Cumming to pay $150K for stream damage

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The city of  Cumming agreed this week to pay $150,000 and do environmental restoration work to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in 2009 over stream damage.

The city began construction of an aquatic center near Lake Lanier in September 2008 and graded 22 acres of land around an intermittent stream that feeds Sawnee Creek. The land is about 400 yards from Lake Lanier. The workers violated state and federal environmental regulations by destroying more than 800 feet of streambed and buffers along the bed, the suit claimed.

"They were bringing in heavy equipment and removing trees and stumps and driving over the streambed. They completely destroyed it," said Juliet Cohen, attorney for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, a nonprofit organization.

"We thought this one was particularly egregious because the bad actor in this case was the very entity that is educated, certified and responsible for regulating our state water resources. And they did just the opposite," she said.

City Manager Gerald Blackburn said after years of drought the streambed was dry at the time construction began. City workers and contractors did not realize they were working in a protected area.

"There was no indication that there was a problem in the area," he said. "After the grubbing was done, it started raining."

Silt from the site ran into Lake Lanier, causing plumes of sediment in the lake every time it rained, said Jason Ulseth, technical programs director for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Intermittent streams are important filters of silt and pollution, he said.

Cumming settled the suit by agreeing to restore stream buffers on the site, pave the parking lot of the aquatic center with materials that let rainwater soak through, pay up to $100,000 to restore a degraded creek nearby, pay $40,000 to the Sawnee Mountain Foundation for environmental education programs, and pay $10,000 to the Turner Environmental Law Clinic of the Emory University School of Law to protect water quality in Georgia.

Cohen said the nonprofit was satisfied with the agreement.

Blackburn said, "We are pleased to have this behind us."