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, density transfer, residential site plan, building permit, or every federal authorization.
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 County development rights.
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, density calculations, and any requested transfer or 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.
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.
Project-specific limit: no Brooker Creek federal public notice, approved mitigation banking instrument, or project-specific RIBITS record was established in the reviewed local permit corpus. The title of a joint state application form and generic references to “Corps” do not prove a federal approval or pending federal bank instrument.
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.
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 August 19, 2026. Legal interpretations require attorney review. No project-specific federal approval is asserted.