Council approves four public-hearing items; Fort Lauderdale ESL removal draws debate over process and mitigation

The Broward County Planning Council voted on four public-hearing items at its Aug. 28 meeting, approving two recertifications and a map amendment and approving a contested removal of an environmentally sensitive lands (ESL) designation in Fort Lauderdale after extended discussion.

The council first moved items PH 1, PH 2 and PH 3 together. Staff described PH 1 and PH 2 as recertifications of local map amendments in the cities of Tamarac and Fort Lauderdale, and PH 3 as a map amendment in the town of Southwest Ranches (an agricultural-to-commerce change) with a voluntary applicant commitment to limit development to a maximum of 716,000 square feet. The motion to approve PH 1'PH 3 carried unanimously.

Item PH 4 proposed removing a 6.2-acre site from the county's Environmentally Sensitive Lands map. Miss Hall, representing the applicant, said the site no longer met LAPC criteria, was 71% exotic vegetation, lacked hydrology to sustain native vegetation and that the applicant had obtained an environmental resource permit that required mitigation in the Pembroke Pines mitigation bank for which the applicant paid…