Water District Buys Lake Properties

BROOKSVILLE | Regional water officials agreed Tuesday to buy out five more property owners in connection with plans to raise the level of Lake Hancock.

The purchases involve property along Lake Hancock and along Saddle Creek north of the lake that would be susceptible to flooding when the Southwest Florida Water Management District raises the lake level from 98.7 feet to 100 feet above sea level.

Lake Hancock is a 4,519-acre body of water between Lakeland and Bartow at the headwaters of the Peace River.

The extra water will be used to replenish flow in the Upper Peace River to comply with a 1972 state law that requires water management districts establish minimum flows for rivers, and to come up with plans to restore flows if the rivers don't meet those minimums.

The Peace River's flow has been diminished by overpumping from the aquifer.

Tuesday's purchases brings the total to $83.3 million, the bulk of it consisting of the $38.2 million paid for a 1,177-acre Hampton ranch in March and the $30.5 million paid in 2003 for the Old Florida Plantation property.

Expenditures, which include the property purchases and any lawyer fees, approved Tuesday were:

Eddie and Rosie Griswold, Jacque Le Lane, $453,200.

Margaret and Thomas Edwards, Jacque Le Lane, $438,000.

Thomas and Kenetha Heape, Jacque Le Lane, $714,000.

Ronald Armstrong, Saddle Creek Farm Road, $50,000.

Richard E. Spencer, East Saddle Creek Road, $438,400.

In other action Tuesday, Governing Board members agreed to buy a 2.5-acre tract in the Green Swamp in Lake County near the Van Fleet Trail for $2,500. The property is owned by Steven and Margaret Vegso of Waynesville, Ohio.

Board members also approved an environmental permit for 818-acre Hammock Lake Mitigation Bank in Haines City, which is proposed by the Orlando-based mitigation bank to sell credits for wetlands impacts in the Ocklawaha River Basin.