Commission Meeting Agenda Item

On June 17, 2019, the Town of Lady Lake entered into a Sewer and Water Utility Agreement to service approximately 40.35 acres located west of Cherry Lake Road and south of County Road 466 in Sumter County, Florida. As per the terms of the agreement the Town agreed to serve the property with 47,975 gallons per day of water and sewer capacity. Prior to that agreement, an agreement was executed on October 4, 2007 for the same property to reserve 38,025 gallons per day in water and sewer capacity. Together the capacity of both agreements equates to 86,000 gallons per day in reserved capacity to service the property.

In conjunction with the execution of the agreement in 2007, the property owners at that time agreed to construct the necessary infrastructure to connect the Town of Lady Lake’s existing water, sewer, and reuse service lines to the 40.35 acres lying in Sumter County.  Although the property is situated in Sumter County, the property is surrounded by properties of the Villages. Because the land is not a holding of the Villages, they will not allow connection to the Villages Utility Infrastructure. In turn, the property owners were left to seek connection to the Town of Lady Lake for central service, despite being in a different county and water management district. In 2008, the property owners financed and completed the expansion of the water, sewer, and reuse infrastructure to Cherry Lake Road so that any future development of the property would have connection to the Town of Lady Lake’s utilities.

Upon completion of the utility extension, the subject 40.35 acres of property sat idle for years. Just recently, in 2019, approvals were granted through Sumter County for development of the parcel. Concurrent with the development approval process, it was realized that although the utility agreement of 2007 had been executed by both parties, a modification of the Town of Lady Lake’s Utility Service Area boundary needed to be amended through the St. John’s River Water Management District (SJRWMD) in order to serve the property under the Town’s Consumptive Use Permit. Through coordination of the SJRWMD, Southwest Florida Water Management  District (SWFWMD), Sumter County, and the Town of Lady Lake, the Utility Service Area boundary was amended to include the 40.35 acres to be served by the Town of Lady Lake.

At this time, Jonathan Huels , in representation of the owners of a piece of property lying approximately 2,000 feet to the south of the 40.35 acre property, is seeking additional utility capacity from the Town of Lady Lake to service an 18.23 acre parcel lying west of Cherry Lake Road in Sumter County, Florida. The reason for the request is for those same reasons the request was made in 2007; the Town of Lady Lake is the nearest central utility, and that the Villages Utility will not serve the subject 18.23 acres of property.

While Mr. Huels clients do not control all 49.46 acres as requested by the proposed Utility Service Area Boundary Expansion, they will be seeking to incorporate lands beyond their own 18.23 acres in an effort to avoid any future Utility Service Area boundary amendments for other developable lands in the area.

It is projected that if the 49.46 acres is developed with a maximum of 297 residential units, an allocation of an additional 74,500 gallons per day would be needed from the Town.

If the project proceeds, connection to Water and Sewer will be required and additional ERUs will need to be allocated. In 2019, the average withdrawal of water was 730,193 gallons per day.  The Town of Lady Lake’s Consumptive Use Permit is 1,118,000 gallons per day through year 2026.  Trends indicate that the Town will have sufficient capacity to grant the additional 74,500 gallons per day and remain under 90% of the allocated withdrawal of the Consumptive Use Permit through 2026. However, Town Staff cannot anticipate all applicants, current Town properties as well as those to be annexed,  who will approach the Town for capacity reservation prior to 2026

Mr. Huels has had preliminary discussions with the SJRWMD, and according to his account of those discussions, the district is receptive to the amendment of the Town of Lady Lake’s Utility Service Area Boundary. Should the Town Commission reach consensus for Mr. Huels to go forward, all costs pertaining to consulting and legal work in association with the amendment process will be the responsibility of the landowners and /or Mr. Huels; the Town of Lady Lake shall have no financial responsibilities.