Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lee County Votes to Change the Rock Mining Permitting Process

Southwest Florida Lime Rock Mining Map
Conservancy of Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida Lime Rock Mining Map

Listen to the audio version of this story.On Wednesday morning, the Lee County Board of Commissionersvoted in favor of removing Map 14 from the Comprehensive Plan it set up less than a decade ago. That is the map that shows where limerock is mined and was set up with a certain set of requirements for landowners wanting to become part of that land-use area.

After hours of public comments, commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of dropping that map and changing the way limerock land use decisions will be made.  Commissioner Frank Mann was the lone dissenting vote."I was here when we adopted the language that is going to be changed, and I will point out that our own staff strongly recommended the language that we adopted. Our attorneys were perfectly happy with the language that we adopted," Mann said. "We had high paid, outside consultants that strongly supported the language that we're, you're, about to change."

 Now, instead of a comprehensive plan amendment, land owners would just need a zoning change, which environmental advocates say allows for less public input.

Copyright 2019 WGCU

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.