September 10, 2014
Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
RE: Sugar Hill Sector Plan
Dear Governor Scott,
Residents and businesses on the east and west coast suffered economic havoc last summer because polluted water from Lake Okeechobee was dumped into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and estuaries.
The solution has been clear for
decades – water from Lake Okeechobee must be moved south to ease the burden on
the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers and estuaries and to provide critical
water supply to a parched Everglades National Park.
The state of Florida has a
contract with U.S. Sugar to purchase 46,800 acres south of Lake Okeechobee that
will expire in October 2015, and to purchase more than 100,000 additional acres
before the rest of the contract options expire. These are the very lands
required to stop the devastating pumping of massive volumes of water to the
estuaries, and flow that water southward instead to restore the central and
southern Everglades.
The South Florida Water
Management District publicly stated that the potential acquisition of these
lands “represents an unprecedented opportunity to protect and restore the
Everglades in a way we never anticipated.’’ (8/14/2008). The District has developed several
alternative plans for these restoration projects. As the Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2010,
the U.S. Sugar purchase "serves the public purpose of conserving and
protecting water and water-related resources."
The opportunity to secure and use
these lands for water storage and flow - the only realistic option for real
restoration success - is threatened by a land use plan change (The Sugar Hill
Sector Plan) recently proposed by Hendry County for over 43,000 acres owned by
U.S. Sugar and Hilliard Brothers that would allow up to 18,000 homes and 25
million square feet of commercial and other uses in the very region that is
essential to the ability of the state and federal government to resolve the
crisis in the estuaries and restore the Everglades.
Approval of this Sector Plan could end
any realistic chance of doing this – either directly by allowing the approval
of development that would preclude restoration, or indirectly by increasing the
speculative market value of the lands needed for restoration. The proposed Sector Plan appears inconsistent
with numerous requirements of Florida’s land use planning law, as a result of
its failure to acknowledge state’s restoration efforts, and the suitability of
this land for development relative to drainage, water management, water supply
and other issues.
We, the 46 undersigned organizations,
call upon the leadership of the Governor’s Office to ensure that the Department
of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District
fulfill their responsibility under state planning law to formally inform the
state’s land planning agency (The Department of Economic Opportunity, DEO) in
writing of the facts and circumstances mentioned above related to these
lands. The agencies should provide DEO
all available information about these facts, characteristics and
considerations, and provide a full and frank explanation about the potential of
the proposed Sector Plan to jeopardize the last realistic chance to fully
restore the estuaries and the Everglades. We believe this information
will compel DEO to formally object to the Sector Plan because of its adverse
effect on an issue and facility of statewide importance – the Florida
Everglades and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries and the flood
control, water supply and economic functions they provide to nearly 8 million
Floridians and millions of tourist and visitors. Allowing the Sugar Hill
development to proceed would put the Everglades and coastal communities in
grave peril.
Now
is the time for the state of Florida to fully enforce its legal responsibilities
and rights on their behalf before it's too late.
Sincerely,
Frank
Jackalone
Florida
Staff Director
Sierra
Club
Marty
Baum
Executive
Director, Keeper
Indian
Riverkeeper
Mark
D. Perry
Executive
Director
Florida
Oceanographic Society
Donna
Melzer
Chair
Martin
County Conservation Alliance
Rae
Ann Wessel
Natural
Resource Policy Director
Sanibel
Captiva Conservation Foundation
Dr.
Leesa Souto
Executive
Director
Marine
Resources Council
Alan
Fritze
President
Landings
Fishing Club - Fort Myers, FL
Birgit
P. Miller
Executive
Director
Ding
Darling Wildlife Society
John
McCabe
President
Ding
Darling Wildlife Society
Rodney
Smith
President
Anglers
for Conservation
Eric
Eikenberg
CEO
The
Everglades Foundation
Manley
Fuller
President
Florida
Wildlife Federation
Franklin
Adams
Board
Member
Florida
Wildlife Federation
Alan
Farago
President
Friends
of the Everglades
John
Adornato III
Sun
Coast Regional Director
National
Parks Conservation Association
Roy
Rogers
Board
Member
1000
Friends of Florida
Charles
Pattison
Policy
Director
1000
Friends of Florida
Kathleen
E. Aterno
Florida
Director
Clean
Water Action
Eric
Draper
Executive
Director
Audubon
Florida
Michael
F. Chenoweth
President
Florida
Division of the Izaak Walton League of America
&
Florida Keys Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America
Sara
Fain
Executive
Director
Everglades
Law Center
Laurie
Macdonald
Florida
Director
Defenders
of Wildlife
Bradford
Sewell, Esq.
Senior
Attorney
Natural
Resources Defense Council
Millard
McCleary
Executive
Program Director
Reef
Relief
Jennifer
Rubiello
Field
Organizer
Environment
Florida
Paton
White
President
Audubon
of the Everglades
Grant
Campbell
Director
of Wildlife Policy/ Conservation Chair
South
Florida Audubon Society
Alisa
Coe
Staff
Attorney
Earthjustice
Karen
Ahlers
Executive
Director
Florida
Defenders of the Environment
Craig
Diamond
Greater
Everglades Chair
Sierra
Club Florida Chapter
Liz
Donley
Secretary
Save
Our Creeks, Inc.
Barbara
Falsey
Vice
President
Urban
Environment League
Patty
Whitehead
Secretary
Responsible
Growth Management Coalition of Southwest Florida
John
Debus
President
Treasure
Coast Progressive Alliance
Justin
Bloom
Exec
Director
Suncoast
Waterkeeper
Clayton
Louis Ferrara
Executive
Director
IDEAS
for Us
Kenny
Hinkle, Jr.
President
BullSugar.org
John
W. Scott
Leader/Co-Founder
Clean
Water Initiative of Florida
Christopher
T. Byrd, Esq.
President
The
Byrd Law Group, P.A.
Karen
Fraley
Owner
Around
the Bend Nature Tours
Linda
Young
Executive
Director
Florida
Clean Water Network
Bob
Skinner
President
Izaak
Walton League – Mango Chapter
Pamela
Pierce
President
Izaak
Walton League – Cypress Chapter
Marcia
Cravens
Chair
Sierra
Club Calusa Group – Glades, Hendry, Collier and Lee Counties
Drew
Martin
Conservation
Chair
Sierra
Club Loxahatchee Group – Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee Counties
Deborah
Longman-Marien
Chair
Sierra
Club Turtle Coast Group – Brevard and Indian River Counties
Stephen
Mahoney
Conservation
Chair
Sierra
Club Miami Group
Marian
Ryan
Conservation
Chair
Sierra
Club Ancient Islands Group – De Soto, Hardee, Highlands, Polk, and Sumter
Counties
Stan
Pannaman
Conservation
Chair
Sierra
Club Broward Group
Linda
Jones
Chair
Sierra
Club Manatee-Sarasota Group
cc: Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director,
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
Herschel Vinyard, Secretary, Florida
Department of Environmental Protection
Blake Gillory, Executive Director, South
Florida Water Management District
