1.FIND
Florida Inland Navigation District's plan to dispose of 1 million cubic
yards of dredge spoil Indian River sand on New Smyrna's beach has gotten
lots of opposition and and attention. The agency is not used to its decisions
being held to local scrutiny. The reason FIND held two public forums on
the issue in New Smyrna Beach is because Volusia County's representative
on the FIND Board is Grayce Barck who lives in New Smyrna. From Beachway
to 27th Street would have been buried in 5 feet of sand 300 feet wide by
now if Ms. Barck had not championed the city's concerns on the Board. She
halted any disposal north of Sapphire Road and limited disposition to those
beachfront homeowners requesting it. About 1/3 of the sand may be used
in this attempt to build dunes. After the recent beach erosion there may
be much greater demand for it. About 1/3 may be deposited offshore in 18-20
feet of water in an area parallel to the shoreline from a mile or two south
of the Inlet to 27th Street. FIND expects some of that to wash in, some
to wash out and some to move south. The last third may be placed along
a one mile stretch of beach south of 27th Street as a project to demonstrate
how driving would work on the new sand. (Will USFWS allow test driving
on an HCP no-driving zone?) The proposal to haul the sand to critically
eroded Bethune Beach is also a possibility. The County will have to quickly
find funds or grants to pay for it because the engineering will begin in
January.
At 9:00 am on December 7th the FIND Board meets and will vote on which
plan to implement. Board member Barck had the meeting moved from another
location to New Smyrna Beach at the Brannon Center to put the Board face
to face with the people affected by its decision.
1a. Corr FIND
I stated that one of the possibilities for disposal of the dredge spoil
sand was to put it along a one mile stretch of beach south of 27th
Street as a project to demonstrate how driving would work on the new sand.
This is incorrect. Citizen opposition led the FIND staff to scrap that
idea.
2. Aquifer and Minimum Flows and Levels
The court injunction won by Citizens for Water and calling for SJRWMD
to establish minimum flows and levels for springs, lakes and aquifer has
pushed St. Johns to act, but unscientifically. One concern is the 2000
date which St. Johns chose as the baseline year for determining minimum
levels in lakes. Some lakes were dry beds in the 2000 drought, and many
wetlands were not functioning. The year the water management districts
were established and mandated to formulate the minimums should be the baseline,
that's 1972. Minimum levels must maintain the integrity of wetland functions,
hydric soils, and wetland plant communities. Lakes that have no confinement
between them and the aquifer have suffered the worst drawdowns. Some of
these lakes are 7 or more feet below minimum average, even after the normal
heavy rains of this summer. They are actually recharging the overdrawn
aquifer. St. Johns, under executive director, Kirby Green, is finally leveling
with the public, and the legislature better listen. The date is now 2006
that it projects east central Florida will run out of potable water. Damage
has been occurring for many years and will worsen if new water use permits
are not halted and existing permits reduced. The rush for alternative sources
is underway, but meanwhile St. Johns is allowing further mining of the
aquifer. The demand of in-house CUPs are already at 2020 projections. The
District must determine a sustainable aquifer yield by creating a valid
model to detect unacceptable impacts to water resources and related natural
systems. St. Johns projected a doubling of population in East Central Florida
from 1995-2020, and a 5-10 foot drawdown of the aquifer. In that time span
there will be a 100% increase in public supply demand. They're overpumping
now.
3. Manatees
Finding the County Manatee Protection Plan inadequate (as did the state),
the manatee subcommittee of Halifax IndianRiverTaskForce rewrote it, and
the task force voted 14-4 to forward it to the County Council. The four
opposing are DB (city officials because the plan interferes with Halifax
Harbor Marina expansion) , Ormond Beach, Port Orange, and Halifax Harbor.
The Task Force's plan would prohibit marina development in areas with high
manatee populations and mortality. The County's plan allows construction
if the applicant "compensates" for lost habitat and endangerment, even
in high risk red zones, and pays a fee for each slip. The fact remains
that the more places to store boats and launch, the more boats will be
in the water. The more boats, the more manatees hit. A professor of anatomy
on the Manatee Technical Advisory Committee of USFWCC wrote in a recent
New-Journal editorial that the Atlantic coast population will likely not
survive given the forces arrayed against them. Do we want to save the manatee
or increase boating? We can't do both. Boats have killed 10 in Volusia
this year, a record.
4. Marina at Swoope Site
The City of New Smyrna Beach which owns the site is looking favorably
now at a proposal that does not include wet slips, which should eliminate
the toxic anti-fouling copper and tin paints that protect the bottoms of
boats, but poison oysters, barnacles, algae and worms. If the City persists
with this marina, with all its toxic pollution of the water, this plan
is the least harmful so far. There would be virtually no dredging or filling
for dry stack vessels. Each dry slip takes up a space about 8x20x6. It
will require a huge building that must be constructed to withstand inlet
propagated storm surges and winds. The 2 public boat ramps in the plan
should need no dredging either. But the pledge not to have boat rentals
or jet skis was made in a prior proposal. The City should lock these promises
into the contract. The fact remains that 500-600 dry slips will put
that many more polluting motors in these pristine waters and endanger manatees
in the narrow channel. More boats equals more manatee deaths. The residents
of Inlet Shores will be impacted by the greatly increased number of boats
plying the river near them. They informed Jim Hathaway, their representative
on the City Commission, that a public boat ramp is all they want at the
site. Boat slips, wet and dry, can be added at downtown marinas. The argument
that the Swoope power plant is an ideal
place for a marina with its proximity to the Inlet is specious. The
majority of those dry stack boats won't go out to sea, but up and down
the river. The state will not allow new marinas or dock permits unless
a county has a Manatee Protection Plan in place. EPA and DEP may deny permits
for the proposed marina even when Volusia has an MPP.
