Seminole County accepts $328 million stormwater master plan; commissioners press for city coordination and funding plan

Seminole County commissioners on June 23 accepted an updated stormwater master plan that consolidates basin studies and ranks 106 projects countywide — 85 primarily for flooding mitigation and 21 focused on water quality — with a combined estimated cost of about $328 million.

Public Works Director Tonya Alore and Assistant County Engineer Joe LaPasso presented the plan and said it is a “living document” intended to support future funding applications to federal and state programs as well as partnerships with municipalities. Jacobs Engineering’s Ricky Lee described the prioritization method: seven evaluation criteria (flood protection 35%, water quality 25%, plus ease of implementation, operations and maintenance, alternative funding potential, water‑augmentation benefits and community enhancement), normalized against cost to produce a benefit‑cost ranking.

Commissioners focused their questions on practical implementation. Commissioner Loizides asked what coordination had occurred with the seven municipalities that border unincorporated areas and whether downstream effects had been identified; staff said basin studies logged city conversations for specific projects (for example, a Little Lake Howell project coordinated with Winter Springs). Commissioners asked that project sheets be annotated where city cooperation or downstream impacts are necessary. Other questions centered on recharge and augmentation versus water quality safeguards, and how legacy subdivision retrofit projects were accounted for; staff said they would review which older retrofit projects were included and report back.

Commissioner Lockhart and others pressed the board to confront the funding shortfall: staff estimated the 106 projects cost roughly $328 million and acknowledged only eight projects are in various stages of development under current third‑generation funding. Commissioners asked staff to identify partnership and funding mechanisms and to mark projects that require right‑of‑way acquisition or wetland mitigation. Commissioner Delari moved to accept the stormwater master plan into service and asked staff to address board comments; the motion passed unanimously.

Staff said the plan will be used to pursue federal and state funding, to program projects into the county’s Accela and capital project systems, and to return with more detailed analyses of older retrofit sites and upstream/downstream coordination.