Company to pay $51,000 fine for environmental errors

CHESAPEAKE

A development company has agreed to pay a federal fine of $51,000 for various environmental violations at a new-housing site near New Mill Creek, a branch of the Elizabeth River.

Dominion Boulevard Partners LLC, based in Virginia Beach, is paying the fine, sought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, because "it was either pay them or pay a bunch of lawyers" to contest the allegations, said Eric C. Anderson, manager of the company.

"We chose to pay them and move on," Anderson said Thursday, adding that the alternative would have been more costly and taken more time. "I thought the government was supposed to help people in this economy, but I guess not the EPA. I guess this is the price of doing business these days."

Such criticism of the EPA has been amplified recently by Republicans in Congress, who feel the agency has become too aggressive under the Obama administration and is stifling economic activity.

But in case records and public statements, the EPA describes the violations as fairly cut-and-dried, technical items designed to prevent pollution but that were poorly maintained or simply omitted by the company.

EPA inspectors last year discovered problems at the site, known as Equestrian Estates North, on West Road off Dominion Boulevard, chiefly in how stormwater was being handled in a man-made pond and how required fencing was not adequate to block dirt and sand from washing into a nearby canal.

In one instance, a big stockpile of sand was supposed to be surrounded with a silt fence, but according to records, no fencing existed.

"At the time of the inspection, EPA representatives observed evidence of stormwater discharges from the stockpile that had accumulated in the East Ditch and had not been removed by site representatives," records say.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation typically conducts site inspections in Virginia to ensure compliance with stormwater and sediment-control rules. But in this case, the EPA led the way. It asked the state to visit the site once, in December, to verify findings, which it did.

"This was really their case," said Gary Waugh, a DCR spokesman. "We weren't really involved."

Anderson described the allegations against his project, which aims to construct 18 new homes, as "basically nothing."

His company was cited, for example, for not inspecting the property soon enough after a rainfall to see whether sediment controls were working. The standard time is within 48 hours; the company did not do that.

The EPA describes the 4-acre site as lying near a ditch that leads into Lindsay Canal, which feeds into New Mill Creek, which empties into the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.

While not saying whether Lindsay Canal was tainted by any runoff, the EPA determined that the canal was "a water of the United States," protected under the Clean Water Act.

Anderson said the site has been graded and cleared, and that construction should begin soon.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com