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.

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.

<!--

-----------