Advisory board nominee likely to bow out
A recommendation to appoint the chairman of the St. Johns River Water Management District to an Orange County advisory board has drawn fire from environmental groups wary of John Miklos’ history of conflicts of interest.
Mikos, 48, appointed by Gov. Rick Scott in 2010 to the water-management board and elected its chairman in 2013, is also president of Bio-Tech Consulting Inc., an environmental consulting company whose clients include All Aboard Florida/Brightline, the Orlando-to-Miami rail venture that won permission this year from Orange County commissioners to lay rail lines in wetlands. He also has represented homebuilders and commercial developers who need permits from the water district to drain or fill wetlands.
Miklos applied for a seat on the Development Advisory Board seeking an “environmental specialist with a degree in a related scientific field.”
Valerie Anderson opposed Miklos’ appointment
on behalf of the not-for-profit environmental group Friends of Split Oak Forest, which is fighting a road project in the conservation area. She said the position previously was held by Jim Thomas, founder of the Friends of Lake Apopka who helped create the Oakland Nature Preserve, and Peggy Cox, former president of Orange Audubon.
“Appointing John Miklos would be an insult to the environmental community and set a precedent for Mr. Miklos to be considered a genuine environmentalist,” Anderson wrote. “He will be likely reviewing development projects that he is a consultant on, making him either conflicted or a lessvaluable member of the board.”
Chadwick Hardee, who nominated Miklos for the nine-member advisory board, said he reconsidered his recommendation last weekend after learning of Miklos’ history of conflicts.
In 2016, Miklos’ firm was hired by DeBary to acquire district-owned land set aside for conservation and use it as part of a public-private development, drawing protests.
Last year, Miklos’ company obtained a valuable wetlands-destruction permit for Park, Bark and Fly from the district, though the water-management agency had imposed a $200,000 fine against the business for wetlands violations.
Hardee said he was not aware of Miklos’ past until he looked him up on Google.
“I was like, ‘Holy cow! ” said Hardee, a member of the Membership and Mission Review Board, which reviews applications of people willing to volunteer for a seat on an Orange advisory board. “I consider myself to be something of an environmentalist, and I don’t think he’s a good fit for the board.”
A county spokeswoman said Miklos’ nomination remains a part of the County Commission’s consent agenda, a list of businesskeeping items that are generally approved unanimously by commissioners with little or no discussion.
According to the county’s website, the primary responsibility of the Development Advisory Board is to review proposed land-development regulations affecting development and redevelopment and recommend needed changes or revisions.
The panel recently reviewed a study to update transportation impact fees, the cost the county charges a developer to improve roads or build new ones to handle traffic a project would create.
Hardee, also a candidate for Orange County School Board, did not cite a specific objection to Miklos, but said he informed Miklos about his change of heart. He then sent a text to the Orlando Sentinel on Monday, saying “Miklos withdrew.”
Miklos did not return a message seeking comment or confirmation.
In his application, Miklos wrote, “Working as an environmental consultant and assisting clients thru the permit processes in Central Florida, gives me a unique insight on development regulation as it relates to Orange County’s code . ... I have spent the last 26 years of my life working in the development permitting and regulation world and expect to continue to do so for years to come. My knowledge and experience will benefit the DAB” — one of the county’s 55 advisory boards.
If his nomination is approved, Miklos would replace Elaine Imbruglia, president of Modica & Associates, a consulting group that performs wetland assessments, threatened and endangered species surveys and other ecological services.
Among those objecting to Miklos’ appointment was Kelly Semrad, chairwoman of Save Orange County, a grass-roots group established in 2012 to fight proposals to bring urban-style developments to rural east Orange.
His appointment could lead to conflicts “jeopardizing the decision making processes in the County,” Semrad said in an email.