“Tampa Palms is in a very dry situation,” community employee Maggie Wilson told Community Development District supervisors on Nov. 8, backing the claim with findings of two state agencies.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District’s “very dry” rating for Tampa Palms is based on local rainfall measured in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30.

Additionally, the drought index used by the Florida Division of Forestry ranks Tampa Palms in the 500-549 range. “That translates from high-moderate to severe,” Wilson said.

“The same degree of drought effect is not present in south Tampa, nor in western Hillsborough County,” Wilson wrote in her report. Downtown Tampa has been “wetter than normal” and Ballast Point “normal,” according to Swiftmud rainfall figures for the past year.

Tampa Palms’ flowering plants are suffering, but the most substantial drought damage has been to turf in the 127 acres of common areas in Tampa Palms Areas 1 and 2. Replacement sod will cost the community’s landscape contractor $140,000, Wilson said.

Supervisor Patty Maney urged the board to “take an active leadership role” informing city leaders of Tampa Palms’ need for relief from a municipal ordinance limiting irrigation to once weekly.

Supervisor Bill Shimer, a retired engineer who helps oversee the pumps that irrigate turf and annuals, said the city should be reminded that the community has irrigation wells and does not use municipal water.

Wilson and Maney, the retired owner/operator of a plant nursery, planned to meet with District 7 City Councilman Shawn Harrison to determine what relief might be available.