Suncoast Waterkeeper sues Bradenton over Harbor Sound development

BRADENTON – Environmental group Suncoast Waterkeeper has filed suit against the city of Bradenton in hopes of stopping developer Pat Neal from building a four-home subdivision on the shore of Perico Island.

The group is also weighing in on another high-profile shoreline development project at Long Bar Pointe by filing to intervene in a property-takings case levied by the project's developers.

Paddlers travel along the shores of Anna Maria Sound with the shoreline of the proposed Harbor Sound development in the background in this 2014 file photograph. Pat Neal is planning to develop a 40-acre parcel just beyond the mangrove tree line for his personal use and that of his family.

Paddlers travel along the shores of Anna Maria Sound with the shoreline of the proposed Harbor Sound development in the background in this 2014 file photograph. Pat Neal is planning to develop a 40-acre parcel just beyond the mangrove tree line for his personal use and that of his family.

The suit against the city of Bradenton is the second the group has filed in its attempts to stop the project. Named Harbor Sound, the 3.46-acre development is planned to be built on uplands and about an acre of filled shoreline wetlands. Neal, who controls the property through a trust, obtained a state permit to do work in the wetlands. He has yet to receive a required federal permit for the work.

Its new filing with the 12th District Court in Manatee County contends that the city issued a site improvement plan in violation of its comprehensive land use plan. Justin Bloom, an attorney with Suncoast Waterkeeper, said the improvement plan permits construction work closer to wetlands than the comp plan allows.