MANASOTA & PEACE RIVER BBDs Meeting Notebook 10-21-09.docx

Summary Agenda
Joint Meeting and Workshop October 21, 2009
Manasota and Peace River Basin Boards Page 19 of 29
Staff Recommendation:
Recommend the Governing Board approve the Second Amendment to the
Agreement with the City of Lakeland for $4,500,000 with the Basin’s share not to
exceed $950,132; authorize the Executive Director to sign the agreement.
7. Discussion Item:
Presenter: Mark Hammond
a. Lake Hancock Land Use Alternatives Study
Purpose
To present to the Peace River Basin Board the preliminary draft of the Lake Hancock
Land Use Alternatives Study. No action is required. District staff will present the draft
land use and management plan for the lands acquired for the multiple Lake Hancock
projects. This plan has been presented to the Governing Board at its August meeting as
an information item. The final plan will be presented to the Peace River Basin Board and
the Governing Board at future meetings (February 2010) for approval.
Background and History
The Governing Board first authorized acquisition of lands in the Lake Hancock region in
1999, to further its goal of establishing a greenway that is envisioned to extend from
Charlotte Harbor, a designated estuary of national significance, through the Peace River
watershed north to the Green Swamp. Beginning in 2001, the District began purchasing
lands as part of the greenway, and completed acquisitions within the Lake Hancock
portion of the greenway in April 2008. Beginning in the early 2000s, the District’s interest
in acquiring lands in the Lake Hancock area expanded from primarily a greenway
corridor (conservation) to one of resource development associated with recovery of
minimum flows and levels in the upper Peace River. Additionally, in November 2001, the
Charlotte Harbor Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Plan was
completed, and identified an opportunity to implement a water quality treatment project
to improve water quality leaving Lake Hancock to benefit the Peace River and Charlotte
Harbor. In February 2006, the Board approved using wetland treatment as the primary
technology for improving water quality and adopted a 27 percent nitrogen load reduction
goal. The land needed for the project had already been purchased in 2003 as part of the
Old Florida Plantation acquisition, an acquisition that met the District’s greenway corridor
and resource development goals. In October 2004, the Governing Board authorized staff
to proceed with the preliminary design and engineering to prepare a conceptual
Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) application for the Lake Hancock Lake Level
Modification Project with a target operating level of up to 100 feet. Similar to the outfall
treatment project, a substantial portion of the lands necessary for the Lake Level
Modification Project had already been acquired through the greenway acquisitions. In
September 2007, the Governing Board authorized staff to implement the Lake Hancock
Lake Level Modification Project including adopting a Resolution Authorizing Proceedings
in Eminent Domain, and a Declaration of Taking in order to acquire the remaining lands
necessary for the Lake Level Modification Project.
As mentioned above, several projects are under development in the Lake Hancock area
that are intended to accomplish multiple water resource management benefits including
restoring minimum flows in the Upper Peace River, improving water quality in the Peace
River and Charlotte Harbor. The acquisition of lands for these projects has been a key
component to realize those outcomes. To date, the District has acquired 7,173 acres in