The Greenbrier County Commission took action to control the flow of silt off of the site of the future Greenbrier County Sportsplex on Monday, December 30.
The action comes after a notice of violation was issued against the project by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and complaints from those living close to the project.
After the removal of trees and mass grading performed on the Sportsplex site, the remaining sediment is exposed, allowing rain to wash it away. As the sediment enters the water and leaves the property, it becomes silt runoff.
In a previous meeting of the County Commission in November, Sportsplex neighbor Jodi Styles gave public comment, explaining that silt had entered and damaged her pond.
Silt runoff was also visible in the Greenbrier River itself along the river trail just downstream from the Sportplex site in December.
During the Monday meeting, the commission approved a change order, allocating approximately $17,500 for additional silt control.
“To help with some of the settlement coming off the property, I’ve discussed with our engineer and contractors putting in some [erosion] eels, which are the big, round sacks … to catch silt erosion coming through,” explained Commission President Lowell Rose. “At each location we’ll put in three [eels] and also two skimmers, … which help dewater the ponds.”
In addition, three settlement ponds were also removed prematurely by Kanawha Stone.
“The contractor took out three of the five settlement ponds, which do come out eventually but shouldn’t be out until vegetation is established behind them to hold the soil and the silt washing down,” Rose said. “They have to be put back in and they’ll do that at their expense.”
Silt runoff has been a concern not only with neighbors, but also the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP); after the state received a call with a concern with silt runoff, an inspector was sent to the site. Shortly after on October 23 and 31, respectively, both the mass grading (Kanawha Stone) and clearing and grubbing (Baldwin Engineering) projects were issued a notice of violation against the Sportsplex project, citing rules set by the state legislature governing water quality standards.
“Permittee has caused conditions not allowable in waters of the state by allowing sediment deposits on the bottom of multiple [parts] of [the] Greenbrier River,” reads the notice.
The notice also stated that the construction:
• failed to prevent sediment- laden water from leaving the site without going through an appropriate device.
• failed to properly operate sediment basins.
• failed to install diversions to direct runoff to sediment basins.
• failed to protect fill slopes.
• failed to display a public notice sign near the entrance to the construction site for the duration of the project.
• failed to properly implement controls, such as improperly installing silt fencing, inadequate perimeter controls installed on the eastern and western sides of construction, the installation of silt fence in “concentrated flow areas,” and lack of stream protection on the upstream side near the entrance road.
Terradon Senior Engineer Kristen Stinson-McClung wrote back to the DEP, stating that heavy rain resulted in a large amount of silt flow away from the Sportsplex site.
“The area should receive one inch of rainfall every two and half months,” explained Stinson-McClung, citing an equation the company uses to determine rainfall drainage and containment measures. “The site received three, one inch rain events in a six-day period. The [silt safeguards] were operating at diminished capacity for the second and third rain events [on October 20 and 22]. The temporary sediment basins did not have time to dewater adequately from the first rain event on the October 17, before being inundated with the second and third storm events of equal intensity. … The [silt safeguards] were therefore forced to try and control one hundred percent of the stormwater runoff from the second and third rain events. [The silt safeguards] are not typically designed to handle 100 percent of the stormwater runoff.”
Included in Terradon’s response to the DEP was a new set of technical plans addressing the issues listed in the notice of violation.
“Kanawha Stone has made every effort to combat sediment laden storm runoff from leaving the sports complex site and will continue to do so,” Stinson-McClung wrote. “Terradon hopes that the above responses and additional measures taken in the field adequately address the items detailed in the [notice of violation].”
Since the response, the DEP has been in verbal communication with the office of the Greenbrier County Commission. However, no formal response has yet been issued, according to DEP records.
Shortly before the change order vote, each commissioner expressed concern over the drainage and spoke to the site’s current conditions.
“[During] one of the visits the commissioners made, we were there together and we walked the entire project,” said Commissioner Mike McClung. “There are issues and truthfully we were not pleased. There are some problems downstream and being a good neighbor means addressing those problems. … I don’t think we can 100 percent solve an issue when you have so much ground … but certainly we need to address what we can and that’s what this [change order] is about.”
“I believe all three commissioners can agree that we have an obvious drainage and runoff problem coming out of the Sportsplex,” said Commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher. “If more issues continue I would want to have a second opinion on engineering to look at the property.”
“We may have to have additional meetings with our engineer and our contractor,” Rose said. “If these problems don’t get corrected pretty quickly, I’m not totally opposed to Commissioner Tincher’s idea of having a [second] person taking a look at it and giving us ideas [for] means of controlling the settlement.”
Read more in the Friday, January 3, 2020, edition of The West Virginia Daily News.
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