By Mitch Traphagen
mitch@observernews.net
RUSKIN — A proposal to build eight homes on a strip of land on the Little Manatee River will result in a show down between a developer and environmental activists before the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners on June 8.
Commissioners denied the project last year, however the developer, Little Manatee River Reserve, LLC, is countering that the BOCC did not have the authority to deny the application, citing a lack of evidence to warrant denial. Last year, the BOCC denied the application against the recommendation of county staff.
The project is opposed by the Tampa Bay Sierra Club and other organizations. In a press release the Sierra Club stated, “Please come to this final hearing to protect the Little Manatee River. Developers plan to kill more than 250 trees (half have trunks over 1 foot in diameter) and bulldoze wildlife habitat, spoiling a beautiful aquatic preserve, just to build 8 houses where they don’t belong: on a fragile, skinny mangrove-lined sand-spit, sticking out into the middle of the Little Manatee River at Mill Bayou .”
The public hearing will be held at 9 a.m. on June 8 at County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa.
Mitch Traphagen Photo
