Leon County is investing $70,000 to create a stormwater model of the Miccosukee Greenway after its flood study ruled out three of four potential causes of a 2024 flooding event that left parts of the trail inaccessible for nearly a year.
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Leon County is building a stormwater model to pinpoint what caused the Miccosukee Greenway’s 2024 flood
The funding comes from the county’s Stormwater Infrastructure Preventative Maintenance Capital Improvement Program budget.
Eric Draper, a volunteer with Capital City Cyclists and avid user of the Miccosukee Greenway, recalled the impact of the flooding.
“The trail itself was flooded for months and months, almost a year, and people couldn’t use the park,” Draper said.
The countys recent flood study ruled out three contributing factors: soil percolation in the wetland, dam seepage, and a valve malfunction at Dove Pond.
A letter from the attorney for Dove Pond LLC, the dam’s owners, stated inspectors found “no appreciable leakage into either vault” and that the “Dove Pond stormwater management system appears to be functioning in a manner consistent with its intended design.”
A second letter, sent to the owner of Dove Pond LLC by the Northwest Florida Water Management District, reiterated that the pond “appears to be functioning as designed and permitted” after reviewing inspection records.
Draper said understanding the source of the flooding is critical to protecting the greenway long-term.
“Having an understanding of where the floodwater is coming from, we need to have a stormwater plan that will make sure that the park is available for people and also available for wildlife,” Draper said.
Assistant County Administrator Nawfal Ezzagaghi said the stormwater model will allow the county to make targeted, responsible infrastructure investments.
“That’s where the model comes in, so we’re not guessing, Okay, what are we going to put here? We will know at that time exactly what the issue is, what the solutions need to be, and invest our dollars into that responsibly,” Ezzagaghi said.
He says a consultant would collect detailed data about the terrain to build the model.
“You’re talking about things like terrain elevations, terrain cover, some data that is related to engineering speak,” Ezzagaghi said. “If you have culverts, you know, are they concrete? Are they metal pipes? So, you have ditches. Are they a foot deep? Are they two-and-a-half feet deep? So, all these things are collected by the surveyors.”
Terry Ryan, president of the Tallahassee Region Environmental Group, supports the county’s plan but wants officials to take a second look at the dam structure, claiming that it hasn’t been inspected since 2019.
“Well, our position is that the owners of the dam should have come in before the dam we had the flooding out here. What they’re saying is that everything’s okay now, over two years after the flooding event,” Ryan said.
A representative from the Northwest Florida Water Management District says the dam is in compliance with the original permit, and that the owners are not required to inspect it.
There is no project schedule yet, as the county is beginning the process of engaging a consultant to develop the model.
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