The possibility of being suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed Manatee County commissioners to postpone a vote Thursday to increase buffer zones on developments next to wetlands.
Chairman George Kruse said earlier this week he got two letters from the state saying what they were intending to do was a violation of new state laws on development enacted for areas affected by last year's hurricanes.
"There is no intention of people from Tallahassee allowing us to fight in court. Everything is teeing up for the fact that they intend to just try to suspend people from office for doing it," he said.
One new bill — Senate Bill 180 — prohibits local governments from placing more restrictive or burdensome land-use policies on areas impacted by Hurricanes Ian, Debby, Helene and Milton.
Kruse said earlier this week he was motivated to put off the vote because the governor recently threatened to suspend local boards in Key West, Fort Myers and Orlando.
"As terrible as it is that there's a dystopian scenario where people could just remove people from office for disagreements over vague, burdensome language, it's still the fact. It's the fact that we're dealing with right now," Kruse said.
Kruse added he was concerned that if they passed the ordinance, it would be challenged the next day in court.
"You vote in favor of this, and it goes to court, great. That's the best case scenario we knew," he told commissioners earlier this week. "However, the day after we make this motion on Thursday, Friday, the frequent flyer developer attorneys are going to run across the street and file a lawsuit. They probably already wrote it because this was noticed."
The vote would have restored wetland buffers that had been overturned by a previous board. Those buffers had been placed in the county’s Comprehensive Plan in 1989.
Several new commissioners were elected last year who supported putting the wetland restrictions back into place. Kruse said any suspensions by the governor could upend that balance.
He added that the board has been the "most thoughtful" in a long time and that collectively, they have "done more good than other boards have done."
"If we run the risk of having a majority of this board, whomever those four or five or six or seven (commissioners) are, the next day it's gonna get stayed, so your wetlands aren't going to be fixed," Kruse said.
"But when new people come in, the first thing they have to do is say, 'Hey, but in the interest of DOGE and saving money, we shouldn't fight these lawsuits. Let's just get rid of that wetland thing,'" he added.
