High Spring City Commission addresses shrinking springs, moves forward with school zone cameras and vehicle chargers

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At their October 12 regular meeting, the High Springs City Commission heard concerns about our local springs, including sinkholes, reduced water output, and the possibility of more springs turning from blue to brown in color. Commissioners also moved forward with plans for a small number of electric vehicle chargers downtown and traffic cameras at school crossing zones, and the police department received a donation for a new police dog.

Concerns about springs

Robert Knight, Executive Director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, began his presentation by saying, “We have the Florida Springs Welcome Center up on Main Street… We love the painting on the wall there, showing that High Springs is really the gateway to the ‘Springs country.’ I was asked to talk about the sinkhole activity at Blue Springs.” He said Gilchrist Blue is a second-magnitude spring with an average flow of about 25 million gallons a day. Historically, he said, the flow had been “quite a bit higher than that, but its flow has declined because of groundwater pumping. It’s a beautiful spring. Many of our springs have gone brown on the Santa Fe River, with tannic river water going into them. Gilchrist Blue hasn’t done that.” He mentioned Poe Springs and Hornsby Springs as examples of springs that have gone from blue to brown, making them less appealing.

Knight discussed a recent sinkhole: “July 15, 2023, (Gilchrist Blue) just instantaneously turned brown. It was particulate material that just filled the whole spring. Water levels fell… maybe half a foot or so, and then over a period of 24 hours the spring recovered and turned back blue again. It looked like the flow stopped for a moment, as the water levels went down and then came back to normal. And we went out the next day; the Springs Institute did, as well. We met the Water Management District out there and measured the water quality, measured the flows, and just assessed if there was any effect on the health of the spring, which we determined there really wasn’t. The water quality was the same, the flows were pretty much the same that we’ve been seeing, but physically there was a change in the spring, and what we noticed was that part of the basin of the spring–that is the hole in the ground that you see and you dive into when you go down into the where the vents are, where the caves come out–had enlarged during this event…  What happened was apparently a sinkhole opened up underneath the spring, not next to the spring, not in the cave that the spring feeds, but actually underneath the basin of the spring, a ‘classic cover collapse sinkhole’ it’s called… That’s the way that spring was created historically. All these springs are old sinkholes, and there were times when they had no flow thousands of years ago, and there’s times when they had a lot of flow in the past. But that’s just the way springs form, and so what this appears to have been was a cover collapse… They immediately got everybody out of the water. It doesn’t have any permanent consequence other than it’s actually enlarged the spring’s basin, which is the way springs grow.”

Knight continued, “It does indicate that we do have a problem… with groundwater pumping. We are pumping… close to four billion gallons a day, per day, from the Floridan aquifer… Even more than that is permitted through existing permits, so the effect that that has on the springs is that there is less water during periods of drought. The springs get all their water from rain, and so when we have less rain during periods of drought, the spring flows decline naturally. But they decline more now because of the groundwater pumping that we’re doing. We’re using the same water for our use, for our bottled water, for our baths, for washing our cars, that would come out of the spring… Everybody in North Florida… is using the Floridan aquifer for their water supply, and that includes irrigation, too.”

Knight read from a resolution passed by the Commission in 2012: “It ends with ‘Whereas, the position of the High Springs City Commission is the health of the Santa Fe River and spring system is critical for a healthy local environment, and a failure by the state’s water management and water quality agencies to protect these natural resources will cause substantial and irrevocable harm to the economy of High Springs and Alachua County’… Remember, this city more and more is dependent on nature-based tourism, and our springs are what we’re seeing people coming to High Springs for… You may want to think about adopting a new resolution and going to the State again.” He mentioned the State has been ignoring their requests for information and concerns about pumping.

In response to a question from Commissioner Katherine Weitz, he further addressed springs turning brown: “Poe Springs… used to be a blue spring, and it’s not anymore. It hasn’t been since 2012. I hate to see that for our next springs downstream… Gilchrist Blue is the next one downstream, and Ginnie is just downstream from that. And those two spring systems are a really big part of our economy… God forbid that we see Blue Springs go brown. In (Hurricane) Irma, the river came up so high that it flooded brown water into Blue Springs. There was enough pressure… to keep the water from going down into the aquifer… It did cover the spring for a long period of time. It killed off all the vegetation in the spring. It’s one of the things that dark water does–it cuts the light out, and so the plants all die. But that’ll just happen for a longer time, and eventually, if we keep pumping more and more water and we get hit by a bad drought, Blue Springs will reverse, and that’s certainly not something I want to see.” 

David Lynch spoke during public comment: “The people of High Springs want to keep High Springs as a small town. I urge the Commissioners not to approve any more large developments. Each new house that is built takes water away from the springs.”

Electrical vehicle charging stations

City Manager Ashley Stathatos introduced the next item: “This is an agreement with Duke Energy. It’s basically to participate in a program for electrical vehicle charging stations. They would like to start with two in the city. Some locations have been discussed, but there is not an exact location decided upon. And so, if the Commission approves this agreement and they decide to move forward, then we will discuss potential locations… The agreement… is based for 10 years and with an extension period. It has a 30-day out if either party wants out. The cost to the City would be the depreciated value of the charging station… We talked to Extreme Exposure regarding how their charging station was doing. They are getting around one user per day. It’s being used around an hour and 12 minutes, but at the same time, it just was placed there, and so not everyone knows it’s there yet.”

Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham added, “The primary location they’d like to put it at is here at City Hall. They would like to do two by the Caboose back here, utilizing those two back parking spots… There is no out-of-pocket expense for us. It’s just basically an agreement that they can use our property.”

Weitz expressed concerns about a potential lack of parking at City Hall, but some of the employees in the audience indicated they didn’t think it would be an issue for them. Gillingham emphasized the proximity of City Hall to shopping and dining locations downtown. No members of the audience wished to speak. 

Commissioner Tristan Grunder made a motion to approve the agreement with Duke Energy, and Commissioner Ross Ambrose seconded the motion. It passed unanimously. 

School zone cameras

High Springs Police Chief J. Antoine Sheppard spoke: “We had a previous conversation… about RedSpeed, a provider for safety in our school zone. That’s the purpose of this topic today, and this is only an informational topic. It’s not an action item. It’s for this gentleman to give us some information and for you to give us some consensus.” 

Randall Rhymes, Senior Operations Manager for RedSpeed, played a video to begin his presentation. The video said that under Florida law, cameras can be placed in school zones to enforce speed limits, and anyone exceeding the posted speed by 10 mph or more can receive a citation. Cameras are paid for with money from the fines (no out-of-pocket cost to the City). License plate readers are active at all times and connected to larger networks; they are useful for tracking stolen vehicles and wanted suspects. Additionally, the cameras are always recording all activity into a video archive. These videos may be useful for solving crimes or proving claims of liability. Rhymes said RedSpeed keeps 35% of the fines to cover operating expenses. 

Screenshot from video, showing how the cameras are able to determine speeds of cars in different lanes.

Ambrose asked whether the license plate readers and video archives are always active. Rhymes said those features are always active, “24/7.”  

Rhymes added that the license plate readers can even alert law enforcement if someone designated as a sexual offender or predator is making a habit of driving in school zones. In response to a question from Commissioner Byran Williams about enforcement of the fines, Rhymes said that holds are placed on the vehicle registrations of those who haven’t paid their fines. He added that the high-quality cameras work well in all weather.

Given the positive reaction from the Commissioners, City Attorney Scott Walker said he would bring the RedSpeed traffic cameras back to the Commission for a vote at a future meeting.

Donation toward K-9

Earlier in the meeting, Sallie Milner, President of the High Spring’s Women’s Club, spoke during public comment: “I would like for Chief Sheppard to come up here. Recently, we asked the Chief where he needed help. He told us he needed money toward a police dog. Well, now, we’re good,… but we can’t come up with $8,000 to help him. But as a start, we would like to make a donation of $550 toward that dog.” 

After applause from everyone, Sheppard responded, “Thank you on behalf of the High Springs Police Department. Ladies of the Women’s Club… have been so supportive of our agency my entire career here for 23 years. So, thank you so much.” 

  • Traffic cameras are nothing more than a money grab by both the vendor ‘providing them at no cost out of pocket’ and the municipalities getting in bed with them.

    If the worry is truly safety in the school zones, continue to have an officer present as they do now. I believe the city is only getting excited about a potential stream of money.

    • At least they are making an effort to bring in revenue and eventually lower their millage rate. That’s more than can be said for Gainesville where they want to drive away businesses and revenue. Just don’t speed in the HS school zone and you’ll be fine.

    • It’s interesting how the cameras are placed there for school zone safety (school zones active for 3-4 hours per school day), yet they record 24/7. This is an unwarranted invasion of privacy and the next step towards tyrannical surveillance, all in the name of protecting the children.
      Doing the math, the school zone is active ~12% of the time, with ~88% of the recording time being an unnecessary surveillance effort. I don’t oppose the 12% use, but the other 88% needs to be shut down.
      We’re citizens, not subjects!

  • Do these peolle know Wes Skiles? He could tell em exactly where the “brown color “originates

  • Which direction does the aquifer flow from, the part reaching the springs there in that area? Is it from the south (western Alachua sprawl area) or, from the north (Okefenokee Ga. and Suwannee river areas)?
    If it’s from the south, where the aquifer recharges under all that sprawl, then the springs are screwed. But if it’s from the north, you better hope Lake City doesn’t boom, either.

  • Our problem does not stem from how much water we pull from the aquifer. Our problem lies in the false narrative that we can “recharge” the aquifer, which is wrong, especially by allowing urban wastewater to disappear into sinkholes, like what happens to Prairie Creek, Sweetwater Branch, Hogtown Creek, and Lake Alice, to mention a few. Every creek and stream in Alachua County terminates at a sinkhole, where millions of cubic feet of polluted water enter our aquifer daily, bringing thousands of pounds of nitrates and phosphates to the pristine Floridan Aquifer DAILY. This alone is the reason our springs are green with slime.

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