Ryan Smart outlined a settlement requiring Florida DEP to adopt updated basin management action plans with enforceable pollution-reduction projects, near-term enforcement, expanded monitoring, and BMP verification deadlines that advocates say create a real path to restoring springs.

A former bail bondsman who faces years in prison for coercing jailed women to have sex with him, now finds himself in trouble with Seminole County after illegally using heavy machinery to dig out and widen the shoreline of the environmentally-sensitive Little Wekiva River — a waterway his parents fought for decades to protect. “In my brain, as tiny as it is, I didn’t feel as though I was widening” the river, Russell Bruce Moncrief said recently to a Seminole code enforcement magistrate. “I felt I was removing the sediment that had dropped on my water shoreline. I’m restoring my shoreline, is what I felt I was doing.” But Seminole’s Special Magistrate Sherry Sutphen chastised Moncrief, a resident of The Springs neighborhood, for likely damaging the river’s ecology behind his home and obstructing its natural flow. The damage, Sutphen said, could now take years for the county to restore and affect property owners downstream. “Had you gotten a permit to do what you were trying to do, you would have experts guiding you,” she said. “Unfortunately, we don’t know whether down the road it’s going to cost the county money to do any restoration activities because of what occurred here.”...

After hours of public comment and partner testimony, the commission authorized staff to proceed with Trust for Public Land negotiations to acquire 11 miles of corridor for the Wekiva Trail and approved use of $23.5 million from the bond referendum to fill the funding gap; commissioners directed keeping final closing flexible pending referendum results.

Otter Fest Returns to Wekiva Island with Unlimited Sips and Riverside Vibes Get ready to sip, sample, and savor riverside as Otter Fest splashes back into Central Florida on January 31, bringing unlimited craft beer, wine, and seltzer tastings to Wekiva Island from 2 to 5 p.m., with VIP guests scoring an extra exclusive hour starting at 1 p.m. The fan-favorite festival is celebrating its eighth year and is named after the island’s iconic Tooting Otter bar, turning the banks of the Wekiva River into a laid-back tasting paradise complete with sunshine, water views, and plenty of cheers.

Commissioners debated risks that transferable development rights (TDRs) available on certain parcels in the Wekiva receiving area could enable development on otherwise pristine lands; one commissioner asked staff to pursue state or DEP help to preserve sensitive parcels and the board agreed to schedule a focused workshop on the TDR system.

Commissioner Moore recounts the community's efforts to secure funding for Wekiva Springs preservation.