02/07/2024
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Very good letter from SFWA
Dear Friends,
A complex project proposed for a large swath of undeveloped wetlands and other lightly-developed lands in Wellington, Florida (western Palm Beach County) is coming up for a final vote in the Wellington Village Council this Wednesday. This will be decision time for a project that produced major controversy in the Wellington community – with divisions that seemed to fall along the lines of “quality of life vs. progress.” Visuals of many of the issues presented here can be found at the bottom of this email.
Described as “The Wellington North and South,” the project seeks to create luxury housing and a new equestrian showground on approximately 290 acres of current and former wetlands in Wellington South as well as release 96 acres from the Village’s Equestrian Preserve Area (a designated area of low-density zoning) in Wellington North to allow for high-density housing. The proposal was soundly rejected by Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee but passed the Planning and Zoning Committee and the Village Council where it was transmitted to Tallahassee for review. It’s now back in the Village Council for a second and final vote. Four out of five council members must vote yes to move the project forward. South Florida Wildlands Association (SFWA), other local environmental organizations, and many residents of Wellington remain deeply opposed to this development.
The Village of Wellington’s description of this many-faceted and complex project can be found here.
We’re summarizing SFWA's work on this project in this email not only due to its relevance to the upcoming local decision but also because it provides an opportunity to explore how wetlands protect and enhance communities throughout Florida. The email also touches on the complex permitting processes that allow Florida’s valuable and steadily shrinking wetlands to be filled in and developed. As thousands of wetland applications are currently working their way through Florida’s water management districts and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (which took over permitting of federal wetlands in Florida from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2020), we’re hoping this information will prove useful to other Florida communities wrestling with similar issues. The Wellington Village Council and staff have already reviewed this material in detail.
SFWA wrote a comprehensive letter to the Wellington Village Council outlining our concerns. Chief among those was the value of remaining wetlands to a municipality built entirely in the historic Everglades. Beginning in the 1950s with the purchase of 18,000 acres of swampland in Palm Beach County by Charles Oliver Wellington, almost all of the original muck soils and wetland vegetation of what is now Wellington (founded in 1995) were removed, massive amounts of fill were brought in, and a d**e was constructed between Wellington and the Northern Everglades (courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ). That remaining section of the Northern Everglades is now the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
In addition to the d**e, “over 2,000 catch basins or inlets, approximately 187,000 linear feet of collection and conveyance pipe, 91 miles of conveyance/treatment canals, 270 acres of detention lake area, seven flow control structures, and nine storm water pump stations” were constructed courtesy of the Acme Improvement District. This massive and artificial drainage system allowed Wellington to go from a “Census-designated place” with a population of 4,622 in 1980 to the largest incorporated village in Florida with a population of over 61,000 today. An interesting history of Acme and Wellington can be found on their website. The drainage system may well be the most extensive ever built for a single community. It would probably make for an interesting episode of "Modern Marvels" - though during heavy rains, low-lying Wellington, completely dependent on pumps, drains, canals, and culverts and still sitting on the edge of the Everglades, can still flood.
Our letter points out the many irreplaceable functions remaining wetlands provide. Those include: 1) retention of stormwaters that helps mitigate flooding in low-lying areas; 2) a permeable surface that allows for groundwater recharge (Wellington’s entire public water supply is drawn from its underground aquifer); 3) natural filtration and cleansing of waters before they enter the aquifer or other surface water bodies; 4) quality habitat for wading birds and other wildlife; 5) carbon sequestration at a time of heightened concerns about climate change due to a buildup of human-produced CO2 in the atmosphere; and 6) a natural landscape that enhances a part of densely developed Palm Beach County that has been designated an “Equestrian Preserve Area” with requirements for light density housing. Unfortunately, despite a Conservation Element in its Comprehensive Plan which strongly emphasizes the value of protecting remaining wetlands and open space, the Village Council has paid little attention to these environmental concerns. We’re hoping that will change before the final vote.
Here is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quoting FEMA on the value of wetlands for flood control:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) states that floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters—except fire. Most communities in the United States have experienced some kind of flooding. FEMA encourages the use of wetlands for stormwater detention in lieu of, or in conjunction with, traditional structural flood control measures.
See EPA's original document on wetlands and flood control here.
We should also point out that Village staff, the applicant, and even the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), consistently referred to the wetlands on Wellington South as “low-grade” due to the presence of exotic melaleuca. That reference seemed to dismiss the value of these wetlands (probably the largest tract of undeveloped wetlands not yet publicly owned and protected in Palm Beach County) and completely ignores current research indicating that even wetlands completely covered by melaleuca still provide most of the critical wetland functions mentioned above. See the research summary from Audubon here.
