Berkeley Lake homeowner wins round in mud fight
Berkeley Lake homeowner Chris Holben won the latest round on Tuesday night in his ongoing battle against a developer over a massive dirt pile that sits behind his home near Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Gwinnett County commissioners unanimously rejected PIB Development's proposal to build a giant retaining wall on a 50-foot-wide, tree-filled buffer behind Holben's property on Lakeshore Drive.
"I'm extremely happy," Holben said after the 5-0 vote at the Gwinnett County courthouse in Lawrenceville. "It's been a nightmare every night thinking about this. Tonight, I can get a good night's sleep."
PIB Development, an affiliate of Auburn-based developer G.P.'s Enterprises, had wanted the county to toss out the required buffer between Holben's property and the developer's five-acre tract of land. It argued that a sizable wall close to the property line would stop the erosion coming from a pile of dirt engineers have said is big enough to fill an eight-story building.
However, in a surprise move on Tuesday, PIB Development's attorney Lee Tucker asked commissioners to deny the application without prejudice.
Berkeley Lake Mayor Lois Salter said the move could mean the developer was planning to bring up the issue again.
The struggle over the buffer was part of a continuing conflict between Holben and the developer. In 2007, G.P.'s Enterprises trucked in the dirt -- an estimated 220,000 cubic yards of fill -- to level off five acres of land bought for commercial purposes, records showed.
The mountain of dirt, with its 45-degree slope, transformed into a glacier of mud during heavy rains. The muck regularly rushed down the hill and emptied into Holben's pond, filling it with silt. That pond feeds into the city's 88-acre lake.
The commissioners' decision came before a crowd of nearly 30 residents, city leaders, engineers and environmental scientists who have joined Holben in the mud fight.
"It's an example of what a difference it makes when people come here," Salter said. "But it's not over. The problem still exists."
