Battle lines drawn in dredging case

A judge has approved a developer's plan to dig up a placid lily pond familiar to thousands of people who drive along Trenholm Road each day.

But opponents of the dredging plan, including the town of Arcadia Lakes, want the judge to reconsider his decision and stop any work pending an appeal, according to a petition they filed Monday.

Developers plan to use Roper Pond as a storm water basin for an apartment complex around the small lake near Decker Boulevard. Dredging three feet of the pond's bottom would kill off the lily pads and hurt animals and fish that live there, opponents contend.

The 1.3.-acre pond acts as an unofficial gateway to Arcadia Lakes, an upscale community of tall pines, meandering creeks and residential lakes. During warm weather, hundreds of white flowers bloom on the emerald green pads that cover Roper Pond. Nearly 30,000 cars whiz down Trenholm Road each day.

"Our lakes and trees are our assets," Arcadia Lakes Mayor Rick Thomas said. "That's where we see our value as a community. This was very disappointing."

Town officials are considering an appeal of Administrative Law Judge John McLeod's decision to uphold a permit for the development work. Project opponents have 30 days to appeal after McLeod decides on their motion to reconsider his decision.

"We think there are very strong grounds for an appeal," said Amy Armstrong, a lawyer who represents opponents of the Roper Pond development.

Tommy Lavender, an attorney representing developer Roper Pond LLC, said McLeod made the right decision in approving the construction work. Bob Mundy, a veteran developer, wants to put in about 200 apartment units near Roper Pond.

"Obviously, we were pleased," Lavender said.

In his Jan. 21 ruling, McLeod said neither the town of Arcadia Lakes nor the residents opposing the work had the legal right to challenge the project. The work approved by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control would not hurt Arcadia Lakes, McLeod said.

McLeod also said DHEC had properly issued the storm water permit for the construction project, despite arguments that the work threatened to pollute nearby Cary Lake and hurt the area's scenery. Opponents of the project assumed the work would allow sediment pollution, but they couldn't prove the permits were issued improperly, McLeod wrote. He noted that federal law doesn't require a wetlands permit to dredge a waterway such as Roper Pond.

If left to stand, McLeod's order justifies DHEC's failure to address the impact of the project on wetlands and water quality, Armstrong and co-counsel Jimmy Chandler said in court documents.

During an August court hearing, a DHEC regulator testified that he did not look at how the Roper Pond dredging project would affect water quality, what it would do to fish in the pond, or if the work would dry up nearby wetlands. The work was considered minor and did not require the same level of review as would have been required to fill large amounts of wetlands, DHEC officials said at the time.

"If the developer goes forward with its plans to excavate the pond, significant and irreparable environmental damage will occur," according to Monday's motion by Chandler and Armstrong.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.