Alachua Post

I am writing this email as a follow up on an email exchange that I had with Mayor Calderwood. I have been writing to her and she has been cc to you since last year about the cave systems that flows under the land that Wal Mart intends to place their super center on. The cave is a spring cave system that drains all of the run off water from Mill Creek and moves this water under that land and eventually to Hornsby Spring. Please see http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051126/LOCAL/211260311/1078/news this article was in the Gainesville Sun newspaper last week. My last communication from Mayor Calderwood she pointed out to me that I needed to let experts determine if the cave will be damaged by construction or collapse and the effects of this on the cave and the area. I have contacted Suwannee River Water Management and they tell me that neither they nor WalMart are looking into this as the laws only require that study be done to a depth of 50 feet. No study is being done that I can find that will show either the effects to the cave, the possible increased pollution due to the presence of this large conduit of water or the effect on Mill Creek that the stoppage of this drainage would produce. If this were a man made drainage pipe I am sure you would be more aware of the problem but very few people outside of cave diving see caves as having this function, it is a new area of study.

I have several questions for you,

1. Who are the experts that Mayor Calderwood is referring to in her last letter to me? I need their names to I can give them valuable data on this matter.
2. If there are no experts currently working on this problem then does the City of Alachua plan to look into this prior to Construction of the Wal Mart Super Center?
3. May I please be allowed to present to the City of Alachua on this problem during one of your meetings? I can bring experts who can better explain the problem than I can and also give you information on how this problem can be handled to your satisfaction.
4. I have data that shows the cave does indeed go with in the designated 50 feet. There is a large sink hole on the land that the cave goes under. The bottom of that sink and the top of the cave are less than 50 feet apart. Will you ask Wal Mart for another environmental study that takes the cave, possible flooding of Mill Creek and increased run off dangers into account?
I am very concerned of course for the cave and the cave adapted animals that live within it. I know from your own City of Alachua Comprehensive Plan plan that you have a conservation objective, Objective 1.1 Policy 1.1.a that speaks to the protection of unique geologic characteristics.
My final question is 5. Does the City of Alachua plan to abide by their own conservation policies?
If possible I would like to work with the City of Alachua in defining the area where this underground river runs for it`s protection. I have the technology available to me to do this. My goal would be that the area over the cave would be protected just as you would protect the banks of a river flowing into the Santa Fe River. If this area were to be designated as a conservation area I know several groups who would be willing to replant the area with native plants and created a interpretive trail that can be a source of both information and recreation to the people of Alachua and it won`t cost you a dime. Please give what I have written consideration, answer my questions and allow myself and a few others to speak with you. We can work together to prevent problems instead of creating them.

Cindy Butler

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