtle nests located dropped from 58 in 2000 to only 19 in 2005.
Kipp Frohlich, section leader for the imperiled species management section in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Services is concerned that building practices may cause the
turtles to become extinct.
Our neighborhood board has stated that we may not get a DEP permit at all.
They have also said that if we do get a permit it could take 12 to 18 months.
And they have said they are making the application for a DEP permit.
If we do obtain a DEP permit and the time period happens to be within 9 months of the projected start of a beach renourishment project then we will not be able to begin the project even with a permit.
The wildcard is any challenge by one individual or group or coalition of groups that might oppose these permits.
Another wildcard is how the county will manage any future "emergency period" after a major storm based on their experience of late.
One more wildcard is how many lawsuits will occur when the DEP refuses to grant permanent permit status to many emergency projects and owners refuse to remove them.
This could then make it harder for future emergency permit applicants.
This is a very fluid (no pun intended) situation with many unknown twists and turns.
Beach Re-Nourishment from four mile village(Sandestin area) west to the Walton county line is a go . No new emergency permits can be issued now because the project is due to begin within 9 months. They plan to begin this summer.
This end of the county east to the Bay county line could be approved (some say) within 18 months. The same restriction would apply within 9 months of the projected start date.
The above project moved forward only after a legal Challenge to the DEP permit took a year to settle. Any citizen can challenge a DEP permit and from what I read the standard is very low. A challenge could come from the Sea Turtle Watch group.
They have already pointed out in a recent article in the Walton Sun that the number of Loggerhead sea turtle nests located dropped from 58 in 2000 to only 19 in 2005.
Kipp Frohlich, section leader for the imperiled species management section in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Services is concerned that building practices may cause the
turtles to become extinct.
Our neighborhood board has stated that we may not get a DEP permit at all.
They have also said that if we do get a permit it could take 12 to 18 months.
And they have said they are making the application for a DEP permit.
If we do obtain a DEP permit and the time period happens to be within 9 months of the projected start of a beach renourishment project then we will not be able to begin the project even with a permit.
The wildcard is any challenge by one individual or group or coalition of groups that might oppose these permits.
Another wildcard is how the county will manage any future "emergency period" after a major storm based on their experience of late.
One more wildcard is how many lawsuits will occur when the DEP refuses to grant permanent permit status to many emergency projects and owners refuse to remove them.
This could then make it harder for future emergency permit applicants.
This is a very fluid (no pun intended) situation with many unknown twists and turns.
