DeKalb and Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District Elections (September 2004)
As of 1:00 PM, Monday September 13, 2004 the State Soil and Water Commission canceled all future elections until further notice. This applies to both the DeKalb and Fulton County Soil & Water District elections.
The Sierra Club has endorsed Doug Denton and Dell MacGregor for the DeKalb Soil & Water Conservation District election. Alan Toney and Preston Mason are endorsed in the Fulton County Soil & Water Conservation District election.
These four incumbents were endorsed by the Sierra Club in 2000 and have served well the citizens of Fulton and DeKalb counties. As Soil & Water Conservation District Supervisors, Denton, MacGregor, Toney and Mason oversee the county and municipal erosion control inspections and compliance. Dirt leaving construction sites, a common site throughout the metro Atlanta area, impairs water quality, destroys habitats and exacerbates flooding. A significant change in the state law and rules for erosion and sedimentation require more stringent oversight of local issuing authorities.
The Sierra Club will notify its members when the election is rescheduled.
Candidate Statements for the DeKalb Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor Election
Dell MacGregor
In the eight years that I have served on the DeKalb County Soil and Water Conservation District, DeKalb has gone from a staff of 3 in the field assigned to inspect construction sites, to a staff of over 18-20.
The increased staffing and development of program occurred because of a wake-up call sent by the District to the county administration in late 1998. At that time, little to no best management practices (BMP) were observed in the field and minimal to no enforcement by the county of the state-mandated Erosion and Sediment Control Act were noted. The District decided to pull the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) - in place since 1980 - which allowed the county to review its own erosion and sediment control plans. And thus, the process was started toward development of a more compliant program.
In recent months, the District and the County have held a series of productive meetings to work out the remaining differences and concerns about the Erosion and Sediment Control Program. The individuals hired to service this expanded program take their responsibilities of monitoring erosion and sedimentation, tree protection and storm water seriously. We are confident that the program is being placed on solid footing and, thus, a new Memorandum of Agreement is not far behind.
However, there is still much environmental work left to be done in the county, in fact, in the region and state. Accelerated development with its loss of topsoil, trees and pervious surface, aging infrastructure and insufficient methodologies to deal effectively with storm water, continued sewage overflow into our streams and rivers - most particularly the South River, into which 2/3 of DeKalb County drains - are some of the serious concerns still ahead. And education - the District feels that with proper education and increased awareness, DeKalb citizens will assist our local governments in making sound environmental decisions. Sound environmental decisions are the backbone and will the provide strength of a solid foundation with which to move through the next critical years.
Doug Denton
Voters have an opportunity to have true citizen representation on local soil & water conservation districts. Supervisors educate local governments and land developers of their responsibilities of protecting soil and water resources during land development activities. We prefer partnerships and a sustainable approach to protecting waterways although nothing precludes us from using other tactics with egregious violators.
I believe in large part that our election four years ago brought much needed attention to the State Soil & Water Conservation Commission. The Commission is still behind the times as far as not supporting urban issues but they have come a long way and continue to make positive moves towards supporting urban issues. Secondly, I think the Sierra Club played a major role in the DeKalb district election setting a state record for voter turnout for district elections. This is an accomplishment we should all be proud of.
DeKalb County has been a difficult government entity to build bridges with over the past four years. They have often taken a condescending attitude toward the DeKalb district but we have remained steadfast and stayed focused on our responsibilities of protecting our water resources from unlawful land development activities. It is difficult to determine how effective we have been. DeKalb has made great improvements and I hope to be able to say one day that they have the best erosion & sedimentation enforcement program in the state. They have gone from a budget of around $300,000 to $1.3 million in their environmental plans review & enforcement department. Still they could use more enforcers, but like all governments they are facing revenue shortfalls. We plan on getting involved in the budget process next time and lobby for more troops.
The DeKalb district started a series of lectures called the "Sustainable DeKalb Roundtables", modeled after Southface Energy Institute's great work. We have had lectures ranging in topics from educating citizens on how to be a neighborhood watchdog for E&S control measures. The most recent one was in March, when we held a "natural gardening symposium" and attracted around 60 people on a Saturday morning.
The district responds to all citizen complaints regarding E&S controls and has also tried to educate citizens on fighting environmentally harmful development. I was initially a pessimist about whether or not this could be done considering how politicians rubber stamp such development. I have seen it done twice and the district was involved in supporting a citizen to take the lead. This particular citizen, Jan Dunaway, is now an appointed supervisor.
As far as future goals, we will continue to be focused on ridding the South River of CSO discharges from Atlanta. We have disagreed with the tunnel approach and feel like it's not the most sustainable answer to protecting downstream residents and future generations. We have developed a slide presentation for neighborhood groups. The presentation focuses on the history of the commission, how detrimental silt is to our waterways and what citizens can do to assist in the protection of their creeks from illicit activities. Admittedly, we have not been very focused on the smaller governments in DeKalb such as Clarkston and Chamblee. We all agree that once DeKalb's memorandum of agreement. is reinstated (which is coming soon) that we are going to do overviews of those government's E&S programs. We hold an annual expo at Callanwolde attended primarily by the development community. We hope to offer a similar event that is geared toward attracting citizens. I will continue doing reconnaissance, that is making surprise site visits on the weekends. I have done this over the years and can get more done not having to dodge earth moving equipment on a weekday. We all could participate in this activity more and I'm trying my best to encourage this with other supervisors. It is an effective tool for finding unlawful activities.
Candidate Statements for the Fulton Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor Election
Alan Toney
Alan Toney and Preston Mason are up for re-election and we need your help! We are being challenged by Lubbock Evans who has the development community's support. Since there are three candidates and two seats up for election and you can vote twice. Unfortunately you must go downtown to the main Fulton County Courthouse, 141 PRYOR STREET and vote at the registrar's Office on the fourth floor ROOM 4075.
The Soil and Water District's role is primarily educational but we are proud of our tough no nonsense reputation with developers and local governments. Our primary concern is protecting the downstream property owners, ponds and streams and other waters of the State.
Who are we? A Soil and Water Supervisor is an officer of the State that is paid $25.00 a month to protect the waters of the State in their District. Fulton has an overview role with each local government in the Fulton District including unincorporated Fulton, Atlanta, Roswell, Alpharetta, East Point, College Park, Hapeville, Mountain Park, Palmetto, and Union City.
Accomplishments over the years: Fulton County reorganized the department expanding from 3 to 17 land disturbance inspectors. They went worst to best under our partnership. City of Atlanta is trying to do the same, but we consider it a work in progress. The cities in South Fulton are under intense development pressure and we have helped their staff with training and expertise to meet these challenges. We are working with Roswell and Fulton County to improve their review of watershed dams to make sure they function properly to control floods without endangering citizens downstream. We forced the newest Morgan Falls Baseball field to be re-engineered to correct serious structural flaws that that might have endangered young ball players and the environment.
Since waterways are usually lined with trees, many groves of urban forest are saved as a side effect of our work. We are both long time residents that believe that everyone wins when our county's livability is protected by maintaining its environmental integrity.
Last updated: 16 Sep 2004