Environment
Crystal River commons is designed to protect Citrus County’s unique natural resources. It will demonstrate that development can be environmentally sensitive AND bring economic benefits to the community.
- No Net Loss of wetland area!
- On and off site wetland mitigation.
- Native landscaping
- Green building techniques
- Improvements to stormwater and treatment
We aim to ensure that our development will have no measurable environmental impact on adjacent sites or the surrounding environment including the Homosassa River, Kings Bay, St. Martins Marsh Estuary or the Crystal River.
Click here to view the Developer Agreement Area Breakdown.
Wetlands
The community made their concerns clear—protect the wetlands—so we have. Through on-site mitigation, we are proud to have achieved the goal of No Net Loss of wetland habitat!
In addition to our goal of No Net Loss, we pledge to minimize any impacts that our development will have on existing wetland habitat. In fact, two wetland areas under Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction will remain in their natural state.
Our Environmental Assessment
Completed in August 2007, Michael G. Czerwinski, P.A., not only reviewed all previous environmental studies done on this site, he completed an extensive biological survey and habitat assessment of the entire area.
Mr. Czerwinski is a professional ecologist, geologist, and wetland scientist who is familiar with this region of Florida. Michael and his team spent a great deal of time on-site cataloging plants and animals. The studies were conducted using standard, accepted industry practices.
Please visit www.mgcenvironmental.com for additional information on Michael and his team.
Wildlife
Along with wetland protection, we will diligently protect wildlife on the site. Our environmental assessment revealed that there is a small population of gopher tortoises and Sherman’s Fox Squirrels on the property. We will relocate both of these species to good homes on a nearby property in accordance with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rules.
Off site mitigation
In addition to on-site mitigation and No Net Loss of Wetland area, we are planning to purchase over 300 acres of the A.D. Williams Estate land located north of the City of Crystal River, and adjacent to the Crystal River State Park (Buffer Preserve).
Our intent is to contribute a significant portion of this land to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). This tract of land is considered a regionally significant land donation for public benefit.
Stormwater
At Primerica, we value Florida’s natural resources and plan to protect them. Crystal River Commons was designed with this in mind.
Crystal River Commons is located on the Nature Coast of Florida. During certain years, residents have been evacuated during hurricane events. As one might imagine, there are specific requirements for developers to avoid potentially hazardous situations.
The existing wetlands will continue to collect and discharge stormwater run-off naturally. The water that discharges off site disperses in a northwesterly direction around the Hone Depot property.
We are also taking special precautions to prevent flooding on our development and other nearby properties. We are designing an extensive stormwater management system to store more stormwater than the existing wetlands store. Stormwater runoff from the proposed development will be retained in the project’s ponds for all storms up to the 100-year storm. Recovery of the pond volume will be through percolation and evaporation, not surface discharge to wetlands or to neighboring properties.
As important, environmental groups may be concerned about construction breaching the aquifer. With a large volume of construction and development in this area, this mistake has happened on only one occasion. Our team is working to ensure that it absolutely will not happen on this project. All of the stormwater ponds will be large, shallow ponds situated above the water table, presenting minimal danger to breaching the aquifer during construction activities.
We recognize that water quality affects quality of life. With this in mind, we have designed a system that meets or exceeds the standards set by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), the region’s water regulator. Due to the sensitivity of this basin, SWFWMD requires that our ponds hold all of their contributing runoff up to the 100-year storm. Our proposed system will satisfy these requirements.
Although a common practice in other SWFWMD regulated areas, SWFWMD will not allow first flush runoff to be filtered and cleaned in the wetlands located within this project. Because of these strict standards, all runoff from our development will therefore be treated before it can flow into the wetlands. All of the design discharges from proposed ponds will be through percolation and evaporation. There will be no direct discharges into the wetlands from our ponds.
Through our studies, we have found that part of the project site lies in an open basin having its eventual outfall to the Gulf of Mexico. The rest of the site lies in a closed basin that does not discharge even in the event of A 100-year storm. In the interest of not exacerbating any existing off site flooding conditions, the project will not increase the 100-year discharge volume to either the open or closed receiving water adjacent to the site after the construction is complete.