No to citizens’ water ordinance
Commissioners claim the proposal to protect underwater caverns doesn’t meet the legal bar for aboveground survey
A citizen about to be escorted out by a deputy after refusing to calm down after commissioners refused to take up a proposed ordinance drafted by citizens to protect underground water systems.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
They lined the meeting room – in fact, they couldn’t all get in.
More than 100 citizens were at Monday night’s county commission meeting in an effort to get commissioners to look at their proposed ordinance to protect drinking water and ultimately Wakulla Springs.
There was speaker after speaker talking about the importance of protecting Wakulla Springs – and the threat of contamination from a gas station over the Chip’s Hole cave.
The issue went down without even a vote.
Commissioner Chuck Hess made a motion to support the proposed ordinance – and no other commissioner would second it, not even a second for discussion. That closed the matter – and the group of citizens erupted in several minutes of yelling and jeers at commissioners. A couple of citizens were escorted out by the deputy providing security at the meeting: one man was asked to be taken out as he angrily stood at the dais yelling at commissioners and refused to sit down; a woman was taken out after she swore at commissioners using a couple of profanities. And Jack Rudloe, the longtime campaigner against developers and development, was escorted out with a smile on his face.
Activist David Damon, who along with wife Sue Damon, had helped organize the event, tried to lead a sit-in on the floor in the front of the commission dais and was joined by several other people, but eventually order was restored and they went back to their seats.
At one point, Commission Chairman Ralph Thomas complained to the crowd that “there’s a lot of misinformation” among the crowd and that they had been “misled by David Damon,” which prompted more moans and yells.
It was only at the end of the meeting that Thomas and other commissioners explained their reasons: There is no way to do aboveground setbacks from an underground cave system that no legal surveyer can mark off aboveground with red flags and certify this is the edge of the cave and where the setback begins.
Numerous citizens sought to argue differently – and one point of the whole exercise in drafting the citizen ordinance was a contention that other counties had done just that: ordered a setback from karst features or caves. But Thomas pointed out those are above-ground features, not 100 feet or more underground.
Several noted the Wakulla Karst Plain Project has shared its maps with the county Planning Department and they could just be overlaid on parcels.
The issue is when a property owner challenges that, the legal resolution is for a surveyor to map out the area. But Thomas contended there is no surveyor in the state of Florida who will certify where an underground cavern begins and ends.
But Thomas noted some of the rhetoric had become detached from reality: There is no pending application for a gas station at the corner of U.S. Highway 319 and Bloxham Cutoff. The application was withdrawn in February of last year and, while it might be reapplied for, there’s nothing now.
Some of the comments turned ugly: Michael Keys said Commissioner Quincee Messersmith smirks on the dais reflected the “banality of evil” and called Commissioner Mike Kemp a liar for telling him he would vote to support Wakulla Springs.
Kemp responded that he didn’t “think anybody on the board would do anything to hurt Wakulla Springs.”
Messersmith had no public comment but she told The Sun after the meeting that it’s the five commissioners who have the legal responsibility for the county and, she added, “What is legal?” referring to Thomas’ argument about the surveys for setbacks.
Commissioner Fred Nicholas offered no public comment, but he indicated after the meeting as Messersmith spoke that that was also his feeling.
Thomas and Hess, as they frequently do on controversial issues, spent the last minutes of the meeting debating the merits of the other’s position.
Some of the final comments of citizens:
Kathleen Van Hanie said commissioners were acting “arbitrary and capricious” by failing to even make a second to Hess’ motion for discussion.
“Wakulla Springs doesn’t belong to the four of you (excluding Hess) – it belongs to the people,” said David Damon.
Sue Damon resigned from the county Tourist Development Council in disgust.
And Anna Garner closed her comments saying: “Shocking, shocking display of government tyranny!... We are going to make your lives miserable – I will show you!”
