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SWFWMD Insists County Get Permits For Flooding Fix
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Published: September 26, 2008
PORT RICHEY - Regional water regulators have told Pasco County it must dismantle its temporary fix for a flooding problem along Ridge Road that left a mobile home park submerged or apply for a permit for it.
The county would also need a permit if it wants to install additional drainage culverts under Springer Drive as part of efforts to correct the flooding problem in the area, according to the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Pasco County officials had hoped Brooksville-based SWFWMD would declare the temporary pumping set-up and the Springer Drive culverts exempt from state permitting requirements.
Residents of the Suncoast Gateway Mobile Village, at the corner of Ridge Road and Leo Kidd Avenue, found streets under water the week of July 13 because of heavy rains. The scene was reminiscent of standing water problems after a series of hurricanes in August and September 2004 – despite extensive drainage improvements made in 2006.
In a Sept. 23 letter, Richard Owen, SWFWMD's deputy executive director for resource regulation, informed James Widman, the county's engineer services director, the county needs a permit if it plans to leave the emergency pumping system in place. The district staff has determined the pumping set-up is a "surface water management system," according to Owen's letter.
The Florida Administrative Code requires a permit to create and operate a surface water management system, Owen wrote.
Installing the culverts beneath Springer Driver would also create a surface water management system that would require permitting, Owen wrote in a second Sept. 23 letter to Widman.
The deadline to apply for both permits would be Oct. 24, Owen wrote in both letters.
A staffer at the county's Engineering Services Department said Thursday afternoon department officials had not yet seen the letters from Owen and declined to comment on them.
An obstruction might have clogged drains south of Springer Drive, but the county did not have permission to go onto private property to check. That's when the county put up the emergency pump to deflect water into the U.S. 19 drainage system.
The same drainage system that serves the mobile home park also serves the Congress Street area and the Magnolia Valley area, along Massachusetts Avenue in New Port Richey.
After the 2004 hurricane season, the county cleared and expanded ditches alongside Congress Street. The county then tripled the capacity of the culvert at Rees Street and Springer Drive.
Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.
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