At its August 8th Public Meeting, the County Commission moved to hold all meetings regarding the proposed revisions to the County’s Stormwater Treatment Manual/Ordinance during evening Public Meetings to ensure the community has an opportunity to weigh in on the discussion.

The Commission had planned to hear a status report on the manual’s progress including testing results from Alachua County Environmental Protection Department (EPD) staff—which staff first presented at the Joint Water Policy Committee at its regular afternoon meeting on Monday, August 7th—at its regular meeting August 22nd.

However, by scheduling the meeting for September 12th at 5 p.m., the BOCC now has the option to vote to advertise the Ordinance for public hearing after receiving the EPD staff report.  

The Chamber has been closely monitoring the progression of the proposed updates as they could create significant obstacles to development across the entire county. In particular, the proposed revisions could effectively remove the potential for employment or activity centers in the eastern third of the county. Moreover, implementing the full Ordinance provisions could cost tens of millions of dollars while reducing nitrates in our water bodies by relatively insignificant amounts.

Results from five case studies presented at the Joint Water Committee meeting—designed to determine the costs of the new regulations by applying them to existing projects around the county—showed the potential for cost increases up to 98 percent.

County staff also expressed concerns during the meeting that fertilizer applications are having a much larger groundwater impact than previously thought and so have concluded that further study is needed on “upstream” sources of nitrogen contamination. As such, staff informed the Committee of their intention to further study the proposed revisions, with the intent of identifying and adding potentially less expensive, more effective solutions into their recommendations for the groundwater protection standards. Hence, the staff recommendations for the new Ordinance is to reserve standards for the groundwater protection components until further information is available.

When it comes to this issue, the stakes are high for businesses and citizens alike. Members are encouraged to attend and speak up at the September 12th County Commission meeting.  Watch your inbox for reminders that the Chamber will distribute once the meeting agenda is released by the County. 

In the interim, please contact Grassroots Engagement Manager Vicki Gervickas at vicki@gainesvillechamber.com to let us know if you plan to attend, or if you have questions on the issue prior to the meeting