Wetlands? What wetlands?

The following agenda item will be heard and voted on during the June 17^th Wakulla County Commission meeting at 5 pm in the Commission chambers at 29 Arran Road, Suite 101, in Crawfordville.

9. Commissioner Merritt -
a. Request Board Approval to Direct Staff to Revise the Comprehensive Plan to Allow the BOCC to Grant Variances inside the 35 Foot Wetland Buffer Zone And to Remove Isolated Wetlands From Wetlands Regulations

Preserving Wakulla’s wetlands ordinance shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Across the aisle agreement on how to preserve the ecology of our county as the best local resource we have to stimulate the economy should be easy to achieve. However, the fact that this issue is coming back now that the County Commission party composition has changed leads me to believe that our local Republicans represent developers rather than Wakulla citizens.

It is a shame that we lost Commissioner Alan Brock in the last election. He was an advocate for a strong and sensible wetlands ordinance. He did not cave to the pressures of the developers. With the support of Commissioners Mike Stewart and Lynn Artz, he managed to stop this proposal the last time Commissioner Randy brought it up.

It appears that Commissioners Jerry Moore, Randy Merritt and Ralph Thomas have all committed to getting rid of the wetlands ordinance. Without a serious effort by citizens to express opposition, it looks like the anti-wetlands commissioners will finally get their way.

We used to have some balance on our County Commission. I believe in the system of checks and balances. Florida ran into trouble when one party held all the seats in the legislature. Now that the Democratic Party has been able to break the super majority, some balance has been restored to the legislative process.

People often try to pretend the Republican Party is the party of Nixon, that the GOP is the party protecting the environment while cutting spending - but that isn't so. Nixon's cuts still left us with taxes at a higher percentage per capita than we pay today- so we could still maintain services. 

It seems ironic that we are waiting on BP settlement funds to restore our local ecology while we advocate for variance changes that will contribute to further environmental deterioration.  If these commissioners have their way, the new Wakulla Environmental Institute will only be able to offer opportunities to study the ecological history of the beautiful wetlands that we used to have.

Rachel Sutz Pienta

Chair, Wakulla Democratic Executive Committee