Storms are driving mud from Sleepy Hollow construction site to Lake Barcroft
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| Muddy runoff from housing construction on Sleepy Hollow Road. [Photos: Gretchen Boyland] |
Following the recent storms, a huge amount of mud from the Hudson Quarter development under construction on Sleepy Hollow Road has washed down streets and culverts in the Lake Barcroft community, ultimately ending up in the lake.
“We all warned that this could happen and that the flow from that development should have been properly designed and contained,” said Lake Barcroft resident Larry Golfer.
The Lake Barcoft Association, the Watershed Improvement District, and individual residents complained about the runoff to the Gulick Group, the developer of Hudson Quarter; the county official responsible for overseeing the construction; and the county’s stormwater management department.
The complaints sent to the stormwater division were not passed along to the inspector’s office, however, Golfer notes. “Does the county stormwater office not consider the complaints received as credible enough to alert the inspector of the site?”
He urges residents to submit their concerns to the inspector, Jim Getts, 703-220-9520, [email protected]. Residents can also submit a complaint online here or through the Construction Hotline, 703-324-7470.
Related story: Residents fighting plans to designate small private road as only access point to new housing development
The county and developer are likely to claim the runoff was the result of a particularly heavy storm and they are not responsible, Golfer says. “But it is the developer’s job to contain the mud and silt from runoff during construction.”
He also suggests the developer and the county should cover the cost of dredging the excess muddy silt flowing into the lake.
“This will happen again and again when the next heavy rainstorms hit,” Golfer says. “Until the construction site implements effective runoff controls, we’ll continue to see that orange muddy water come down our streets and go into our lake.”
Gotta love the Wealthy Lake Barcroft NIMBY's complaining about mud in their lake.
Water quality is not just a NIMBY problem…It is everyone's problem. It might be good to know that Lake Barcroft has to pay for their own dredging so maybe you should understand the facts before you start pointing fingers and calling names.
The lack of Erosion & Sediment Control in this county lies with lack of proactive enforcement. If people don't complain to the county nothing will get done. Complain to the county.
Funny that the snobs of Lake Barcroft are whining about the mud runoff into their precious lake. We don't seem to hear any whining about all of the nasty, grimy stuff that washes into their lake from the surrounding neighborhood creeks and storm drains year round when it rains or when the snow/ice melts…..oil/grease from cars, ice/snow melt chemicals, pesticides, fertilizer, trash, etc. Why anyone would ever want to swim in that lake is beyond me.
When the spill gate goes it messes up everything that the county has to fix it all (the trails, etc) which is on the taxes. That lake pollutes the surrounding areas.
Water quality is pretty terrible in lake barcroft, especially after big rains like last night. But hey dont tell the folks on the party pontoon boats drunk driving
Wow, sounds like some really resentful people jealous of those lucky enough to live around little Lake Barcroft. Yes, water quality is everyone's problem, whether you live there or not. And the developer should be held completely responsible for any runoff from the barren wasteland he created.
Whether you are worried about mud in the lake, unsafe traffic, or the respect of basic property rights, the source of the problem is not the developers, it is the absence of courage from our politicians and government staffers allowing people to circumvent the development approval process. Time for them all to go. None of this should have been approved. We don't need new law or new code, we just need elected and appointed officials with the stomach to hold their own party and people accountable.
Amen to what DarrenG said. Our politicians have changed the codes with ZMOD so much that the laws are so generalized, watered down that nothing can be enforced. The developer of the Sleepy Hollow property is at fault and the county officials are not doing their job. Like someone said unless citizens report/make complaints about stormwater runoff but anything nothing will get corrected. Both developers and county officials will let things go until they get caught and then they point the finger at someone else to blame. Something is very wrong with the current running of Fairfax County. I'm a Democrat but we need a two party system so that one party doesn't bulldoze over everyone especially the residents. The BoS thinks they know everything and they pretend to listen to residents but they're not. Thanks to Larry Golfer for raising the alarm!!
It looks like the state has issued a stop work order until the developer fixes it's runoff remediation.
Separately, the snarky selfishness of Anonymous is, like normal, astounding. Runoff into the lake would, were the lake not there, fall directly into Holmes Run and continue down the watershed into Cameron Run. As it is, the lake provides some measure of filtering and protection to the downstream watershed. Not to mention that we pay taxes for water quality maintenance.
The quality of discourse and subsequent value to the community of The Annandale Blog would be greatly enhanced if Ellie would disallow anonymous posting
As of July, 2022 we are having the same problem with a developer near Lake Sequoia. We are in contact with our supervisor’s office, and with our state delegate, Kaye Kory. Delegate Kory has been very helpful. This is not simply because of heavy rains. It is caused by more dense development, and the lack of management if large piles of dirt which should be covered with landscape tarp.