ARCHER – A deluge of controversy surrounds the City of Archer as the town debates how to address the issue of flooding near the retention pond in Holly Hills.

Holly Hills is prone to flooding because of its bowl-like shape. The city secured a grant in 2010 to renovate the nearby retention pond to help with the overflowing water, but some citizens in Archer want the city to do more to prevent floods from heavy rainfall.

“I really thought that this would fix the problem once and for all,” said Roberta Lopez, former mayor and city commissioner of Archer, in an email to the city manager. Lopez has been outspoken about getting the city to take action over the flooding.

The grant to fix up the retention pond was meant to help out with small rain events, and was never meant to be a solution for heavy rainfall, said City Manager Al Grieshaber.

“If Mrs. Lopez was led to believe otherwise, she was misled,” he said. “The City of Archer, at the present time, cannot eradicate flooding in heavy accumulation rainfall events,” he wrote in an email to Lopez. There was a 35 percent increase in rainfall this year, Grieshaber said. He quoted a statement from the engineers who worked on the pond, stating that complete mitigation of the flooding cannot and would not be achieved with the project. The grant came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The most recent major flood in Holly Hills happened last month. “When you see the pictures, you’re not going to believe it,” Lopez said of the flood.  

Lopez started a petition to get the city to have engineers look at the retention pond to make sure it is working as intended. Alachua County recommended sending engineers to examine the pond, Lopez said. She spoke to Leslie McLendon, a planner for growth management with the county.

 McLendon said she was trying to offer suggestions, but it was not an official recommendation. She also suggested a silt buildup might be something to check for.

Blockage in the drain for the retention pond might be part of the problem, Lopez indicated in an email to City Commissioner Gabe Green.

“If you go over in that area and look you will see the drain in the retention pond on the east side, and you may see a lot of dirt in the bottom of it,” she wrote. However, retention ponds do not have drains, replied Grieshaber.

“Unfortunately, you have a gross misunderstanding of retention ponds or basins,” he wrote. “There are no drains in retention ponds, only inlets to allow the water to flow in to the basin and outlets or overflow pipes to channel the water from one retention area to another.”

“The operative word is retention,” he added. “The water is retained so it can naturally percolate into the ground.”

At the Sept. 9 commission meeting, the mayor, city manager, city commissioners and citizens discussed how to protect Holly Hills from flooding. There was agreement among the commissioners and city manager that there was a problem, but there were different ideas on how to solve it.

Archer needs to look outside the retention pond and find other solutions, Grieshaber said. He presented a plan to get grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to buy the homes in the affected area. FEMA would purchase the homes at a fair market value, but nobody would be forced to sell their house. The houses that are bought would be demolished, turning the property into empty space. Even if some residents held out and didn’t sell their homes, the extra space from the newly empty lots would provide more surface area for the water, lessening the severity of the floods, Grieshaber said. Due to the geographical limitations of the area, the retention pond cannot ever completely mitigate the flooding, he said.

Lopez opposed the FEMA solution. The city needs to do something now to help the people of Holly Hills, she said.

Commissioner Fletcher Hope urged the city to internally examine the issue.

“I think we need to act on this,” he said. “We have some liability.

Commissioner Doug Jones disagreed about trying to solve the problem internally.

“Leave it to the engineers,” he said. “It’s not going to be solved in a city commission meeting.” He suggested the city let experts find a solution, rather than the commissioners trying to make one themselves.

The city will have the retention pond inspected for silt buildup and other problems as a short-term answer, but for the long-term, Grieshaber said the city will be sending out letters to the residents of Holly Hills to gage whether there will be support for the FEMA plan.

The focus should be on an immediate solution, not a long-term plan like the buyout idea, Lopez said.

“We have got to take care of our citizens,” she said.

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LACROSSE – Lofting through the air, the aroma of fermenting grapes fills a vineyard just north of Gainesville near Lacrosse. The sweet fruit falls off the vines and gets mashed into the ground by the boots and shoes of visitors.

The Loftus Family Farm has a vineyard that spans 14 rows, each about 420 feet in length. When the grapes come in season, the farm is open for anybody to come and pick them at the price of $1 per pound. From about the beginning of August to the end of September, people come from all over the county to harvest the fresh produce.

“These are coming along nicely,” said owner Don Loftus, as he walked through the vineyard to examine the grapes.

Humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy them. Sometimes, wasps find fermenting grapes with holes in them and go for the nectar. Intoxicated from the alcohol content of the juice, the wasps will fall down and flail around. “We have drunk wasps sometimes,” Loftus said.

It’s been a good season for the vineyard. Loftus had around 100 visitors last weekend. Some families go and pick a few pounds. Some come to get a bulk deal. There is one family of about five or six people that come nearly every weekend and pick over 100 pounds each visit, he said, to share with the extended family.

Loftus doesn’t use insecticides and sprays as few chemicals on the vineyard as possible. The visitors to the farm like knowing where their grapes come from and enjoy eating something without chemicals in it, he said.  

Three kinds of grapes grow at the farm. Supreme grapes, a common variety, the Delicious, a self-pollinating muscadine developed by the University of Florida and the Ison grape, good for making wine.

Loftus and his wife planted the seeds for the vineyard in 2004, but the payoff would come three years later, in 2007, when the Loftus Family Farm opened for the public. Even then, the vines wouldn’t be in full production until 2008. The harvest has gotten a little better each year, and now seem to be leveling off, Loftus said.

They started the vineyard as a retirement plan. Don Loftus gets a pension from the University of Florida, where he worked as a TV producer out of the education department, but the farm provides extra income.

“It definitely keeps me busy,” Loftus said.

