I "


STATE OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION APR 29

offie (tte Secretary

IN RE: Petition to Modify the Landward se
Boundaries of Aquatic Preserve .)
Outstanding Florida Waters From '-
the Mean High Water Line to the 's /^ &
Landward Extent of the Waters .
of the State., ,

PETITION TO INITIATE RULEMAKING


1. This is a petition to initiate rulemaking pursuant

to Section 120.54(5), Fla. Stat.; Fla. Admin. Code Rule 28-3.11;

and Fla. Admin. Code Rule 17-3.041(2), for the purpose of amending

the landward boundaries of Aquatic Preserve Outstanding Florida

Waters set forth in Fla. Admin. Code Rule 17-3.041(4)(h). The

proposed amendment reads as follows:

(h) Waters within State Aquatic Preserves
(The landward boundary of all such
CFW's shall be the landward extent of
the jurisdictional waters of the state.
Privately owned suLnerged bottomland
inholdings within such aquatic preserves
are part of the aquatic preserve CEW)" -


Identity of Petitioner

2. ManaSota-88, Inc., is a charitable, public

interest, public membership organization incorporated as a

not-for-profit corporation under the laws of the State of

Florida. The primary corporate purposes of ManaSota-88, Inc.

include, but are not limited to, the protection and enhancement

of human health of the citizens of Florida, and the protection

and enhancement of the water and natural resources of the

"''State of Florida. ManaSota-88, Inc., was first organized

in 1966 in conjunction with the United States Public Health

Departments of Sarasota and Manatee Counties. The membership

of ManaSota-88, Inc. consists of individuals who use and
enjoy the waters of the areas proposed for designation as

Class II Waters in this petition.

Facts

3. The current language in Fla. Admin. Code Rule

17-3.041(4)(h), as officially interpreted by the Florida














Department of Environmental Regulation (DER), provides

that the landward boundary of bodies of water designated as

Outstanding Florida Waters (OFW) due to their status as

state aquatic preserves, shall be the boundaries of the

state owned bottomland. As a result of this definition, the

landward boundary of aquatic preserve OFW's is the mean high

water mark, thus excluding the critically productive trans-

itional wetlands habitat above the mean high water mark.

No scientific basis exists to exclude these critically

productive transitional wetlands from the protective OFW

designation.

4. The current language in Rule 17-3.041(4)(h),

as officially interpreted by DER excludes the OFW designa-

tion of the water column overlying privately owned submerged

bottom land inholdingswithin state aquatic preserves. No

scientific basis exists for such an exclusion. The result

of such exclusions is to create administrative permitting

complications for DER,permit applicants and substantially

affected third parties.

5. In April of 1986, the Florida Environmental

Regulation Commission (ERC) passed a resolution directing

DER staff to initiate rulemaking to extend the landward

boundary of aquatic preserve OFW 's from the aquatic

preserve boundary to the landward extent of the waters

of the state. To date, DER staff has not formally presented

"the ERC with any rulemaking initiate on this subject.

ManaSota-88, Inc. hereby waives the 30 day statutory

time limit in Section 120.54, Fla. Stat.
WHEREFORE, ManaSota-88, Inc. respectfully requests

the ERC and DER

1) to grant this petition to initiate rule-

making; and

"... 2) to enact and adopt the proposed amendment

-2-
















set forth above.




As Counsel for ManaSdta-88, Inc.

Thomas W. Reese, Esq.
123 8th Street North
St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701
"(813) 822-4084








CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I CERTIFY that a copy of the above has been forwarded

by U.S. Mail to Dale Twachtmann, Secretary, Department of

Environmental Regulation, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee,

Florida, 32301, on this 2 _ day of April, 1987.







cc: Dr. Richard Garrity
Thomas Swihart



























-3-