Illinois Sues Grafton Condo Developer: Attorney General Alleges Environmental Violations
By Jill Moon, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
Feb. 15–GRAFTON — The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is going after another Grafton developer for alleged violations of environmental regulations.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office filed a lawsuit Monday in Jersey County Circuit Court not only against Grafton Properties LLC, which owns the Villas at Grafton Harbor development, but also Fred Herter, doing business as Herter Excavating. Grafton resident David Roth is the main partner in Grafton Properties.
Erosion problems have plagued an area at Mulberry and Main streets since residential and commercial development started on an Illinois River bluff approximately five years ago; Main Street is the same as Illinois Route 100. Last year, Timber Ridge Condominiums developer Reubel Adventures Inc. reached a $20,000 settlement with the Attorney General’s Office for alleged environmental violations.
Roth was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment. Mayor Richard Mosby said Thursday he was not surprised by the lawsuit but did not know what role, if any, the city would play in it.
“I will talk to our attorney, Jim Schrempf, and seek the best course of action for the city,” he said.
Madigan’s recent complaint alleges Grafton Properties and Herter Excavating caused water pollution from storm water runoff into the Illinois River, water pollution contaminants in proximity of the Illinois River and violations of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. In all, practices surrounding the Villas at Grafton Harbor resulted in six counts of violation, according to the complaint.
Madigan’s suit seeks the maximum civil penalty of $50,000 per water pollution and hazard violation and $10,000 for each day the alleged violations continued, including the storm water permit violations.
The violations stem from an initial site inspection on May 2, 2006, by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The complaint states an inspector found a notice of intent for coverage under the NPDES general storm water permit had not been submitted to the IEPA. Yet, ongoing construction activities were taking place, including clearing, grading and excavating, allegedly resulting in land disturbances of greater than one acre.
Additionally, on or before May 2, 2006, allegedly no significant temporary or permanent stabilization measures were in place at the disturbed areas, nor had any sediment controls been installed below the disturbed areas. Also, on the site’s west side, cutting and filling had been conducted with loose soil from this part of the site spilling down the 20 percent grade slope of the valley in places.
The federal Clean Water Act regulates the discharge of pollutants from a point source into navigable waters and prohibits such point source discharges without an NPDES general storm water permit, which the IEPA allegedly did not receive from the Villas’ companies until May 8, 2006, according to Madigan’s complaint.
Subsequent follow-up IEPA inspections found erosion or sediment controls were inadequate to prevent erosion and that disturbed areas remained unstabilized. The complaint states severe erosion and massive movement of sediment had occurred in 2006, and a substantial amount of sediment had accumulated in the marina at the edge of the Illinois River.
Then, on May 4, 2007, a heavy rain resulted in sediment-laden storm water discharge to Grafton’s lower lands and roads located near the Illinois River, which prompted an IEPA inspection on May 7, 2007, in response to erosion and runoff problems.
The inspection found storm runoff overwhelmed the runoff and sediment controls. The report stated runoff had concentrated in the ditches of the road, producing a strong flow that carried sediment and rock down the slope and across Main Street to the Illinois River. A diversion ditch on site had ov
erflowed and added to the sediment carried down the site to Illinois Route 100.
Furthermore, the complaint states storm water from the site drains to a valley at the west side of the site and from there to a large culvert that drains to the Illinois River. Grafton Harbor owner Joe DeSherlia blocked a city culvert last summer because of runoff forming silt deltas and trapping boats in their marina slips. But the blocked culvert caused subsequent flooding twice during heavy rai
nstorms of privately owned green space behind the Piasa Winery on Main Street.
“It’s not just one thing here,” Mosby said. “It becomes two or three things. It’s apparent we need a better drainage system, a big culvert, if you will, to cause the drainage to go elsewhere.”
Mosby had a 5-foot storm sewer project from Elm to Sycamore streets included for a recently acquired water main improvement bond, but the City Council cut the project before securing the bond for a lesser amount. Some council members said such a storm sewer should be the monetary responsibility of DeSherlia, not the city, and should have been included in his original marina plan.
But Mosby remained optimistic and said that the city could get the erosion problems under control in a reasonable amount of time. Someone unknown removed the blockage from the existing culvert earlier this week, he said.
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