2005 Legislative Delegation Comment

12/6/2004

Honorable Seminole County Legislative Delegation member,

Lake Jesup’s restoration is well underway. We are proud to say that we are still meeting monthly with participation of most all groups and agencies involved. The major partners and the task we expect them to complete are as follows….

• SJRWMD has taken up the task of reducing the pollutant load entering the lake now and in the future. This is critical to maintaining the water quality in the lake once the restoration is complete. They have also signed on as the local partner for the federal project underway by the USACOE.
  
• Seminole County has undertaken a massive stormwater enhancement program and is working closely with the SJRWMD in siteing and implementing regional stormwater facilities. Seminole County has consistently endorsed the lake restoration.
  
• FFWCC has embarked on an ambitious plan to restore aquatic habitat in the lake. A major part of that plan requires that a large amount of nutrient rich sediments from the lake’s bottom be removed. This project is temporarily on hold, pending resolution of environmental permitting issues.
  
• FDEP has been a committed partner in the restoration. While they support the muck removal, they are also trying to assure that no permanent environmental damage is done during the restoration activity.
  
• FDOT has begun the SR46 bridge replacement project and anticipates its completion by 2010. This project includes returning a substantial amount of navigation back into the lake and the removal of much of the causeway fill placed in the lake. In doing so they will have enabled the USACOE to do whatever it deems appropriate to restore water circulation into the lake.
  
• USACOE is currently in the process of deciding what the best configuration of connections between the flow of the St. Johns River and the mouth of Lake Jesup. They are trying to mesh their timetable to coincide with the FDOT schedule.
  
• The Florida Legislature has been an effective partner in the lakes recovery all along the way. The 2000 legislature enacted HB2365 which directs the St. Johns River Water Management District to delineate the Lake Jesup basin in Seminole County as a separate and distinct drainage basin for ERP cumulative impact review and as a regional watershed for mitigation bank permit review. This was necessary to keep mitigation units from leaving the basin, destroying the last remaining wetland resources that will ultimately aid in its recovery.

This year we face many challenges with the lakes restoration and long term health. At last year’s delegation meeting we reported to you that we had reached a near impasse in permitting the muck removal phase of the restoration and would try diligently to resolve the problems within the normal permitting structure. We have given this effort another year, to no avail. It was the Friends choice last year not to ask for regulatory relief. It is still our position that even though we are doing environmental restoration, we should not ask to be exempted from the regulations governing environmental protection. It has become very clear though that we need to do something different.

One of the serious setbacks last year was the veto of reauthorization of our dredging funds. We again would like to thank each of you for your hard work at retaining those funds, but due to the circumstances surrounding permitting the muck disposal site, reauthorization of funds was vetoed by the governors’ office. While this action may have provided a large infusion of Lake Jesup’s money back to the budget for statewide use, it also created a new challenge for the restoration effort. It is the legal opinion of the agencies that the veto also carries with it a prohibition of any agency expending funds to continue the muck removal phase. Whether this is actually true is up for discussion, but has frozen the FFWCC from further action at this point.

Although an apparently suitable site has now been located and negotiations proceed for its procurement, many permitting questions remain unanswered. This site, currently owned by the City of Sanford, provides hope that we will soon find solutions to the muck disposal issues that have plagued the restoration and caused the loss of our funding to complete the project.

The Florida Legislature can help us move forward in spite of these challenges. We respectfully request that you implement each of the following actions to assist us toward our goal.

1. Please grant legislative permission to expend agency funds for the muck removal phase of the restoration. No replacement money is being requested at this time until permitting issues are clearly resolved.
   
2. Require the location of suitable disposal site and clear regulatory guidance to get muck removal project back on track. Please pursue legislation that charges the City of Sanford, FDEP, SJRWMD and FFWCC to work with due diligence and develop a plan that will allow the dredging to proceed. Please require that every three (3) months that they make a report to the legislature indicating progress toward the goal.
   
3. Continue to support previous legislative intent (HB2365) and maintain the status of requiring in-basin mitigation for all wetland impacts within the basin. Currently some mitigation is being sold out of the basin at artificially low prices and is encouraging further wetland destruction that we cannot afford environmentally. Please communicate your seriousness about keeping mitigation within the Jesup basin to the permitting agencies involved.

We are looking forward to working with each of you this year and hope you will see the tremendous value to all of Central Florida that a healthy lake will bring. We appreciate your attention to these matters.