Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, September 18, 2006
Homeowners to foot tab for efforts to spare fish
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/18/06
Building in the Etowah River watershed is going to get a little more complicated, and pricier, in coming years.
New construction standards meant to protect endangered fish across 11 fast-growing counties will guide everything from how many acres developers can grade at any one time to how stream crossings are built.
James Norman returns a fish to a bucket as he and Megan Hagler take data from collected fish at a work station on the banks of Champion Creek in Pickens County on Tuesday.
Researchers from the UGA Institute of Ecology survey the population of fish Tuesday in Champion Creek. (From left) are Alison Price, Rachel Katz, Jeffrey Garnett and Christina Baker. |
"It's going to take time and money to meet the new requirements," said Ken Patton, project manager for Emerald Development Corp.
He served on a committee helping write and review the new regulations.
And the costs of them will be passed on to the "end users," Patton said.
"That will be the homeowners. And if you are building a commercial project, you will end up adding that cost to the end product."
The payoff is that cities, counties and developers who adopt the standards are protected from ending up in front of a federal judge for violating the endangered species act, even if new development kills some of the fish. And developers abiding by the guidelines will no longer have to pay for particular environmental studies for each site they develop.
A group of University of Georgia scientists, local planners, government officials and developers has been working for three years to write the standards, called the Etowah Habitat Conservation Plan. They hope to have them ready for federal review in October. The review and revisions should take about a year.
Cities and counties can sign on and be subject to the regulations. Or they can turn them down and continue doing things the way they have been.
"There is a lot of concern on the part of many in the industry about how this affects their lives and the costs associated with this. None of these regulations makes anything cheap," said Michael Paris, the director of the Council for Quality Growth, a builders group in metro Atlanta.
He and group members have served on some of the committees writing the regulations. They realize the regulations are necessary to maintain a healthy environment, but the final effects on builders probably won't be known until the program hits the ground, Paris said.
About 150 members of the council came to a meeting in Cherokee County in August for an update.
There has been a lot of wrong information about the regulations passed around, said Laurie Fowler, who has helped direct the effort from the university's Institute of Ecology. An overview of the plan can be seen at www.etowahhcp.org.
Some of the development practices they are recommending already are in place in some jurisdictions, such as Cherokee County's storm water regulations, she said. Others will be new, based on what the scientists have found. For example, culverts will have to allow streams to pass without impeding the flow, so the fish can move up and down the creeks to breed and feed.
The plan is a good example of how common ground can be found between developers and the environmental community, she said. It will allow continued growth in north metro Atlanta and the foothills while protecting the endangered fish.
Copyright 2006 Atlanta Journal-Constitution