Abstract
As the population along the coast continue to grow, the demand for developments along the waterfront also continues to increase. In order to protect the local environment from impacts associated with waterfront development, environmental agencies require that these impacts are off-set through the use of compensatory mitigation. Compensatory mitigation has become a popular practice in Miami-Dade County, regularly required by all three local environmental agencies, the Army Corps of Engineers, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources. Impacts, however, are still permitted on a daily basis. Therefore, the practice and implementation of compensatory mitigation is of the upmost importance. As each of the agencies rules and regulations were designed to offset impacts to the greatest extent practicable, equal protection should be provided during the permitting process. A spreadsheet was created to help analyze the step-by-step process completed by each agency when determining if a project requires compensatory mitigation in Miami-Dade County. The results of the analysis suggest that the three agencies require a similar level of compensatory mitigation, which is likely a result of simultaneous permit processing. The results of each individual agency’s step-by-step process, however, revealed discrepancies.