We need responsible development for Mexico Beach

We choose to live in this beautiful and peaceful community.  We are committed to preserving our lifestyle and our environment.  To continue enjoying the natural beauty of our ecosystem and the slower pace of our community we must let our City Leaders know how we feel. 

The Problem & Why you should care about it:

Developers who come into Mexico Beach are putting our overall environment at risk. They mitigate our wetlands and floodplains which means they buy other land from a "Mitigation Bank Link"(land not in MB) as a bargaining tool to fill-in our wetlands.  After Hurricane Michael, the City incorporated new floodplain management to protect property owners and residents from future storms. 

Why is this important?  The wetlands and floodplain are critical to maintaining the beauty and lifestyle that surrounds us in Mexico Beach. Wetlands are like a filter for nature. Learn More here link

Every time we allow someone to fill in "wetlands" or change our Floodplains it impacts the natural environment "ecosystem". In short: the wetlands clean much of the bacteria and pollutants from the stormwaters. This water then ends up in our ocean and canals cleaner due to this built-in filtration system provided by our wetlands. Floodplains are an area of low-lying ground adjacent to water, formed mainly of sediments and subject to flooding. These protect us from flooding. 

When you change the wetlands there is no way for the water to be "cleaned" of those bacteria and other pollutants.  This unclean water ends up in our ocean and canals. Now, it is a threat to the plants and animals including the fish you may actually eat. Impacting our health not to mention the pollutants that become air-borne which we breath in. The bottom line is fewer wetlands equals more poisons enter our waters and fewer floodplains means flooding of our land. 

What we are asking from our leaders:

1. We the resident and property owners of Mexico Beach ask our Community Leaders to be accountable for understanding the protections and requirements contained in our Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan to minimize impact to wetlands and buffer areas.

2. We request a hold on all development of wetlands and to enact an ordinance to limit the amount of wetland mitigation credits a developer can purchase in distant communities. Mitigation endangers our environment and does not provide any environmental benefits to Mexico Beach. 

3. We ask that our Leaders enforce our current Floodplain Ordinance by only allowing the maximum fill up to 12 inches for properties within the floodplain in order to protect other property owners from flooding and deny all development not meeting this requirement such as the current two developments listed below up for review by the city council 5/10/22.

4. We respectfully request that our Leaders to stand up for the City of Mexico Beach by following all requirements current and future, which are in place to protect our property owners, while allowing responsible and consistent growth of our city in accordance with Mexico Beach’s rules and regulations.  

This petition was drafted and signed in response to the current Development Order Permits for the parcels listed below: 

932 15th Street

Parcel No. 04173-013-000

15th Street 

Parcel No. 04175-010-000, 04175-020-000

Please sign this petition before the 5/10 Council Meeting if you wish to voice concern. Please join us on 5/10 at 9 a.m. CT for the City Council Meeting.

You can contact your Council Members through email 

We recommend copying the City Clerk t.brunson@mexicobeachgov.com on all emails so she can print out a copy for any council member who may not check their emails. 

a.cathey@mexicobeachgov.com

b.pollack@mexicobeachgov.com

j.smith@mexicobeachgov.com

r.wolff@mexicobeachgov.com

a.welle@mexicobeachgov.com