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Mall Builder Pledges To Protect Creek

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - The developers of Cypress Creek Town Center on Thursday outlined plans to correct problems that last month flooded a nearby creek with muddy water.

The plans were spelled out in a set of letters sent to the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees wetlands and water quality. On Feb. 1, the corps suspended the Richard E. Jacobs Group's right to continue development on 54 acres of former wetlands on its property.

Eric Summa, the corps enforcement chief, said his office has received Jacobs' proposed fixes but needs more time to decide whether those will be enough to justify reinstating the permit.

"After we are assured that the plan meets our requirements and that the issue is temporarily corrected, we will then seek a more permanent solution," Summa said.

In its letters to the corps, Jacobs proposed several ways to fix the problems on its site. The list includes:

• Pumping muddy water from a creekside wetland into an adjacent retention pond. The muddy water then would be treated with alum to force solids to settle to the bottom of the pond.

• Map the extent and depth of sediment left behind in wetlands by the flooding.

• Provide regulators with downloadable daily updates on progress cleaning the site.

The developers also plan to block several storm drains temporarily to prevent more water from flowing into taxed retention ponds. That will cover up to half the project's open land with shallow lakes that should drain into the ground over several days, said Dave Kemper, the project's principal engineer.

Jacobs filled wetlands to increase the buildable land on its 510-acre site, which straddles State Road 56 at Interstate 75. Because some of those wetlands fed Cypress Creek, a major tributary of the Hillsborough River, the corps had to approve the plan.

The Feb. 1 suspension blocks any development on land that was created by filling wetlands, Summa said.

Jacobs' problems arose Jan. 23 after more than 5 inches of rain fell on Wesley Chapel. The rainfall topped a crucial storm retention pond, sending muddy water across a neighboring wetland and into Cypress Creek.

The January incident was the second time in four months that heavy rain caused the retention pond to overflow, provoking the ire of federal, state and county regulators.

The creek is protected under the state's Outstanding Florida Water program because of its high quality.

Despite the silt that clouded Cypress Creek, both mall officials and corps biologists say they've seen no signs of damage to the creek's wildlife.

"It's very fine material, so it's easily diluted," said Eva Bailey, mitigation manager for Tampa-based Biologist Research Associates, a consultant for the mall developer.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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