It likely will be another couple weeks before the city of Cumming and the state Environmental Protection Division reconcile an alleged violation of water quality laws.
“We’ve got our environmental consulting firm working with them on it, and hopefully we will have a solution in the near future,” said Gerald Blackburn, city administrator.
“Whenever they get a plan that we think the city can afford and that will be satisfactory to [the EPD] ... we need them to tell us what they want done and how they want it accomplished.”
The EPD and city huddled Friday to discuss the city’s clearing of land for an aquatic center on Pilgrim Mill Road.
Still undetermined is whether work at the site damaged the area’s natural resources and if the project had appropriate permitting.
The city also faces a possible lawsuit from the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper Inc. in connection with the alleged violations.
Members of the nonprofit river advocacy group have said they are awaiting the EPD’s decision to determine if legal action is required.
Blackburn said a consent order, or agreement between the city and EPD, could possibly include fines. For now, however, the land seems to be the main focus of talks.
“We haven’t gotten to the fine discussion at this point in time,” Blackburn said. “We need to get the project moving and we need to get their regulations so the mayor and city council can make the decision to move forward.
“That’s why we’ve gotten the environmental folks together, is to try to stay close to the deadlines we have now ... we’re hopeful we’ll have a plan we can move forward with.”
E-mail Jennifer Sami at jennifersami@forsythnews.com.
“We’ve got our environmental consulting firm working with them on it, and hopefully we will have a solution in the near future,” said Gerald Blackburn, city administrator.
“Whenever they get a plan that we think the city can afford and that will be satisfactory to [the EPD] ... we need them to tell us what they want done and how they want it accomplished.”
The EPD and city huddled Friday to discuss the city’s clearing of land for an aquatic center on Pilgrim Mill Road.
Still undetermined is whether work at the site damaged the area’s natural resources and if the project had appropriate permitting.
The city also faces a possible lawsuit from the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper Inc. in connection with the alleged violations.
Members of the nonprofit river advocacy group have said they are awaiting the EPD’s decision to determine if legal action is required.
Blackburn said a consent order, or agreement between the city and EPD, could possibly include fines. For now, however, the land seems to be the main focus of talks.
“We haven’t gotten to the fine discussion at this point in time,” Blackburn said. “We need to get the project moving and we need to get their regulations so the mayor and city council can make the decision to move forward.
“That’s why we’ve gotten the environmental folks together, is to try to stay close to the deadlines we have now ... we’re hopeful we’ll have a plan we can move forward with.”
E-mail Jennifer Sami at jennifersami@forsythnews.com.