Cleanup of pond in dispute

Developer must drain it, remove sediment, agency says

Lisa Baxley walks past the pond on a 10-acre lot that she and her husband own in Saline County. She said sediment and debris runoff from a nearby residential development has ruined the pond.
Lisa Baxley walks past the pond on a 10-acre lot that she and her husband own in Saline County. She said sediment and debris runoff from a nearby residential development has ruined the pond.

An Alexander couple and a subdivision developer are in dispute about how the developer will clean up the couple's 3-acre pond, which the couple says was polluted during the subdivision's construction.

Lisa Baxley urged the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission on Friday to help make sure the developer, Paul Bull, follows through on his commitment to clean up the pond just off of Diamond Hill Drive, where she and her husband, Ray, have yet to build a home because of uncertainty over the pond.

"It's just a mess, and I hope you can help us," Baxley said.

Lisa and Ray Baxley first complained to the Department of Environmental Quality in 2012 about runoff draining into their pond from Stone Hill Estates.

Both the Baxleys and Bull hired engineers to determine the source of the runoff and the proper method to clean the pond. The assessments clashed.

Neither Bull nor the engineer he hired, Bruce Shackleford, returned voice mails left for them last week.

The Department of Environmental Quality determined that Bull was responsible for the cleanup and fined him.

Bull signed a Consent Administrative Order in March 2014, agreeing to clean up the pond. But Bull asked for more time to comply.

Later, with his new attorney, state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, he and the department agreed to a revised order that lowered his fines from $38,000 to $10,000, $5,000 of which was suspended.

In January, the Department of Environmental Quality issued a new order mandating Bull to clean up the pond by Oct. 1.

Bull has built a retention pond that has largely stopped the dirty water from draining into the Baxleys' pond. Cleaning up the damage that has already been done to the pond is the remaining requirement.

Hutchinson sent the Baxleys a $4,000 check based on his and Bull's engineering estimates on the cost of cleaning it up.

The Baxleys contested that estimate, arguing that another firm put the cost of the cleanup at $25,000, and refused the check.

Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh wrote a letter to Hutchinson, noting that Bull still had not complied with the order.

On Wednesday, Hutchinson sent the Baxleys a request to access their property and said the developer would clean up the northeast portion of the pond. He said the pond would likely become polluted again, however, because of a new ATV track nearby.

"We'll go and clean out stuff," Hutchinson said. "It won't make a lick of difference."

The Department of Environmental Quality has asked that the cleanup include draining the pond to remove excess sediment and that the amount that needs to be removed can't be determined until it is drained.

"Cleanup is subject to the department's satisfaction," Keogh said Friday.

Lisa Baxley said the pollution of the pond coincided with the construction of Stone Hill Estates and lamented the lengthy process to try to get her and her husband's pond back to blue waters they once paddled in.

"I've never felt so little in my whole life," she said.

On Friday, the Baxleys presented photos of their blue pond when they first purchased the property in 2004 and photos of the pond's brown waters from late 2011 and on.

"I'm here begging you to please hold his feet to the fire," Lisa Baxley said.

Keogh told the commission that the department wants to hold Bull accountable.

Commission Chairman Ann Henry thanked Lisa Baxley for her comments and said the commission will make sure to follow up with her later.

Metro on 08/31/2015

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