Workers allowed to haul dirt from planned Everglades project
 
 
(Note: Jesse Hardy's property -- which was wrung from him by coercion and 'business' strong arm tactics -- is still not "in" the Everglades. It is still THIRTY MILES FROM the Everglades, but the incorrect reporting as to its location continues unabated.)
 
April 27, 2005
 
 
By Eric Staats emstaats@naplesnews.com
 
Naples Daily News
 
Naples, Florida
 
 
To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@naplesnews.com
 

Workers can continue to haul dirt from the middle of a planned Everglades restoration project until December 1, Collier County commissioners decided Tuesday.

The dirt already has been mined from a 160-acre homestead that the state Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] bought earlier this month from landowner Jesse Hardy after years of high-profile negotiations.

The DEP agreed to pay Hardy $4.95 million for the land, which is part of a project to return natural water flows across 55,000 acres in Southern Golden Gate Estates and into the sensitive estuaries of the Ten Thousand Islands.

Hardy's hauling permit expired in October 2004. He faced a battle in getting it renewed because of complaints that Hardy had not lived up to the conditions of the 2001 permit and that Hardy's mining was incompatible with restoration. He had planned to start a fish farm.

The sale to the DEP came with the condition that mining had to stop but that hauling of dirt already dug out of the ground could continue until December 1 as long as the hauler, Aggrisource LLC, got county permission.

County commissioners asked Tuesday how the county would ensure that the company does not continue to mine the land.

Community Development and Environmental Services Director Joe Schmitt said he would send an engineer and code enforcers to the site periodically to make sure mining does not resume.

Aggrisource manager Chris Gehring said the company's mining equipment has been disabled, but it could take four months to haul away dirt that already has been mined.

Developers use the dirt for fill for their developments and Collier County has used Hardy's dirt for road projects.

Hardy's hauling permit drew fire from environmental groups when it was first issued in 2001, but those groups did not weigh in at Tuesday's hearing.

The DEP, who as the land's [new] owner was the entity petitioning for the permit renewal, did not have any representatives testify Tuesday.

Hardy also was not there. His attorney was present, but did not address the commission.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the permit, with Commissioner Tom Henning abstaining.

He said his copy of the agreement between Hardy and the DEP was blurry and that he did not feel as if he had all the information he needed to participate in the vote.

 
Copyright 2005, Naples News.