With the season being so short, the window of opportunity for picking fresh grapes is narrowing. Most visitors only pick off the fruit at the beginning of the vineyard, so finding grapes there is harder, Loftus said. He recommends going toward the back, to the places the other visitors ignore. Walking toward the end of the vineyard, he pointed out clusters of dark-purple grapes.

A family at the entrance to the farm weighed their haul for that day. It came to about seven pounds. Patricia Ashley, her husband and two granddaughters, spent a part of their afternoon at the Loftus Family Farm. It was her granddaughters’ first time.

“It’s enjoyable to pick something fresh,” Ashley said.

The vineyard is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Appointments can be made for other days.

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HIGH SPRINGS – Spanning from Miami to California, the Irish Water Dogs, a network of outdoors enthusiasts, is now headquartered in High Springs.

The headquarters was moved from Jacksonville to High Springs about two months ago, and the organization held an open-house event on Saturday, Sept. 7, celebrating the official opening of the branch that came to town in February.

Irish Water Dogs organizes kayaking trips and other nature excursions. The group was founded by David McDaid about seven years ago as a commercial venture. The nonprofit division, Irish Water Dog Warriors, was created later specifically for connecting veterans with the outdoors.

“The quiet that nature provides, the stillness,” said Water Dog kayaker and army vet Clinton Williams, “it’s a very grounding experience.”

The open house went on from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with snacks and beer brewed by the Jacksonville chapter master.

Appalachian music filled the room as the three-piece band from Jacksonville, Streak of Lean, played in the corner while people mingled.

As the chapter grows, founder David McDaid hopes to bring in more local musicians for the gatherings.

F.E. Lam, a detention officer for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, got involved with the Irish Water Dog Warriors about two months ago. Lam, who served in the army for 21 years, said he has seen the Warriors program improve the mood of the veterans that go.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive changes,” he said.

McDaid said the trips to the rivers and springs are therapeutic for the former service members. People with post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues benefit from the outings.

Japa Magyer, videographer for the Irish Water Dogs, said the trips help the veterans bond with each other, loosen up and be more open.

“When they get there, they’re kind of uptight,” he said. They start relaxing as the day goes on, he added.

High Springs Mayor Sue Weller came to the event at about 3:30 to support the group and call out the winners of the raffle.

“The Irish Water Dogs – their mission is something that really blends in with what High Springs is all about,” she said. “It’s not just fun and games. It can be used to soothe the soul,” she said of the program.

At about 4 p.m., the winners of the raffle were called. There were 20 winners, with the prize ranging from gift baskets, cash, shirts and even a rifle.

Over 100 people showed up for the open house, McDaid estimated. The turnout shows how interested the citizens of High Springs are in the organization, Weller said.

McDaid plans to grow the High Springs chapter, capitalizing on the unique geography and natural beauty of the area.

Anybody interested in joining a trip can check in with the High Springs chapter for information on upcoming gatherings. The Warriors division of the Irish Water Dogs meets on the first Sunday of every month. Each chapter is sustained largely by that community, and individuals or businesses can donate or sponsor their chapter, McDaid said.

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HIGH SPRINGS – Classic cars conjuring up images of the 1950s filled the lot outside The Diner in High Springs last week during a celebration marking what the new owners hope will be a new era for the restaurant.

On Friday, Aug. 30, The Diner, formerly known as Floyd’s Diner, had its grand reopening from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The restaurant was bought in late May by husband-and-wife duo Kim and Jerry Wakefield. Though it didn’t really close down when ownership changed, the reopening symbolizes a fresh start for the restaurant, said manager Beth Citta.

“The reputation we got from the old place is not what it should be,” she said. Now all the changes have been finalized.

The new owners plan to use more fresh ingredients from local farmers. In addition, they are using a new distributor for the rest of the ingredients. Some tweaks to old recipes have been made, and new additions can be found on the menu.

“The buffalo chicken sandwich is our top seller,” Citta said, at least when it comes to the new food choices. The new owners hail from Bishop’s Stortford in England, so they have incorporated English elements into the menu, such as fish and chips.

The consensus from several regulars of the diner seems to be that the quality had dipped in the last six or so years.

Customer John Blaine complained about the previous owner using a scale to measure the precise amount of ingredients he put in Blaine’s sundaes.

“This is a real sundae,” he said during the reopening, when the waiter handed him his treat from across the bar.

The food is just as good as ever with the Wakefields as the owners, but Blaine has noticed he gets larger portions.

“They really are on the money,” he said, noting how they no longer use scales to measure content.

“They hire good people here,” Blaine said. “The service is excellent.”

All day, vintage cars, some for sale, were parked outside the diner to drive home the 1950s motif. At 4 p.m., the classic rock, folk and blues band Moondogs took the stage outside. At 7 p.m., the High Springs police brought in the Blues Brothers Soul Band in a police car, reenacting a scene from their namesake film.

“I’ve seen both of them before,” Blaine said of the bands. “Both of them are excellent.”

The Diner plans to hold music events once a month, manager Citta said.

About 70 people had dined at the restaurant by about 3:30 p.m., but Citta said she was hoping for about 500 people.

Jerry and Kim Wakefield lived in France for the past several years, but decided to move to another country.

“The Euro isn’t doing too well at the moment,” said Jerry Wakefield. “We felt like America was a good place to be.”

They looked at several restaurants in Florida, before deciding on High Springs. Jerry said he loves the classic cars and 1950s aesthetic.

The couple came over on a business visa.

“Basically, the idea is we buy a business and employ Americans,” he said.

Aside from the American paperwork, a major challenge for the duo has been reversing the reputation of the restaurant.

“The place doesn’t have a good name, if I’m being honest,” he said.

When Floyd’s Diner opened in 2001, it did have a good name. “For the last six years, it hasn’t had any of that,” Jerry said.

The Wakefields are confident they can restore The Diner to its former glory.

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