Correcting flooding and drainage problems in the heart of Deltona will take time, effort and cash.
That was the message from Ardurra Engineering, the consulting firm hired by the city to study the situation and formulate an action plan for dealing with the lingering results of hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 and heading off future problems. That action plan’s data-collection phase is now in progress, and the study is supposed to be completed by the end of next year, 2025.
The audience, though small, wanted to know more about the latest effort to grapple with the water problems, but some expressed skepticism about the study now underway by Ardurra — and some cautioned any fix may not work, unless there is a change of hearts and minds about development practices and principles.
“Welcome to our first public meeting on the [Lake] Theresa Basin Control,” Ardurra engineer Ben Pernezny told those attending the Jan. 31 informational program at The Center at Deltona. “No one knows this basin better than you all.”
Pernezny said the Deltonans who had chosen to attend the meeting will be helpful in his firm’s work in identifying the causes of the flooding and developing solutions.
“The primary feature of our project is to develop a defensible, permittable control plan,” he said. “We’re going to update the flood plain.”
City officials had planned for as many as 700 people — especially those living in the affected area — to come to the program, but only about 40 showed up.
Pernezny noted the Lake Theresa Basin covers some 36 square miles, and that is a closed basin. In the basin’s natural state, the water that accumulates within it has nowhere to flow outward to a river, lake or other low-lying area. The only two ways for water to go down are percolation into the ground and evaporation, each of which takes time.
To relieve flooding in the area in 2003, the city spent about $2 million to create a passive drainage system of ditches and valves to channel water into Lake Bethel. From there, the water would drain into the much bigger Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River. The system worked, but the St. Johns River Water Management District subsequently ordered the city to close it. The outfall remained closed until Deltona secured emergency permission from the district to reopen the system following the heavy rains of Hurricane Ian.
Even with the operation of the overflow system, the flooding was slow to abate. In addition, homeowners on Stone Island complained the extra volumes of water from upstream flooded their property. The Stone Island residents are suing Deltona for allegedly exacerbating their flooding problems.
Pernezny reminded the attendees the storms came amid “one of, if not the wettest autumn, on record,” with 15-20 inches of rain within 24 hours of Ian’s stay over Deltona.
With that historical context, Pernezny said any solution to the Lake Theresa drainage situation must not only be workable, but also must be environmentally sound.
“We have to demonstrate that we’re not going to degrade the downstream water quality,” he told the group. “We want to make sure we’re not going to move the flooding problems downstream.”
With a detailed PowerPoint presentation, Pernezny said most — 75 percent — of the soil in the Lake Theresa Basin has “well draining capacity.”
Still, the basin will need new infrastructure “to try to get as much water out of [there] as possible.” One possible way to lower the water volume, he suggested, may be to pump water eastward to Deep Creek or to the county’s conservation corridor. Yet another possible way of reducing the water levels may be to store water underground and thus recharge the aquifer.
When the audience had its opportunity to speak and ask questions, some offered their experiences, observations and insight to the mix of applied science.
“The elephant in the room here is the land-development practices,” Larry French said.
French described the clear-cutting of trees which, if left in place, could take up much of the rainwater, while developers pave over much of the ground needed to allow water to seep and percolate into the soil.
“We have taken away the semi-permeable surfaces,” he added.
French’s wife, Robin, wondered aloud if the Ardurra effort will result in actual improvements or if it will be “just another study.” She recounted her frustration over flooding in the wake of Ian.
“Computer models do not help my property,” she said. “My fruit trees — gone. My garden — gone. … We’re out half of our property.”
A woman who identified herself as Sandy told of being forced from her home on Lake DuPont.
“I was out of my home for five months,” she said.
“Can we get a commitment that you’re going to look at the development?” Brandy White asked Pernezny.
At one point, Pernezny said the Ardurra team will look at Deltona’s Future Land Use Map to determine if there are other possible factors that may result in problems now or later.
White, who has attended City Commission meetings for several years, has been a critic of the types and pace of residential development in Deltona. White says she intends to apply to fill the District 1 City Commission seat formerly held by Tom Burbank. Burbank, who defeated White in the 2022 municipal election, resigned abruptly Jan. 30. He gave no reason for his exit.
Brian Rutherford likewise questioned the development practices he had seen.
“My property is unusable. I can’t get to it,” he said. “Where does the water go when you raise the land. … There’s a lot for you to look at here.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we show you some projects,” Pernezny said, noting “the level of complexity of this basin.”
“We will continue to keep everyone updated,” he promised, as the meeting concluded. “We’ll be using as much real-world data as we can.”
Deltona is paying Ardurra $1.2 million for the Lake Theresa Basin study. Upon the advice of former Acting City Manager James Chisholm, the City Commission approved the contract with Ardurra.
