The Department of Environmental Protection hereby gives notice:
that on December 13, 2012, the Department issued an order granting a variance to the Florida Governmental Utility Authority (Petitioner) for its Lake Fairways wastewater treatment plant located at US Hwy 41 and Lake Fairways Blvd., North Fort Myers, Fl 33918. The petition was received on October 24, 2012, and the notice of receipt of this petition was published in the Florida Administrative Register on November 6, 2012. The petition requested a variance from subsection 62-610.462(3), F.A.C. Subsection 62-610.462(3), F.A.C., requires staffing by a Class C operator 6 hours per day, 7 days per week at the Petitioner's wastewater treatment plant. Although the Petitioner requested a permanent variance from those minimum staffing requirements the Department limited the duration of the variance to coincide with the remaining duration of Petitioner's current permit, which expires on September 6, 2017. Petitioner requested that the staffing requirement be reduced to 6 hours a day for 5 days a week with a one hour weekend visit. No public comment was received. The Order, OGC File No. 12-1633, granted the Petition for the variance to reduce the staffing requirement to 6 hours a day for 5 days a week with a one hour weekend visit, based on a showing that Petitioner demonstrated that a strict application of the rule would result in substantial hardship to Petitioner or would affect Petitioner differently than other similarly situated applicants and because Petitioner had successfully fulfilled the requirements of the underlying statute.
A copy of the Order or additional information may be obtained by contacting:
Gary Maier, South District Department of Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 2549, Fort Myers, Florida 33902; gary.maier@dep.state.fl.us; (239) 344-5664.