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Dunedin Gets Flood Control Grant

By Mark Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: November 24, 2007

DUNEDIN, Fla. - DUNEDIN, Fla. - The city's efforts to control street flooding and treat storm water in the Cedar Creek-Lake SueMar area is getting a $440,000 boost from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

The city had already budgeted $440,000 to replace storm-water pipe between Patricia Avenue and Lake SueMar. That expenditure is part of the city's master drainage plan, City Manager Robert DiSpirito said.

The matching sum from SWFWMD, a Brooksville-based regulatory agency, allows the city to excavate and partially reshape and remove some nuisance vegetation from Lake SueMar.

This will improve water quality in the lake, DiSpirito said.

In addition, an outfall structure and inlets from abutting channels would be constructed. This outlet pipe would reduce the potential for flooding in the residential neighborhood to the east, said City Engineer Tom Burke.

Under the city's Cedar Creek Restoration Plan, contaminants would be removed from storm water traveling through channels A and C of the Cedar Creek drainage area to Lake SueMar.

An outlet pipe to be constructed as part of the plan would remove excess water from the lake, reducing the potential for flooding in the surrounding area.

The water from the lake would flow to Hammock Park. The city has been trying to restore wetland areas within the nature preserve that have dried out over the years.

If the city did not have the SWFWMD grant it would only be able to replace existing storm-water pipes between Patricia Avenue and Lake SueMar, Burke said.

Burke said the city's recent acquisition of the Harris tract, adjacent to Hammock Park, gives it complete access to all of Lake SueMar for the storm-water treatment.

Combining the city's funds with SWFWMD's grant will allow the project to incorporate water quality treatment features beyond those usually seen in storm-water control projects, he said.

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