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Commissioner raises water‑use and fertilizer runoff concerns about Tomoka Hills golf course plan
Summary
A city commissioner reported April 24 that Alachua County staff identified a 250,000‑gallon‑per‑day consumptive‑use permit for the proposed private Tomoka Hills Golf Course and warned that fertilizer applied with every irrigation could increase nutrient runoff to downstream water supplies.
A High Springs commissioner reported April 24 that a planning presentation for the proposed Tomoka Hills Golf Course in Alachua County revealed a consumptive‑use permit allowing roughly 250,000 gallons per day of irrigation for the private 18‑hole course and described irrigation practices that raised concerns about fertilizer runoff.
The commissioner attended Alachua County’s planning meeting as a private citizen and said Alachua County water‑resources staffer Stacy Greco presented recommendations to reduce risk, including reducing the size of the stormwater pond and using soil amendments. The commissioner said the course designer told the meeting that the operation combines fertilization with irrigation — effectively fertilizing every time irrigation runs — and that the water‑management district had already issued the consumptive‑use permit.
The commissioner said the permitted daily withdrawal equaled what an entire nearby town (Archer) is permitted to withdraw for residential customers and expressed concern because potable water for parts of the area is downstream of the project site and because the Cross‑County Fracture lies beneath the site. The commissioner urged that the developer agree not to irrigate during the rainy season to reduce fertilizer runoff and said the county staff’s recommendation to reduce the stormwater pond’s size (to reduce sinkhole risk) did not appear to be accepted by the project designers.
The commissioner said they would forward the county presentation to city staff for the commission’s review and raised ecological concerns, noting algae growth observed in the Ichetucknee River that they attributed to nutrient runoff.
The commission did not take formal action on the Tomoka Hills plan at the meeting but the commissioner asked staff to review the presentation and the recommendations Stacy Greco provided.
