Palm Beach County Zoning Board approves massive Southland Water Resource Project

The Palm Beach County Zoning Board has OK’d another major reservoir project to house water south of Lake Okeechobee.

After spending more than four hours discussing the issue, the Board, made up of members of the Palm Beach County Commission, voted 6-0 to get the ball rolling on the Southland Water Resource Project.

Phillips and Jordan Inc. is in charge of the design and construction of the 120,000 acre-feet project. The overall project has a timeline of 20 years or longer. But developers say the first phase, giving 20,000 acre-feet of storage, will be done in five years.

The Southland Water Resource Project would be used to store water and be located in the western part of the county, about 8 miles south of Lake Okeechobee between Miami Canal and North New River Canal. It will cover a land area of about 13.5 square miles.

Proponents say the project will create about 100-140 full-time positions in the region at higher-than-average wages. Several speakers Thursday afternoon voiced support for the benefits Southland will offer.

“The jobs that it will bring will help our community to have economic opportunities unique, yet characteristic, to our region of the county,” said Tammy Jackson-Moore, co-founder of Guardians of the Glades.

The project will also include blasting to excavate rock from the land to help accommodate water storage below the water table, using a similar process for some earlier Everglades reservoirs. That rock can then be used to make concrete for public roadway projects.

And that served as much of the contention during Thursday’s meeting, as opponents of the project raised issue about the rock mining aspect.

To that end, county staff detailed several benchmarks Phillips and Jordan must hit to prove their progress on building the reservoir or risk having their approval revoked. The county established seven conditions in total, several of which Phillips and Jordan put forward themselves.

Among those conditions, no commercial use is allowed for the site. Excavation can only be done for water management efforts or for a project that supports public roadways.

“Excavation is necessary to construct the storage facility, similar to other Everglades restoration projects. The material removed will support Florida’s infrastructure needs, and the design prioritizes environmental goals,” reads an explainer on a site supporting the project.

Phillips and Jordan must also submit permitting from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and that permit must be submitted to the county within a year.

The deal also requires annual reporting requirements, and if permits are found in violation, revoked, suspended or nullified, then Phillips and Jordan has 120 days to get into compliance.

Some urged the Board to at least delay the vote, arguing it was being rushed. But Matt Edson, Vice President of Phillips and Jordan, pushed back against that framing.

“I can promise you that almost three years of my life has gone into this and it has not been fast-tracked.”

As multiple critics spoke against the project Thursday, some members of the Glades community countered those claims, arguing they were coming from activists with no real stake in these communities.

“Please do not let the outside noise drown out the voices of the Glades,” said Lavita Holmes, Executive Director of Glades Lives Matter. “We are not a playground for protest politics. We are families, churches, small businesses and proud communities.”

Walter Lloyd, a Stuart resident who lives on the south fork of the St. Lucie River, acknowledged potential benefits for Glades residents near the reservoir, but argued the impacts will be felt beyond that region.

“You’re not just making a Palm Beach County decision. You’re making a decision that affects many of us in Florida,” he told members of the Board.

Thursday’s vote wasn’t an end-all, be-all for the project. Phillips and Jordan will still need to obtain DEP permitting, and the project will undergo further review by the South Florida Water Management District next week, among other benchmarks still ahead.

“We know that we have to continue to work with the District. We know that we have to continue to work with the Army Corps of Engineers. In front of the commission today is merely a step to get us to the next step to continue to work with those professionals, and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” Edson added.

“It’s not like the approval today will lead us to blasting on Monday. We have a long way to go between here and there and satisfying these conditions.”

Proponents hope Southland can help reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. By storing the water outside the lake, it will be easier to keep lake levels low enough to avoid dumping water.

Southland will help direct water to stormwater treatment areas, and hold water in case of drought or other dry conditions. The goal will be to help ensure consistent water flow south to the Everglades to improve water quality and aid in Everglades restoration.

Eve Samples, Executive Director of Friends of the Everglades, raised concerns that the water going into the eventual reservoir won’t be clean enough to do any good.

“There is no Everglades restoration unless the water is clean,” she said. “Yes, we need more water storage. But there is no meaningful new water quality component of this project.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Edson said that concern was moot.

“The same water that we would take off the Miami Canal is the same water that would go into the EAA Reservoir,” he said. “It all comes from (Lake) Okeechobee, Miami Canal, into the projects.”