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News Flash
In our October issue of the Communiqué the front page featured the Brooklyn Lake public boat ramp. At the September LRCA membership meeting one of our members who resides on Brooklyn Lake asked if we could do something about the boat ramp because they would like to be able to use the ramp. LRCA agreed to look into the matter, but with the understanding that we do not undertake such issues as boat ramps because this does not fall under our mission. (Please note our mission on the back page) The Lake Brooklyn Civic Association held their annual meeting on October 22 , hosted by president Olen Campbell, at the Keystone Beach Pavilion on Lake Geneva. James Williams, reporter and staff editor for the Monitor, attended the meeting and wrote an article which appeared in the November 3rd. issue of the newspaper. The headline read as follows: “Lake restoration hits troubled waters”. According to Mr. Williams article, several issues were addressed at the meeting as well as the issue of the boat ramp. If you had the opportunity to read the article it would appear as if the LBCA members would prefer the Clay County boat ramp to stay closed. “Shut it down and keep it shut!” What the article didn’t reflect was the opinion of the residents who live on Brooklyn Lake and use the boat ramp as their means to launch their personal recreational water craft. So the question is will Brooklyn Lake become a private lake? It is not known at this particular time when the county built the boat ramp, but the public as well as residents who live in Keystone Heights have had access to the lake for many years. Will the Lake Brooklyn Civic Association determine the fate of the public access to the lake and make it a private lake?
Presidents Report by Dennis Barnhardt
Before I even begin I want to clarify why I refer to Brooklyn Lake as Brooklyn Lake. I have been asked from time to time why I call Lake Brooklyn, Brooklyn Lake? If you look at some of the old studies or maps and topography maps they title the lake as Brooklyn Lake not Lake Brooklyn. So as my co-hart would say at work to “be politically correct” that is why I call the lake, Brooklyn Lake. When or how the change was made to Lake Brooklyn I do not know? I would assume the change may have occurred back in the late 1950’s when the Lake Brooklyn Civic Association was formed? So if you question why I am always referring to the lake as Brooklyn Lake and not Lake Brooklyn maybe this will clear up any doubts that I might be “backwards”. As for my report, Brooklyn Lake has continued to receive an inflow of water from Alligator Creek since December of last year. Along with the above average rainfall we have received since last year the Option 3 pipeline system has delivered the captured rainfall from the “old mined area” into the “chain of lakes”, Blue Pond, Lowry Lake and Magnolia Lake, which are also working as rainfall reservoirs and delivered the excess to Brooklyn Lake. Alligator Creek has been the tributary stream which connects all of the “chain of lakes” and has been the “jugular vein” for Brooklyn Lake. (I know I am sounding redundant, but please bear with me as we have some new members who are asking the same old questions which is old news to our older members.) The flow of water from Alligator Creek into Brooklyn Lake began back in December 8 2004 and has been flowing into Brooklyn ever since. There had not been any water flow in Alligator Creek at the Immokalee Bridge since October 1999, the creek bed was dry.
Alligator Creek flow at Immokalee Rd. Bridge
November 2004
High 0.0 Low 0.0
December 2004
High 1,899,240 m.g.d. Low 1,266,160 m.g.d.
January 2005
High 2,551,700 m.g.d. Low 1,640,840 m.g.d.
February 2005
High 1,957,380 m.g.d. Low 1,311,380 m.g.d.
March 2005
High 6,938,040 m.g.d. Low 1,686,060 m.g.d.
April 2005
High 8,972,940 m.g.d. Low 4,644,740 m.g.d.
May 2005
High 6,963,880 m.g.d. Low 4,741,640 m.g.d.
June 2005
High 11,744,280 m.g.d. Low 5,064,640 m.g.d.
July 2005
High 12,590,540 m.g.d. Low 8,178,360 m.g.d.
August 2005
High 9,599,560 m.g.d. Low 8,016,860 m.g.d.
September 2005
High 8,727,460 m.g.d. Low 5,917,360 m.g.d.
