Nesta questions whether homeowners are aware of the latest extension
The Apopka City Council on Wednesday approved funds to continue the pumping project at Border Lake through the end of August.
The council voted 5-0 to provide money to continue renting equipment used in the pumping. However, one council member raised questions about whether homeowners were made aware that the city intends to keep pumping.
Continued rental of the pumping equipment until Aug. 31, the last date of the project’s authorization period, would ensure its availability in case bad weather jeopardizes its progress, public works director/city engineer Vladimir Simonovski said in his overview of the Border Lake pumping plan at the City Council meeting.
If the rental company took out the pumps, the equipment would be hard to set up again and finish pumping by Aug. 31. The city also would have to fund the mobilization and set up costs again, Simonovski said.
The Border Lake temporary flood mitigation plan began June 26 and has been progressing well, meeting engineering projections, according to the presentation.
The city, which is trying to reduce the water levels in area lakes by a foot, expects to meet target levels in all affected lakes because of the pumping project. Without extending the funding for equipment rental, the project would have expended all the current funds that the City Council approved by budget amendment last March.
The city has additional funds amounting to $25,784 from its stormwater fund to finish the first pumping phase, Simonovski said.
Council and city staff discussed whether homeowners were truly aware that the pumping project’s timeframe is being extended.
Commissioner Nick Nesta brought up what he called inconsistencies on the June right-of-entry forms versus the paperwork homeowners signed last March. Comparing the two sets of documents, Nesta pointed out differences in driver’s license details, home addresses and proper names.
Mayor Bryan Nelson said the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) accepted the updated forms despite their incompleteness.
Nesta said he wanted to ensure that residents were aware of the extension and the papers’ validity.
“I just want to make sure that they truly are the ones that signed these,” Nesta said. “So that’s my questioning, and that’s why I’m asking it. I want to make sure our residents are informed.”
The inconsistencies between the March and June documents stemmed in part from the city collecting signatures not only from the home renters, but also the homeowners themselves. The SJRWMD directed the city to get both types of signatures, Simonovski and Nelson said.
When Nesta asked if the homeowners would be aware that the pumping project would be extended until the last date of August, Nelson said he didn’t know. Simonovski said he didn’t have paperwork details from March, but he did have the ones from June.
Nelson said that SJRWMD’s approval “is the only one that matters” in greenlighting the Border Lake pumping project, adding that the District was the one that informed the city about obtaining the right-of-entry forms.
Nesta made the first motion for the Council to take action on the pumping extension.
“I just want to say, before I motion, that I will agree to this with the understanding that these [forms] are accurate and true,” Nesta said. “That’s the only thing I have to go on, is that the residents know what you provided they know that we are extending this.”
Over the years, homeowners have expressed frustration over the city’s handling of flooding among the chain of lakes – which Border Lake is a part of – in the Piedmont-Wekiwa Road/S.R. 436 area.
The chain of lakes in the Piedmont-Wekiwa Road/S.R. 436 area has been prone to flooding over the years.
In October 2024, the Hurricane Milton aftermath caused flooding and other problems for local homeowners especially in Wekiva Village, a community located on Piedmont-Wekiwa Road.