PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: Honorable Chairman DATE: 2/1/2002 FILE: CAO 02-2823
Members of the Board
of County Commissioners
THRU: Robert D. Sumner RE: Wellhead Protection-Proposed
Amendments to Pasco County
Land Development Code –
Chapter 612
Introduction: 3/5/02
FROM: Joseph D. Richards
Assistant County Attorney
It is recommended that the data herein presented be given formal consideration by the Board of County Commissioners.
DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS:
On June 12, 2001, the Board directed staff to begin work on amending the current Land Development Code Section 612, Wellfield Protection, to ensure that our ordinance provides the necessary protections for the zones of contribution for public water supply wells. A copy of my June 2001 board memorandum is attached for your reference.
These changes are mandated by Pasco’s Comprehensive Plan and the Settlement Agreement with Citizens for Sanity, et al.
We now present the proposed amendments to the Wellfield Protection Ordinance. This draft ordinance provides substantial more protection than previously existed in the Land Development Code. Groundwater protection is provided through land use restrictions within the wells zones of contributions. Two degrees of wellhead protections are provided within the zones of contribution to the public supply wells within Pasco County as well as the zones of contributions that extend into Pasco County from wells located just outside our borders.
Wellhead Protection Areas (WPA’s) are set up for the five year, WPA 1, and ten year, WPA 2, travel time - the time it takes a particle of water to travel from a given distance to the wellhead. We have also established a protection scheme for “special protection areas” which will enable the County to protect special hydrologic features, which supply drinking water to our citizens. (These special protection areas will be identified in the
future as special features are identified). The areas of protection do not prohibit all any development within the areas, but rather restrict those types of land uses with the greatest potential to contaminate drinking water supplies. The Wellhead Protection Ordinance will be applied to particular parcels of land through the development of wellhead protection area maps. These maps will show the overlay districts based on the five and ten year travel times with a 200 feet buffer required for technical variations area as recommended in the study prepared by Metcalf & Eddy.
Some of the uses restricted in WPA 1, include land fills, discharges of liquid or solid wastes, concentrated animal feeding operations, mining, or borrow pits and uses that handle treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste or generate hazardous waste. Residential uses will be allowed provided that they are connected to public sanitary sewer. In WPA 2, between the five and ten year travel time, restricted uses include wastewater treatment plants, waste disposal operations, and hazardous waste handlers. Other land uses will be allowed subject to incorporation of best management practices to limit the potential exposure of the groundwater to contamination.
This ordinance will be prospective in nature in that any existing uses, which would be prohibited within the wellhead protection areas, will be allowed to remain as non-conforming uses subject to certain restrictions. Those restrictions would prevent expansion or increase in a non-conforming use and any uses utilizing on-site sewage disposal would have to connect to the public sewer system, when it becomes available.
The ordinance also provides for general exemptions such as the limited handling of regulated substances in office buildings and by janitorial services and the ordinary
application for pesticides and herbicides provided the activities are conducted in accordance with all applicable law and regulations. The ordinance will also provide the County with the authority to regulate the location of new public water supply wells to ensure that such wells are not located in areas which would be in violation of the restrictions contained in this ordinance.
This ordinance and associated comprehensive plan amendments along with the Metcalf
& Eddy groundwater study satisfy the wellhead protection requirements of the Citizens
for Sanity Settlement Agreement.
Because this is a Land Development Ordinance, we must hold two public hearings ten days apart and one hearing must be held in the evening.
ALTERNATIVES AND ANALYSIS:
The Board of County Commissioners is requested to consider the following alternatives:
1. Direct staff to schedule this draft ordinance for a public hearing March 13, before the Citizens Ordinance Review Committee and for two public hearings March 26, and April 10, before the Board of County Commissioners at least ten (10) days apart with one hearing being held in the evening and properly advertise the meetings.
2. Direct staff to some other course of action.
RECOMMENDATION AND FUNDING:
The County Attorney’s Office, with the concurrence of the Growth Management Department, recommends that the Board of County Commissioners accept alternative number 1.
No funding is need for this action.
JDR:mjc
Attachments: Proposed Amendments to the Wellfield Protection,
Land Development Code Chapter 612
cc: John J. Gallagher, County Administrator
Douglas S. Bramlett, Assistant County Administrator (Utilities Services)
Bipin Parikh, Assistant County Administrator (Development Services)
Samuel P. Steffey, II, Growth Management Administrator
Cynthia Jolly, Development Director
Debra Zampetti, Assistant County Attorney (Zoning)
Joseph Gross, Supervisor Code Compliance (Code Enforcement)