Officials reach provisional deal to relieve Silver Oaks flooding
The plan, which would allow water to be pumped into Geiger Pond, awaits approval by the Zephyrhills City Council.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published October 23, 2004
ZEPHYRHILLS - A tentative plan to relieve flooding in the Silver Oaks subdivision would allow pumping of floodwater through a culvert along Eiland Boulevard and into Geiger Pond.
As water from the summer's storms filled the Silver Oaks golf course, flooded streets and crept into a few homes, the city sought a court injunction to pump that water through nearby Betmar Acres.
Residents of the vast mobile home park objected to the city's move out of concern for flooding on their own streets, but a judge allowed the pumping.
Last week, city and county officials, along with members of Silver Oaks Homeowners Association worked out a deal that might prevent such conflicts in the future.
Pasco County proposed that a reclaimed water line running from the county wastewater treatment plant on Eiland Boulevard at Handcart Road be used to pump water from Silver Oaks.
Water would flow through a culvert on Eiland, west to Geiger Pond. The pond still is under construction and nearly collapsed in the aftermath of Frances.
The plan has approval from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
City Manager Steve Spina, in a memo to City Council members, said the arrangement is a rare opportunity. Council members must approve the deal. They are scheduled to discuss it in a meeting Monday night.
"I have been told that this is an unusual concession being offered and one that will not again be given lightly," Spina wrote.
He pointed out that Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb, who allowed the pumping into Betmar Acres, also criticized the city's inability to find a solution to the perennial flooding in Silver Oaks.
"It is my concern that should we not support this effort at this time, that the court would not be receptive to emergency pumping if we are faced with another storm of significant magnitude," he wrote.
The Silver Oaks Homeowners Association, which has hired its own attorney, would be responsible for all costs.
