BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Starke is off the hook for maintaining the Edwards Bottomlands wetlands restoration project, but questions remain about the perpetual maintenance of the waterway to prevent increased flooding in the city.
The Edwards Bottomlands Project involves changes to the flow of Alligator Creek west of U.S. 301. It was proposed and developed by the Suwannee River Water Management District as a solution for the city’s unpermitted excavation of the creek, which resulted in erosion and the buildup of sediment downstream. Florida Department of Transportation was brought in as a funding entity because it needed to mitigate the wetlands areas destroyed during construction of the Starke bypass.
Per a 2010 interlocal agreement with SRWMD, the city of Starke agreed to own the Edwards Bottomlands site and take on perpetual operation and maintenance, including the cost associated with doing so. This would have included cleanup and submission of annual reports to the water management district.
But attorney Danielle Adams explained to the commission Aug. 12 that a subsequent agreement freed the city from that obligation. SRWMD and the Florida Department of Transportation needed wetlands mitigation sites because of the wetlands that were going to be disturbed by the Starke Bypass project. Starke agreed to host wetlands mitigation on city-owned land in exchange for SRWMD discharging the city’s prior obligations regarding Edwards Bottomlands.
Manager Drew Mullins has been in contact with the water management district about who would be responsible for the ongoing maintenance as concerns have been raised about additional flooding if sediment and debris captured by the project are not removed.
As of mid-July, SRWMD was engaged in a final study on the preconstruction and postconstruction conditions to determine compliance with permitted plans, recommend further action and determine if the project is impacting flooding. The water management district was still planning on turning the project over to the city.
As of Monday, following the city’s most recent meeting, Mullins received word that SRWMD would cleanup debris in the waterway.
Paul Still of the Bradford Environmental Forum has previously warned Starke about the project and how restricting flow through Alligator Creek could backup floodwater into the city. With maps and photos of the site, he called it “an environmental nightmare.”
Still also had aerial photos of sediment along the channel, as well as bank erosion, channel blockages and accumulated trash, including tires, furniture and a large, motorized children’s vehicle, which he said made its way to the Edwards Bottomlands from the Laura Street Bridge.
“That just shows you how anything can move down Alligator Creek during the high flows. And so, you have this tremendous amount of stuff coming down,” he said.
That was last year. He returned in July to remind the commission the state had entered another hurricane season with no action regarding the needed cleanup. He shared water level comparisons from Alligator Creek and Sampson Lake from before and after the Edwards Bottomlands project was constructed. According to Still, the higher creek levels are proof the project is holding back water.
“The highwater level occurrences after the mitigation project was finished clearly are an indication that there was and is a flaw in the design and now the management of the project by the SRWMD. While the design issues can take time to correct the management issues should be addressed now before we experience a significant rain event,” Still said in his presentation.
The Edwards Bottomlands Project is located south of the Edwards Road ballpark. The project removed a wetlands forest on the southside of the Alligator Creek drainage canal. Bends were added to the straight path of the canal, with the goal of trapping sediment and debris before it reached the lake system. Not only does this slow the flow of water, according to Still, it allows much more than sediment to be trapped, and that further inhibits drainage. This becomes worse with every heavy rain event, he said.
He also said the channel is overgrown with plants, including invasive plants that need to be removed.
“The Bradford Environmental Forum contends that the SRWMD needs to begin now the process of removing the excess vegetation, trash, debris and sediments that have accumulated in the secondary channel of the mitigation project to avoid property damage and loss of life from upstream flooding along Alligator Creek,” he said.
