Sierra Club group voices concerns on comp plan changes

The Manatee Conservation Committee of the Sierra Club is concerned about proposed changes to the County Comprehensive Plan. We are concerned that the proposed changes facilitate the ease with which the applicant can skim over variances to zoning, density and hazard designations, while at the same time evade the public’s opportunity for input. Most of our county’s major environmental challenges stem from unregulated growth, yet our planning staff, Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners bend over backward to grant any developer variances as needed, regardless of guidance in the planning regulations.

Most land proposed for development now was purchased long after the Comprehensive Plan was put in place in the mid-1990s. The purchasers were no doubt well aware of the zoning rules, density limitations and flood or evacuation zones at the time the property was purchased. Rejecting an application that does not meet the planning regulations should be a matter of course and a lesson to future applicants that our elected officials take the rules seriously.

This is not the case in Manatee County – developers maximize the value of their property, then expect the county to bend over backwards to make it happen. The quality of the review by planning staff came into question during the Aqua by the Bay hearings, yet the proposed changes give even more power to “staff.” Our county is suffering as a result.

When will the price be paid for developing over the limits of the landscape? When neighborhoods revert to being wetlands during even minor storms, much less the inevitable hurricanes? When Manatee County has ceased to be a desirable place for retirement or to call home?

This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Sierra Club group voices concerns on comp plan changes."