Winter Haven Considers Water Plan Update

Winter Haven officials are poised to make some changes in the city’s long-term water policy in its growth plan.

The first hearing will occur before the Planning Commission May 2, followed by a transmittal hearing by the City Commission May 22. A transmittal hearing involves sending the proposed changes to Tallahassee for review and comments. Final action is scheduled for sometime in July.

The details are in the agenda packet are on the city’s website. Despite the recent redesign, getting information on planning still takes a few clicks to burrow far enough into the sit to find.

This is not a major overhaul, but does include some changes intended to make the city’s plan conform with Polk County and Southwest Florida Water Management District plans.

One of the centerpieces remains a plan to gain credits to pump more groundwater by making improvements in the Peace Creek system.

Some points I noticed in the plan were:

It uses a goal of lowering average per capita water use to 120 gallons per day, which is lower than current average consumption of about 129 gallons per day, in projecting future water demand.

It calls for “periodic” reviews to determine whether water consumption is affecting lake levels, but doesn’t define how often the reviews would occur, what the thresholds would be and what actions would result.

It calls for revising the development code to require Florida-friendly landscaping in new developments and in redevelopment projects.

It would extend the deadline for phasing out residential irrigation water meters from 2017 to 2022.

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Posted in Group Conservation Issues.