Attached for review and consideration by City Council is a Cooperative Funding Agreement between the City and the Southwest Florida Water Management District for the 2015/2016 Orange Lake Improvements Project.  The agreement envisions SWFWMD funding in the amount of two hundred forty-seven thousand dollars and zero cents ($247,000.00) for the design and construction of stormwater treatment components of the proposed Orange Lake Project.

As City Council is aware, the proposed Orange Lake Improvements Project design includes three (3) elements mandated by the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  These elements are Water Quality, Flood Control, and Public Outreach.  Historically, Orange Lake has discharged stormwater into the river with minimal treatment.  In an effort to satisfy the water quality element of the City's permit and grant agreement, the installation of a Continuous Deflection Separation (CDS) unit in the 42" stormwater system on the south side of the lake, the installation of two (2) manhole baffle/sump structures in small stormwater systems to the south and north of the lake, the installation of a diffusion system, littoral zone creations, dredging, and the removal of sediments are proposed elements in the design. 

Flood Control elements include the design and installation of slide gates to the existing weirs on the west side of the Lake.  This modification of the outfall structures will allow maintenance crews to lower the level of Orange Lake quickly in order to provide more storage and reduce the frequency of street flooding in the surrounding area.

Finally, the Public Outreach of the proposed project includes the installation of two (2) boardwalks with overlooks on the west and east side of the Lake that will include nature educational stations.