The agencies are casting an increasingly closer eye over marina and dock permit applications, looking for ways to avoid and, if needed, make up for the projects' effects on water quality, sea grasses and endangered manatees. Some applicants have an easy road. The DEP exempts most single-family docks on manmade canals and exempts docks smaller than 1,000 square feet on natural waters and smaller than 500 square feet in aquatic preserves or other protected areas called Outstanding Florida Waters. For others, the permit process starts with a developer submitting plans, drawings, water quality reports and environmental data to the DEP or the Water Management District, depending on the type of project, and to the Army Corps. The submittal generates questions from reviewers, who consult with environmental agencies.
Most permits also undergo a public comment period.
In the end, a permit usually gets issued. DEP spokeswoman Lisa Douglass said her agency has denied only one dock permit in the past year, and that was because time ran out on the applicant to reply to the agency's questions. Naples Boat Club CEO John Swanson got his permit for a dry-storage warehouse but only after cutting the number of boat slips at his project on 10th Street South to please agencies looking for a reduction in a project's impacts on the environment. He calls it the politics of permitting. DEP administrator Lucy Blair, who works in the agency's Fort Myers office, said the heightened scrutiny is deserved.