Followup Complaint, Buttermilk Rd

 Followup Citizen Complaint

Please accept the following complaint on behalf of John L. Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper and Friends of Hurricane Creek against an unidentified carwash / truck stop construction activity located at the intersection of Buttermilk Road and I-59 in Tuscaloosa County. N 33.17065 W 87.44712

              1.     No NPDES permit posted at entrance.

2.     No BMPs in critical places.

3.     Improper BMP application

4.     Failed BMPs

5.     Offsite transport of sediment, construction materials including massive amounts of crushed stone.

6.     No vegetation on bare areas after 2 weeks exposed.

7.     No slope vegetation on retention pond sides.

8.     Deep rills throughout, including the sides of the retention pond.

9.     Retention pond is NOT being used. Drainage from the construction areas and road grading lead offsite.

 

There is no NPDES permit placard at the gate identifying what and who this is.

The construction activity is causing catastrophic offsite impacts to the neighborhood as well as depositing tons of sediment into Cottondale Creek, leading to Hurricane Creek.

 

 Off site impacts are still affecting residents along the street as well as a car dealership and I-59.

As a follow-up to my previous complaint I returned to the unidentified construction site and found some improvement at high visibility areas and nothing to others.

The top portion of the unused retention pond has had new soil placed around it to fill in some of the rills. The slope along the newly poured concrete side entrance is bare and leads downhill to a point where there is no silt fencing and it discharges directly off site to the road.

 

The majority of the retention pond is bare with deep rills. There should be vegetation on any soil left for more than 13 days. There is a berm about halfway down from the construction activity that diverts storm water offsite with no contact with the retention basin. There is clearly a sediment plume outside the containment fencing on private property leading to Cottondale Creek.

 

There are 2 areas along the street known as Valley Lake Rd., which have received new dirt to replace what has washed down the street. Only one set of silt fencing is seen. In my opinion, that is inadequate being as we just saw the same setup blown out. There needs to be more redundant BMP measures to check accelerated runoff before it blows out the fencing.

 

The drop inlets along the roadways are not in service yet causing storm water to leave the site via Valley Lake Rd. The dirt space nearest Buttermilk Rd. has one drop inlet that has been completely choked out and not working since before the last big rain. This area also needs more redundant check dams and or swale to check accelerated runoff before it blows out the fencing.

 

Construction debris and sediment can be seen in the Buttermilk Rd. ROW. The silt fences are actually set up in the state ROW. Large pieces of what looks like Styrofoam insulation board. There is also a large amount of common litter around the site. They are required to contain all construction debris and litter on site.

 

On the North end nearest the I-50 ROW, NO BMPs exist and no effort to correct the issue for weeks. The sediment plume leaves the construction site and traverses across private property at "Gulf States Auto" entering the I-59 ROW. This has been ongoing for weeks.

 

There is a large deposit of sediment, gravel and other construction debris accumulated in Valley Lake Rd. Several tons of gravel is deposited on private property and in the Valley Lake behind the houses. No attempt to remove it has been made. The landowner did tell me they went inside the shop and cleaned it out but nothing else. While it is nice that they make half hearted attempts to mitigate the law requires total compliance with permit regulations and mitigation when they fail. In this case, it hasn't been proven that any permit exists.