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Builder Ordered to Pay for Polluting -- Could Reach $95,000 at Brunswick Farms

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 09:01 CDT

As new homes continued to take shape in the sprawling Brunswick Farms subdivision near Lakeland, state regulators this week fined one of the project's developers as much as $95,000 for polluting streams during the construction.

Wayne A. Todd was ordered to pay $25,743 in penalties and damages within 30 days, with another $69,000 to be assessed later if the required corrective actions aren't completed.

The order from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation commissioner James H. Fyke said Todd failed to adequately prevent erosion and control sediment runoff from the site.

Brunswick Farms, covering about 200 acres north of U.S. 70 between Brunswick and Canada roads, is a five-phase subdivision that will feature more than 350 homes. The project has involved extensive clearcutting in the watershed of Oliver Creek, a stream long troubled by pollution from subdivisions.

According to the state order, inspectors visited the site in December 2003 following a citizen complaint about the lack of erosion-prevention and sediment-control measures there.

The inspectors found muddy water flowing through the piped remains of an altered stream and entering a tributary to Oliver Creek. All the trees and most of the vegetation had been removed from work areas.

Terry Templeton, Memphis field office manager for TDEC's division of water pollution control, said state officials gave Todd and his crews plenty of chances to correct the pollution problems.

"They just didn't ever seem to go far enough or complete enough to get the site under control," Templeton said.

The state does not regulate clearcutting, but it oversees water- pollution issues.

The muddy runoff from construction sites can smother aquatic life and damage streams. Developers can control erosion and pollution by putting up straw bales, silt fences, silt traps and other devices.

Todd, a partner in the firm WATCO, said he and his engineers have worked hard to prevent erosion and control runoff. They check erosion-control measures at least weekly and after every rain.

"I know I did everything I could," he said. "This is not something we take lightly."

The order this week isn't the first in which state officials have cited WATCO for pollution problems at Brunswick Farms. A 1999 order from TDEC called for a $20,000 up-front fine, with another $77,500 in penalties to be imposed if the firm didn't clean up the pollution.

Environmentalists have claimed problems like the ones cited at Brunswick Farms occur in part because of lax state regulation. Tennessee officials require builders to get only "general" stormwater permits, which are vague and not site-specific, said Barry Sulkin, director of Tennessee Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Tennessee PEER, along with the Tennessee Clean Water Network, issued a report last year documenting how pollution from subdivision development has ravaged Oliver Creek.

"It (the creek) is hammered all the way down," Sulkin said. "It's in terrible shape."

- Tom Charlier: 529-2572

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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