BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA

PCM130104 Timberlane Road near the Market District
majority of the southern portion of Lake Jackson. Early in 2000, the northern portion of
the lake drained through Lime Sink.
Following these events, Leon County, the Northwest Florida Water Management District,
the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP) funded an $8.4 million restoration project. This project
entailed scraping an existing layer of nutrient-rich sediment (organic muck) up to three
feet thick from the bottom of the lake to restore its natural sand and clay bottom. These
sediments washed into the lake from the construction of Interstate – 10 and from prestormwater
regulation development upstream. After considerable efforts and expense by
local and state government, the water quality has recovered considerably.
The original intent of the Lake Protection land use category was the protection of the
water quality of Lake Jackson from the effects of unmanaged urban development. This
land use category was developed in response to the well-documented scientific concerns
regarding the degradation and continuing pollution of Lake Jackson. This category is
based on the lake basin boundary, adjusted to include contributing watersheds but to
exclude existing, more intensely already-developed areas south of Interstate 10 along
U.S. Highway 27.
Given its value to the community, and the funds invested in its environmental
management and restoration, the continuing protection of Lake Jackson, including the
waters that flow into the lake from its surrounding watershed, is a continuing community
priority. A non-profit group called the Friends of Lake Jackson was created to preserve,
enhance, and maintain the waters of Lake Jackson and its surrounding and supporting
watershed. The Friends have been active since 1998, and remain active today.
The Friends of Lake Jackson group has expressed concern about the possible impacts on water
quality from stormwater runoff if the subject property is rezoned. However, this area has been
developed since the early 1980s, and this development occurred before many of the current
stormwater and other land development and concurrency requirements were put into place. If the
land use and zoning designations for this parcel and others similar to it along the north side of
Timberlane Road continue to make these properties non-conforming, there is little incentive for
any redevelopment of these properties to occur.
Additionally, if any of these properties are more than 50 percent destroyed by fire or another
catastrophic event, they cannot be rebuilt if they are non-conforming. It is also unlikely, given
the financial returns for property owners on office uses versus residential uses, their frontage
along Timberlane Road, and the existing and surrounding land uses, that these properties will be
redeveloped as low-density housing at one unit per two acres.
Therefore, if these properties are rezoned and their current uses are made conforming, property
owners can more easily obtain financing for maintenance and upgrades or expansions, or to
change uses as allowed by the new land use and zoning categories. Furthermore, any significant
expansions of existing uses or changes in use will be required to meet current growth
management policies and land development regulations, including stormwater management
requirements. There are presently 25 properties within the subject area that either contain no
documented stormwater management facilities, or contain stormwater management facilities that
are sub-standard as compared with today’s requirements. Redevelopment of these parcels will
provide a much-needed opportunity to upgrade or completely retrofit these existing sub-standard
Page 459 of 622 Posted at 5:00 p.m. on April 1, 2013
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