Water District OKs Amended Pact With Weeki Wachee Springs

TAMPA - It became official with little fanfare Tuesday.

The governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District approved an amended agreement with its tenant, Weeki Wachee Springs, that ends four years of an often-contentious legal battle.

The agreement means the end of the lawsuits that each side filed claiming a breach of the attraction's lease.

The water district, known as Swiftmud, owns the 27 acres on which the park sits. The governing board agreed to end the dispute if the attraction management follows through on its decision to donate the landmark to the Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the state park system, on Oct. 31.

The board initially approved a settlement agreement with Weeki Wachee during its Jan. 29 meeting with a deadline of Feb. 1 for the City of Weeki Wachee to sign the new agreement.

That signature came after the deadline, though, so the board had to approve a new agreement to make it official.

Robyn Anderson, mayor of the City of Weeki Wachee and general manager of the park, hosted DEP officials last week for a commemorative signing in the park's underwater theater as mermaid performers swam in the spring just a few feet away.