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Tequesta committee flags Army Corps shoreline permit that would remove mangroves and storm coastal seagrass
Summary
The committee reviewed a US Army Corps public notice for a single‑family shoreline project in Palm Beach County that lists removal of mangroves and tens of thousands of square feet of seagrass impact; members questioned the compensatory mitigation calculations and the use of mitigation‑bank credits priced at about $78,000 per unit.
The Village of Tequesta Environmental Advisory Committee reviewed a recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public notice for a single‑family shoreline project in Palm Beach County that, according to the notice read at the meeting, would remove mangroves and cause substantial seagrass impacts.
Chair Brad Fries summarized figures from the Corps notice: the application describes removing "approximately" 4,965 square feet of mangroves and lists a total direct impact figure for proposed fill of 31,337 square feet. The packet the committee reviewed also cites seagrass impacts on the order of more than 1.25 acres in places.
The committee focused on how the applicant plans to offset those losses. The applicant proposes to enhance an adjacent one‑acre seagrass bed and to purchase credits from an Everglades mitigation bank; the reported calculations produced a net gain of roughly 1.1 units from enhancement and a remaining shortfall of about 0.332 units to be covered by purchased credits. At a figure cited by the committee of $78,000 per unit, speaker Brad Fries computed that the credit purchase would be on the order of $25,000.
Committee members questioned the Corps’ functional‑loss calculations and argued that buying remote mitigation credits does not replace the specific local ecosystem services lost at a project site. One member said, "I couldn't believe my eyes," when reviewing the numbers; another warned that a project converting mangrove area to riprap would remove habitat that is not simply interchangeable with an off‑site seagrass enhancement.
Members also noted jurisdictional limits: Jay explained that Tequesta’s living‑shoreline ordinance includes a fill‑permit provision requiring village council approval for any fill waterward of the mean high water line, which likely prevents a similar project inside Tequesta; neighboring municipalities and unincorporated Palm Beach County may apply different rules.
The committee did not take a formal position on the Corps notice — comments to the Corps were noted as due July 13 and the committee said it lacked time and, in some cases, the authority to file a formal group comment before that deadline. Members agreed to monitor the permit, to contact Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management and the North Palm Beach environmental committee for coordination, and suggested individual members may submit written comments to the Corps if they choose.
Next steps: the EAC will track the permit’s progress, reach out informally to county staff and neighboring municipalities for context, and report back to the committee.
