Disclosure: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a financial sponsor of Central Florida Public Media but has no editorial role or say in its coverage.
Lake County commissioners decided Tuesday it was too early to even talk about whether they should revisit a permit involved in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s plan to expand a private airstrip in the Ocala National Forest.
They voted to table extended discussion, though they did hear from several concerned members of the public.
If the project were to move forward, it would affect more than 30 acres in the national forest, according to documents submitted by the university to the United States Forest Service. The agency recently approved Embry-Riddle’s application for a special use permit to access and work on those federal lands, including by cutting down some 20 acres of trees in the national forest.
RELATED: Embry-Riddle airstrip expansion would clear acres of trees in the Ocala National Forest
The airstrip and the concerns
Embry-Riddle paid $3 million last year for nearly 119 acres of private land within the national forest.
A private airport with a grass landing strip, Deep Woods Ranch, sits on that land. The university wants to expand the airfield for training purposes, including by adding a paved landing strip and a hangar.
The proposal has prompted lots of concern from area residents, not least because the Forest Service exempted the university from the Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Assessment typically required during the federal agency’s review process.
Nikki Maxwell, an official spokesperson for the agency, previously said Embry-Riddle’s proposal was being reviewed under a categorical exclusion “reserved for activities the Forest Service has long determined do not typically create significant environmental impacts.”
Residents believe the project would, in fact, affect the environment in significant ways.
Parcels and a permit
Lake County originally issued a conditional use permit, or CUP, for the private airstrip and supporting structures in 1987. In 2006, the CUP was amended to subdivide the property into several parts, including one parcel just south of Deep Woods Ranch.
Richard Graham owns that parcel of land, also covered by the CUP. He says the existing runway ends about 10 or 15 feet from the edge of his driveway. But the university’s construction plans don’t reflect that reality, Graham told commissioners on Aug. 4.
“The current construction plans do not properly identify my easement for both access and my other
easement for utilities,” Graham said. “Things are going so fast, and I see the plans that are being submitted, and we're not in on any of those conversations. And they're inaccurate.”
At the Aug. 4 meeting, commissioners advised Graham to have his lawyers send in more information. At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners had planned to talk about whether they should consider reopening the 2006 CUP. If so, they would look at whether Embry-Riddle’s proposal exceeds the terms of that permit.
On Tuesday, Graham’s lawyer, Billy Dove, asked commissioners to postpone the discussion to another meeting in the near future, once all affected property owners have had time to bring back “a fully analyzed picture.”
Graham’s legal team has been “in conversations” with Embry-Riddle and a third property owner also covered by the 2006 CUP, Dove said. “We are all three aligned that it would be preferred to table this vote.”
‘For the county as a whole’
Ultimately, commissioners voted Tuesday 4-1 to table the discussion, with District 1 Commissioner Anthony Sabatini voting against.
“Respectfully, it is not for one applicant, one owner, one citizen. It's for the county as a whole,” Sabatini said. “There's 460,000 people in the county; the owners are a portion of that. I care about what everybody has to say.”
Sabatini said he’s been hearing “unilateral complaints” that Embry-Riddle’s plans to expand the airfield into a training facility for student pilots exceed the entitlements approved under the 2006 CUP. Several residents raised that concern Tuesday, along with concerns about how the proposal could affect the area’s natural environment.
Chairman and District 4 Commissioner Leslie Campione said the discussion should be postponed for a “due process” hearing, per property owners’ request. “They are asking us to let them all get together, get with (county) staff, and see what they can work out.”
Some residents expressed concern that county staff could approve the university’s proposed site plan before such a hearing takes place. County Attorney Melanie Marsh confirmed that, so long as they meet the county’s land development regulations, site plans are generally administratively approved by county staff.
Still, Campione insisted, it’s not the last chance for the public to weigh in.
“Even if (staff) said yes to the site plan, this issue of whether there's going to be a CUP hearing still has to come back to us,” Campione said, and that’s what the property owners have asked for.
‘That’s our aquifer’
Once Tuesday’s motion to pause the discussion was on the table — but before commissioners had voted on it — residents who wanted to weigh in on the Deep Woods Ranch proposal got their chance. Marsh said residents could speak Tuesday or “hold their comments for when or if” the issue were to return to the board.
County resident Diana Williams said she’s concerned about how an expanded airport in the Ocala National Forest could affect water quality, pointing to nearby Clay Lake and Mosquito Spring.
“That's our water. That's our aquifer,” Williams said. “This isn't just about Rich Graham's property. This is about a national forest.”
Cliff McCall said, as a pilot, he’s seen firsthand how flight schools can affect a given area: “the constant noise, the constant traffic.”
“I'm not against flight schools or training or anything like that. There is a place for that,” McCall said. “But in the middle of a national forest? I don't believe it's the right place for it.”
In a letter to the Forest Service last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service evaluated how the proposed airfield expansion would likely affect several vulnerable wildlife species, ultimately determining it is “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the species.”
However, individual animals could be killed or otherwise harmed, according to USFWS. Eastern indigo snakes, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, could be “incidentally injured or killed” by motorized vehicles and heavy equipment used at the site during construction.
“Snakes can also be buried in their burrows and other refugia,” according to the USFWS.
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Heavy equipment could also “crush and kill” monarch butterflies throughout all life stages, including eggs and larvae, which “are expected to be lost,” according to the USFWS. Monarch butterflies are currently proposed to be listed as threatened under the ESA.
Originally, a biological assessment commissioned by Embry-Riddle and submitted to the Forest Service indicated the proposed airfield expansion was “not likely to adversely affect” monarch butterflies. Now, though, a revised version of the biological assessment states the project is indeed “likely to adversely affect” the species.
Thinning parts of the forest could potentially “benefit butterfly numbers and reproduction,” though, according to the USFWS. “We expect this activity will improve habitat suitability on-site to some degree by increasing population of pollen and nectar plants.”
Two federal agencies have given it the go-ahead, but the future of Embry-Riddle’s proposal still isn’t clear. The university’s application for a stormwater discharge permit remains pending with the St. Johns River Water Management District.
