State Weighs Mint Hill Vs. Mussel: More Water Wanted but Study Sought on Endangered Wildlife

By Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jan. 12–Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities asked state officials Wednesday to revisit a water-transfer permit that could affect plans for a 1.3 million-square-foot mall near Mint Hill.

The 2002 permit allows the utility to pipe water from the Catawba River into the Rocky River basin of eastern Mecklenburg and Union counties.

But it forbids new water lines into an area around Goose Creek, home of the endangered Carolina heelsplitter mussel, until extensive environmental studies are conducted. The studies, never done, would assess whether development prompted by the new lines would harm the mussel.

Local Sierra Club members claim the utility broke those terms by piping water into the Goose Creek watershed through existing lines.

The utility insists it did nothing wrong.

The N.C. Division of Water Resources concluded that not enough water was piped into the watershed to constitute a violation. But no more water can be transferred, it said, until the environmental issues are resolved.

Developers and the town of Mint Hill, meanwhile, are applying “considerable heat” for water service, utility director Doug Bean told a committee of the state Environmental Management Commission on Wednesday.

Nine requests for water now before the utility would supply hundreds of new homes, stores and the Bridges at Mint Hill, a proposed mall that would straddle Goose Creek.

State environmental officials said they will evaluate which of those projects are far enough along to face undue hardships if they now can’t get water.

Charlotte’s Childress Klein Properties, co-developer of the mall, had no immediate comment.

The state officials said they will also try again to forge an agreement among Mint Hill and environmental agencies on measures to protect Goose Creek and its endangered mussel.

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.