Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
County officials last week asked the City of Monticello to return a $4 million grant that the state awarded the two local governments back in March for extension of a sewer line from the city’s wastewater treatment plant to the Lloyd interchange at I-10 and SR-59.
After receiving the funding, an engineering assessment determined that the sewer extension to Lloyd was not feasible, prompting local officials to petition the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO), which had awarded the grant, to be allowed to use the money for the upgrade of the U.S. 19 sewer infrastructure. Which change the FDEO had approved.
Recently, however, the FDEO changed its mind and informed the city that the money had to be used for the Lloyd interchange as originally intended.
City officials, several of whom have been unhappy with the arrangement with the county since the beginning, were ready two weeks ago to return the grant, based on the FDEO’s latest mandate. The city officials, however, were convinced by two large property owners in Lloyd to postpone a decision on the grant to allow time for the exploration of alternative options.
Although the city is the prime recipient of the grant, execution of the sewer project is largely dependent on the county, which is why the issue came before the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Dec. 1. City officials essentially had asked their county counterparts for input on what should be done about the grant, given the FDEO’s most recent decision.
Taking the lead in the discussion and strongly arguing for a rejection of the grant were Commissioner Chris Tuten, chair of the Economic Development Council (EDC) and newly elected chair of the commission; and Commissioner Austin Hosford, newly elected to the board for District 4.
The two stated their positions upfront, arguing for the need to protect the county against uncontrolled growth.
“The problem with this,” Tuten said of the FDEO’s instructions to return the project to Lloyd, “is that the engineer that we (EDC) hired to look at the Lloyd project said it was not feasible. So what we would like to do is have the board ask the city to return the grant and start again and figure it out from there.”
Hosford was equally clear on his position.
“I want sewer in Lloyd when the time is right, but now is not the time,” Hosford said. “We are very close to being able to update our comprehensive plan, change our land code uses and change our building codes. I hate to send the money back, but if we allow this project to happen now, we’re opening the door for unchecked and uncontrolled growth. I just ran a campaign for nine months talking about controlled growth. That’s what put me in this seat and that’s what I intend to do. Let’s protect this county and let’s look at the big picture 10 years down the road and not just right now.”
Arguing against the rejection of the grant were Clerk of Court Kirk Reams; David Barrett, owner of a 60-acre parcel zoned commercial near the interchange; and W. Crit Smith, whose family owns properties zoned commercial and industrial in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the interchange. The latter two individuals were the ones who earlier had convinced the Monticello City Council to postpone a decision on returning the grant.
Reams argued strenuously for keeping the grant, offering that the county was putting the cart before the horse.
“We applied for all this stuff for Lloyd, but we didn’t have a preliminary engineering study done,” Reams said. “I mean a full-fledged study like the one that Mr. (Fred) Beshears had done privately for Trulieve in Waukeenah. We really need to think about getting a study like that done, because we don’t really know for sure right now. An official high price study, they are about $70,000; one hasn’t been done to say, it’s not feasible to run a line out to Lloyd from the city. We need to know all these things.”
In fact, at least two engineering studies have been done on the project, one of them involving an unauthorized expenditure, which latter study ultimately proved of little value, as far as city officials were concerned.
The sewer project, Reams continued, was one that he and several others had been working on for a long time. At present, he said, other grants besides the one from the FDEO were available for the Lloyd area. One, he said, was a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to help get people off of septic tanks. And a second for the same purpose was from the RESTORE Act, he said.
“We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do with all this money that we’re being given,” Reams said. “I really think that a more official study, like what Mr. Beshears had done for Trulieve, really needs to be done, so we can’t just say, so and so said this. It’s needs to be something that’s paid for, and that way we’re not operating off stuff that’s just out there. I really think we need to have that done, because it’s very prudent to know whether it’s feasible or not…Because we’ve asked for all this money, and quite frankly, we look like fools to ask for something and then say, well, we don’t really know if we can use it or not.”
Barrett conceded “being late to the fight,” saying that his only previous involvement with the project had been signing a letter of support early in the process when the FDEO grant had been sought. Next thing he knew, the funding had been approved, which had made good sense to him, he said. Then there had been the hoopla about transferring the funding from the Lloyd interchange to the U.S. 19 corridor, which is what had gotten him involved in the issue, he said.
“I’m here to tell you tonight that I don’t think there has been good leadership by the owners and people in the Lloyd area,” Barrett said. “But we would like now the opportunity to look at whether there is a reasonable alternative to allow the properties that are zoned commercial to develop as intended, without doing harm to anybody in the neighborhood.”
He reminded the board of the city officials’ decision the previous week to postpone a vote on the grant until after the holidays, figuring that not much business would get done in the interim anyway.
