Pro Se Teen Argues for Injunction in Florida Environmental Case
Mathew Poling not only hasn’t graduated from law school, he hasn’t even graduated from college.
But the 18-year-old freshman at the University of Florida was sitting alone at the plaintiff’s counsel table in Pinellas County Circuit Court in Clearwater yesterday as defense counsel prepared to argue against him that Circuit Judge Linda Allan shouldn’t grant a temporary injunction to prevent the county from changing a land use plan required by state law as the lawsuit proceeds, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Poling’s pro se suit contends that facilities built at Brooker Creek Preserve—including an environmental education center, two office buildings, two water treatment facilities, and a pole barn—as well as a 46-acre site that has been cleared for a water treatment plant, are “public nuisances” constructed without regard to a Pinellas County land use plan, the newspaper explains.
While the teen environmentalist doesn’t want to shut down the existing water treatment facilities, he does want to prevent the construction of new facilities in “preservation” areas designated as such by the land use plan, according to the Times.
Defense lawyers argue that the court doesn’t have the power to tell county commissioners they can’t change their own land use plan. They also contend that granting the injunction would shut down essential facilities.
The judge thanked both sides for their professional presentations and will rule later in the case.
“I wish the county would just follow the law,” Poling told the Times after the hearing. “Then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
