Erosion control worries residents

Residents living in the area of Farley Road met with the Marshall County Board of Supervisors recently to voice concerns about stormwater runoff and erosion problems when a developer started moving dirt to build houses.

Thirty one houses are to be built along frontage roads on Farley and Barringer roads, according to zoning director Ken Jones.

Supervisor Keith Taylor explained to the group of four, Mike Whitson, Mike and Donna Hedrick and Susan Walker, that the proposed development across the road in front of their properties will require the developer, John Porter, to come before zoning and the board of supervisors before construction begins.

Taylor said sod and silt fencing to hold back dirt that would wash off the land into the ditches should be done immediately after dirt is moved.

“The engineer should go out and tell them and make sure direct contact through zoning with the developer is needed on what’s to be done,” Taylor said.

Taylor wants to make sure the developer has a plan that would hold back soil if heavy rains come.

District 1 supervisor Charles Terry asked for clarity.

The subdivision would be built on a county road. The developer is digging on his property, and the county has no control over the property. The digging is causing erosion.

“And what can we do about it?” Terry asked.

Taylor said when the county allows a development along a county road the county engineer Larry Britt should tell the developer, “You can’t do this because it is causing problems down the street.”

Whitson said the developer came out with a backhoe and took out trees, burned the trees, and now is doing dirtwork for 34 lots that will all face the county road.

The first incident took place when the developer broke two ponds on the hillside across the road from the Whitsons releasing water and mud that jumped the road onto his driveway and into his pond and his neighbor’s pond, Whitson said.

Now the developer is moving dirt to build houses on one-acre lots.

The neighbors are worried that if the disturbed soil is not stabilized this dirt will also wash over into their properties or plug drainage pipes, causing flooding of properties opposite the development.

Board attorney Amanda Smith advised the board the silting affecting their properties is a civil matter. Only if silt is deposited on the road itself does it become a county matter, she said.

“It’s a civil matter,” said District 5 supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett. “All you need to do is sue him.” “But if it is causing a problem to a county road...” Zinn said.

Terry said it could become a county matter if water and silt crosses the county road causing a vehicle to hydroplane.

Taylor said the developer put a silt fence around the drainage pipe, but not around the margins of the property at the road.

“If it is affecting the road we can do something,” Smith said.

Whitson said the developer is not building a retention pond to slow stormwaters, leading to problems watshing out his driveway.

Taylor argued that allowing a developer to put this many houses along a county road is going to create a problem.

The board henceforth made a motion to require a developer prepare a subdivision plat if four or more are built along a county road.

Whitson said the subdivision under development has 34 lots.

When Britt arrived at the meeting, he was asked what requirements are for preventing silting.

Britt said the state requires a silt fence when an area of an acre or more is cleared.

He suggested a larger pipe would direct the water down the road ditch rather than letting it jump the road because pipes are too small.

He recommended the board write a letter to the developer stating he must keep silt out of the road ditches and county’s pipes.

Whitsen said his subdivision was built on the north side of the Coldwater River by the Hurdles in 1994 and has about 100 lots of one and a half acres or more. He and his wife bought property and built his home in 1998, so the subdivision is an older existing one along Farley Road and Landon Circle.

He said he wants to negotiate the matter with the county and developer regarding silting rather than have a dispute.

“We need more housing out here, but we need to do it in a neighborly fashion and not be bulldozed by some out-of-state developer,” he said.