Etowah HCP Press

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 5, 2004

Traditional foes unite on Etowah watershed plan
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN

Environmentalists and developers are often at odds, but they are working together to develop regional ordinances to protect water quality and endangered species in the Etowah River watershed.

Builders, scientists, environmentalists, engineers and county planners all have their say as members of the Etowah Regional Aquatic Habitat Conservation Plan. Working with the year-old group, they hope to come up with laws that will allow continued development in the fast-growing region while avoiding running afoul of the Endangered Species Act.

The Etowah River watershed contains eight federally endangered or threatened species of fish and mussels, and more may be added.

The local governments that take part in the program will be allowed to develop areas even if the developments degrade habitat critical to the endangered species. Those that don't participate will be subject to the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

Conservation plan members' first recommendations, aimed at improving stormwater runoff, erosion and stream buffer ordinances, were handed out this month to North Georgia cities and counties in the watershed from Dahlonega to Dallas.

Curt Gervich, a spokesman for the plan, said its members hope the local governments will begin adopting their recommendations by the end of the year.

"Some said they will try. Others said they will review them," Gervich said.

Candance Stoughton of the Nature Conservancy of Georgia serves on one of the committees. The conservancy has pushed the plan to protect the river.

"All the folks are going back to their county commissions and city councils and saying if we want to be on board with the habitat conservation plan, this is the next step. We'll see how it's received."
Committee member Mike Ross of Ross Consulting Engineers in Holly Springs is optimistic.
"I think the entire engineering and development and regulatory community understands that we have to look at stormwater and drainage differently than we have over the last 20 years," he said. "There is a larger focus on water quality."

People living in neighborhoods want nearby streams to run clean and don't want muddy erosion, Ross said. Developers also want to do the right thing, but the problem is figuring out what restrictions work, how to implement them and whether they are affordable.

Gervich said the new recommendations try to be flexible, such as allowing developers to use rain gardens instead of large retention ponds to hold back rainwater runoff. Rain gardens are small swales distributed around a development to retain rainwater for a day or two and allow the ground to absorb it naturally.

Other recommended improvements are already being followed by some jurisdictions in the region, such as allowing clustered development. That lets developers build more densely on one part of their property in return for building less densely on another. The result is less grading and erosion, and less road surface, which creates runoff. It also leaves a larger unbroken natural area to filter and absorb water and protect streams.

Other issues to be studied include use of green space, locations of endangered species, and further new development ordinances, Gervich said. The process may take several more years to complete.