Manatee County’s commissioners didn’t expect to be threatened with removal from office for considering two measures meant to enhance disaster resilience in this fast-growing county on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The measures, both amendments to the county’s comprehensive plan, were widely supported in the sizable county that stretches south from Tampa and east from the Gulf of Mexico, encompassing beachy barrier islands and bucolic inland communities. One of the measures was intended to protect the county’s wetlands and guard against future flooding by prohibiting development within 50 feet of the marshes. The other would control sprawl by addressing a loophole that allowed development east of the county’s long-established urban boundary line. Just last year, the county weathered three hurricanes: Debby, Helene and Milton.
The measures had been in the works for a long time. But this summer the commissioners learned they suddenly were in violation of a new state law that took effect July 1, SB 180. Now the commissioners were being advised they could be removed from office for moving ahead with the amendments. An official in the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, sent letters that also threatened to withhold funding from the county…