In 1994, Bonnie Lindsay purchased her dream home. In the summer of 1999 that dream turned into a nightmare.

Lindsay purchased a modest home near the end of Buff Creek Road in eastern Jackson County. Behind her was forested mountainside.

That bucolic setting ended when bulldozers began dozing trees and moving earth, turning the forest behind Lindsay’s home into another mountain development. When it rained her lawn and roadside turned into a mud field.

Lindsay contacted the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Land Quality Section in Asheville. Through the summer and fall of 1999, she worked with outgoing technician Mike Goodson and new technician Charles Koontz. Despite promised inspections and filed reports by DENR, rainstorms continued to turn Lindsay’s property into a quagmire.

In August 2000, Lindsay turned to Jackson County for help. She began with the building inspector’s office, but soon learned the county had just (July 2000) passed a sediment control ordinance.

The ordinance passed by county commissioners on July 20, 2000, was enacted on Oct. 1 of that year. At that meeting, Mike Goodson of DENR was present to urge the county to pass the ordinance.
Goodson told commissioners the state was stretched too thin to review all sites within its jurisdiction.
“We basically respond to complaints and put out fires. A local ordinance would provide the luxury of dealing with people one on one,” Goodson said.

“As soon as they [sediment control office] were open for business, I was down there knocking on the door,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay was in contact with sediment control officer Jeff McCall through February 2001. According to Lindsay, McCall acknowledged in March that the developer — Seico Carolina — had not filed a sediment and erosion control plan as required by the ordinance. (The developer could not be reached for comment.)

In an interview, McCall said it was apparent in March that the developer was working and that no plan had been filed with the county or the state.

“Erosion was evident. They had done a few things, but they weren’t working,” McCall said.

McCall said he sent a notice of violation and the developer responded but not within the allotted time frame of the ordinance. In fact, it wasn’t until July, after a second letter, that the county received a sediment and erosion plan and permit fees. During this time work continued and earth was left exposed.
“I spoke with Jeff McCall in July and he said ‘you’ve got a real problem here,’” said Rick Lindsay, Bonnie’s son and a wildlife professor at Haywood Community College.

Rick Lindsay videoed the runoff to document the problem.

“No one’s out here when it’s raining to see the effects,” he said.

The Jackson County ordinance includes penalties and provides authority for the county to issue “stop-work” orders for parties not in compliance. Neither was done in this case despite the fact Seico Carolina was in violation of several articles of the ordinance and it took nearly six months for them to comply.

McCall acknowledged the county did not respond promptly. The ordinance was new and this was the first time it had been tested, he said. The county was operating with an interim county manager and the legal chain of command had not been resolved. It wasn’t clear who, in the administration, had the legal authority to implement fines and/or penalties, McCall said.

According to McCall, that issue has now been resolved. Those duties reside with new Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland, who took office on Aug. 1.

Westmoreland attributed the lapse to “a lack of understanding of where the proper authority lay. This being the first incident, they [sediment control office] worked to be sure they had the proper legal and political authority. Hopefully, in the future, this type of incident won’t be as protracted.”

McCall said he feels confident the developer is presently adhering to an approved plan, although he admits they haven’t finished seeding all the bare slopes.

“I think it should get better for them,” McCall said regarding the Lindsays’ sediment problem.
Rick Lindsay is not so sure.

“When they cleaned the catch basin [which is just above the Lindsay property] they just piled the dirt to the side. Where’s that going to go next time it rains?”

 

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