Note: We sent the following
email to Craig Carinci of Fairfax County's Sites Inspection Division
and to our Supervisor, Joan DuBois, after observing problems with
runoff from the Stockwell Manor site following storms on Oct. 7
and 8, 2005. Adrienne Whyte of the Mclean
Citizens Organization kindly provided an independent confirmation
of our observations. We received a prompt reply from Mr. Carinci
promising to have someone look into the problem, and a longer reply
from Rosemary Ryan, Joan DuBois' legislative aide, the next day.
For photos and a more detailed account of this episode, including
the cleanup, click here .
From: Catherine
E. Saunders
Subject: Erosion
problems at Stockwell Manor Construction
Site
To: Craig.carinci@fairfaxcounty.gov
Tuesday,
October 11, 2005 8:37:21
AM
Mr. Carinci--
I enjoyed your presentation on erosion
and sediment controls at the Green Breakfast a year or so ago, and
kept your card. Could you please pass on the following message
about problems with erosion/sedimentation on the Stockwell
Manor construction site to the appropriate inspector? The site is located in Dranesville
District, in the West Falls Church area, on the block bounded by
Great Falls St. (which the site abuts), Haycock Rd., Kirby Rd.,
and Westmoreland St. The watershed is Pimmit
Run, and I believe the tax map number is 40-2.
After the storm of October 7 and
8, 2005, I'm concerned about the adequacy of the erosion and sedimentation
controls on the Stockwell Manor construction site. I observed the site and the areas downstream
on the afternoons of Friday 7 Oct. and Monday 10 Oct., and saw considerable
evidence of erosion and sedimentation.
On October 7, a flow of orange-colored water from the site
was evident as far downstream as the place where Pimmit
Run flows under Westmoreland St.,
and the contrast with more normal-colored flows was evident at each
confluence upstream (see pictures at http://www.fobsb.org/SMerosion10-07-05-1.htm and http://www.fobsb.org/SMerosion10-07-05-2.htm
). On October 10, a day after
the storm, deposits of sediment were very much evident throughout
the length of the western fork of Burke's Spring Branch, and in
the area of Pimmit Run immediately downstream
of its confluence with Burke's Spring Branch. Sedimentation was particularly evident in the culvert that
runs under Kirby Rd.,
on the Brooks Square
development's stormwater pond (where deposits
in places reached almost 3" deep), and on McLean Greens' common
land (see pictures at http://www.fobsb.org/SMerosion10-07-05-3.htm
). I realize that it's impossible
to prevent all erosion and sedimentation from a construction site,
but, at least to my admittedly untutored eye, the problem seems
to go well beyond "colored water.'
It is certainly causing serious problems for neighbors downstream,
especially those at Brooks Square, who will find it difficult to
mow their stormwater pond until the deposits
of clay there are removed.
I would also appreciate any information
you can offer about what happened: Were the required erosion and
sediment controls not in place? (With a few minor exceptions, super
silt fences, sediment basins, and the like appeared from my vantage
points on adjoining streets and parcels to be in place and functioning,
but I couldn't see all of the site.)
If they were in place, how can they be redesigned or otherwise
strengthened to prevent future incidents of this kind?
As you'll see from the links to pictures below, I'm in the
process of chronicling, and trying to explain, the events for the
website of a group concerned with health of the local subwatershed, the Friends of Burke's Spring Branch. I'd also like to pass on any information available
to neighbors in the Brooks Square and McLean Greens communities,
who are understandably concerned about the influx of mud on their
common land. I can be reached at this email address, and/or
at 703-534-4494.
Thank you,
Cathy Saunders
Friends of Burke's Spring Branch
catheris@capaccess.org
(cc’d to Joan DuBois, Dranesville District Supervisor;
Nancy Hopkins, Dranesville Planning Commissioner;
Frank Crandall, Dranesville Environmental
Quality Advisory Council Representative; and selected members of
McLean Citizens Association, Friends of Burke’s Spring Branch, and
nearby HOAs)
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