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Muddy water was already cresting roadside ditches and spilling across Aquia Drive when Tom Kenavan returned home Nov. 16.
He'd been gone for about three hours. But it was just enough time for that evening's rain storm to leave a sloppy mess in his garage and family room.
Low points among the steep slopes of Aquia Harbour have flooded many times in the 25 years he's lived there. But it keeps getting worse as new development spreads throughout North Stafford.
"The whole land was covered with a brown mess flying down to this side of the Harbour," Kenavan, 70, said. "Someone's got to do something now, not 10 years from now. It's going to happen again, all over the place."
The question is, who will foot the bill to control stormwater runoff throughout the 2,400-home community?
Sinking money into itSilt buildup in Aquia Creek needs to be dug out to prevent future problems. Bringing in equipment for that process costs $50,000, plus $20 to $30 per cubic yard.
Aquia Harbour's property owners association says developer Bob Kaufman should pay for the work. His company, Augustine Land and Development Inc., is building 268 homes just north of the subdivision. Residents argue that he has insufficient sediment controls, which allow mud to clog drainage ditches and waterways.
"I say the builder should pay every nickel to make our creek exactly like it was when they started," said Harbour homeowner Carl Hensley at a Dec. 2 town hall meeting, which attracted nearly 300 residents.
Many people at that meeting didn't want the money to come out of their pockets. Each resident already pays $1,024 in annual dues.
But Kaufman's attorney, Clark Leming, points out that state and local inspectors have cleared the project, saying it has met and even exceeded drainage requirements.
"From everything we know and what our engineers tell us and the county tells us and the Army Corps of Engineers, is that we are in compliance," he said.
County officials inspect the site about three times a week, said Steve Hubble, Stafford's environmental programs coordinator. His office has completed more than 200 site visits and found 12 problems since the project started in October 2005. All of the violations have been remedied in one or two days, he said.
The county will continue inspecting the site until work is finished, said Anthony Romanello, deputy county administrator.
"We will be back again and again and again to make sure compliance is in place here and all across the county," he said.
But residents are saying that's not good enough. Sediment is coming from somewhere, reducing the capacities of their creeks, flooding their streets and, in some cases, their homes. If that much sediment is allowed, they say, the laws need to get tougher or the county needs to help pay for the damage.
Erosion and sediment control measures list what filters must be in place to keep silt out of streams, Hubble said. But they don't dictate how much can run off a site before a project is labeled inefficient.
Water-quality tests, paid for by Aquia Harbour officials, showed the creek north of Hills of Aquia contained 136 mg of sediment per liter during a rain storm. But south of the development, it had 288 mg per liter.
Aquia Creek is a very slow-moving body of water, Leming said. And it has a history of sediment buildup.
Kaufman says a number of projects being built further north may be bringing runoff through his site and to the creek, as well.
"There's going to be some sediment coming off the site. My guess is it's not very much," he said. "But I'm willing to find out how much, and if responsible we'll pay for it."
Mopping up the messKaufman's company met with Aquia Harbour officials in October. They agreed to review a neighborhood proposal on fixing the problem.
Leming said Dec. 2 that no proposal has been received.
Chuck Halt, general manager for Aquia Harbour, said his board would be discussing the issue at a meeting next week.
He's been working to get a dredging permit for the last 18 months. But that was intended to dig out 34,683 cubic yards around the marina, which is farther south on Aquia Creek.
"One would expect to do it to a certain amount, but not like this," Halt said. "We're being swamped."
The Harbour's board has discussed suing the developer to get the issue resolved. But Supervisors Jack Cavalier and Paul Milde, who represent the neighborhood, say they think it can be resolved without legal action.
All seven supervisors voted Tuesday to pay up to $10,000 for a third-party engineer to assess the situation. Based on those results, they'll decide how the county can help.
"Everyone in here has got a responsibility in this whole thing. The county, Aquia Harbour and the developer," Kenavan said. "We are standing here now with something that hasn't been dealt with in years."
To reach MEGHANN COTTER:
Email: mcotter@freelancestar.com
