Mosaic to backfill former dairy ponds; county mining staff seeks recorded performance bond

Hardee County mining staff briefed commissioners on April 3 about an application to permit a land excavation and reclamation project at an old dairy site and associated borrow pit, saying the county requires a recorded financial surety before issuing the operating permit.

Mining coordinator Deb Butler explained that excavation permits are required for disturbances larger than 1 acre and that some agricultural ponds are exempt unless material leaves the site. She described the project — on a 320‑acre parcel south of a Mosaic pipe-extrusion facility — as an approximately 5‑acre excavation with a maximum depth of up to 20 feet if needed; the reclamation work will backfill dairy ponds and regrade and grass 3.04 acres.

Butler cited Community Development application dates and the county resolution approving the project’s subdivision (Resolution 2024‑504) and said the application to the Mining Department was deemed complete on March 6, 2025, but “the financial surety needs to be approved before I can issue the operating permit.” She said the county anticipates a performance bond of $15,000 per acre, for a total of $45,600 for the 3.04 reclaimed acres, and that a bondability letter has been provided.

Beau Connolly of Kimberly Horn & Associates, the consultant on the permit application, told the board the on‑site ponds have already been drained and the pond materials removed in accordance with state standards. He described the borrow‑pit process succinctly: “All we need is dirt from point A to point B, and then we’re then we’re done, and we can close out the reclamation process for the dairy.” Connolly said fill will be hauled directly on site and that no dump trucks will haul material off public roadways for this contract.

Butler and Connolly reviewed a submitted grassing/vegetation plan and said inside slopes will be regraded to a 4:1 ratio to about 6 feet below normal pool elevation, then vegetated to stabilize banks. Commissioners asked about pond water and wastes (Connolly said pond solids/removed materials were handled under state disposal rules) and whether the new excavation will leave a pond (staff said the reclaimed area will include a pond with stabilized banks and vegetative cover per county ordinance).

The application history presented on the record indicates community‑development and mining permits were applied for in 2024, additional information requests were completed, and the operating permit is pending recordation of the performance bond.