The resident campaign

Protect the course, the creek, the wildlife—and the integrity of every public decision.

Campaign position, not an agency finding

Campaign position, not an agency finding. We oppose the Brooker Creek Mitigation Bank as proposed. We want this land to remain a golf-course and recreation landscape, or to reach a genuine public conservation outcome—not become a private credit factory authorized on an incomplete, inconsistent, or inadequately protected record.

What’s at stake

Campaign position, not an agency finding

Florida’s mitigation-bank world is small

Campaign position, not an agency finding. Records place people now on the applicant’s side in prior District jobs, and they place applicant-side and District-side professionals in the same trade association and the same public CLE. Sequential employment is not a dual hat on Application 930235. Same-firm and same-board facts are not a finding of influence. Neighbors are still entitled to notice the calendar — and to insist that an incomplete file not be waved through on trust.

Chris R. Tanner, Bar 85492Records place Chris R. Tanner at SWFWMD during 2013 through 5 October 2015. His current job is applicant-side private practice at Tanner Heeter; his prior job was SWFWMD staff attorney. He attended the 10 April 2023 Brooker Creek pre-application meeting and was copied on the 14 August 2026 Application 930235 extension email. He was not District counsel when 889588 (2024) or 930235 (2025) were filed.
Lisa Cartwright, PWSRecords place Lisa Cartwright at SWFWMD during a dated 2018 scientist record and at GreenSource during work on Application 930235. Her current job is GreenSource scientist; her prior job was SWFWMD scientist. Bartow is not the Tampa MITBANK desk; sequential jobs are not her reviewing her own application.
Ryan D. DeiblerRecords place Ryan D. Deibler at GreenSource in both application files and at FAMB as president on the board page checked 21 August 2026. A trade-association office is not a District endorsement.
Chris Tanner at FAMBRecords place Ryan D. Deibler and Chris Tanner at FAMB during the board-page snapshot checked 21 August 2026. The page lists Tanner as a director under a stale Manson firm name; his current public firm is Tanner Heeter. Same-board service is not a finding of influence.
Adrienne E. ViningRecords place Chris Tanner and Adrienne E. Vining at the 28 May 2026 ELULS “Mitigation Banking 101” public CLE. Vining is SWFWMD Assistant General Counsel. A public CLE is not a Brooker Creek meeting and is not ex parte. Tanner was not District counsel when 889588 or 930235 were filed.
Katie E. Cole and Ed ArmstrongRecords place Katie E. Cole and Ed Armstrong at Hill Ward Henderson during 2024. Cole was copied 24 April 2024 on 889588-133; Armstrong was SWFWMD Governing Board chair during 889588 and died around September 2025. No indexed permit-specific Board communication was located. Same-firm overlap is not joint representation and is not a Board action on this file.

None of this is a finding that anyone broke a rule. It is why this neighborhood reads the file instead of the FAQ, and why comments belong in Application 930235 while the file is still incomplete.

Full roster · Connections

Last verified 22 August 2026.

Save Tarpon Woods asks agencies and elected officials to decide from complete, current records; separate state mitigation-bank review from County development questions; and protect residents’ ability to understand and participate without exaggeration.

Start Here Join Alerts Civic Action

Two application records must stay separate

Historical / withdrawn

Application 889588 / ERP 47575.000

SWFWMD confirmed this application was withdrawn effective December 6, 2024. Its plans, correspondence, and work descriptions are historical evidence; they are not the current proposal.

Withdrawal letter

Current / incomplete

Application 930235 / ERP 47575.002

SWFWMD’s reviewed public record lists the current application as incomplete. The latest agency action was an August 18, 2026 extension, and no permit approval appears in the reviewed record.

Current Status and official links

Current work description: We are not claiming SWFWMD has accepted a no-earthwork plan. The current applicant says no earthwork is proposed. Application 930235 is incomplete. The withdrawn 889588 file described scraping uplands and filling ponds (Cartwright RAI response, 14 August 2024). Compare the earthwork records.

Why residents care

The existing landscape is part of daily life

Brooker Creek, course ponds, maintained open areas, tree canopy, habitat edges, reclaimed-water infrastructure, drainage pathways, and adjoining homes form one lived system. Residents have documented wildlife and flooding observations and want those observations evaluated alongside agency studies, models, and applicant plans.

Resident photographs and reports are evidence of what a person observed at a time and place. They are not automatically proof of a legal violation, hydrologic cause, protected-species determination, notice to an agency, or permit outcome.

The campaign’s current ask

Campaign position, not an agency finding. Ask SWFWMD to deny Application 930235 unless and until the applicant supplies a complete, internally consistent, professionally certified, and publicly reviewable design. Ask Pinellas County to provide lawful public notice and the full review required for any separate future land-use, zoning, drainage, floodplain, traffic, or site-plan proposal affecting this landscape.

Act on the current ask What’s at stake

Questions the record should answer

What exactly would SWFWMD authorize?

Use the final permit and incorporated plans for the bank footprint, vegetation work, pond treatment, fencing/signage, monitoring, success standards, credits, and long-term management.

What does the water evidence show?

Distinguish applicant predictions and resident concerns from an agency-accepted drainage, hydrology, reclaimed-water, or water-quality analysis.

What land would the easement cover?

Obtain the executed legal description, title policy, subordination instruments, exceptions, access rights, and allowed management activities. A draft is not a recorded easement.

Do the current boundaries and title records agree?

The survey, project boundary, credit polygons, security plan, access routes, conservation-easement draft, deeds, and title commitment should describe the same controlled footprint—or explain every difference.

What decisions belong to Pinellas County?

Future land use, zoning, master plans, floodplain, traffic, site plans, drainage, and other development issues may arise on separate local tracks. Florida Statutes §373.4136(8) limits local regulation of a state-permitted mitigation bank’s operation while preserving local authorization under ordinance for associated construction. The exact project-specific division of authority requires County and attorney review.

Is there a project-specific federal process?

No Brooker Creek USACE public notice, approved mitigation banking instrument, or project-specific RIBITS record was established in the reviewed local corpus.

What we are not claiming

We are not claiming Application 930235 has been approved or denied.
We are not claiming SWFWMD has accepted a no-earthwork plan. The current applicant says no earthwork is proposed. Application 930235 is incomplete. The withdrawn 889588 file described scraping uplands and filling ponds (Cartwright RAI response, 14 August 2024).
We are not claiming denial guarantees a continuing golf course, or approval guarantees successful restoration.
We are not claiming an easement has already been recorded or that it would have no legal effect.
We are not claiming resident observations replace qualified surveys, hydrologic models, agency findings, or legal determinations.
We are not alleging fraud, corruption, deception, unlawful conduct, or bad faith by any applicant, owner, consultant, official, or agency.

Read the underlying distinctions

Claims vs. the RecordAttribution, confirmed facts, uncertainty, and primary documents. How Decisions Get MadeSWFWMD, County, federal, easement, and participation tracks. Mitigation BanksFlorida’s rules, UMAM, credits, releases, ledgers, and stewardship. Approval and DenialHonest outcomes and what neither decision guarantees. DocumentsRead verified public records and keep private submissions private.

Last verified August 22, 2026. Recheck time-sensitive records after seven days. Campaign position is identified as campaign position; applicant statements and agency records remain separately labeled.