Corps served the public by rejecting Harmony

Col. Robert Carpenter, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' chief engineer in Florida, was correct to reject a permit developers need to build Harmony Ranch, a controversial subdivision proposed west of Hobe Sound.

The corps denied Harmony's request to fill drainage ditches for the 212-home community because it would require construction on land needed for the federal Indian River Lagoon Restoration Plan. The plan is the first Everglades restoration project; after years of delay, it is awaiting approval from the U.S. Senate in the Water Resources Development Act of 2005.

Almost 40 percent of the proposed 4,573-acre Harmony subdivision -- 1,800 acres -- is within an area set aside for the restoration plan. The plan calls for using about 17,000 acres of pasture south of the St. Lucie Canal for restoring natural marshes. Last week, Col. Carpenter sent Harmony Ranch developer Tom Kenny, a former Martin County commissioner, a letter telling him that building homes in the area proposed for the project is "contrary to the public interest."

The colonel pointed out that the land historically has been a wetland area and that restoring it will help both the Indian River Lagoon and the Everglades. The board of the South Florida Water Management District, which presumably also knew that, had approved a permit for Harmony Ranch.

Mr. Kenny originally wanted to cluster 886 homes on land outside the urban services boundary west of Interstate 95, four times the number of homes permitted on the property under the county's growth plan. In April 2003, the county commission turned down his proposal.

Then, Mr. Kenny changed his plans for the subdivision, suggesting 212 homes on 20-acre ranchettes, a design that would have included the 1,800 acres earmarked for restoration. He asked the county to approve that plan in July, saying that he was waiting for one minor permit from the corps of engineers. All of the commissioners except Michael DiTerlizzi wanted to wait to approve Mr. Kenny's project until he had all the permits in hand. Obviously, that turned out to be the correct decision.

The water district was too willing to issue a permit for development on lands the Indian River Lagoon plan already had identified as prime property needed for the restoration. At the time, Lisa Interlandi, a lawyer for the Environmental & Land Use Law Center at Nova Southeastern University, criticized the district for letting development interfere with restoration goals. Decisions that make the land needed for restoration projects unavailable -- particularly when land is not easily available "elsewhere," as the district suggested -- send the wrong message. Col. Carpenter got it right when he denied the Harmony Ranch permit.