Florida Senate - 2010 SB 560
By Senator Constantine
22-00318-10 2010560__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the restoration of Lake Jesup;
3 requiring the Department of Environmental Protection,
4 the St. Johns River Water Management District, the
5 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the
6 City of Sanford to develop a plan concerning the
7 progress of the commission’s project to restore
8 aquatic habitats in Lake Jesup; requiring the
9 commission to report to the Legislature concerning the
10 development of the plan; providing that the
11 acquisition of a site to dispose of muck from the
12 project is a conservation and restoration acquisition
13 under the Florida Forever program; encouraging state
14 agencies to help fund the removal of muck from Lake
15 Jesup; providing an effective date.
16
17 WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the importance of
18 improving water quality in surface waters having regional or
19 statewide significance, and
20 WHEREAS, Lake Jesup, a lake that fluctuates with the St.
21 Johns River system and encompasses between 9,150 acres at low
22 water and 13,034 acres at high water, is an important natural
23 resource of regional and statewide significance, an important
24 economic resource, and a habitat for resident and migratory fish
25 and waterfowl, and
26 WHEREAS, historically, Lake Jesup has been a primary
27 destination of sport fishers, a navigable waterway, and a
28 waterway capable of supporting commerce, travel, and recreation,
29 and
30 WHEREAS, endangered species, such as the manatee and bald
31 eagle, and species of special concern, such as the ibis, wood
32 stork, and sandhill crane, use this lake and basin as habitat,
33 and
34 WHEREAS, hundreds of thousands of visitors are drawn to the
35 area around Lake Jesup each year, and
36 WHEREAS, the water quality, fisheries, and other biological
37 communities of Lake Jesup have deteriorated, and
38 WHEREAS, various state, federal, and local governmental
39 agencies have been engaged in a coordinated and scientific
40 approach to the restoration of Lake Jesup for some years, and
41 WHEREAS, governmental agencies have purchased more than
42 8,500 acres around the lake for purposes that include
43 conservation and recreation as well as restoration of Lake
44 Jesup, and
45 WHEREAS, a mitigation project of the Department of
46 Transportation removed a 2-mile berm from Lake Jesup which
47 returned a substantial amount of navigability to the lake and
48 allowed an additional 300 acres of the lake’s floodplain to
49 again help filter particulates from the lake and absorb the
50 lake’s nutrient pollution while increasing the lake’s ability to
51 store floodwater and provide valuable habitat for plants and
52 animals, and
53 WHEREAS, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has
54 embarked on a plan to restore aquatic habitat in the lake in
55 order to rehabilitate the lake’s fishery resources, and a
56 significant component of that plan requires removal of the large
57 amount of muck that is now lying on the bottom of the lake and
58 that is more than 9 1/2 feet thick in some areas, and
59 WHEREAS, while significant progress has been made toward
60 restoring Lake Jesup by the governmental agencies involved in
61 this restoration project, the progress of the project is stymied
62 by challenges associated with obtaining necessary permits for
63 the muck-removal phase of the restoration, and
64 WHEREAS, a parcel of land that the City of Sanford has used
65 as a sprayfield for effluent from its wastewater treatment plant
66 may be highly suitable as a muck-disposal site, NOW, THEREFORE,
67
68 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
69
70 Section 1. The Department of Environmental Protection, the
71 St. Johns River Water Management District, the Fish and Wildlife
72 Conservation Commission, and the City of Sanford shall
73 diligently work to develop a plan to allow the removal of muck
74 from Lake Jesup in Seminole County to proceed, which is
75 contemplated by a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
76 project to help restore the aquatic habitat in the lake. The
77 commission shall report to the Legislature concerning the
78 group’s progress toward this goal on October 1, 2010, and on the
79 first day of each third month thereafter until any site needed
80 for the disposal of muck has received all necessary state
81 permits or it is determined that muck removal can proceed
82 without a site for the disposal of the muck. The acquisition of
83 a muck-disposal site is a conservation and restoration
84 acquisition under the Florida Forever program created in s.
85 259.105, Florida Statutes, the goal of which is to improve and
86 sustain the ecological integrity of Lake Jesup. Each state
87 agency is encouraged to expend funds to assist in the removal of
88 muck from the bottom of Lake Jesup.
89 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.