“So, why not defer doing anything for 60 to 90 days and let those people who own properties in the area and who have invested in the properties take a look and see whether or not there may be a way that is financially and economically feasible,” Barrett said. “ What I’m suggesting is that the FDEO has said there is no timeline. We’re willing to work with you. I’m suggesting that you do nothing. Give us an opportunity. As late as today, I met with some engineers over the issue of what volume and capacity would work that would be economically efficient. And there are ways that it can be done, without the county having to be liable for exceptional situations. So I suggest you give us an opportunity, even though we’re late to the party, to look at a way to get sewer for proper development and you all can still control what can be built.”
Smith likewise argued for time to explore alternatives.
“We’ve been told by the FDEO that nothing has to be done now,” Smith said. “We can look for alternatives. Nothing has to be done in one month, two months or three months. I understand that the grant was to the city and that it was for Lloyd. There were extensive studies done to allow the grant, probably over a year’s worth of studies. Not by the city or the county, but by independent people, people that the FDEO relied on. They determined that Lloyd was the number one site between Jacksonville and Pensacola. So, it wasn’t granted to U.S. 19; you moved it to U.S. 19. I think what the FDEO said is that it should go where the study said. It seems to me there is no reason to ask the city to give back the grant while there are still opportunities to be explored. I would ask you all to defer this.”
An attorney, Smith also subtly suggested that the county had failed to give proper notice that a decision on the issue would be reached at the present meeting.
Tuten and Hosford, however, remained adamant in their positions.
Tuten noted that engineer Frank Darabi, who had been involved with the Lloyd sewer project since its inception about 2007, and whom the EDC had hired to assess the project, had determined it was not feasible.
“We looked at the numbers, we looked at the maps, and it’s just not possible to pump sewage that far,” Tuten said.
He further had a problem with putting a wastewater treatment package plant in Lloyd, he said.
“The problem with having a package plant there is that if we pay for it, we’re responsible,” Tuten said. “I don’t know about the rest of the board, but I don’t want to be in the sewage business. The other side of this is that if a private entity puts in a package plant there, how can we mandate folks to hook into a plant that’s owned by a private entity. We have no control what they charge, we don’t know what it’s going to be, and if they don’t have hookups to make it work, the whole system shuts down and we have a package plant not being used. I think what we need to do is to use our resources, partner with the city, and focus on development in the US 19 corridor like we were going to do with the $4 million.”
He put it more plainly.
“I think we can partner with the city on U.S. 19, because that’s where our growth needs to be,” Tuten said. “The FDEO thinks Lloyd is the prime spot, but that’s Tallahassee telling us where the prime spot is. We know where the spot needs to be; and that’s the U.S. 19 corridor. The infrastructure is already there, it needs to be updated, and that’s where we need to focus our resources.”
Hosford was equally clear.
In his view, he said, putting off the decision 60 or 90 days was simply delaying the inevitable. One of his issues, he said, was the strings that came attached to the grant, referring to the 538 jobs that the project must create. This requirement, if the community fails to meet, means that it will have to repay the $4 million.
“But my bigger issue is, and what put me here, is protecting Jefferson County from unwanted growth,” Hosford reiterated. “I’m not anti-growth, I do want sewer in Lloyd at some point, but it’s got to be done at the right time so that we can protect the people who live here and protect the rural character of this county.”
To him, he said, the more immediate and important task was to update the comprehensive plan, a process that could well take more than a year.
“So, to me, that’s a huge issue,” Hosford said. “If all the ducks were in line, I would say, yeah, we could put sewer in Lloyd. But right now, we would be putting ourselves in a very vulnerable position for the people that live in that area.”
He cited for example the Dollar General Store that was recently built in Lloyd in what he said everyone knew to be a wet area, although it’s not designated as a wetland on the official maps. His point, Hosford said, was that given the present state of the comprehensive plan and land development code, if an entity checked all the boxes correctly, a project could move forward absent review by the planning and county commissions.
“We haven’t updated our comprehensive plan in 10 years, and we haven’t really dove into the details in 20 years or so and a lot has changed in that time,” Hosford said. “Especially since the Amazon facility went up in Leon County, there is huge pressure to develop and grow. I get that. But I’m not willing to just jump in right now because we’re not ready, until we update our comprehensive plan.”
Two other commissioners expressed varying degrees of concerns about the project. Commissioner Stephen Walker admitted being uneasy about the requirement of the $4 million having to be repaid if the project failed to create the required number of jobs. He thought the private sector should undertake the project.
Commissioner J. T. Surles mentioned ongoing discussions about a private entity bringing a wastewater facility to Lloyd.
“I actually spoke to the contractor yesterday,” Surles said. “They reached out to me. It’s in its infant stage right now, but I think they are going to have a workshop. That helps me with this decision to return the money, knowing that somebody is willing to go out and create their own wastewater facility down there to incubate their dreams and whatever they want to do.”
Commissioner Gene Hall alone voted against returning the grant.