No. CS/CS/HB 4095
Filed under Environment & Water.
Headwaters Water Control District, Indian River County; Creates Headwaters Water Control District as public corporation; provides district's charter; provides status & boundaries; provides minimum charter requirements; provides for maintenance & use of certain canals; provides requirements for charter amendments; provides applicability of specified laws to district; provides severability.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCreates the Headwaters Water Control District as an independent special district and public corporation covering 19,691 acres in Indian River County, exercising the powers Florida law grants to water control districts under chapter 298.
A five-member Board of Supervisors runs the district, elected by landowners on a one-acre, one-vote basis rather than one-person, one-vote. The charter can be changed only through a future act of the Legislature.
Land inside the new district still falls under the comprehensive plans and zoning rules of the City of Fellsmere and Indian River County, and under a 2007 annexation agreement covering the same area.
The new district takes over maintenance of the Lateral U Canal and part of the Main Canal from the existing Fellsmere Water Control District, which is released from liability for those segments but keeps its own canal duties elsewhere.
AIEstablishes the Headwaters Water Control District as an independent water control district and public corporation with a defined 19,691-acre boundary in Indian River County, giving it the statutory powers of a chapter 298 water control district.
AIThe five-member Board of Supervisors must be composed of landowners, or officers of landowner entities. Both the right to serve and the right to vote depend on land ownership, weighted one-acre-one-vote rather than one-person-one-vote or residency.
AICreating the district does not lift local land-use control. Land inside its boundary must still comply with the comprehensive plans and land development regulations of the City of Fellsmere and Indian River County, and with an existing 2007 annexation agreement.
AIThe district's charter cannot be amended by its own board, by Indian River County, or by the City of Fellsmere. Any change requires the Legislature to pass another special act.
AIThe new district takes over dredging and vegetation management of the Lateral U Canal and one mile of the Main Canal from the existing Fellsmere Water Control District, which is released from responsibility and liability for those segments while keeping the rest of the Main Canal and the Park Lateral Canal.
AIIf one district lets a shared canal fall below its required service level, the other may fix it after 30 days' notice and bill the non-complying district, including attorney's fees. Disputes over changes to the shared water control plan go to the Division of Administrative Hearings, with each side paying its own legal costs.