Ex A PT 3 ORD 09-1261 - Laserfiche WebLink

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u EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Decision -makers in both the public and private sectors are continuously asked to make more complex decisions concerning resource management. These decisions have a direct effect on our quality of life today and will affect future generations. The Conservation Element includes information on wildlife habitat, wetlands, forested lands, and vegetative communities, in order to guide policy making with regard to conservation of our natural resources within the city. Soil types are critical determinants of the types of vegetation and wildlife which are likely to found in a given area. Upland and wetland soils and associated flora and fauna are listed in general classification systems that assist in the identification and categorization of vegetative and wildlife communities. Within ecological systems each of the components are interdependent upon one another. The survival of wildlife depends on the availability of natural habitat, vegetation, and the purity of air and water resources. For this reason, the problem of surface and groundwater conservation is closely related to the problem of unmanaged stormwater runoff. Prevention of water degradation through natural systems such as filtering of stormwater prior to entry into the lake system is necessary to maintain viable vegetative and wildlife habitat. Habitat must be of sufficient area to provide shelter for propagation of species. Encroaching urbanization is a significant problem throughout Florida that has diminished the amount of available shelter habitat for vegetation and wildlife to the point of insufficiency. Therefore, the prevention of air and water quality degradation, and the enhancement or replacement of wildlife and vegetative habitat are important objectives in conservation. Local air quality is generally good. An analysis of water uses and needs indicates that during periods of normal rainfall the system is in balance with the drawdowns from public supplies, which are largely replaced locally by natural recharge and limited stormwater injection. Like other jurisdictions in Florida, however, there is a need for better conservation of the potable water supply and various measures will be implemented to achieve protection of surface and groundwater quantity and quality. One of the measures will focus attention on eutrophication presently occurring in Casselberry's lakes, to include water quality monitoring and the control of aquatic vegetation removal in order to maintain the filtering of stormwater runoff pollutants. Casselberry does not presently have a conservation land acquisition program, however Seminole County has a program through which land has been designated or acquired in six critical areas; these are substantial tracts of land, ranging from 250 acres to 16,000 acres in area. Casselberry is urban in character, with areas of open space remaining near the Lake Triplet Chain and some pockets of undeveloped land for instance, there are forested uplands and floodplain areas in the northeast quadrant of the city and east and west of Winter Park Drive. None of these areas is sufficiently large to be likely habitat shelter of areawide significance. Yet the designation of conservation areas at the local level is important in our land use pattern, and would allow for continued floodplain function, open space buffering, wildlife and vegetative habitat, and other ecological system functions. The city will need to analyze local flora and fauna and determine the extent to which undeveloped areas can be enhanced as wildlife and vegetative habitat. Based on such an analysis, the conservation program will be integrated with the city parks program. ArneRded Revised per ORC 9 Conservation For Adoption Public Hearing July 13, 2009