Separate authorities, separate records
How Decisions Get Made
There is no single “Tarpon Woods approval.” A state mitigation-bank permit, County land-development approvals, any federal mitigation-bank instrument, and a recorded conservation easement are different decisions made under different laws.
Not legal advice. Participation rights and deadlines depend on the particular notice, decision, party status, and procedural facts. Ask a Florida attorney about a specific deadline or legal strategy.
Decision map
Text explanation of the diagram
SWFWMD decides whether the state mitigation-bank/ERP requirements are met. Pinellas County applies local requirements within the limits of state law. USACE has a separate federal framework for federal mitigation banks and Clean Water Act compensation where applicable. A conservation easement is a recorded property instrument and part of the long-term protection package. Coordination can occur, but approval on one track does not automatically grant approval on another.
State track
SWFWMD ERP and mitigation-bank review
What it evaluates
- Whether the applicant provides the reasonable assurances required by Florida Statutes §373.4136.
- Ecological and hydrologic viability, service area, proposed credits, work and monitoring plans, legal interest, land protection, financial responsibility, and long-term management under Chapter 62-342, F.A.C.
- Functional assessment and credit calculations using Chapter 62-345, F.A.C. (UMAM).
What it does not automatically decide
It does not grant a County future-land-use amendment, zoning change, site plan, building permit, or every federal authorization for a different future use.
Current project status
Application 930235 / ERP 47575.002 remains incomplete in the reviewed public record. SWFWMD has not issued a permit approval. See Current Status.
Do not merge the rules
Chapter 62-342 is not UMAM
Chapter 62-342 is the Florida mitigation-bank framework: application content, credits, land-use restrictions, financial responsibility, and related requirements.
Chapter 62-345 is the Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method. It provides a standardized method for describing and scoring ecological functions, time lag, risk, and mitigation quantity.
UMAM scores inform credit calculations; a score is not itself a permit approval, guarantee of success, or decision on a separate County land-use proposal.
FDEP had Chapter 62-342 rule development underway in 2026. Draft rule text is not presented here as adopted law. Check the official rule-development page.
Local track
Pinellas County land-development decisions
Potential County subjects
- Jurisdiction, comprehensive-plan consistency, and Future Land Use Map categories.
- Zoning, development master plans, and any requested plan or map amendment.
- Site-plan compliance, grading, drainage, stormwater, utilities, floodplain standards, access, traffic, habitat, and tree requirements.
- Public hearings before the bodies assigned by the County code for a particular application.
Who may be involved
The Development Review Committee can review and make recommendations. The Local Planning Agency reviews specified planning and code matters and makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners. The BCC acts on specified legislative and quasi-judicial matters. Administrative staff also review site-development applications.
Which body acts depends on the application actually filed. Pinellas zoning and land-use guidance and Plan Pinellas future-land-use guidance are the starting points.
Statutory limit on the local track: Florida Statutes §373.4136(8) says a local government may not require permits or otherwise impose regulations governing the operation of a mitigation bank. It preserves local authority to require authorization under local ordinance for construction activities associated with the bank. A separate land-development proposal remains a separate question. Which County requirements apply to this project requires County and attorney review.
Confirmed pre-application contacts are not approvals. Pinellas County records DRM-23-00102 and DRM-24-00066 show applicant-side consultations about mitigation-bank establishment, reclaimed water, excavation, fill, floodplain modeling, utilities, easements, and process. The DRM-24 plan reports 147.09 acres while its portal description states 168.40 acres. Those facts establish an earlier design record that must be reconciled; they do not establish that the County approved the bank, accepted the earlier plan, authorized construction, or made a final floodplain determination. Read what the current application must reconcile.
What a County approval would not automatically decide: a County land-use or site-plan decision does not award state mitigation credits, satisfy SWFWMD’s mitigation-bank criteria, create a federal banking instrument, or substitute for a recorded conservation easement.
Federal track, if applicable
USACE mitigation-bank instrument and federal role
Under the federal compensatory-mitigation rule, a federal mitigation bank generally operates through an approved mitigation banking instrument. The federal process addresses a service area, mitigation plan, performance standards, monitoring, credit-release schedule, accounting, default/closure terms, and review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with an Interagency Review Team.
33 C.F.R. Part 332 / 40 C.F.R. Part 230 federal rule provides the framework. RIBITS is the Corps’ national tracking tool for federal bank records, instruments, service areas, and credit ledgers.
Confirmed project identifier—with a strict limit: On September 1, 2026, the Corps' official ORM Project Locations public layer returned a record under DA number SAJ-2025-02276-JLA, named for Tarpon Woods Properties, LLC and the Brooker Creek Mitigation Bank at 1100 Tarpon Woods Boulevard, with request type NWP. The layer supplies associated polygon geometry but does not state what boundary it represents or establish survey accuracy or legal effect. It also does not identify the Nationwide Permit number, receipt or decision date, current status, jurisdictional determination, written verification, conditions, authorization, or outcome. Separate RIBITS and public-notice searches did not return the same project, so those negative searches cannot be treated as a complete federal-record search.
