FAIRHOPE, Ala. — On Monday morning, the Fly Creek Preservation Association took the first step in filing a federal lawsuit against the developer, property owner and other parties alleged to be involved in construction of The Shoppes at Fairhope Village and violating federal environmental laws.

The Shoppes at Fairhope is a planned unit development anchored by a 54,000-square-foot Publix Super Market, which has been the the object of city and state allegations of environmental violations at the site during the past eight months. An employee of the general contractor of the project recently pleaded guilty for city ordinance violations involving stormwater construction runoff into Fly Creek and wetlands adjacent to the site.

“This is a 60-day notice of intent to file a citizen suit (NOIS) under the (Clean Water Act),” the 14-page document sent by the FCPA attorney states. “During this 60-day notice period, we will be willing to discuss effective remedies for the alleged violations in this letter and any settlement terms. We do not intend to delay the filing of a complaint beyond the end of the 60-day notice commencing on (April 21).”

Such notices in federal environmental citizen suits are required before the actual federal lawsuit itself can be filed, according to the CWA.

The notice of intent to sue was sent Monday by certified mail to the following companies and people: Regency Centers Corp. in Jacksonville, Fla.; Bill Coats of Regency Centers in Atlanta, Ga,; Darin Ross, president, SunBelt General Contractors Inc. in Canton, Ga.; Jacob Cunningham of Summit Industries in Magnolia Springs; Volkert Environmental Group Inc. in Foley; Brett Gaar, vice president, Volkert Environmental Group in Foley; and Angelo A. Corte in Fairhope.

The NOIS stated it was sent to the individuals and companies it calls the “project parties” because each is believed to be an “owner and/or operator of the project or of surrounding property upon which the project activities have occurred and continue to occur.”

The NOIS also states that it was sent to the following administrative agencies with authority to enforce the provisions of the CWA: U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alabama Department of Environmental Agency and city of Fairhope.

The NOIS sent by Carson Tucker of a Michigan-based law firm lists 24 “specific instances of alleged violations.” The most recent instance listed is dated March 29, the approximate date when a heavy rain contributed to runoff from the site, which led to a guilty plea by the general contractor of the project for a citation brought by the city for alleged violations of its ordinances.

The NOIS alleges that the project parties have violated and continue to violate the CWA by virtue of discharges of pollutants from the project and surrounding and adjacent properties into local waters, for violations of environmental permits, for failure to obtain certain permits, by unlawful dredging and filling of jurisdictional wetlands, “which activities have a detrimental impact upon the protected natural resources, ecosystems, habitat and ecological integrity of the Fly Creek watershed and directly upon the water quality of Fly Creek and upon the property of FCPA members.”

The NOIS also alleges that those detrimental impacts have also occurred upon the Mobile Bay watershed and Mobile Bay.

“We are witnessing the slow death of Fly Creek,” said Jackie Wavrunek, FCPA president, in a written statement on Monday. “Litigation is something FCPA would prefer to avoid, but we saw no other option. Letting the creek die because a developer did not properly contain their site, did not adhere to the restrictions of their permits with both ADEM and the city of Fairhope, was not an option and is absolutely contrary to the mission of FCPA.”

Editor’s note: The parties involved in this story could not be contacted for comment because of the early deadline of this newspaper. However, follow up stories involving the case will seek the comment of all parties involved in the litigation.