{"id":43494,"date":"2019-06-19T23:14:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T03:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=43494"},"modified":"2019-06-19T23:15:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T03:15:08","slug":"lee-county-approves-3-1-tuesday-to-wipe-away-a-mine-zoning-map-pendergrass-rips-into-foes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/06\/lee-county-approves-3-1-tuesday-to-wipe-away-a-mine-zoning-map-pendergrass-rips-into-foes\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee County approves 3-1 Tuesday to wipe away a mine zoning map; Pendergrass rips into foes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lee County Commissioners voted 3-1\nTuesday to wipe away a zoning map <\/a>and a requirement to prove the\ncounty needs more lime rock before new mines can be approved in the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioners voted after more than three hours of public\ncomment on a plan from its staff that eliminated both a zoning map\nrestricting where mines can operate and the requirement that there would have\nto be studies to demonstrate a need for new mines before more mines\nare allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 50 people weighed in with comments on the proposed\nchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those who spoke opposed the new rules. Some who spoke \u2014\nafter waiting as long as three hours to talk for three minutes \u2014 were\ncriticized by Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A lot of people make this really personal, make personal attacks.\nYou’ve got some people here because they got fired from the county, so they’re\nhere with a vengeance against the county. You got people being political,\nyou’ve got candidates here trying to get into office and trying to get support\nand trying to find a base, and I get that,” Pendergrass said before the\ncommissioners voted.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The debate was otherwise respectful, as speakers ranging from\nelected public officials to neighbors of existing rock mines argued against any\ndilution of what had been a double-barreled regulatory process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For much of the past decade, mining rules in Lee County have\nincluded specified rules for operating mines, a study of county lime rock\nneeds, and a zoning map that specified where mines could be dug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The zoning map died as Commissioner John Manning, who had\nearlier expressed reservations, joined Pendergrass and Brian Hamman in enacting\nthe changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Frank Mann, who sat on the board that adopted the\nrules that have been in effect, and defended them during the hearing,\nvoted against the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the public, including representatives of conservation\ngroups, elected officials and neighbors, found a lot to dislike with the\ncounty’s plans for future consideration of mine proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before residents offered their views, Mann defended a prior\nboard’s decisions on mining rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our own staff strongly recommended the language we\nadopted, our attorneys were perfectly happy with the language that we adopted,\nwe had high paid outside consultants that strongly supported the language that\nwe are here about to change,” Mann said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public comment on the proposed changes ranged from hopeful to\nreflecting an understanding that the change was going to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estero City Councilman Nick Batos was among the first to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In April, I testified with other elected officials, all\nasking you not to transmit this comp plan amendment but you did not\nlisten,” Batos said. “You took an oath to protect all the residents\nof Lee County, not only the developers. Please do not destroy what we have all\nworked too hard to create.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

East Lee residents Janice and Kevin Hill, who have lived on a\nCorkscrew Road site close to an ongoing mining operation for more than 30\nyears, urged commissioners to keep the mining zoning map in the Lee County\ncomprehensive land use plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have people here from all over the county and they\nall say the same thing: don’t change the map. Some have lived here for\ngenerations, others for a year or so,” Janice Hill said. “The only\npeople who seem to be in favor of the change appear to be some lawyers, a few\nmine representatives, and our own county staff \u2014 why is that; what happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some argued about the need to protect wildlife from mining,\nwhile others were more technical in support of keeping the zoning map known\nas Map 14 in place to require in-depth review of mine plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Map 14 is a critical locational restriction on the\napproval of new mines an removing it will remove this basic limitation that is\npart of the Lee Plan,” said Meredith Budd of the Florida Wildlife Federation.\n“You have the legal authority and the requirement, through the community\nplanning act, to establish the extent, location and intensity of future\nland uses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Russell Shropp, managing partner of the Henderson\nFranklin law firm, which represents several mining operations, spoke right\nafter Budd and offered a contrast to her views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schropp said he had been involved with mining ventures since\n1984 and had seen an increase in the scrutiny of mine applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is probably one of the most stringent review processes\nfor land use that you could possibly ask for in Lee County,” Schropp\nsaid.  “Contrary to some of the assertions that have been made here\ntoday and in previous hearings, the deletion of Map 14 will not have the effect\nof approving additional mines nor will it lessen the review that will\noccur.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In announcing that he had not been convinced of the need for\nchange, Mann said the zoning regulations in effect are both effective and\nlegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After two years of effort we regulated mining, I think\nquite well,” Mann said. “To the extent we have been tested in\nthe courts, we have prevailed; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mann was the only vote against the changes.  John Manning\nvoted for them but offered no explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to questioning the motives of some of opponents of\nthe changes, Pendergrass defended the process followed by putting the proposal\nup for months of public review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That shows the county’s commitment in doing the right\nthing,” he said. “I do listen to all the constituents in Lee County\nand we make decisions based on facts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explaining his vote in support of the proposed change,\nCommissioner Brian Hamman said he disagreed with citizens who said they worry\nthat the new mine rules are an environmental threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted several commission actions in the past few years,\nranging from buying conservation land to approving developments\nconditioned on restoration of wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I see an opportunity here to actually finish it out,”\nHamman said. ‘We’re talking about literally, just a few pieces left now,\nif those folks do apply to mine, I want to make sure we have the most\nlegally defensible due process for them to go through.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

County officials said the changes won’t affect two pending mine\napplications, but did not explain whether simply withdrawing and resubmitting\nan application would change that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee County Commissioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to wipe away a zoning map and a requirement to prove the county needs more lime rock before new mines can be approved in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}