Before residents or SWFWMD are asked to rely on federal assumptions, the applicant should disclose the complete underlying record and status for SAJ-2025-02276-JLA; every other SAJ, ORM, or RRS identifier; every approved or preliminary jurisdictional-determination request; any permit application, PCN, or general-permit verification; and every prospectus, Interagency Review Team communication, draft instrument, and RIBITS submission—or state unambiguously that none exists. See the confirmed record and evidentiary limits.
Land protection
Conservation easement
A conservation easement is a recorded interest restricting land uses within a legal description. For a mitigation bank, the final instrument, title, subordination, permitted activities, enforcement rights, access, and boundary matter.
The reviewed project record contains draft instruments and unresolved RAI items; it does not show a recorded final project easement. Florida Statutes §704.06 supplies a general state framework, while Rule 62-342.650 addresses mitigation-bank land-use restrictions.
Release language: §704.06(4) says an easement holder may release a conservation easement to the fee holder. That general language neither proves that a project easement is freely reversible nor answers how a release could occur here. The final permit, recorded instrument, holder or holders, third-party enforcement rights, regulatory requirements, and title must be reviewed before describing permanence or reversibility.
Performance and money
Credits, monitoring, assurances, and stewardship
- Awarded credits are the permit’s maximum authorized credit amount/type; they are not all immediately available.
- Released credits become available in stages tied to recordation, assurances, construction, monitoring, and success criteria under the governing permit and law.
- Ledgers track awards, releases, sales/use, and remaining balances.
- Financial assurances are intended to back construction/implementation and long-term management obligations.
- Long-term stewardship continues after initial planting and may include inspection, invasive control, repairs, monitoring, and adaptive management.
These controls reduce risk but do not guarantee a particular ecological outcome.
The permit is not the end of the sequence
After a bank exists: credits, surrender, easements
Three different legal events are often compressed into the word “bank.” The issued permit, awarded credits, released or used credits, and a recorded property instrument must be read separately. An awarded credit quantity is not the same as credits released for sale or use after required milestones.
Initial credit release under §373.4136(5)
For a permit issued after July 1, 2025, the statutory schedule can release up to 30% of awarded credits when the conservation easement is recorded and required financial assurances are established. Another release can follow the initial construction activities established by the permit, with later releases tied to interim and final performance.
Important limitation: preservation-only assessment areas receive different treatment, an applicant may propose an alternative schedule for agency consideration, and freshwater-wetland-creation credits have an additional restriction. The current project has no issued permit or released credits in the reviewed record.
Read Florida Statutes §373.4136(5) (opens in a new tab)Surrender before any credit is used or sold
Rule 62-342.800 allows a banker to request surrender of a permit or permitted phase when no credits have been used or sold. The written request must identify the phase, work performed, and conservation property interest.
Important limitation: surrender is not automatic. Agency release depends on the rule’s conditions, including whether release of a phase would compromise the ecological value of the remaining bank. If surface-water systems were constructed or altered, other permits may be required to operate or abandon them. This unused-credit path is different from a later problem after credits have offset impacts.
Read Rule 62-342.800 (opens in a new tab)A recorded easement is a property instrument
A project conservation easement would be a recorded instrument under the general framework in §704.06, with a legal description, holder, restrictions, enforcement terms, and title context. Its final text and the agency’s permit requirements—not a web-page summary—would determine the property restriction.
Important limitation: the applicant’s FAQ is not a conservation easement, permit, title policy, or Clerk recording confirmation. No final recorded project easement was identified. §704.06(4) contains general holder-release language, but that language alone does not establish how a project easement could be modified or released.
Read Florida Statutes §704.06 (opens in a new tab)What we are not claiming
We are not claiming that Application 930235 has earned or released credits, that a project easement is already recorded, that surrender would be automatic, or that a state mitigation-bank permit decides a separate County land-use question.
Public participation
Comments, notice, party status, and hearings are different
- Track the actual record. Application status, an RAI, a notice of intended agency action, and a final order are different documents.
- Submit factual comments. A comment can put evidence and issues in the agency file; submitting a comment does not automatically create party status.
- Read the notice served to you. Petition/hearing rights and deadlines depend on the notice, when and how it was received or published, the decision being challenged, and applicable statutes/rules.
- Get legal advice promptly. An administrative petition has technical pleading and timing requirements. Do not assume everyone has exactly 21 days.
Last verified September 1, 2026. Legal interpretations require attorney review. No project-specific federal approval is asserted.