Heritage Harbour puts pressure on Aquaterra

HERITAGE HARBOUR — Supervisors of Heritage Harbour South Community Development District are taking their most aggressive stand yet in protecting their rights surrounding the district’s irrigation water distribution system.

The CDD now will notify the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Manatee County that it would like to be notified of all communications and permit requests relating to Aquaterra, the district’s developer-controlled irrigation utility.

“We have rights,” Supervisor Lee Bettes said at the board’s Jan. 6 meeting. “They’ve jerked us around for a year.”

The board sent a proposed irrigation water agreement to Aquaterra in February 2010. The proposal gave Aquaterra full access to the CDD’s irrigation lines, while keeping waterline and other maintenance responsibilities in the hands of the district. It also attempted to set fair and reasonable prices for water.

Aquaterra’s attorney, Charles Mann, of the Pavese Law Firm in Ft. Myers, did not respond to the CDD’s proposal until a letter dated Dec. 15, 2010, and declined further comment for this story.

“We are simply unable to agree to any changes to the substance of the (existing) agreement,” Mann wrote in the letter.

The proposed agreement was set to commence Jan. 1.

“The nothing solution recommended by (Mann) is not going to work,” Community Manager Jim Ward said. “We will clearly keep the pressure on.”

Supervisors, frustrated with Aquaterra’s delayed response, now are exploring their options for compelling the utility to address the issues at hand, which include the utilities’ use of CDD lines to provide water to consumers outside the Heritage Harbour South boundaries, among others.

“In the agreement that is at the heart of all this – the contract that was never legally signed— it grants Aquaterra the right to change our water management system in any way they see fit,” Bettes said. “We don’t want them changing our water management system without consultation with us.”

Ward said he and the district’s attorney, Kenza vanAssenderp, had spoken with Mann Jan. 5 and believed Mann had been misinformed about facts behind the CDD’s proposal. Although Mann made no commitments, he said he would further discuss the issue with his client, Ward said.

Ward said the Heritage Harbour South CDD has spent about $25,000 in attorney’s fees on the issue over the last year.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

IN OTHER BUSINESS
• The board agreed to hire Spectrum Underground, Inc. to complete work on a portion of the district’s storm water infrastructure renovation project. Spectrum’s bid of about $84,000 came in nearly $55,000 less than the next lowest bidder.

“They’re a reputable company in this area,” said Matt Morris, principal for Morris Riley, the company hired to manage the project. “They specialize in this type of work.”

The project includes initial clean-up efforts, repairing damaged control structures, mitered pipe end sediment removal, pipe end markings, pipe inlets trash removal, Weir structure erosion repair and lake bank washout repairs.

• The board discussed methodology options for collecting assessments. Community Manager Jim Ward will bring back an analysis of potential methodologies for assessing the CDD’s water management system at the board’s February meeting. Methodologies for assessing or not assessing waterlines, the golf course, the recreation center and currently exempted parcels may be discussed in the future, but are not being researched at this time.