Wakulla County OKs plan to pursue county-owned upgrade in East Wakulla sewer study

The Wakulla County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to accept a feasibility study and advance Dewberry Engineers' Alternative 3 recommendation for sewer upgrades in the county——

The recommendation "assumes that Wakulla County would obtain ownership of Winco, construct transmission mains to redirect flow from Saint Mark's and River Plantation Estates, decommission Saint Mark's And River Plantation Estates, and upgrade Winco's capacity to accept flow from Saint Mark's And River Plantation," County staff told commissioners. The motion to pursue Alternative 3 passed unanimously.

The nut graf: the study recommends shifting wastewater from two smaller plants on the St. Marks River and the Wakulla River to a larger, upgraded plant in the county's northeast to reduce environmental risk and expand capacity. The board emphasized that accepting the study does not commit county tax dollars to construction without further review.

County staff and Dewberry engineers told the board the alternative would allow the system to serve more properties: "have more capacity that we can bring, what was it, 962 more lots onto the system," a commissioner said during discussion. Commissioners asked staff to return with a full funding plan and cost estimates before any construction authorization.

Board members and staff outlined next steps: review and seek Florida Department of Environmental Protection input, pursue competitive grants and state appropriations, and, if needed, place the project on next year's legislative priority list. County staff said the intent is "not to spend county tax county dollars on this, but ... we'll take this plan ... to review it with DEP to get their blessing on the plan. There's a ... line of grants that are out there ... this will be our top project, that we'll be applying for."

Dewberry representative Trevor Burch attended the discussion and remained available for follow-up questions. No binding construction contracts or financing commitments were approved at the meeting; commissioners approved direction to proceed with Alternative 3 and to return with detailed cost, grant strategy, and timeline for further decisions.

The board recorded the motion and vote on the study recommendation as passed, 5-0.

Looking ahead, commissioners said staff will bring a full project package for review before the county pursues grants or authorizes spending.