In later communications, SFWA focused on more technical aspects of the project – notably deficiencies in the required permitting of state and federally jurisdictional wetlands on the Wellington South site. Here, we identified a range of issues – including the fact that while the South Florida Water Management District signed off on the development of the state wetlands on the property (for a previous project called CountryPlace PUD that was never built), federally jurisdictional wetlands on the site currently have no permit. That is due to an expired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit on the west side of Wellington South (expired in February 2023) and no federal (404) permit whatsoever for wetlands on the east side. See SFWA’s letter to the council here for more detailed information on permitting issues. According to an email we recently received from FDEP, the agency is currently reviewing the filling of wetlands carried out on the west side of Wellington South with the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District. As of this writing, we have not heard back from FDEP on the results of their review.
Lastly, while SFWA focused on environmental impacts and permitting, we are also aware that the removal of 96.11 acres of Wellington North from the Equestrian Preserve Area and the Equestrian Overlay Zoning District (EOZD) designed to protect it, could have major implications for the preserve and this entire community. According to Wellington’s website:
Wellington's Council created the Equestrian Overlay Zoning District (EOZD) in 2003 in order to regulate development and activities within Wellington's Equestrian Preserve Area (EPA). The EOZD is the zoning regulatory framework that protects the community's character by regulating land uses and development.
That EOZD has not changed once since it was created over twenty years ago by the same governing body that may now vote to remove part of it. In South Florida, we have often seen the results of tinkering with protective zoning. Development begets more development. Places like the rural lands beyond Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary (UDB), the Agricultural Reserve of Palm Beach County, and the Density Reduction/Groundwater Resource (DR/GR) designation in Southeast Lee County have been steadily whittled away by changes requested by an endless parade of applicants that were agreed to by local governments.
The Village Council of Wellington has a great opportunity to go a different direction here – to protect this community and its human and physical environment and reconsider what the term “progress” means in 2024. They can vote no on Wellington North and South. We are no longer living in the 1950s when development in Wellington began and drainage of "worthless wetlands" and the creation of endless suburbs to take its place were more in vogue.
Wednesday night’s council meeting will begin at 5 PM. It is a continuation of an earlier meeting where public comment was already given so it is doubtful the Village Council will take additional public comments at this meeting. If you choose to, you can use the Village of Wellington’s public comment link to provide your feedback (Choose “Both Wellington South/North”).
https://www.wellingtonfl.gov/FormCenter/Planning-Zoning-5/Proposed-Projects-Public-Comment-101
Address if you’re attending in person and wish to watch the proceedings is:
Village Hall
12300 Forest Hill Boulevard
Wellington FL, 33414
You can also click here for a link to watch the proceedings online.
SFWA has been protecting wildlife and habitats in South Florida since 2010. In a high-growth region like South Florida, not exactly an easy task. Please support our important environmental education and advocacy with a tax-deductible contribution at the link below.
Rare photo showing the Village of Wellington in its pre-drainage condition. Photo courtesy the Acme Improvement District.
The three dark blocks in the center of this aerial photo show Wellington South. The Loxahatche National Wildlife Refuge is south and the award-winning Wellington Environmental Preserve at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Habitat is due east. Dense development is to the north and the Equestrian Preserve Area (mainly horse farms) are to the south.
Closeup of Wellington South from the Village of Wellington.
Closeup of Wellington North from the Village of Wellington website. In this case, the red lines surround the 96 acres that would be removed from the Equestrian Preserve Area in favor of dense residential development.
Map of wetlands identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as "biological wetlands." Further review, including field visits by federal and state agencies, would delineate the borders of "jurisdictional wetlands."
Graphic from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 404 Wetlands Permit for the west side of Wellington South (also referred to as Pod F). In their permit issued in 2018, the Army Corps found over 50 acres of federally jurisdictional wetlands on the property - 12 acres of which were designated a conservation easement as mitigation for the loss of wetlands and wildlife habitat. The permit expired in February of 2023. To our knowledge, no new permit (nor a "No Permit Required" designation) has been issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection which assumed most federal wetlands permitting in Florida in December of 2020. SFWA has been told the agency is currently reviewing this project.
Fill being placed on west side of Wellington South (Pod F) in November of 2023. SFWA Photo taken from the canal which separates the east and west parcels of Wellington South. View is looking west. The 12-acre conservation easement is on the right side of the photo.
SFWA photo of a roseate spoonbill, a Florida state-designated threatened species, taken in November 2023 on cleared wetlands of Pod F (low resolution due to a camera phone shooting from a distance). Other bird species we have observed on or flying across this site include white ibis, glossy ibis, kingfishers, and federally threatened wood storks.
View of Wellington South from FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer viewer. All sections of Wellington South are designated by FEMA as being inside a Special Flood Hazard Area (Zone AE) and are shown in blue. According to FEMA, "Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and floodplain management standards apply" to this designation. Other properties shown on this map as being inside the Special Flood Hazard Area are open horse farms with large paddocks that hold large amounts of water during rain events.
Best regards,
Matthew Schwartz
Executive Director
South Florida Wildlands Association
1314 E Las Olas Blvd #2297
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954) 993-5351
https://www.facebook.com/southfloridawild
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South Florida Wildlands works to protect wildlife and habitat in the Greater Everglades.
