To the editor:<\/p>\n
Work has resumed on the Seven Islands development in Cape Coral.\u00a0It was stopped because protected mangroves were removed without a permit.\u00a0Nowhere have I seen any arrests or hints of fines.\u00a0Could this be because the city of Cape Coral illegally removed mangroves not too long ago to help a developer?<\/p>\n
You might ask why we should be concerned over the loss of some mangroves.\u00a0 There are very good reasons why.\u00a0 Mangroves play a crucial role in Florida\u2019s coastal ecosystems by:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Providing habitat for various marine species.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Acting as natural barriers against erosion and storm damage.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Filtering pollutants from water, thus improving water quality<\/p>\n
To emphasize the seriousness of this act, I went to the following site \u00ad\u00ad-\u00a0Mangroves Legally Protected in Florida: Permits & Penalties \u2014 Legal Clarity\u00a0\u2014 to try to present the law without all the lawyer\u2019s jargon.<\/p>\n
The following are the possible penalties \u2014<\/p>\n
Penalties for Violations<\/p>\n
This is where the law has real teeth, and where homeowners who treated mangrove trimming casually have gotten burned.<\/p>\n
First Violation<\/p>\n
For a first offense, the property owner must restore the damaged mangroves. Restoration isn\u2019t optional and isn\u2019t cheap. The applicant, landowner, and the person who performed the trimming are all\u00a0jointly and severally liable\u00a0for the restoration, meaning FDEP can pursue any or all of them for the full cost. The restoration must result in a functioning mangrove community that offsets the damage caused.<\/p>\n
Repeat Violations<\/p>\n
Second and subsequent violations add monetary penalties on top of restoration:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Illegal trimming:\u00a0Up to $100 per mangrove illegally trimmed.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Illegal alteration:\u00a0Up to $250 per mangrove illegally altered.<\/p>\n
\u2022 PMT-specific penalty:\u00a0A Professional Mangrove Trimmer who commits a second or subsequent violation faces an additional $250 per mangrove, on top of the standard fines.<\/p>\n
These per-tree fines add up fast when a property owner has cleared a stretch of shoreline.<\/p>\n
Criminal Penalties<\/p>\n
Beyond the mangrove-specific fines, Florida\u2019s broader environmental enforcement statute applies. Willfully violating permit requirements or failing to obtain a required permit is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to $10,000 in fines or six months in jail, or both, for each offense. Violations committed through\u00a0reckless indifference\u00a0are a second-degree misdemeanor carrying the same $10,000 maximum fine but up to 60 days in jail. Willful violations of the chapter\u2019s substantive provisions can be charged as third-degree felonies with fines up to $50,000 or five years in prison. Each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense.<\/p>\n
Civil Liability<\/p>\n
The state can also pursue civil penalties of up to $15,000 per offense per day under Section 403.141, plus the costs of tracing the violation, controlling the damage, and restoring the environment. Delegated local governments are not limited to the state penalties and may impose additional fines under their own authority.<\/p>\n
It is my opinion that the developer who is claiming ignorance, which is not an accepted excuse for breaking the law, should be punished to the full extent of the law regardless of which contractor removed mangroves at the site.<\/p>\n
\u00a0We certainly have enough problems without a developer flaunting any disregard for the law.<\/p>\n
Norman Cannon<\/p>\n
Fort Myers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the editor: Work has resumed on the Seven Islands development in Cape Coral.\u00a0It was stopped because protected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-327993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}