Group opposes proposed creek dam

August 11, 2005
By Merritt Melancon

When the Oconee County Commission rezoned 63.2 acres of agricultural land near the intersection of Georgia Highway 53 and Elder Road last September for a proposed 124-lot development, no one spoke out to oppose the change.

But today, almost a year later, one group of Oconee County citizens has voiced their opposition to Cotton Hill Development's plan to place a 25-foot dam on a small, spring-fed creek on the property and use the stream to regulate stormwater runoff from the subdivision

Before construction of the development, dubbed Willow Creek, can begin, the state Environmental Protection Division must grant Cotton Hill Developments a variance that would allow the company to build the dam in contradiction with a state law prohibiting construction within a 25-foot buffer zone along creek banks

The application process required a 30-day public comment period, and just before it ended last week, Charlie Baugh, president of Citizens for Oconee's Future, rallied members of that organization to send their comments to EPD. Baugh only became aware of the variance application in mid-July when he saw a legal advertisement in a local newspaper.
Baugh hopes that if a flood of comments ask for a public hearing on the variance request, EPD will schedule one

As of Monday, the EPD's Erosion and Sedimentation Control Unit, the body responsible for considering the variance, had not called for a public hearing on the matter, unit Director Jan Sammons said. Requests for developers to dam streams and use the area for stormwater retention are common and often approved, Sammons added

Subdivision development regulations in Oconee County require developers to include some kind of stormwater retention structure in their plans, said Melissa Henderson, director of code enforcement for the county. Most of the time, these retention structures are ponds created specifically for storing runoff

Creating stormwater retention ponds slows the rate that stormwater, which picks up pollutants along its path, flows off of subdivision streets and yards and into neighboring streams. The ponds also allow some pollutants to settle out of the stormwater before it flows to local watersheds, Henderson said

The use of dammed streams to regulate the flow of stormwater runoff was a common practice before the EPD started requiring developers to receive a stream buffer encroachment variance before building the dams, said Jon Williams, who owns the Oconee land planning firm Williams & Associates and is designing Willow Creek

Williams said natural vegetation will be left along the creek, except for the area immediately adjacent to the dam site, and the dam will not change the flow of water downstream

Who they are

Citizens for Oconee's Future is a recently incorporated, non-profit group that aims to promote public discussion of growth and budget issues, according to the group's Web site.