During the March 19, 2018 City Council meeting, developers and attorneys for Southern Hills Plantation avoided a building moratorium order due to a lack of sufficient water pressure/fire flow for phase 3 of the Southern Hills development. Following this meeting, an amended development agreement was drafted to correct the problem and the first public hearing was held on April 2, 2018.
The amended agreement “provides for the developer to install a booster pump station within the existing potable water system to improve the domestic and fire flow pressure for Phases 3 and 3A-1 of the Southern Hills Plantation subdivision.”
However, the developer objects to the condition that a second “loop-line” will be installed upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy of the 400th home, or platting on phase 3-A-2. Cliff Manuel, President of Coastal Engineering told the Brooksville city council that the language as it is written would require a “line across the woods in an undeveloped phase (of Southern Hills).”
Public Works Director Richard Radacky said that it was the intention to have a “trigger” which would mandate the installation of the second water line. Radacky said if it were his decision, he’d install the second line immediately, to prevent complete outages when the existing line breaks.
There are currently less than 200 homes in the subdivision. City Attorney Becky Vose explained that if the 400th home is not built, or phase 3-A-2 never gets platted, the secondary line never gets installed. The language is expected to be modified for the second public hearing.
