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As creek awaits its rescue, its life wilts

Funding and other problems have delayed plans to clean up Stevenson Creek. Now, dredging could begin this summer. Neighbors sure hope so, anyway.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published January 16, 2006

CLEARWATER - Life at Stevenson Creek is still.

A man in a rowboat passes by mangroves and under a bridge, the splashes of his oars giving way to the rumble of a truck overhead.

"It's peaceful," said R.J. Smith, 62, a retired welder who's lived on the creek 14 years.

But underneath the water is a different story altogether.

Stevenson Creek is one of Pinellas County's most polluted bodies of water, filled with a chocolate-colored muck that has pushed the creek's estuary toward death. A habitat for fish and aquatic plants has been ruined.

Storm runoff from 6,300 acres has carried pesticides, fertilizers and other debris into the creek. Levels of nitrogen and phosphorus have been perilously high.

The problems are well-documented.

Now a key piece toward the creek's recovery could be coming soon.

The Army Corps of Engineers says a massive dredging of the creek estuary could begin this summer. As much as 180,000 cubic yards of muck - more than 36-million gallons - will be pulled from the body of water, which empties into the Intracoastal Waterway just south of Sunset Point Road.

It's a project that will cost nearly $7-million and is part of a larger $35-million effort to prevent flooding while cleaning up pollution and restoring wildlife habitat at Stevenson Creek.

Smith, who along with neighbors has heard about the dredging plans, says the restoration is critical.

"It's solid muck," said Smith, pointing toward his boat dock. "If you jumped in there right now, you'd be stuck in mud to your waist."

Neighbors of the creek have fought for improvements, including dredging, for 20 years. But until recently, little has been done.

In 2003, the corps adopted an action plan in conjunction with city officials to clean up the creek. Separately, the city and the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud, created a watershed management plan to improve water quality and the vegetated water habitat.

Some parts of those plans are further along than others.

The transformation of the former Glen Oaks Golf Course into a 22-acre stormwater retention site should be finished this year. The $7.6-million project will filter about 16,500 pounds of silt and debris, and hundreds of pounds of other harmful minerals, from the creek each year.

The plan for Glen Oaks on Court Street, across from St. Cecelia Interparochial School, will also defend 78 nearby homes and apartments from flooding, city officials say.

Work on the estuary restoration could take between nine and 18 months, said assistant city engineer Al Carrier.

The program was initially delayed while the city attempted to find a location to dump the dried muck. Now money issues have seemed to slow the project.

Since 2002, Congress has appropriated $3.5-million to supplement allocated city dollars to fund the creek restoration, said Harry Glenn, an aide to Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo. But that money was instead funneled into other corps projects, Glenn said.

Richard Bonner, a deputy district engineer for the corps, said federal dollars are not allocated to specific projects as Glenn suggests. The money is pooled and used as needed.

Late last year, Rep. Young inserted specific language into an appropriations bill ordering the corps to fund the Stevenson Creek project.

Bonner said the corps is waiting for permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection before work can begin.

"Mr. Young wants this project to move forward," Glenn said. "Congressman Young has been working on this issue four or five years now."

People living on the creek, like Smith, say they have suffered through the delays.

At low tide, the water virtually drains from the estuary. From shoreline to shoreline, it's muck. As pretty as the creek is at high tide, it is as nasty at low tide, Smith said.

No neighbor will declare victory until the work has started. Smith said some still fear that nothing will happen.

"The only way the politicians might dredge this creek," Smith said, "is when they figure out how to make a buck off of it."

[Last modified January 16, 2006, 00:41:10]