Residents on private canals in Lake County need to READ this.
The first step to create a County legal process, "Canal Assessment Procedures" for residents on Lake County private canals to vote and tax themselves to fund dredging of "private" canals (using what is known as an MSTU or MSBU for you tax geeks) to remove silt will be discussed at the Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, 9 am meeting of the County Board of Commissioners at the County Administration Building in downtown Tavares on Main St.
So attend or watch the meeting online via the County website to keep updated. This Dec. 3rd agenda item is ONLY to approve advertisement of the proposed County Code, with public hearings to follow. If you attend the meeting, it is agenda item 22, and that is AFTER workshop hearings on a Noise Ordinance, Affordable Housing & a Homeless Shelter and a State Road 50 related ordinance. So it could be 1-3 hours after 9 am or after before this canal issue is discussed.
If you DO want the Board to approve a new method to tax and fund canal owners for canal dredging and maintenance, let the Board members know now, but there really isn't a good alternative to funding silted up canals. The funding method will not cost other residents anything, it will just create a County Code to legally let residents initiate, vote and tax themselves over TEN years for canal dredging. It will also require new tax assessments on future canal residential lot improvements to provide ongoing maintenance funds which don't exist for existing canal-based residences.
The Dec. 3 meeting is just to APPROVE advertising the proposed County Code and related public hearings, so there will be public hearings at future dates. So, you could wait until the future hearings are scheduled to email, call or provide public input on the issue.
If you want all the gory details about my opinion why this is a great thing for canal residents, then read below.
Once residents approve a dredging tax, the County would administer the legal aspects, floating bonds, and the work. Which is probably better than residents raising their own funds and letting someone's Uncle "good deal" Harry do the work.
If you are a private canal resident, I suggest you go to the County Board website and download the FULL 371-page meeting packet pdf, then read the section for Agenda item 22 under Public Works. Or, you can just read the 16 page .pdf extract of that agenda item 22 section I created below which includes a summary of the proposed Ordinance. The relevant changes are in RED.
Download 2019-12-03 Agenda 22 - Canal Dredging Ordinance
This means that if more than 50% of your canal neighbors vote for a canal maintenance tax, you will be taxed also, even if you voted against it.
And it means that if the tax is approved, it will most likely be used to float a bond to do the work upfront. So, bond issuers will love this program.
The proposed ordinance ALSO amends current code so that any developer of NEW canal residential development Plats must provide a process to create an assessment on canal related lots for canal maintenance. (Read the details in the pdf above). They also specify the "assessment" (like an HOA fee?) will cover "canal maintenance, including but not limited to dredging, management of invasive vegetation, and removal of navigational hazard within the canals". ( sunken boats or fallen trees?)
I live on a canal, and have followed the issue that no County or other program exists to fund dredging of canals that get silted up. (The same affects private lakes, but that is another subject). Residents in older communities on canals are just left to their own to "deal with it".
The County and most cities generally say a resident living on a private road (usually dirt ones) or on a private canal is responsible for road or canal maintenance. The County or State will only provide maintenance for "public" canals connecting water bodies such as the Dora Canal, usually defined as having public access with a PUBLIC boat ramp or providing through traffic for boaters. But, we canal owners KNOW that most boaters use our "private canals" for fishing and tourism anyway. Theoretically, they should be considered "public" but that is another challenge for later.
For residents on private roads, the County Board of Commissioners has a program that allows them to vote to tax themselves over a period of time to pay for paving and road work. For dirt roads, it seems the County does do some maintenance to ensure fire and ambulance vehicles can access them. But if a majority of the residents want to pave the road, they can vote to fund it themselves by using a process allowing the County to add a tax to their property to pay the costs over 10 years or longer. I have witnessed hearings on that process 2-3 times while attending Lake County Board meetings.
But no such process exists for residents on private canals. I have proposed at Lake County Board meetings and the Lake County Water Authority that the County develops a funding process like that used for private roads, along with canal resident Linda Rawley Moss who has a Facebook group "Lake Jem Clean Water Project" which you should join. Also join my Facebook group "Let's Fix Lake County, FL Water Quality".
The Lake County Water Authority (LCWA) is not involved in this. Linda Moss frequently asked them to take leadership, but they refused to fund dredging or take leadership in providing a dredging solution. The County Board was the one that has supported action on this.
So, NOW, with help from County Commissioner Sean Parks, and constant lobbying by Linda Rawley Moss, the Lake County Board will consider establishing a new County Code to establish a process to let canal owners vote for and tax themselves to dredge or maintain private canals they live on.
As mentioned above, it is agenda item 22 on the Dec. 3rd County Board agenda. Read the above pdf, and canal residents should plan to attend the two future hearings and recommend any changes or direction to County Board members by then.
References:
- County agenda for the Dec. 3 meeting - Click "Download packet" to get it.
- Linda Rawley Moss's Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1456662031117223/
- My Facebook group "Let's Fix Lake County, FL Water Quality": https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vance4Water/
Vance Jochim
FiscalRangers.com
