Despite pleas to builders, buyers, Fayetteville stands firm on stop-work

By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

Fayetteville officials aren't budging off their determination to force a local developer to clean up a lake they believe is filled with silt as a result of construction nearby.

Builders and prospective home buyers say they are caught in the middle.

City attorney David Winkle is working with developer Dan Stinchcomb to reach an agreement on the clean-up of Lake Stephens on Lester Road, city manager Mike Bryant said this week. A stop work order on Stinchcomb's Stonebriar West subdivision “will remain in place until an agreement is reached,” he added.

A representative of one prospective home buyer said the situation is becoming intolerable.

“My mother in law has been waiting a year and a half [to move into a new home],” said area resident Doug Carter. The government's fight with Stinchcomb has “gone on so long, the house has gone up $6,000,” said Carter.

“If it goes up any more, she'll have to give it up and go somewhere else,” he added.

Fayetteville officials have refused to issue any building permits for homes in the subdivision, saying Stinchcomb must repair alleged damage to the lake, which is downstream from the neighborhood, before any houses can be built.

Both county and city officials are involved in the controversy because the subdivision is in Fayetteville, while the lake is in unincorporated Fayette.

Jerry Darby and Jim Bass, two of several residents who live next to the lake, have attended City Council and County Commission meetings in recent months to ask for the governments' help in forcing Stinchcomb to clean up the lake.

Inadequate erosion control during construction of streets and other infrastructure for Stonebriar West two years ago caused the lake to fill up with silt, Bass and Darby said. And although there have been recent improvements to the developer's erosion control methods, the homeowners said the problems continue.

“It's still coming in,” Bass said during a recent City Council meeting. Installation of a silt screen, he said, “didn't stop the silt from coming into the lake.”

But a trio of builders who are waiting for the controversy to be resolved so they can start building homes in the subdivision told council members last week that there's no proof that Stinchcomb's work on the subdivision really damaged the lake.

“Dan may have contributed to [siltation of the lake], but to what extent we don't know,” said builder Bob Dixon. “Our livelihood has been stopped because there's been a complaint, and there's never been any proof,” he added.

If residents believe the lake has been damaged, he added, they should have tests done to prove their contention and then present that information to Stinchcomb, or in a court of law. “The rest is a civil matter,” he said.

Martin Barnwell of Ray Wright Homes said there's a good bit of evidence that work done by Signa Development company years ago damaged the lake, and the more recent work only contributed to the long term problem.

“You're taking all this damage that's been done over time and saying to Dan, `You're the closest one... you take care of it,'” said Barnwell.

The three builders have contracts with Stinchcomb to purchase about 70 lots in the subdivision and put houses on them. Mike Rosetti, the third builder, said at least a dozen home buyers have voided their contracts because of the delay.

If they are allowed to start building houses, Rosetti said, the three builders will hire an engineer to oversee erosion control during construction. If not, he added, current erosion control methods will begin to fail because of lack of maintenance.

“If it gets to be a protracted situation, he's not going to touch it, and it's going to get worse,” Rosetti said.

The builders also questioned the legality of the city's stopping construction without any proof that the work is damaging the lake. “There needs to be a study to determine the damage,” he said.

Carter, the resident concerned for his mother in law's building plans, stated it more strongly. “It's just as if somebody said he believed you were embezzling money, and I decided to lock you up without any evidence whatsoever that you were embezzling,” said Carter, who added that he is a police officer.