Chris Holben doesn't have a problem with the Hoover Dam; he just doesn't want it in his back yard.
On Tuesday, the Berkeley Lake homeowner will go before Gwinnett County commissioners to fight a proposal to build a giant retaining wall on a 50-foot-wide, tree-filled buffer. The wall would sit between Holben's Lakeshore Drive property and a developer's five-acre tract off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
PIB Development, an affiliate of Auburn-based developer G.P.'s Enterprises, wants the county to toss out the buffer requirement. Attorney Lee Tucker contends a sizable wall close to the property line will stop the erosion coming from a pile of dirt engineers said is big enough to fill an eight-story building.
The mountain of fill, with its 45-degree slope, transforms into a glacier of mud during heavy rains. The muck rushes down the hill and empties into Holben's pond, filling it with silt.
The pond feeds into Berkeley Lake, the 88-acre centerpiece of the Gwinnett municipality of 2,000.
"We're not trying to do anything to tear up Mr. Holben's buffer," Tucker has said. "At the end of the day, I think everyone's interest is to fix the situation."
Holben, who will be joined on Tuesday by a small army of residents, city leaders, engineers and environmental scientists, has rejected the proposal.
"It'll be like having the Hoover Dam in my back yard, except instead of water it'll hold millions of tons of fill," the 61-year-old man said. "It'll be a huge mess."
The tug-of-war over the buffer is 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 show.
Next the flood and mud nightmare began, Holben said.
Dismayed with Gwinnett County's enforcement of the site, Berkeley Lake community and city leaders turned to the state's Environmental Protection Division, which took over the case in August.
County Commissioner Bert Nasuti, who represents Berkeley Lake, maintained the county has been responsive to the erosion issue, given the potential impact to the lake.
Gwinnett County's Planning Commission and Department of Planning and Development have recommended that county leaders deny the wall proposal. The county typically requires buffers between commercial and residential land uses.
"The county's own staff has said there's no need to breach this buffer," Berkeley Lake Mayor Lois Salter said. "If the county can't uphold its own rules on this piece of property, I couldn't imagine they ever will."
David Shostak, a natural resource consultant, said the wall would have to be at least 15 feet tall to contain the dirt pile. Such a wall would alter the area's environmental conditions, from plants to wildlife, he said.
Shostak acknowledged a wall ultimately could stop the mud flow, but he offered other ways to limit erosion. They included planting more vegetation on the slope and terracing the mound with a bevy of smaller walls.
In a letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, real estate appraiser Wayne Mitsch estimated that the loss of the buffer, and accompanying trees, would reduce Holben's property value by 20 to 25 percent.
The lengthy battle has cost Holben more than $50,000 in engineering studies, legal fees and pond dredging. All he wants is to live on a clean pond.
"If that buffer is destroyed, it'll be another devastating blow to me and my property and to Berkeley Lake," Holben said.
If you go
- What: Public hearing
- When: 7 p.m., Tuesday
- Where: Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville
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