Coto v. Renfrow

The defendants appeal a money judgment entered in favor of the Department of Environmental Resources of Metropolitan Dade County in the sum of $10,000 based upon the legal determination that defendants had illegally cut the mangroves on a lot (referred to as Lot 4) which they owned at Mashta Point, Key Biscayne.

Under the applicable provisions of the code, it is not the cutting of mangroves, per se, that is denounced; instead, it is the cutting or trimming of mangroves, without a permit, in coastal wetlands or coastal band community which is prohibited. See Dade County Code §§ 24-58(1),…