Environmentalists whose lawsuit against an Orange County developer was dismissed in circuit court last week are planning to appeal the decision to gain recognition for a “rights-of-nature” amendment recently added to the county’s charter.
Orange County Circuit Court Judge Paetra Brownlee ruled that the lawsuit filed by Chuck O’Neal, president of Speak Up Wekiva, against Beachline South Residential LLC and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) secretary should be dismissed. The Orange County charter amendment that confers legal rights to county waterways is preempted by state law, Brownlee said in her July 6 opinion.
Beachline is in the process of building a mixed-use residential and business project on a wetlands site, and the plaintiffs attempted to stop the project based on provisions of the charter amendment. Brownlee, however, pointed out that DEP had issued a permit approving the project.
The state Legislature last year approved a measure that bars local governments from granting legal rights to “a plant, an animal, a body of water or any other part of the natural environment that is not a person or political subdivision.”
“The court dismisses this case with prejudice,” meaning the complaint can’t be refiled, Brownlee said. “Plaintiffs are not entitled to relief under Section 704.1 (the charter amendment) because the Legislature has validly and expressly preempted that section. The court finds plaintiffs cannot allege additional facts or legal theories to change that result.”
O’Neal said plaintiffs are disappointed with Brownlee’s opinion, but they are working on an appellate brief.
“The rights of nature movement has gained so much ground outside of the United States,” he told the Florida Record in an email. “We were hoping this judge would boldly go where so many other jurists have gone before outside the U.S. Instead, she affirmed the dominance of a legislature committed to act solely on behalf of commerce and industry at the expense of our natural world.”
The court system needs to step up to provide better oversight of the other two branches of government, according to O’Neal.
“By abdicating that responsibility, they are allowing the legislative and executive branches to operate in an unreasonable manner, one that is killing wildlife, causing human illness and wreaking havoc on our tourism-based economy,” he said.
The judge has yet to take any action on the defendants’ request for reimbursement of attorney fees in the case.