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B00F. 92 349 <br />MAY 0 3 f fl4 <br />zones that we designed and planted, that inspection went well <br />except that the inspector found that wetland and decided it -is time <br />to assess it. That is when the letter came out saying, "It is not <br />performing like we expected." Since that time we have conferred <br />with staff to evaluate our options and what we can do to enhance <br />that wetland. One option is to lower the floor of the wetland. <br />There is about a 2-1/2 foot differential, which means you have to <br />dredge off six inches of organic matter on top, stockpile it, <br />remove two feet in order to get that wetland floor low enough to <br />match the water table in that area, and remove that excess dirt to <br />some other location. We felt that was onerous and very expensive. <br />With environmental scientist, Ed Weinberg, it was decided that a <br />better approach would be to utilize the existing golf course <br />irrigation system with an automatic valve to provide water to the <br />wetland. SJRWMD basically agreed to that plan, but once that work <br />is accomplished they want it to be monitored from that point on. <br />Commissioner Bird recalled that he looked at this site before <br />we built this golf course, and a person could walk across any part <br />of it and never get the soles of his feet wet. It did not bear any <br />resemblance to any kind of wetland he has ever seen, but it was <br />definitely a depressed area in the middle of a fairly high 40 -acre <br />area. Commissioner Bird recalled that he questioned whether it was <br />a wetland, but SJRWMD and the other experts came out and said they <br />felt it is. -So we constructed- a very expensive elevated bridge <br />across it in order to preserve _it, and today that wetland is <br />flourishing. Commissioner Bird did not know what kinds of plants <br />or animals are in that wetland, but it is tremendously overgrown, <br />much more than it was before we started. He advised that SJRWMD <br />came back and said, "Well, yeah, it's better than it was and it's <br />got a lot of plants and a lot of critters in it, but it's not <br />exactly what we had in mind. We think it ought to have more of a <br />wetland -type variety plant." Commissioner Bird felt that they now <br />want us to go in, after the fact, and enhance it way above and <br />beyond what it ever was to start with. Commissioner Bird agreed to <br />do whatever it takes to appease SJRWMD, without expending a <br />tremendous amount of money and without disrupting the play on the <br />golf course. Commissioner Adams asked if that enhancement <br />involves the plants or the quality of water we put out there. <br />Mr. Pitchford responded that it involves both. We are putting <br />the water in a wetland area in a flooded zone. It is not spray <br />irrigated: It will have an automatic valve to flood the wetland <br />and it will be monitored by the golf course staff to keep 6 to 12 <br />inches of water in that wetland from this point on. We also have <br />begun removal of some of the unwanted species using inmate labor. <br />22 <br />