BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Paul Still called a wetlands mitigation project “an environmental nightmare” during his presentation to Starke city commissioners last month.
Still, a board member for the Bradford Soil and Water Conservation District, was allowed to present their concerns after warning that Starke would face the cost of cleaning and maintaining the site and could be liable for any upstream flooding resulting from the project.
The Edwards Bottomlands Project involves the restoration of wetlands areas along 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 in Lake Rowell. 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.
Still’s presentation documented a few problems, according to him. One was the potential long-term cost of cleanup and maintenance of the Starke-owned site, which he showed in aerial photos from 2017 and 2024.
“You can see how heavily wooded this area was. It was actually a beautiful piece of property with large trees, and they eventually essentially destroyed it in the process, in my opinion, created a very serious environmental problem and a potentially costly problem for the city of Starke,” Still said.
Pursuant to the environmental resource permit issued by the water management district for this property, the district will be held harmless from any liability from the construction, operation or maintenance of the project. Any maintenance of the project, including the routine removal of sediment and debris, will be Starke’s responsibility once postconstruction monitoring is complete.
“One real question that I think we need to be concerned about is, ‘Is the city of Starke responsible for potential upstream flooding damages, if in fact the water management district is relieved of all of its liability?’” he asked.
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. The photo of the motorized car was taken in April. Since then, it has been covered by even more trash and debris, he said.
“The sand, in some cases, that’s been deposited is 18 inches to two feet deep,” he said.
If this sediment and other blockages are not removed, Still said they could potentially cause flooding upstream, with the permit making the city of Starke liable for damages. He said the Edwards Bottomlands Project may already be restricting flow of water in the creek. Nine of the 10 historic Alligator Creek crests have taken place since the project was completed, he said.
“This really should be telling us that the project must have had some impact on the flow of water down Alligator Creek to cause this sort of distortion in the history of what’s going on in Alligator Creek. The only peak that was higher was (Hurricane Irma) in 2017 and Irma was a major deal,” he said.
Further, while the water management district is using contractors to monitor the site during a five-year period to determine whether the wetlands mitigation was successful, they do not appear to be performing the required maintenance, according to Still. He noted that wetland plant species and trees planted have not survived or are not growing as normal, meanwhile invasive plant species have taken root with the potential to spread further downstream. Both conditions are contrary to standards set by the permit.
Still said the monitoring reports don’t appear to reflect the conditions of the site. Bradford Soil and Water Conservation District’s attempt to obtain the most recent documents from the current year were met with a $100 request from the water management district. The city needs the reports if it does not already have them, he said.
A separate permit from the Army Corps of Engineers requires a five-year monitoring period. If performance standards have not been met for wetlands mitigation at the end of that period, the permittee must begin a remediation program. The project was divided into three phases, and the monitoring period for the first phase ended last month. Again, Still said the soil and water board doesn’t know the status because it could not obtain the 2024 monitoring reports.
Remediation, including removal of invasive species, sediment and trash, as well as replanting of wetlands species, would come at a big cost, according to Still.
Still also raised another specter. He said a draft permit application from Chemours has requested to move 3 million gallons of water per day from the Trail Ridge South Mine up to a treatment system.
“The problem with that process that we see is this water has been demonstrated to be high in radium, and if you move that high radium up here, then it potentially is going to end up in Alligator Creek,” Still said. “They can treat the radium. They can do what’s called a barium precipitation, but then that is taking it out of the water, but it’s put it in the solids. And so, when you have a rain event that has serious flows across this system, it theoretically can pick it up and move it on down. And if we have a flood situation, then it can get in people’s houses and so forth. So, we were concerned about this.”
Bradford Soil and Water Conservation District has asked that this provision be removed from the permit, he said.
City commissioners were grateful for the presentation and concerned by what they heard. General Manager Drew Mullins said the information had been communicated to the water management district, which has forwarded it to its consultants. Attorney Danielle Adams said their office would be happy to take the lead and work with city staff to determine how they can help.
“In my opinion, we don’t need to be in the conservation business as a town,” Mayor Andy Redding said, noting that one section of the creek flows through Starke. “Obviously, we need to manage what we can manage, but I do not like that this was put in our laps. And it seems to me, and my understanding is, the water management district basically prescribed the plan, somewhat administered it, and then everything else, at the end of the day, they say, ‘It’s your baby.’”
