On April 18th, the Corps KO’d the proposed Magnolia Bay Marina Resort by agreeing with state and federal agencies that issuing a 404 permit for the project as proposed “is not in the public interest.”

Proposed for Dekle Beach, the project would have destroyed more than 100.6 acres of wetlands including salt marshes, as well as a tidal flat and up to 36 acres of seagrasses by dredging a two-mile-long channel through the Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve.

Obviously, the development posed serious threats to the region’s renowned scallop fishery as well as other fisheries, and the diverse opponents described it as an epitome of a “tourism development project” that would seriously damage the very natural resources that draw folks to an area.

The project, proposed by Secret Promise Ltd., and Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt, faced diverse opposition from local anglers, scallopers, and almost every major environmental group in Florida, including the Florida Wildlife Federation, Clean Water Network, The Nature Conservancy, the Apalachee chapter of the National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, 1000 Friends of Florida, The Oceans Conservancy, Gulf Restoration network, and others. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC), the Florida Department of Community Affairs (FDCF), and the Taylor County Soil & Water Conservation District also expressed serious concerns or opposition to the project. In fact, the FDEP and FWCC both stated that the project is inconsistent with statutes in the Florida Coastal Management Program, while the DCF outright promised to sue Taylor County if they proceeded with a land-use agreement with the developers that violated state law.

In the April 18 letter to the developer, the Corps suggested that, “One alternative to the proposed project would be to develop uplands owned there by the applicant, and to expand existing nearby public and private marina facilities.”