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Still No Agreement In Weeki Wachee Dispute

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: October 25, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Lawyers for Weeki Wachee Springs and the Southwest Florida Water Management sat down with a mediator to try to hash out their differences Tuesday.

They are going to have to try again in about two weeks, said Joe Mason, attorney for the attraction.

'We didn't finish, and we're reconvening to see what we can do,' was all Mason would say Tuesday afternoon, citing the court's confidentiality rules. The date is set tentatively for Nov. 5, Mason said.

Swiftmud spokeswoman Robyn Hanke was not able to get in touch with agency attorneys for comment Tuesday.

The two sides started talks Tuesday morning at the Hernando County Emergency Operations Center in Brooksville with former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ben Overton acting as mediator.

In a hearing last month, Senior Marion Circuit Judge William Swigert ordered the attraction and the water district, to sit down again to settle their dispute.

Swiftmud, which owns the 27-acre parcel on which the park sits, maintains that the town of Weeki Wachee is violating state law by owning the private corporation that runs the attraction. Even if that's not a violation, the district argues, it would have had to approve the deal.

Swiftmud also claims that Weeki Wachee officials breached the lease by dredging sand from the area near the spring last year. Most recently, Swiftmud said it was putting the park on a month-to-month lease.

Weeki Wachee officials disagree with Swiftmud's interpretation of the lease and say the district did not give the park proper notice before attempting to make changes to the agreement.
Weeki Wachee Springs also seeks to amend the lease so that the rent is based on the attraction's profits.

Attraction officials have asked the state's Department of Environmental Protection to consider how the 60-year-old landmark could be incorporated into the state park system. DEP officials were monitoring the talks Tuesday.

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