By Christopher Curry
Ocala Star-Banner
03/31/08

OCALA - The future of Marion County's legislation to clean up and protect Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs remains murky.

The task force that the County Commission appointed to recommend changes to the failed springs protection ordinance was originally supposed to get back to commissioners by the end of March, which did not happen.

Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, state Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation, has unveiled his own bill to launch a pilot springs protection program around Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs in Marion County.

Saunders' bill has caused some heartburn locally. County Commissioner Stan McClain said he supports springs protection, but did not like the "top down" approach coming from Tallahassee.

"It needs more local input," McClain said, "It's top down legislation that tells us what we need to do and what we don't need to do."

County Commissioner Jim Payton, an outspoken critic of the property tax cuts the Florida Legislature placed on local governments, said the Legislature does not "appear to want to let local governments handle local affairs."

In a phone interview Friday, Saunders said he had received "mixed signals" from Marion County about the legislation. But he said those could be ironed out.

"My concern is if we cannot pass legislation to help protect the springs in Marion County, where the county has been aggressive in protecting the springs, I'm not sure if we can have legislation to protect the springs anywhere in Florida," Saunders said.

He did not shy away from the controversial issue of septic tank regulation in his proposed legislation. The bill would require the Department of Health to inventory all septic tanks in designated springs protection zones by the end of 2009. Every five years, each septic tank in the zones would have to be pumped by a licensed professional, who then would have to check with the DOH if the tank is OK for continued use or needs to be replaced.

The bill limits the amount of nitrates that wastewater treatment plants and septic tanks in the designated springs protection zones may discharge. It would require property owners using septic tanks in those zones to hook up to a central sewer when available, unless the Department of Health grants an exemption. Also, the Department of Environmental Protection plans to establish total maximum daily loads of pollutants for both springs and to prepare a basin management plan.

McClain said he prefers springs protection legislation that state Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, and state Rep. Debbie Boyd, D-High Springs, have introduced. It would create a temporary task force to study the springs and prepare an action plan for protection.

Saunders says he has no problem with the task force and added the language of Oelrich's bill to his proposal. Saunders said that may convince Boyd to sponsor his bill in the House, where it has no sponsor yet.

But Saunders said studies have been done before, including under the Florida Springs Task Force in 1999. At some point, he said, government has to take action.

"If we simply pass legislation to create another study, all we've done is create more paperwork," he said.

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