Compiled by Beverly Kraska, Ph.D.
South Walton Community Council
Board Member and Co-Chair, Environment Committee

BACKGROUND

Preserving and protecting areas of wetlands, an extremely valuable natural resource, is a complex task. There are a variety of stakeholders with different perspectives on conserving wetlands, a variety of functions and values of wetlands, and a variety of levels of control. Developing procedures to determine if a proposed use may adversely affect a wetland requires knowledge of all these variables. Walton County's Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) and Land Development Code (LDC) attempt to address these issues, and succeed in many areas.

At the same time, attempts to implement the current policies, lack of protection for isolated wetlands, and a comparison of best wetland management practices in other Florida counties strongly suggest that Walton County's wetland policies need to be clarified and updated. A thorough review of our wetland policies can benefit all the various stakeholders: developers will have a clearer understanding of what they can do; environmentalists will know what and how wetlands will be protected; prospective home builders will have clear guidelines for building on their partially wetland property; and Walton County will be able to quickly make decisions on the suitability of projects that impact wetlands.

The South Walton Community Council (SWCC), a coalition of residents, property owners, neighborhood associations, business owners, and citizens, is committed to preserving the area's quality of life and natural environment. SWCC, recognizing the need to better protect Walton County's wetland areas, applied for assistance through the 1000 Friends of Florida's Panhandle Initiative for this purpose. Now that the grant has been awarded, the SWCC is working with Walton County to develop a cooperative partnership among government officials, business leaders, and environmentalists to clarify and update wetland preservation and protection in the local Comp Plan and LDC. This is the Walton Wetlands Study Project.

As an early step in this project, a Community Wetlands Workshop will be held on June 24, where the public will help identify issues and potential solutions related to wetland development and protection in Walton County. Subsequent to this meeting, a Work Group composed of representative stakeholders will work to develop and recommend changes to the Comp Plan and LDC, to be presented to Walton County's Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners.

Walton Wetlands Study Project Objectives

• Protect the environment
• Ensure property rights are protected
• Develop clear, simple standards and permitting procedures
• Ensure policies can be implemented and enforced
• Educate community, county government staff, and all stakeholders

POTENTIAL ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

The SWCC has identified the following initial issues pertaining to wetlands, which may be considered in clarifying and updating the Comp Plan and LDC. Many more issues and questions are sure to be encountered during the course of the Workshop and subsequent Work Group sessions.

1. In November 1999 Walton County and the Department of Community Affairs entered into a settlement agreement relative to Comp Plan policies L-1.10.4 and L-1.10.5.

• The settlement agreement requires the county to identify its more environmentally significant wetlands not previously recognized and incorporated in its GIS data base. It also requires the county to ensure protection of the more environmentally significant wetlands. The county has not identified all wetlands in the county or ranked the wetlands to determine those that are environmentally significant.

2. Inconsistencies have been found between Comp Plan and Land Development Code.

• When the amendment to the Comp Plan (see above) was approved, the county apparently did not consider the impacts to the LDC. A careful study is required to ensure that the two documents are consistent.
• The current LDC has limited reference to mitigation.
  

3. County needs to assert its jurisdiction over isolated wetlands.

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) no longer regulates development in isolated wetlands. The current Walton County Comp Plan gives permitting authority to the COE and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which regulates jurisdictional wetlands only. As a result, Walton County has no regulations regarding development in or around isolated wetlands.

4. County's role in wetland permitting and review of applications is unclear and subject
to interpretation.

• Currently, Walton County allows development in wetlands if DEP issues a permit for site-specific dredge-and-fill requests. But the issuance of a dredge-and-fill permit does not constitute compliance with the county's LDC.
• Should the county have final approval of construction in wetlands to ensure that secondary impacts and cumulative impacts are addressed?

5. Appropriateness of method to determine density of building in uplands questioned.

• Walton County's density for building in uplands is based on total acreage (wetlands plus uplands).

  A. Should density for building in uplands be based on total acreage or something less than that?
  B. Should best management practices be reviewed to learn what other counties do?
  C. If adequate upland areas exist for development, should wetlands be avoided altogether? What is "adequate"?
  D. Rather than always requiring building on uplands and preservation of wetlands, should the county allow some development on poor-quality wetlands, to preserve high-quality upland habitat?

• Saving wetland habitat to the exclusion of upland habitat may not result in viable faunal communities.

6. Mitigation measures are not adequately spelled out.

• A recent DEP report showed that 80 percent of mitigation projects in Florida failed or were never done. County needs to know why, and avoid such problems.

  A. Should mitigation be allowed only after reasonable attempts have been made to avoid or minimize impacts on wetlands?
  B. What types of mitigation should be allowed or encouraged?
  C. Should the more significant wetland systems be identified for protection through a form of preservation mitigation?
  D. How can the county ensure that mitigation is done according to permit conditions?

7. Penalties and enforcement not specifically addressed.

• Wetland protection rules and performance standards are only as good as the enforcement mechanisms in place. Walton County's LDC does not address enforcement.
• If wetland protection regulations are violated, should the county consider holding contractors and property owners jointly accountable?
• The permitting process is costly, cumbersome and time-consuming. The entire community, as well as developers, would benefit from a well-defined process.