The state is reviewing a draft plan of specific requirements Brevard County Commissioners recently approved for the Brevard Barrier Island Area of Critical State Concern, but some worry the plan as currently written would fail to serve its purpose: protecting the area from uncontrolled development.
Florida’s Areas of Critical State Concern Program was enacted by state law in 1972, to protect important state resources and public facilities within certain geographic areas from uncontrolled development that would cause “substantial deterioration of those resources,” according to the state’s Department of Commerce.
But the draft plan unanimously approved by Brevard commissioners fails to provide that level of protection, according to several advocates, planning and environmental experts, who say the plan as currently written fails to incorporate valuable public feedback commissioners have received.
“Numerous changes need to be made to this draft, to account for the expertise that you’ve been given; the hundreds of comments made by the public. They need to be incorporated,” said Stacey Gallagher, Development and Policy Coordinator for the Sea Turtle Conservancy, during a recent commission meeting…