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Obviously, we do not agree to.that proposal. If the Department'believes that the <br />Gerstners should not _ for whatever reason — be held responsible for the location of their . <br />seawall, then the Department, the responsible government agency, should pay to move <br />that wall back to a location legal under state and federal law. <br />Although CCC is prepared to support a compromise that allows a relocated <br />Gerstner wall to be included in the settlement agreement, CCC's position on the Gerstner <br />wall stems from the Department's position on that wall. The Department has-been £ally <br />prepared to take this matter to courtbecause this wall does net comply with state law <br />(mcosporating in part the provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act). The wall <br />does not minimize to the extent practical a take of endangered species and could serve to <br />set an unacceptable threshold in the type of inappropriate siting of seawalls that would be <br />permittable in Indian River County or elsewhere in Florida Moreover, for the <br />Department to ignore the likelihood that this wall cannot be putted under an incidental <br />take permit and to, essentially, punt to the FWS the responsibility of taking the position <br />that the wall must be moved is misleading to all parties involved and compounds the <br />problem we have now. We do not believe that any of the parties is better off by leaving <br />the Gerstner wall question unanswered for at least another year while the incidental take <br />permit process is ongoing. <br />The CCC is committed to working through a fair settlement of these issues. We <br />believe that the habitat conservation planning and incidental take permitting process <br />provide a middle ground where all parties involved can arrive at a principled <br />compromise. We look forward to a response not only from -the Departmem, but also <br />from the Indian River County Commission and other interested parties. Please feel free <br />to call me at (850) 681-0031 or on my cell phone at (850) 508-9202 if you have any <br />questions about this letter. <br />Si ly, <br />a won <br />Co for CCC <br />cc: David Godfrey, Executive Director, CCC <br />MARCH 16, 1999 <br />0 <br />-105- BOOK D3 PAGE 7� <br />