Northwest Florida Water Management

District

81 Water Management Drive, Havana, Florida 32333-4712

(U.S. Highway 90, 10 miles west of Tallahassee)

Douglas E. Barr (850) 539-5999 • (Fax) 539-2777

Executive Director

FOR RELEASE: September 24, 2010

FOR INFORMATION: Lee Marchman, Chief, Bureau of Environmental Resource

Regulation

Faith Eidse, Public Information Specialist

Wetland Protection to Increase with Comprehensive Regulation

Havana, FL—Northwest Florida will add protection for unregulated isolated

wetlands when Environmental Resources Permitting (ERP) is fully implemented

on November 1, 2010. Phase II adds regulation of wetlands and other surface

waters to the District’s existing ERP program. Most of the other regulations

have been in place for decades in the Panhandle under various programs

administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

“People and wildlife will benefit greatly from a combined

stormwater/wetland program similar to what has existed in the rest of Florida

since 1995,” said Executive Director Douglas E. Barr. “Full environmental

regulation will also challenge the District with new permitting responsibilities

and will benefit the regulated community by requiring one combined permit for

stormwater and wetland impacts.”

GEORGE ROBERTS PHILIP K. McMILLAN STEVE GHAZVINI PETER ANTONACCI STEPHANIE BLOYD
Chair Vice Chair Secretary/Treasurer Tallahassee Panama City Beach
Panama City Blountstown Tallahassee

JOYCE ESTES TIM NORRIS JERRY PATE RALPH RISH

Eastpoint Santa Rosa Beach Pensacola Port St.Joe
 “The change will increase review time because delineation of wetlands

and evaluation of impacts are complicated,” said Lee Marchman, Chief of the

District’s Bureau of Environmental

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Add 1-- Wetland Protection to Increase with Comprehensive Regulation

Resource Regulation. “Also the District will administer conservation

easements, financial

assurance documents and wetland mitigation, which are new to us. However,

other than adding isolated wetlands, little is changing for the applicant.”

Phase I, stormwater, implemented in the Panhandle on October 1, 2007,

added rules for quantity (not just quality) of runoff and stream bank erosion to

development projects across northwest Florida. The District has issued nearly

1,000 stormwater system permits in three years and discovered that isolated

wetlands only occur on about 30 percent of the projects.

As with Phase I, the District and DEP will jointly manage full ERP. The

District will regulate activities of less than five acres of wetland impacts, not

located in water or not a single family residence. Single family dwellings that

are not part of a larger common development are exempt from the stormwater

rules, although homeowners may need permits if construction projects impact

wetlands.

DEP will regulate activities with wetland impacts of five or more acres, all

in-water activities such as docks, marinas and construction in sovereign

submerged lands and any associated uplands.

 The single application also streamlines the regulatory process since it

constitutes an automatic electronic request to the U. S. Army Corps of

Engineers (Corps) for federal water quality certification. Similar automated

noticing will improve coordination between the District, DEP and other state

agencies such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and

the Department of State Historical Resources.

“Our best advice to developers and businesses is to call us, call often

and early in the

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Add 1-- Wetland Protection to Increase with Comprehensive Regulation

project’s conceptual design stage, 850-921-2986,” said Marchman. “The rule is

complex. Together with the two volume Applicant’s Handbook, it totals almost

1,000 pages. In addition, it adopts by reference DEP’s Erosion and Sediment

Control Manual, the Florida Department of Transportation’s Standard

Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction and others.”

“The District is here to help the public, not just regulate it,” added Julian

Gotreaux, Director of the District’s Environmental Regulations Section. “We

routinely balance the needs of the regulated community and the health and

safety of people and the environment. We are educators in the field. It’s our

goal to help individuals identify when they need a permit and thereby avoid

any compliance or enforcement issues.”

Marchman suggested scheduling a pre-application conference with the

District to speed up permit review. Applicants who meet with the District

before filing decrease review time an average seven days because more

complete documents avoid a Request for Additional Information.

 Applicants may also decrease review times when they use the

District’s E-Permitting Portal and for Electronic Self-Certification that an activity

is exempt. This helps avoid copying costs and sending several applications by

mail or courier.

“Months of review turn into weeks and even days,” Gotreaux said.

“Projects that do not meet the regulations can be turned into permittable and

environmentally compatible projects.”

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