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Groundwater areas to be reviewed, commissioners say

By DON RUANE, Fort Myers News-Press


The water and mineral resources of Lee County’s designated groundwater storage areas should be studied before a decision is made to allow mining in those areas, county commissioners said Monday.

Once the study of present conditions and a review of earlier studies is completed, the county can consider mining and other uses in the area, Community Development Director Mary Gibbs said after the commission’s monthly management and planning meeting.

Gibbs and her staff will prepare a scope of work for the study and bring that back to the commission for approval in September or October. It could be a year before the results are available. The cost could be $100,000, Gibbs estimated.

Interest in the new study rose this year as Lee County amended the land development code as it applied to mining. While mining regulations were tightened, a staff-produced map showing where mining should be allowed was dropped for lack of documentation. Residents opposed to mining operations near their homes along Alico and Corkscrew roads and mining interests called for fresh information.

On June 24, the commissioners agreed the first study in about 12 years should be done.

Corkscrew Road resident Kevin Hill said the two-phase approach discussed Monday was a good one. It should help to ensure that county policy is based on sound science and that residents’ concerns are heard, Hill said.

County Commissioner Ray Judah pressed to include information about the vegetative cover of the recharge areas. Some parts have been altered and may not be as useful as recharge areas any longer, he said. The commission might decide those areas are better suited now for residential development, he said.

The proposed study doesn’t look far enough into other uses of the land, according to Gary Davis, director of environmental policy for The Conservancy of Southwest Florida. About 16 percent of the original recharge area in southeast Lee County has been diverted to other uses, such as mining and agriculture, he said. That affects wildlife, wetlands and flowways, Davis said.

 

 

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