5. Super Wal-Mart
The tree ordinance New Smyrna Beach Planning & Zoning Board recommended
to the City early this year would have required tree replacement for all
protected trees removed from property zoned commercial. The wooded site
east of Lindley's Nursery on SR 44 where the city is negotiating with Wal-Mart
for a super store would have been subject to this provision had not the
city commission diverged from P& Z's draft and added variances to save
developers the cost of replacing trees. One variance exempts from tree
replacement land that has to be "demucked" to allow development. Essentially
that means wetlands that have to be drained and filled. 32 acres
fits that description. The variance would be granted at the discretion
of the development services director. Given that city staff previously
negotiated a pre-annexation PUD agreement with Wal-Mart which exempted
it from the City's land development regulations, including tree replacement,
one can safely say that this variance will be used to do the same. Any
PUD, moreover, should fulfill the intent of the ordinance. If the city
commission had not compromised the tree ordinance, violating county minimum
standards by the way, and they wrote a PUD at least closely following it,
the tree replacement schedule may discourage Wal-Mart from using land so
heavily wooded for a super store. And if the site were sought appropriately
for a smaller project, the developer would have great incentive to save
as many trees as possible to avoid the cost of replacement. That's the
whole idea. The city should do everything possible so whatever goes on
this land co-exists with the natural resource that is there. Additional
facts:
* Wal-Mart requested that the city keep their negotiations secret.
* No adequate traffic studies have been done.
* The site plan shows Wal-Mart paid little heed to the significant
drainage problems.
* They mislead officials as to the degree of wetlands on the site.
St. Johns site inspection revealed 10 acres of wetlands, not the 0.15 they
claimed.
* The Army Corps was falsely informed that a St. John's permit was
in hand.
* The site contains two 300+ year old canals, part of the Turnbull
system. The city and Wal-Mart plan to fill them in and pave over our cultural
heritage.
6. Elkcam Boulevard Extension
The preservation of the lands in the Volusia Conservation Corridor
is vital to water recharge and wildlife habitat. It is the missing link
to complete an unfragmented lifeline between the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee,
and the Okefenokee Swamp. The Volusia Forever Advisory Committee under
Reid Hughes is making an all out effort to move the land up in state ranking.
Citizens are writing letters to the Acquisition and Restoration Council
(ARC). The Volusia County Metropolitan Planning
Organization's contribution to the acquisition is simple: Remove the
Elkcam Boulevard extension in Deltona from the county's five year road
plan, so the corridor remains inviolate.
7. Turtle Protection
The County's Incidental Take Permit expires the end of the year. The
25 year renewal application includes an amended Habitat Conservation Plan
that the County Council voted unanimously to approve. It takes the beach
lighting management plan out of the HCP to avoid legal obligations to USFWS.
It substitutes a sea turtle awareness program, which is a good idea as
part
of the HCP, but not in place of it. The lighting ordinance has never
been adequately enforced. Dropping lighting violation cases in November
against seven Boardwalk businesses is typical of the County's enforcement
record. Staff said the businesses worked hard and might already be in compliance,
but officials won't be able to inspect the lights until the beginning of
the next sea turtle season, so they dropped the case! Common sense would
say to inspect the lights now to insure compliance when the
season begins. For 5 years these end of season extensions and droppings
have put turtles on the beach in May with flagrant lighting violations.
Beth Liebert says it all: "It's ridiculous". As with manatees, the
odds are stacked against sea turtles: stranded babies, drownings in fishing
nets, viruses, beach erosion, sea walls and cars. The least we can do is
fix the lights!
8. Daytona Beach Redevelopment
The City wants to give away valuable public land by subsidizing intensive
private development on the river - just where it doesn't belong. They visualize
marinas all along the river in what is now green space. Dredging and bulkheads
for more and bigger boats will deteriorate water quality further. The Environmental
Council opposes the new Corps permit for mega-yachts.
They want to remove the library, fire station and ball park to allow
high rise condos down to the water. Many small projects throughout the
City could increase the tax base without taking the river away from the
people. The City can clean up stormwater only if there is no intensive
development on the river. The only place with space for a stormwater treatment
facility is the DOT site where Tippen Davidson wants to put the Lively
Arts Center. We must have a better vision of what we want Daytona to be.
Our future depends on restoring the river. Paul Haydt, our liaison with
St. Johns, has created a plan of what the riverfront ought to be. It's
on CD.