PLANNING BOARD ADVISES BOCC TO UPDATE SPRINGS ORDINANCE

The ordinance, passed in 1998, is said to be ‘antiquated’

By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor

The Wakulla County Planning Commission approved a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners that they look at updating the current springs protection ordinance, which is more than 30 years old.
The recommendation is just that – a recommendation, as the planning commission is only an advisory panel to the county commission.
The debate on the issue took about 45 minutes at the planning commission meeting on Monday, Aug. 14, with Planning Commissioner Chad Hanson initially making a motion that the springs protection ordinance, passed in 1998,  is in need of revision. His original motion suggested that the county commission hold workshops that bring together different groups to discuss the matter – state officals from the state Department of Environmental Protection, for example, and the Florida Geological Survey along with hydrogeologists and cave divers from the Wakulla Karst Plain Project, which has mapped miles of underground rivers that flow to Wakulla Springs.
The motion was eventually edited back to the planning commission recommending the county commission look to “amend or replace” the ordinance, 94-28. That motion passed unanimously.
Much of the debate centered on Hanson’s earlier motion to bring officials together in public hearings to work something out. Planning Commission Chair Andrew Riddle said he could not support that motion, expressing that it went beyond the planning commission’s purview.
Planning Commissioner Leonard Donaldson questioned the need for a formal motion and recommendation, saying Planning Director Somer Pell could communicate the board’s concerns.
Pell gave a history of the ordinances were brought before the county commission to deal with the proposal to locate a gas station at the corner of Bloxham Cutoff and Crawfordville Highway, a site where cave divers have identified underground caves.