Environmentalists resume fight against Long Bar mitigation

Former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash and Suncoast Waterkeeper Inc. vow to fight the latest advance of developers for a proposed site on Sarasota Bay.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Dec. 16 issued a “notice of intent” to permit a 260.80-acre mitigation plan proposed by Long Bar Pointe LLLP about 2 miles southeast of Cortez between El Conquistador Parkway and Sarasota Bay.

Objectors had 21 days to appeal to an administrative law judge.

Carlos Beruff and Larry Lieberman, the corporate managers/owners, propose to operate their own mitigation bank next to a planned development consisting of some 3,200 homes and a 78,000 square-foot commercial space called Aqua by the Bay.

The bank is pegged for submerged bayfront lands, mostly mangroves and seagrasses, in the 529-acre development site.