Case Summary: Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District

In 1972, when Coy Koontz acquired a 14.9 acre vacant parcel of land east of Orlando, the Florida Legislature was busy enacting a series of conservation and environmental protection laws: the Land Conservation Act of 1972 (Fla. Stat. §  259), which created a program to acquire and conserve environmentally endangered lands, the Florida Water Resources Act (Fla. Stat. § 373), which granted the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the state's five  water management districts authority to protect Florida's water resources, and the Florida Environmental Land and Water Management Act of 1972 (Fla. Stat. §§  380.012 - 380.12), which established procedures for increased protection of wildlife and wilderness. Florida adopted the Warren S. Henderson Wetlands Protection Act 12 years later, which provided the water management districts wetland resource permitting authority. Consequently, all but 1.4 acres of Koontz's property became a part of a Riparian Habitat