Friends of Lake Jesup

August 21, 2003 7:30 PM
OVIEDO PUBLIC LIBRARY
D R A F T M I N U T E S

Call to Order - Chairman Robert King called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

Introductions / Appreciation Certificates - Chairman King had all those in attendance introduce themselves. He distributed certificates of appreciation to participants who had attending Friends of Lake Jesup meetings consistently. Chairman King announced that that night’s meeting marked the fifth anniversary of the group since the sunset of legislation.

Chairman King said he wanted to discuss those that were absent from the meeting and the reasons why:

Seminole County - The chairman had been told the county’s director of planning said he feels that since King serves on another advisory committee that reports to the county, there is no need to send someone else. Chairman King said he would prefer having a county staffer attending the FLJ meetings.

City of Oviedo - City Council member Regina Bereswill has been designated as the City’s representative and states she is enthusiastic about being involved with the group but can not attend the meetings at present because her job takes her out of town every Thursday. Chairman King said Ms. Bereswill had reported there should be a change in her schedule in the near future.

City of Winter Springs - Chairman King said he didn’t expect to see much of Winter Springs. He reported about a surface water withdrawal application, to remove water from Lake Jesup to augment reclaimed water. He said the WMD would probably not make a determination on the application until the completion of the Minimum Flows and Levels study for the Middle Basin. He said he thought the application would probably be approved and the FLJ should go on record with recommendation, location and depth, prior to the application, which should be done so.

Also with regard to Winter Springs, Chairman King indicate that copies of recent Sentinel stories about the City and its relationship to the Lake where included in the agenda package.

Jim Bourg, citizen of Winter Springs, reported that Winter Springs would be discussing the boat dock Ordinance at an upcoming work session. Chairman King said the FLJ recommendation was a lakeshore protection ordinance.

Approval of Minutes of July 18, 2003 Review of the minutes was inadvertently skipped. The July minutes will be reviewed at the September meeting.

Old Business

Update of Muck Removal Project - Ed Hayes, FFWCC

Ed Hayes said the permit application for the muck removal and storage site has been prepared and delivered to FDEP and a meeting with WMD and DEP on the disposal site was held earlier that day.

Mr. Hayes said there are some issues that need to be resolved, a couple are significant and could put a halt to the project. He said the WMD has asked the FFWCC for a surety bond for completion of the project. He said the timeframe is for the project was miscalculated and only four years remain for the project to be completed before the funding expires. He said his agency has stipulated that it would pay for the balance of the project at the end of the five-year period, but there is no guarantee that there will money in the FFWCC budget at that time. Chairman King said a meeting would be held the following day to go over this issue in detail.

Mr. Hayes said the other significant issue is the reduction of the storage capacity in the 100-year floodplain by the storage facility. He said the agency is being required to mitigate for the reduction and there is nowhere else on the lake to do that.

Scott Bear, CH2MHill, suggested Mr. Hayes have his consultant do a calculation of net storage in the basin and model the overall basin, Lake Jesup and St. Johns River.

Barbara Bess, FDEP, suggested applying for a variance to the rule.

Chairman King said he attended the same site meeting as Mr. Hayes and he doesn’t understand why the lake restoration project is being held to a higher standard than anyone else that has done a project on Lake Jesup, including the Toll Road 417 project. He said the group needs to prove that the toll road removed storage from the basin without compensation; pressure could be brought to bear through legislation to allow the dredging project to move forward. He said the point is that the toll road project was exempt from permitting, so why shouldn’t the lake restoration projects.

Chairman King asked Bill Daniel to help in the calculation of the acres of storage capacity lost because of footprint of the Toll Road 417 causeway.

Mr. Hayes reported a fish kill on Lake Jesup at the bridge and said he only found out about it by accident. He asked that anyone who knows about a fish kill to please report it to his agency. He is trying to get a sign put up at the boat ramp. He said he would need to know about them in a timely manner in order to collect data to determine causes.

Chairman King asked Mr. Hayes to keep him informed as to the progress on the disposal site issues. He said he would be in contact with the legislators with regard to these issues and get them prepared should the group need to ask for formal action on the matter at the next meeting.
1. Update of SR 46 Bridge Project - Scott Bear / Chuck Vreeland, FDOT
  
  Scott Bear, CH2MHill, said the PD&E study had been submitted to and signed by FHA as of August 12. He said they expect the final documents for Alternative 3 to be completed and approved by the end of September. He said that alternative will be the one with which they seek federal funding.
  
  He said geotechnical firms will be doing borings and surveying companies will be collecting data for the design of the bridge beginning in September.
  
  Mr. Bear said the CH2MHill web pages are up and running and he presented copies of the Lake Jesup Bridge website information.
  
  Chuck Vreeland, FDOT, said there would be a Coast Guard permit pre-app meeting on Sept. 25. Chairman King said the group needs to formulate a request for the need for navigational markers in and out of the lake, fenders under the bridge, etc. and will be dependent on the dredging job the USACOE does with regard to the channels.
  
  Chairman King reported that he had attended the 0% design team meeting. He said the assumption is that the two fish camps may not be accessible after the USACOE makes its determination on the causeway removal, and that there has been a shift in the placement of some of the retention ponds.
2. Update on progress of Restoration Plan / Hydraulic Model-Pete Milam, USACOE
  
  Chairman King read an email report from Pete Milam, who was unable to attend the meeting. (The email report was included in the agenda package.) Mr. Milam said the team is working on quantifying the environmental benefits of restoring the historic flow of the river into Lake Jesup.
Equation suggestion / In-basin status letter - SJRWMD response & Response to Kirby Green letter - Robert King

Chairman King said the response letter (included in the agenda package) from the WMD on the suggested method for measuring the in basin/out-of-basin mitigation basically said “no,” that the WMD would not use the group’s method. He said the group would have to make a decision about how they want to pursue this, but feels a decision should wait until Steve Rich can make it to a meeting, in order to get his input.

He also discussed the conversation he had with Kenneth Johns, of the WMD, regarding the letter sent to Kirby Green about the supposition that the mitigation for the Maitland project going out-of-basin to the Bergman tract. He said he feels that the WMD is fully aware of the in basin/out-of-basin mitigation situation, locally and throughout the state.
FLJ Presentation Board at Environmental Studies Center - Shari King

Shari King gave an update on the status of the FLJ presentation board at Seminole County Environmental Studies Center. She passed around a scaled drawing of what might be included on the board, which would include four or five maps showing:

Overall Aerial of Basin showing roads and other landmarks
1. Restoration Projects
2. Text Box
3. Current Land Use (blackline)
4. Hydrologic (blackline)

Reports of other members

Cecilia Height, Sierra Club, gave a report on the status of the freight train line alignment with regard to Mobility 20/20. She said Commissioner Grant Maloy sponsored a resolution from the Seminole County Board of County Commissioner opposing the alignment through Seminole County. Chairman King said he would forward a copy of an OBJ story about Mobility 20/20 to everyone in the group.

Ms. Height also reported that the owner of Clifton Springs has sold a portion to a developer, choosing to ignore the request from Seminole county to keep the springs and waterways in conservation.

New Business

Middle Basin Coordination meeting report

Chairman King reported that a new committee has formed within the WMD, which includes all of the land managers and project managers in the Middle Basin, himself and Ed Hayes. He said the group was formed to provide better communication on projects throughout the basin. He said he would be attending the monthly meeting.
Minimum Flows & Levels

Chairman King reported that Minimum Flows & Levels study for the section near State Road 44 has been completed and will soon go to rulemaking. He said the next studies would be done on Lake Monroe, and then for Lake Jesup, in less than a year.

Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.