October 2005
High 9,903,180 m.g.d. Low 6,873,440 m.g.d
Vice Presidents Report by Tom Jones
(No report at this time)
Treasurers Report by Duane Gill
(No report at this time)
Steering Committee Report
The steering committee would like to clarify some confusion as to their mission. The steering committee is not endorsing the concept of a special taxing district. The Lake Region Council Association was asked at one of our membership meetings to look into the feasibility of creating a special taxation district and LRCA agreed to undertake the task and formed a steering committee. The mission of the “Steering Committee” is as stated: “develop a straw man proposal which will outline the purpose, costs, benefits and implications of a Special Tax District on the tax contributing population in order to test the feasibility of its acceptance.” LRCA and the steering committee certainly do not wish to impose any more taxes on anyone, but if the idea would benefit the community and lakes, and the “population” agrees by popular vote then another committee will have to be created to perform the actual creation of a special district. The steering committee is currently looking into interviews with other special tax districts to gather knowledge from their experiences as to their function and their guidelines for taxation. This is information that the steering committee needs in order to assess what the infrastructure would be of the “special district”, which needs to be passed on to the voters as well as an estimate of what cost percentage of taxes would be assessed on the property owners within the geographical boundaries of the special district. Mind you this is not an easy task and could take an extended amount of time to research. The Florida Dept. of Community Affairs has a Special District Handbook, which gives you guidelines on how to create a special district. This handbook can be downloaded off the internet. An interesting fact in the history section of the handbook tells that Benjamin Franklin established the first special district in 1736 where residents of a certain neighborhood paid a fee for the fire protection of a voluntary fire department. Florida has its first special district in 1822.
Did You Know
There have been many residents who have asked the question “why can’t we clean out Alligator Creek?” Their concern is that the creek bed between Lowry Lake and Brooklyn Lake is heavily overgrown and filled with debris. Several have questioned about the section of creek between Magnolia Lake and Brooklyn Lake at the Immokalee Bridge, whether or not if the brush could be cleared. Did you know that Alligator Creek has been cleaned on a number of occasions? July 28, 1958 - “A squad of 13 trustees from the state prison, in charge was prison guard W.H. Morgan, started work Monday morning cleaning out the channel of gator creek from Magnolia Lake to Brooklyn. The prisoners began at the mouth of the Magnolia outlet and by Tuesday afternoon had crossed Treat Road, still on the Camp Blanding reservation. After they complete the clearing of the creek bed from Magnolia to Brooklyn, they will tackle the channel from Sand Hill Lake to Magnolia, in an effort to speed up flow of water into diminished Brooklyn Lake” (Source: Bradford County Telegraph newspaper) June & July 1989 - Inmates of the Clay County Jail removed fallen trees, cut down bush, axed and weed-eater cut the water canal of Alligator Creek between Lowry Lake and Magnolia Lake. All debris was racked or toted to the water canal high water level edges and placed on the banks. (Source: Statement by Richard Barnes, a former inmate who actually worked on the clearing of the canal with the crew of prisoners.) July 20 1994 - “Walter Roundtree, Director of the Clay County Engineering Department, in a July 20 telephone conversation with Clay Today said that this week major work has been done that will significantly improve water flow to Alligator Creek from Magnolia Lake. Alligator Creek feeds Brooklyn Lake and from there down the chain of lakes in the Upper Etonia Creek Basin. At the top of the chain are Lowry Lake, Blue Pond and Magnolia Lake. He said that a pipe at Treat Road in Alligator Creek was lowered by three feet, and the creek was excavated for 100 ft. south of the pipe and 300 ft. north of the pipe.” (Source: Lake Region Monitor newspaper) There was even a control burn done by Camp Blanding forestry. January 2, 2001 - Camp Blanding forestry did a control burn of Alligator Creek. Mr. James Hayhurst and Dennis Barnhardt met with Paul Catlett, supervisor of forestry in Camp Blanding to visually inspect the results of the burn. Paul Catlett was not very pleased with the results as the burn did not take very good in the creek bed itself. They walked the dry creek bed from Magnolia Lake to Lowry Lake. The creek bed was still very much over grown and had much debris in it. The biggest possible concern would be if there has been any sediment due to erosion that has settled into the creek bed, which would alter the elevation of the creek bed and therefore have an effect on the water flow of Alligator Creek. This was found to be the case at one time when an unknown mining operation at an unknown date was excavating sand near Alligator Creek between Magnolia Lake and Brooklyn Lake and Treat Road. This was one of the reasons why the creek bed was excavated and the creek bed was lowered at Treat Road in the 1990’s to remove the sand that had eroded into the creek.
News You Can Use
October 26 2005
The Florida political delegates for our districts and counties held a delegation meeting at the city hall in Green Cove Springs. Those delegates who were in attendance at the delegation meeting were as follows: Chairman Representative Jennifer Carroll, Vice Chairman Representative Aaron Bean, Senator Evelyn Lynn, Senator Stephen Wise, Representative Dick Kravitz, Representative Joe Pickens and Representative Bill Proctor. Keystone Heights Mayor Lyndel Hale met with Florida Representative Joe Pickens and Florida Senator Evelyn Lynn to discuss the current progress with the options designed to enhance the water flow into Brooklyn Lake and to discuss appropriations for the options that are still on the table of the Keystone Heights Lakewatch group, formerly known as the Stakeholders. It was decided by Senator Lynn, Representative Pickens and Mayor Hale that another meeting with the Executive Director of SJRWMD was in order and hopefully will take place later this year. 
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