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Commission backs Marion County plan to relocate Salt Springs water plant amid resident concerns over wells and park impacts
Summary
The planning commission recommended approval of a special use permit to relocate and expand a Marion County water treatment plant in Salt Springs, including two 12‑inch wells and two 10,000‑gallon tanks; residents pressed for guarantees on mandatory hookups, hydrologic impacts and park preservation.
The Marion County Planning & Zoning Commission on April 27 voted to recommend approval of a special use permit to relocate a county water treatment plant to a Marion County parcel near Salt Springs.
Sarah Wells (Growth Services, speaker 20) described the conceptual plan: two 10,000‑gallon storage tanks, a 200‑square‑foot electrical/chemical building, a standby generator and two 12‑inch potable wells. The proposed site is county‑owned and adjacent to a sheriff's substation, fire station and a community park. Staff recommended approval with conditions.
David Tillman of Tillman Associates (speaker 19) said relocating the plant from federal land to a county parcel reduces potential impacts to springs and places the facility on county‑owned, appropriately zoned land. "We're moving [the wells] further north, which reduces potential impacts," Tillman said, adding that permitting requires drawdown testing and modeling with the water management district.
Residents raised repeated questions about potential drawdown of nearby Lake Kerr and private wells, noise and loss of public park space. Larry Jones noted the spring produces large flows and said he fears impacts to Lake Kerr; Don Regna and other neighbors said the park is the community's only public green space and warned of decreased property values and noise.
On hookups and rates, staff and the applicant said existing homeowners would not be required to connect unless a new home is built within 400 feet of a line (a county standard). Tillman said that mandatory hookup policy is controlled by the Board of County Commissioners, not by the project permit. "I can't provide written protection on mandatory hookups; that's a Board decision," he said.
Commissioners pressed for confirmatory studies and noted required regulatory steps: consumptive‑use and drawdown analyses to be reviewed by the Water Management District and FDEP permitting for any applicable equipment. Staff also said lighting would be shielded and that the project includes landscaping and an opaque fence for buffering in some locations.
The board voted to recommend approval with staff conditions; staff and the applicant said the county utilities department will provide some park improvements tied to the project and that the project will be subject to standard county and state permitting, monitoring and mitigation requirements.
