For the past 14 months, I have tried to work with the administration of Fayetteville to address significant problems with a long-standing illegal fill.
The business owner of property on 1st Manassas Mile has dumped a huge pile of dirt, household trash and a variety of toxic contaminants — and Fayetteville does nothing.
I learned that the fill area has been expanding for 10 plus years with no sediment or erosion control — and Fayetteville does nothing.
The owner has never had a required permit to place such fill — and Fayetteville does nothing.
To make matters worse, the property owner pushed thousands of cubic yards of illegal material onto city property, destroying everything in its path — and Fayetteville does nothing.
If someone in Fayetteville were to take a pickup truck load of dirt, concrete blocks, household trash and tires to City Hall and dump it on the front lawn, you would expect a very quick encounter with a police officer.
But at 1st Manassas Mile, the city has allowed the equivalent of 10,000 pickup truck loads to be dumped onto the edge of the Ridge Nature Area.
I have made it clear that the fill violates several federal and state laws, laws which the city of Fayetteville has taken on enforcement responsibilities.
Yet they have concluded there is nothing wrong out there and there isn’t anything they can or will do. To me, it looks and sounds very much like a case where a powerful developer decided to do as they please. Perhaps even enough power to have city staff protect them from any legal actions. The location is not out front so everyone can see; it is hidden from view to avoid prosecution.
Fayetteville has had some dealings with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division about this illegal property. But, as usual, the state can’t figure out what taking “Action” means as that is not what this dismal agency is known for.
And to make this worse, the city is sitting back, almost clueless, saying they can’t do anything because the state is handling it.
Just warms your heart to hear logic like that from your city government. I assure you there is a wide array of actions the city could and should be taking, but sitting down to talk about it seems to be what we can expect.
Last week, I filed formal complaints with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. These are all busy agencies, and a response, if one ever comes along, could take a long time. But the resources being lost are yours.
This is a particularly significant natural resource area and if it to be saved, you will have to step up and make it clear you want this settled. Your city government is not going to change unless you demand something far better than you are getting from them.
More next week.
Dennis Chase
Fayetteville, Ga.
