Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation Report December 2000

by Alan Toney

We have been working with Greg Gutzwiller, who presently heads the City of Atlanta's new Erosion and Sedimentation Control Department. Greg and his staff of four are working hard to solve as many of the City's many E&S problems as possible, however we have doubts that Atlanta's City Government is committed to fund even minimal needs for this department.

We have seen considerable improvement in many of the larger development projects around the city. Most are at least attempting to use proper "Best Management Practices" and the City is no longer afraid to issue Stop Work orders on projects that do not comply with the law. Unfortunately there is still a lot of unpermitted soil dumping occurring in certain sections of Atlanta. Often it is months or even years before a violation is discovered, so developers have little incentive to stop this illegal practice. We have also found that many smaller projects are not being inspected at all, and the City has no plans to fund enough staff to inspect projects of less than 1.1 acres. They seem interested in doing only the absolute minimum required by State law.

Last month the City reported that there were only 2 E&S complaints from citizens. While I'm a little suspicious of such a low number, we do need for everyone to get involved. We also welcome citizen input from anywhere in Fulton County. Recently, we had a complaint about a public school being built in Roswell. Although Roswell generally does a good job of E&S management, we decided it was time for an overview of their program.

Report erosion and sedimentation problems to Greg Gutzwiller at 404-817-6834 (phone) or 404-225-9301 (pager). If the City of Atlanta does not respond promptly, please contact Jack Hamilton at the State Soil and Water Commission Region 3 at 770-761-3020. You may also contact Alan Toney of the Fulton County Soil and Water District at 770-350-9887.

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Last updated: 20 Jan 01