Off Fifth Street, about 30 new homes and twice as many townhouses in the Brookwood subdivision cling to the slopes overlooking Rock Creek. Earlier this year, dirt and construction debris washed downhill across the Rivanna Trail and into the creek, but Southern Development has apparently addressed the problem.
Brookwood entered the fifth of six construction phases after the city Planning Commission waived restrictions against building on the steep terrain in October 2007. The Commission
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Southern Development has reportedly washed away the earlier erosion and debris problems that marked this Fifth Street project in the vicinity of Rock Creek. |
cited Southern Development’s massive retaining walls plus improved drainage and the public good of high-density housing on the parcel. Sarah Mittelfehldt, who regularly jogs on the Rivanna Trail just behind Brookwood, recalls what she witnessed soon thereafter.
“The Rivanna Trail was covered in a couple of inches of silt and miscellaneous run-off from the failing silt fences for several weeks,” says Mittelfehldt. “It was to the point where I would have to stop running to cautiously wade through the silt. I ran into construction workers shoveling silt off of the trail a number of times. I also routinely saw large sheets of Tyvek and other miscellaneous debris from the construction sites in the creek. I witnessed construction workers pulling out the large, obvious chunks of materials from the creek, but knowing that construction materials are one of the primary sources of toxic waste, it makes you wonder what is left behind.”
A few silt fences still sagged earlier this month, but according to the city, the main thing Southern Development has left behind is a better protected Rock Creek. “The other part of the development certainly had problems, but they don’t have violations right now,” says Read Brodhead, city zoning administrator. “We go out every two weeks to do a sedimentation and erosion inspection. On the last inspection, there was one issue with a silt fence—they needed to correct some holes—and one with inlet protection, a minor thing. They haven’t had anything serious, not in Phase V.”
The city’s environmental administrator, Kristel Riddervold, confirms that she hadn’t been notified of any problems with increased silt or pollution from trash or fertilizer runoff in Rock Creek. However, she adds, “I wouldn’t necessarily know about it unless someone was reaching out to inform my office.”
Meanwhile, Charlie Armstrong of Southern Development credits a massive rain garden and several Filterras—essentially a cross between a storm drain and potted plant—on the site with trapping and holding potentially erosive, polluted water. Except in the largest storms, when the water bypasses the filters, he explains, storm water seeps through the soil and into pipes underneath and “comes out clean over several days.” And those silt fences, sagging or otherwise, “are temporary for construction. Once we’ve re-seeded, mulched, have grass and trees, those won’t be necessary.” Joggers on the Rivanna Trail might hope so.
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