Title
Memorandum of Understanding with the St. Johns River Water Management District regarding Financial Assurance for Wetland Mitigation (B)
This item is a request for approval of the Memorandum of Understanding with the St. Johns River Water Management District regarding Financial Assurance for Wetland Mitigation.
Explanation
This memorandum of understanding is proposed to address, on an interim basis, the requirement that financial assurances (such as a letter of credit) for wetland mitigation for a development project be provided to both the City of Gainesville and to the St. Johns River Water Management District (the "District").
By way of background, the Land Development Regulations of the City of Gainesville regulate development activity within surface waters and wetlands. These local regulations are in addition to State law (implemented and enforced by the local water management district) which regulates development activity within surface waters and wetlands. The City regulations and State law are similar, such as when it is found by the City or the State that impacts to wetlands cannot be avoided or minimized development activity may occur within wetlands provided the impacts are offset by appropriate wetland mitigation. The wetland mitigation requirements for both City and State generally require, without limitation, monitoring for success, corrective measures, the provision of financial assurances, and a conservation easement. However, because the City and State wetland regulations are not identical, there is the potential for the City or State to require more or less mitigation than the other. But in many cases, the mitigation plan approved by the City is identical to or included within the mitigation plan required by the water management district.
The issue is that even when the mitigation plan is identical, the developer must satisfy both the City and the State requirements, which includes providing financial assurances ...
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