SOPCHOPPY DRAFTS PLAN FOR EXPANDING WATER SERVICE

By LEGION TAYLOR Reporter

The Sopchoppy city commission meeting last week was fairly short, and dealt with a few issues ranging from maintaining the park to creating a new master plan for the expansion of the water system.
A new master plan for Sopchoppy’s water system is going to be drafted, as decided at the meeting. All commission members were in favor of a new plan, as their last plan was designed before Wakulla started to experience all the recent growth, and can no longer keep up. This new plan will involve updating and adding new pumps, expanding water mains, and running water lines to new developments in  Crawfordville.
The plan will cover the next 20 years of growth, and will hopefully make dealing with all the new construction and people much easier on everyone, said city Public Works Director Seth Green.
In other matters before the city commission:
• Visit Wakulla is working with members of the community in Sopchoppy to have the city declared as Wakulla’s “Trail Town,” a designation that marks it as the hub for ecotourism in the county. The hope is that this will bring more people in to explore the natural beauty of Wakulla County, and open up access to more grants from the state.
The representatives from Visit Wakulla along with a few community members will be going to Mount Dora in the near future to hopefully finalize the process. Signs and displays that will be used to advertise and display useful information are likely going to be revealed to the public at Depot Days  Sept. 9th.
• The budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year was approved, with one slight change: City commissioners allocated $150,000 to the purchase of new property to put a well on, which is up from the $100,000 at a prior meeting. Otherwise, no changes were made at the meeting and the budget was approved.
• The sheriff’s office requested to use the Depot Park for an outreach event on Oct. 21, which the commission approved.
• The City has received requests from home builder D.R. Horton to trade several acres of land that cannot be developed in order for a certificate of lawful development that would allow Horton to go ahead with planned construction. Though the land could be used as a potential pump site, the haste with which Horton wants to go through with this process raised some red flags for the commissioners. They decided to inspect the property and wait before making any decisions on the matter.
• The commission discussed making park maintenance a paid position, but they weren’t sure if it counted as a full-time job. Combining the job of park maintenance with duties like mowing the grass and cleaning the old gym was suggested, but they still were unsure. They decided to talk to those who would be affected by this change, and make a decision when they felt better informed.
• Office hours for the city of Sopchoppy are being adjusted. The new hours are as follows: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to 12 noon on Friday.