During Monday night’s commission meeting, Commissioner Sparkman spoke up about the flooding concerns facing local residents living near the Itchepackesassa Creek, Blackwater Creek and Wiggins Prairie Mitigation Bank.
“There’s been a lot of talk, the people in the area of Charlie Taylor Road and all that flooding, we saw those devastating pictures and by good faith we need to support them,” he said.
Sparkman was referring to January’s six hour-long commission meeting, when residents expressed concerns that an industrial project on Swindell Road would increase flooding in the already flood-prone area.
“I think it will be in the best interest of Plant City and people that may eventually be Plant Citians,” he said. “Let’s do our part to rectify the problem.”
He made a motion to give autonomy to the city manager and his staff to spearhead the issue, taking a leadership role for the city to get the necessary agencies involved and rally and support for the issue.
For other city commissioners, the issue was also in the forefront of their thoughts. Some had already reached out to Hillsborough County Commissioner Michael Owen.
“None of us had talked about this but I’ve been thinking long and hard about it as well and had talked with the city manager today and brought up this topic with him,” said Mayor Nate Kilton.
Other commissioners, mentioning that the same issue was on their minds, expressed agreement. “I think it’s great we’ve all been thinking about it, hopefully we can do something about it,” said Commissioner Jason Jones.
During public comment, John Haney, who lives in the affected area, spoke up in favor of the motion. “I want to thank you for bringing this to the forefront and making this a priority for the city,” he said. “You have my full and complete support.”
The motion unanimously passed with a vote of five to zero.
Mayor Kilton was quick to manage expectations because it’s a regional issue and impacts Hillsborough and Polk counties and also involves state and federal jurisdictions. “This is going to be a heavy lift and we can’t solve this problem in Plant City,” he said. “We need to lead the charge on it, we’ll do our part to get everybody to come together on it.”
City Manager Bill McDaniel will wade through the “waters” of jurisdictions, from county governments to Southwest Florida Water Management District to the Environmental Protection Commission.
“We need to get a lot of players involved to identify what is really going on here,” he said. “There’s a lot to be looked at but we owe it to everyone in that area to work on this problem.”