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April 16, 2002Corps: Village must remove debris- Spoils from Elk Rapids harbor dredging were not supposed to disturb nearby wetlandsBy KEITH MATHENYRecord-Eagle staff writer ELK RAPIDS - Threatening possible legal action, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ordered village officials to remove all clay and other harbor dredging debris dumped in wetlands at a housing development site. An Antrim County soil erosion official said the materials dumped at the development have caused a "significant" runoff into nearby Grand Traverse Bay. The Corps also ordered the village to restore wetlands there and other wetlands near the wastewater treatment facility on the south side of Hermann Road where other dredging materials "slumped" into wetlands. In a letter earlier this month, Gary Mannesto, chief of the Corps regulatory division in Detroit, asked Village Manager Robert Peterson to explain why dredging spoils were dumped in wetlands at the 20-acre Elk Rapids Preserve site condominium development off Fourth Street. Corps and state Department of Environmental Quality officials had approved the wastewater treatment plant area for dumping last year when both agencies approved the harbor dredging. But the spoils were not to disturb nearby wetlands. Peterson said a Preserve representative asked the construction company doing the dredging project, Kal Excavating of Omena, about using the excavated material as wetland fill at the multi-home project. The village agreed to the change in plans under three conditions - that it not cost the village any money; that testing was performed to ensure the material was not contaminated; and that all required permits be secured or amended, Peterson said. DEQ officials on Feb. 15 approved a permit modification that allowed diversion of the spoils to the Elk Rapids Preserve. "Evidently, (the contractors and developer) forgot or didn't know they had to get an amended permit from the Army Corps of Engineers as well," Peterson said. In his April 5 letter, Mannesto said that the Corps was reviewing the matter and might recommend that the U.S. Justice Department initiate legal action against the "responsible party or parties." Mannesto asked the village to provide detailed blueprints or surveys of both the Preserve and wastewater treatment plant disposal areas, and a detailed restoration plan for removal of spoils and restoration of wetlands at both disposal sites. "To bring the village's permit back into compliance, it will be necessary to restore these sites to their original condition and elevation," he wrote. Peterson said Monday that a letter was sent to the Corps last week, declaring the village's intent to comply with the order. Requested blueprints or surveys and restoration plans will be sent by the April 30 deadline, he said. Village contractors will remove the dredge materials from the Elk Rapids Preserve development and take them to the originally permitted site at the wastewater treatment plant, Peterson said. The materials that slumped into wetlands there also will be restored to their correct position, he said. "We have told the contractor that we expect him to pay all expenses for relocation and corrections," he said. The Elk Rapids Preserve project is owned by Grand Traverse Holding Co. A company representative, Tim Williams at Eastwood Construction in Traverse City, declined comment Monday. The amount of dredge material that ended up at the Preserve is uncertain. The Corps' permit called for removing 14,000 cubic yards of spoils from the harbor. The dredging debris at the Preserve was enough to cause runoff problems from the construction site into nearby Grand Traverse Bay, said Janet Person, executive director of the Antrim Conservation District that oversees erosion monitoring within the county. "There has been, in the last couple of weeks, sediment leaving the site and flowing into the water," Person said. "It was significant." Person said construction crews at the site have been very cooperative in working with county soil erosion officer Heidi Lang in bringing the area into soil erosion permit compliance. Keith Matheny is the reporter for Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmet counties. He can be reached at (231) 536-0345, or at tcre_keith@yahoo.com
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