Spattered by upset neighbors, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may back-pedal out of a public relations swamp over creating a wetlands area on Flat Creek Golf Course in Peachtree City.

A proposal to quit trying to make a Flat Creek Golf Course parcel into wetlands apparently is on the table with the Corps.

The parcel, about an acre near the ninth fairway and behind some homes on Stratford Court, is part of a nearly five-acre "wetlands mitigation" plan that became necessary when the Patten Seed Co. disturbed wetlands during additions to its Canongate Golf Course near Palmetto. Patten Seed owns the Flat Creek course and several others in the area.

Neighboring homeowners, including Steve and Marjorie Bachman, objected to the owners' methods of wetlands restoration for the area directly behind their home on Stratford. Peachtree City's planners and engineers became involved when erosion control issues were raised, and when it was discovered that no city permits had been applied for until after grading work had begun at the site.

The wetlands mitigation issue has been on the agenda for three consecutive Peachtree City Planning Commission meetings without formal action. At the most recent meeting, Patten's consultant for the project, Butch Register of EcoSouth Inc., made a plea for continuing to develop the project but could not guarantee environmental management for the five years that a mitigation process would take.

Marjorie Bachman asked at the meeting that the golf course developers pick another parcel that did not involve adjacent homeowners, as did Jim Williams, city director for development services. He stressed, with the backing of several commission members, that the city would need to see a detailed plan in writing for the continued monitoring and maintenance of the site.

Jim Parker of Savannah, spokesperson for the district office of the Corps of Engineers, now says that EcoSouth has requested to "move" that much of the mitigation plan to another golf-course site within the Flat Creek "flood plain," to restore the area behind Stratford Court to its original contours and to "stabilize" the area.

"The Corps neither requested nor required the move," Parker said. "We considered it an appropriate mitigation area, but we have no problem in principle with moving the area. We were not happy with the way that particular site was being developed, but they have the right to ask for a move as long as the requirements are met for wetlands mitigation. We are awaiting a revised mitigation plan from the consultant."

Bachman told The Citizen that Register had telephoned her to tell her of the plan to restore the area behind her home.