NOTICE: Stormwater Permit Hearing for Proposed Wal-Mart Site
(Alachua, FL) (ERP 05-0518)
Location: Live Oak, FL - Suwannee River Water Management District
Headquarters (Corner of US 90 and CR 49)
Date: June 13th, 9:00 am (see attached agenda), Public Comments Are Welcome Please attend this meeting to help accomplish a deferral of the June 13th vote and gain the necessary protection for the Mill Creek Cave System and Hornsby Springs. District staff have recommended the permit for approval, however a permit application that generates a lot of heated public discussion may not be voted on at the first hearing and can be heard two or three times, each a month apart, before being voted on. That gives us more time to gain the necessary protection that is warranted in this area. The proposed Wal-Mart site is located on top of the sensitive Mill Creek Cave System, which is connected to the first magnitude Hornsby Spring on the Santa Fe River, as well as Darby Spring and the water well at Camp Kulaqua. This means that stormwater runoff could carry pollution from the proposed lawn and garden chemical storage, oil change station, 18 gas pumps, and parking lots directly into our groundwater (drinking water) via existing or new sinkholes on the site and poorly designed stormwater ponds. (See background information below.) Comments can also be sent to the Governing Board prior to the meeting: Address: Suwannee River Water Management
Attn: Governing Board, ERP #05-0518
9225 County Road 49
Live Oak, FL 32060
Email: cheshire_l@srwmd.state.fl.us Background Information and Concerns -- Dye studies completed in the summer of 2005 show conclusively that water from Mill Creek Sink flows to Hornsby Spring on the Santa Fe River through the Mill Creek cave system, as well as Darby Spring and the Camp Kulaqua water well. The travel time was as short as 12 days, or about 1/2 mile per day. -- There are numerous private water wells between the proposed Wal-Mart site and Hornsby Spring. -- Hornsby Spring is a privately owned first magnitude spring that flows into the Santa Fe River. The River is designated as an Outstanding Florida Water. -- Test borings submitted with the ERP application show that (like many sites in this part of Alachua County) the proposed Wal-Mart site is prone to sinkhole formation. -- It is not clear that anything can be done to assure that the large-scale excavation required to build the dry retention ponds will not cause physical harm to the mapped cave system or collapse unmapped conduits under the site. -- If the cave conduits are collapsed, it is unknown where water flow from Mill Creek would go, but significant flooding of the area around the I-75 interchange is possible and/or injection of water directly into the aquifer as it backs up in Mill Creek. -- It is not clear that anything can be done to assure that stormwater runoff from the proposed Wal-Mart site can be kept out of the cave system under all circumstances. Recent rainfall events associated with hurricanes (e.g., 20 inches per 2 weeks in Sept 2004) have been larger than the rainfall rates typically used to engineer stormwater treatment systems. -- The DOT stormwater management system at the I-75 interchange was built before current water quality regulations were passed. Overflow from the proposed Wal-Mart site would be directed into this system, which directly discharges back into the Mill Creek floodplain without water quality treatment. --The entire I-75 interchange is in need of a stormwater master plan and retrofit that gives better protection to Mill Creek, Mill Creek Sink, local groundwater, and the cave system that flows to Hornsby Spring and the Santa Fe River. Download and view maps and site plans:
http://www.afn.org/~sfswg/download/WMartSSAlachua/
SRWMD Governing Board website:
http://www.srwmd.state.fl.us/about+the+district/governing+board/default1.htm Karen Hill
Pandion Systems, Inc.
4603 NW 6th St.
Gainesville, FL 32609
Ph: 352-372-4747
Fax: 352-372-4714
http://www.pandionsystems.com | 
