The nightmare simply won't end for Chris Holben.
For three years, the Berkeley Lake homeowner has fought with a developer over 22,000 dump-truck loads of dirt piled behind his house on Lakeshore Drive.
The mountain of dirt, with its 45-degree slope, transforms into a glacier of mud during heavy rain. The watery muck rushes down the hill and empties into Holben's private pond, filling it with sediment and silt. The pond feeds into Berkeley Lake, the 88-acre showpiece of this Gwinnett municipality of 2,000.
Holben is now ready for a new chapter in the mud fight: protecting a 50-foot wide buffer between his property and the developer's five-acre tract of land off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. PIB Development, an affiliate of Auburn-based developer G.P.'s Enterprises, has asked the county to toss out the buffer requirement and allow for a retaining wall to control erosion, records show.
Gwinnett County's planning commission will discuss the proposals on Tuesday in Lawrenceville. County commissioners are expected to hear the matter April 27.
Holben said building the wall on the buffer would mean razing trees that shield him against Peachtree Industrial Boulevard's sights and sounds, and also add value to his property. If there needs to be a wall, it should be built on the developer's property, not the buffer, the homeowner said.
"All I'm trying to do is live on a nice, clean little pond," the 61-year-old man said. "To take away that buffer will create a lifetime of problems."
Lee Tucker, attorney for PIB Development, said the only way to stop the erosion is to position the wall as close to the property line as possible.
"We're afraid if the wall is built on the hill that we won't effectively solve [Holben's] problem," said Tucker, adding that it should be a sizable wall.
"We're not trying to do anything to tear up Mr. Holben's buffer," Tucker said. "At the end of the day, I think everyone's interest is to fix the situation."
Four years ago, G.P.'s Enterprises bought the five-acre property and had it rezoned to commercial use. Three acres sat in a valley. In 2007, the company trucked in the dirt -- 220,000 cubic yards of fill, according to county estimates -- to level the land.
Phillip Reagin, an environmental scientist, said the developer in the past month has stepped up efforts to stabilize the site after pressure from the county and the state's Environmental Protection Division. Although a wall would prove beneficial, it would take months to build and unsettle the land even more, he said.
Berkeley Lake Mayor Lois Salter will attend both county meetings to argue on behalf of Holben and the city. In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last fall, Salter blasted Gwinnett County officials for allowing the dirt -- enough to fill an eight-story building -- on a steep hillside.
"I can only hope the county will do the right thing and say no," Salter said last week.
The county's planning department has recommended a denial of the application.
"The county has always tried to be very responsive," county Commissioner Bert Nasuti said. "There's been a lot of finger-pointing in all directions. It's something that needs to get fixed."
Holben has spent more than $50,000 in engineering studies, legal fees and pond-dredging costs, and just wants the issue settled.
"I've been in a lot of battles but this one is just wrong," Holben said.
About the Author
The Latest
Featured
