HomeMy Public PortalAboutRES 96/01RESOLUTION 96 -1
A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF
GULF STREAM, FLORIDA, PALM BEACH COUNTY, REQUESTING
THAT DOCK PERMITTING BE REMOVED FROM THE JURISDICTION
OF PALM BEACH COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT AND THAT DOCK PERMITTING BE PROVIDED BY THE
U.S.ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
WHEREAS, in 1978, the Palm beach County Board of County
Commissioners adopted the Palm Beach County Environmental Controls
Act, and in August, 1981, the Palm Beach County Mangrove Protection
Ordinance was adopted which was amended in 1988 to transfer admin-
istration of the wetland program to the Department of Environ-
mental Resources Management (DERM), and
WHEREAS, the said Board of County Commissioners adopted a
conservation element in its 1989 Comprehensive Land Use Plan
establishing a goal to maintain the functions and values of wet-
lands and deep water habitats so that there will be no net loss
of the functions and values of wetlands; and
WHEREAS, in March, 1994 the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers
(ALOE) reissued its general permit, originally issued in December,
1983, to authorize Palm Beach County Department of Environmental
Resources Management (PBC -DERM) authority to administer ACOE auth-
orizations for single- family piers in navigable waters of the
County with a provision excluding certain areas of the Intracoastal
Waterway both north and south of Lake Worth; and
WHEREAS, in April, 1989, the said Board of County Commissioners
adopted an agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental
Regulation (now the Department of Environmental Protection) recog-
nizing DERM as an approved Local Pollution Control Program; and
WHEREAS, in 1990, the said Board of County Commissioners
adopted the Wetlands Protection Ordinance providing for permitting
of construction, dredging, filling or alterations of jurisdictional
wetlands which was transferred to the Unified Land Development
Code (ULDC), the Wetlands Protection Section of the ULDC. being
adopted in June, 1992, including a provision for sunsetting duplicative
regulatory processes; and
WHEREAS, in 1993, the said Board of County Commissioners
approved a resolution clarifying and defining the project activities
which included required standard form permits from the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and projects requir-
ing a Management and Storage of Surface Waters (MSSW) permit from
the South Florida Water Management District ( SFWMD), the DEP now
has authority to regulate isolated freshwater wetlands, because
County regulation has not been a popular DERM program, and therefore,
permitting responsibility would best be left with the State without
any adverse environmental impact; and
WHEREAS, in February, 1994, when the Fifteenth Judicial
Circuit Court issued a writ prohibiting Palm Beach County from
regulating construction and landscaping activities in the coastal
zone eastward of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL),
County regulation of the coastal protection program essentially
shut down; and
WHEREAS, the State's Environmental Resource Permit (ERP)
program which expanded to include isolated wetlands and became
effective in October, 1995, merged the former wetland resource
permitting program and the MSSW program in an attempt to streamline
the regulatory programs without any loss of environmental protection.
The ERP agreement divided responsibilities between SFWMD and the DEP;
and
WHEREAS, the ERP program provided for delegation of all ERP
responsibilities to local government, but the States Lands use
authorizations which are now a part of the ERP process cannot be
delegated, so this would interfere with achievement of the goal of
an efficient, streamlined permitting system, and the implementation
process appears disorganized with the process expected to take 9 -12
months; and
WHEREAS, in June, 1995, the Mangrove Trimming and
Preservation Act was passed by the Florida Legislature which
has significantly limited DERM's ability to regulate trimming
and other activities impacting mangroves, and the mangrove pro-
tection provisions of the Palm Beach County ULDA will be abolished
in December, 1995; and
WHEREAS, the majority of wetland permits processed by DERM
are fQx single family docks using permitting criteria more stringent
than the DEP or ACOE criteria which provides an appropriate level
of protection to sea grasses and other natural resources, the
Joint Agreement for permitting single family docks with DEP is
labor intensive, and the effort and resources required to main-
tain these activities may not be justified, all such that DERM
resources currently dedicated to permitting and compliance /enforce-
ment on isolated wetlands and small docks may be more effectively
directed towards review and commenting on larger, more significant
projects.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE
TOWN OF GULF STREAM THAT:
Section 1: The Town of Gulf Stream Town Commission requests
the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners to suspend its
Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) enforcement
of the Wetlands Protection Code, specifically dock permitting, in
an effort to reduce multiple governmental regulation and expense.
Section 2: The Gulf Stream Town Commission requests that
dock permitting be returned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Section 3: The Town of Gulf Stream Ordinances shall remain
in full force and effect over docks and related matters.
Section 4: The Gulf Stream Town Clerk is hereby directed to
send copies of this Resolution to the Palm Beach County Board of
County Commissioners, Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation,
and all Palm Beach County municipalities.
Section 5: This Resolution shall become effective immedi-
ately upon its passage and approval as provided by law.
PASSED AND ADOPTED in a regular adjourned session assembled
this 12th day of January , 1996.
MAYOR
ATTEST:
14� 06r�
COMMISSIONER
COMMISSIONER. n
COKKI S S I ON
, Sj ."i - - -
OMMISSIONER