Environmental Intersection by George Lindemann

By Melissa L. Meeker, West Palm Beach

Effective strategies used in the early and mid-2000s by the South Florida Water Management District to acquire land for water resource and restoration purposes have come under recent criticism.

For anyone who lived in Florida a decade ago, it's not hard to remember the fast-paced real estate market during that time. As development increased and property values escalated, it made sense for the district to set aside lands ahead of the design and construction of projects associated with long-term restoration programs.

The SFWMD land acquisition program accomplished its goals. From 2000 to 2008, the district put close to 165,000 acres into public ownership for Kissimmee River Restoration, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and other water resource purposes.

The $1.6 billion invested in land during those years has brought tangible results. In the restored Kissimmee, for example, we have vastly expanded the river's flood plain, holding more water north of Lake Okeechobee and thereby reducing harmful discharges to coastal estuaries. For the new suite of projects that will send cleaner water to the Everglades, timely implementation would not be possible without needed tracts of land already in public ownership.

With the years of intensive land buying behind us, we are concentrating on strategic acquisitions and putting publicly owned acreage to its best use. Whether constructing on-site projects, exchanging for lands in more critical locations or leveraging our real estate assets, we are focused on targeting resources where they are needed most and implementing restoration work.

The district's policymaking, land acquisitions and surpassing activities have always been carried out under Governing Board direction in accordance with state statutes and as part of an open and public process.

For the past year, we have been reviewing and improving the agency's business, administration and operational practices districtwide. My ongoing goal is to ensure the agency is operating prudently, effectively and efficiently in the best interest of South Florida's water resources and its taxpayers.

Melissa L. Meeker is executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.

Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resource Management — vital to the region’s natural resources, but reviled by some residents who consider it heavy-handed — already is a shadow of its former self. Now it looks like the county commission is poised to finish it off in the name of streamlining the county’s construction-permitting process and economic development.

That would be a mistake, putting the long-term environmental well-being of this community in danger. Environmental protection is not antithetical to either of those goals, and commissioners should seek balance when the issue comes up for discussion, scheduled for their Tuesday meeting.

County Mayor Carlos Gimenez last year combined the functions of the environmental, planning and zoning departments. It was part of his campaign promise to streamline county operations at a savings to tax-stressed residents. His idea of a “one-stop shop” for permitting functions makes a lot of sense. As he said: “You have to jump through 17 hoops for somebody to replace a sea wall.”

Now, in his pursuit of another overhaul, he and the commission must make sure that taxpayers ultimately don’t bear the high costs of a tainted, damaged environment. In many ways, it’s our bread and butter, drawing tourists, providing recreation and, yes, creating economic development. Compare the parks and condos that have come to line Biscayne Bay decades after it was cleaned of icky things that repelled rather than attracted water activities.

More important, this community is sitting on top of its water supply, a fragile resource that is under threat of contamination, along with the Everglades, which must be protected from further degradation.

Mr. Gimenez’s vision is to fold what remains of DERM into a new Regulatory and Economic Resources Department. DERM was responsible for enforcing a broad range of county, state and federal laws. But notice how “environment” is not even in the new department’s name. That’s worrisome, despite the mayor’s protestations that the environment — the air we breath, the water we drink, the landscapes and vistas we enjoy — remains a priority.

Apparently taking their cues from the state, which foolishly took a sledgehammer to its growth-management laws, some commissioners, too, seem ready to dismantle the policies that have stood between smart growth and a development free-for-all. One proposal would let small farmers fill wetlands without permits. This means that residents who have staked a claim in the 81/2-Square-Mile Area in west Miami-Dade could build in areas that, along with underground aquifers, provide the water the community relies on. Of course, these residents have waged a pitched battle with DERM — vilifying its inspectors and its fines — for almost two decades. But allowing building in designated wetlands would be a short-sighted sop to a very small group of disgruntled people, to the detriment of the rest of us.

Mr. Gimenez, however, is right to want to streamline the county’s construction-permitting process. It has been an impediment to getting businesses up and running and letting homeowners make necessary repairs and move on.

Still, replacing a sea wall remains a lot easier than replacing coral reefs and drinking water and wetlands. It was DERM’s responsibility to protect them all. And the mayor and commission must ensure that this responsibility does not disappear when the department does.