Clean Water Network Florida

Clean Water Network of Florida

Issues - Magnolia Bay Development

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Magnolia Bay development is a proposed development in coastal Taylor County.

Magnolia Bay Comments

Clean Water Network of Florida offered the following comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers on the application for the Magnolia Bay Development, proposed for the coastal waters of Taylor County, in the Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve.

Comments to the Army Corps of Engineers

Questions on March 10th

State questions plans for N. Florida resort by Craig Pittman

The massive hotel and condominium resort a St. Petersburg surgeon wants to build in rural Taylor County suffered a major setback this week, drawing severe criticism from the state's growth planning agency.

The Magnolia Bay Resort has generated controversy because it calls for blasting a 2-mile-long channel through the Big Bend Seagrass Aquatic Preserve, the state's largest aquatic preserve and one of the largest stretches of uninterrupted sea grass in North America.

Growth vs. Seagrass

Please read the following article by Craig Pitman in the St. Pete Times. A permit for the project is currently under consideration by the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE). Following the article are the comments submitted by the Clean Water Network of Florida to the COE. If you have time to write a letter of your own, please let the COE know what you think about this destructive idea.

In Taylor County, it's growth vs. seagrass

DEKLE BEACH -- On a stretch of Florida coastline so empty that the Air Force once proposed using it as a bombing range, a prominent St. Petersburg surgeon and a Treasure Island developer with a checkered past want to build a marina and condominium project that would forever change the state's Big Bend area.As part of the new Magnolia Bay Marina and Resort, Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt Sr. and Chuck Olson want to build enough condominiums to add 7,000 residents to Taylor County.They also want to build a hotel, a helicopter landing pad, a public aquarium, a marine science laboratory and 280,000 square feet of commercial space — all on 500 acres of swamp and salt marsh that the locals call Boggy Bay. The golf course and RV park would come later.

Re: Permit Application Number SAJ-2006-0062-IP-EPS

Dear Mr. Sarfort:

These comments on the Clean Water Act permit application for the Magnolia Bay Marina and Resort are submitted on behalf of the Clean Water Network of Florida, Inc. (CWNofFL). CWNofFL is a statewide environmental organization with 155 member groups and 5,000 individual members. CWNof FL is dedicated to the strongest possible implementation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act and we actively advocate for these protections of our waters on behalf of our members.

The permit as currently proposed would authorize the destruction of more than 105 acres coastal wetlands and nearly 36 acres of mature sea grass community. The secondary and long-term impacts to these wetlands and grassbeds would be much more extensive due to several factors

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