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St. Joe Company's WaterSound North in Bay County, Florida, with a planned 1,300 homes, several golf courses and a retail development with restaurants and shops on Lake Powell, has hit a bump in the road. Once finished, WaterSound will be located at the North end of Highway 98. All this should be completed relatively soon, unless St. Joe Company is halted in it's track by a preliminary injunction filed by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for issuing the original permits to St. Joe in June of 2004.
St. Joe’s apparently remains unflustered by the lawsuit, since it only affects areas that are under the Army Corps permit. The company owns about 80% of the land in the area, and continues to work on areas unaffected by the lawsuit. The development will eventually be a gated community with a beach, private pool club, outdoor fireplace, recreational park, and private putting green. The homes will be connected by an extensive biking and walking path that will be accessible by golf carts as well.
The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council are against the housing community, which would allow St. Joes to build on over 30% of a 48,150 acre area. Construction would also destruct 20% of the wetlands. Members of both organizations claim that the permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers is illegal. They are concerned that the destruction of the wetlands will endanger Florida’s natural resources.
The St. Joe’s construction on the areas under the Army Corps permit was stopped on November 10 after US. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan issued the injunction. The decision about whether or not the permit will remain valid will be made in February. Until then, St. Joe’s will continue to work on developing the residential, retail and golfing areas of WaterSound not under the Army Corps Permit.
