PROTECTING THE WATER
County votes to go forward with new springs protection ordinance
A curious manatee at Wakulla Springs checks out Cal Jamison on the bow of a boat doing the Florida Springs Initiative weekly water testing. Jamison was testing water clarity.
Speakers at ‘Rivers Beneath Us,’ a program on the vulnerability of the local underground caverns: Jad Kabbani, who spoke of the economic impact, Dr. Chris Werner of Woodville Karst Plain Project and Tom Greenhalgh, an hydrology expert at FSU.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
Wakulla county commissioners voted 4-1 on Monday night with public hearings on a new ordinance intended to create stricter regulation on development within the Springs Protection Area.
Commissioner Chuck Hess cast the lone dissenting vote, apparently in the belief that the proposed ordinance wasn’t strict enough.
A number of citizens spoke on the ordinance – but most were commenting on the gas station proposal that drew controversy last year and was subsequently withdrawn. The Southwest Georgia Oil Company had proposed building a gas station on property at the corner of Bloxham Cutoff and U.S. Highway 319. That project has not been resubmitted.
Divers with the Woodville Karst Plain Project determined in January that an underground cavern runs under a portion of that property, which connects the Chip’s Hole sink to Wakulla Springs.
The proposed ordinance would update the current ordinance, which was approved in 1994, and would require more site-specific studies – such as three 30-foot ground borings for each 5,000 square feet, rather than one 15-foot boring for the area.
Tom Lewis, a geologist with the Terracon Consultants, which advised the county on the changes, said it would give county officials greater knowledge on the geology of an area.
The ordinance would also require a third-party review of geologic data submitted by a developer.
Somer Pell, director of the county Planning Department, noted that the soil samples could be used to determine whether underground storage tanks would be allowed, or if the county would require aboveground tanks.
There has been much talk – in Letters to the Editor, social media posts and letters to the county – about requiring some sort of setback from underground caverns.
County Administrator David Edwards said at the meeting that setbacks was the original idea, “but we can’t get there.” While WKPP’s maps generally show where the caves are, they don’t show exact location – so there’s no way to know where to setback from. Edwards said that, until a surveyor can set out markers delineating where the cavern is – as they do in marking a surface wetland or mean high water – there is no legal boundary to set back from.
As Pell put it at the meeting: “The data is not certifiable where we can establish a setback.”
Two points did draw support from commissioners: the lack of definition in the ordinance of “overburden” and “confining layer” which was pointed out by a couple of speakers. Michael Key of Wakulla Springs Alliance brought up the issue of expanding the Springs Protection Zone to include more of the watershed – he noted the board had expanded the zone in 2008, but it still incorporates less than half of the vulnerable land in the basin.
Several board members indicated their support for expanding the area, but the logistics of the expansion were viewed as problemmatic – they agreed to go forward with the new regulations and add the expansion later.
Commission Chair Ralph Thomas, at various times in the meeting, commented that there’s no good place for an oil spill – that all of Wakulla County is vulnerable. He also pointed out that there are 668 gas stations in the larger springs basin, which includes all of Leon County. He also noted there is a 500-gallon fuel tank at the Lodge at Wakulla Springs that is about 100 feet from the vent.
Several people asked for a workshop: Pete Scalco, former head of Wakulla Springs State Park, told commissioners they were “this close” to a good ordinance. “We could do better,” he said.
Commissioner Hess brought up the idea of a workshop, but the board indicated they wanted to move quickly and not create more delays.
After the vote and most of the audience had left, Edwards expressed concern about some citizens comments on social media and elsewhere, bemoaned the “conspiracy theories” being generated about county staff.
A week earlier, three of the county commissioners – Hess, Mike Kemp and Fred Nichols – had attended “Rivers Beneath Us,” a program at TCC Wakulla sponsored by the Wakulla Springs Alliance about the vulnerability of the karst system and its interconnectedness. (Commissioner Thomas said he watched the program online.)
Dr. Chris Werner of WKPP talked about cave exploration and the 45 miles of caves that have been mapped. He noted it is the longest underwater cave system in the U.S. he also stressed that the system has an “unprecedented connectedness that should not be underestimated.”
Tom Greenhalgh, a geologist at FSU, noted that the system is very vulnerable to contamination.
On Thursday morning at Wakulla Springs, where the volunteers for Florida Springs Iniative take their weekly measurements of the water quality – the river was green, the nitrate level continued to be high, 0.45 milligrams per liter, but down from .52 mg/L a year earlier. The goal is to get the water to .35 mg/L.
