FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The company that was fined $11,000 by the state environmental agency in September and ordered to remove sediment that left the Publix Super Market construction site filed its remediation plan last month, which was immediately attacked by a local environmental group for being insufficient.

“The plan does not include removing any of the breach from Fly Creek or even mention Fly Creek,” said Jackie Wavrunek of the Fly Creek Preservation Association, regarding Fairhope LLC’s remediation plan filed Oct. 22 with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. “It addresses cleaning up the Fly Creek wetlands near the Publix site and is worded to convey that the wetlands require cleaning because of one event— the Sept. 2, 2009, water main-break near the intersection of Fly Creek Road and Angelo Road. This was actually just one of the most recent of many damaging breaches in the Fly Creek wetlands from the detention outfall pond.”

In September 2008, ADEM issued a notice of violation against Regency Centers Corp., the developer of The Shoppes at Fairhope Village, where the 54,000 square-foot Publix grocery store was built, for alleged environmental violations stemming from muddy water and sediment that ran off the property during construction. The NOV stated that the material ended up in Fly Creek and adjacent wetlands, but that language was deleted from the consent order entered into with Fairhope LLC on Sept. 26, stating instead that it left the site but did not enter Fly Creek itself.

An administrative order that followed the original NOV and was issued against the company in April listed a number of violations that began in August 2008, and also stated that sediment entered Fly Creek and proposed a $24,000 fine. That order was negotiated with Fairhope LLC, resulting in a proposed consent order in July with the smaller fine and removal of that language alleging that sediment entered the creek.

As part of the public comment process following the July proposed order, approximately 40 local residents requested a public hearing to discuss that order, which ADEM denied when it issued the Sept. 26 final Special Order by Consent with Fairhope LLC.

That company was required to file a remediation plan within 30 days and within 90 days to have implemented the remediation plan, including implementation and maintenance of effective best management practices, correction of all deficiencies at the site, including sediment removal/remediation in a manner acceptable to ADEM.

The Wetland Remediation Plan filed Oct. 22 by Fairhope LLC does address only the single Sept. 2 breach of the detention pond. The plan was peer-reviewed by JTB Environmental Services LLC and will be performed by Wildlife Solutions Inc., according to the Fairhope LLC letter signed by Jeff Pape on Regency Centers letterhead. Pape is a Regency Centers vice president.

The plan describes how approximately 3,000 square feet of sediment material will be removed from near the outfall pipe south of the detention pond and the number and type of trees and vegetation that will be planted there. The plan also takes issue with one ADEM inspection report regarding the amount of sediment located there.

“Though the ADEM Stormwater Inspection Report dated Sept. 4, 2009, identified the sediment to be a foot deep, our field investigation revealed that there were only a few isolated mounds between the braided meandering channels that reached a depth of (12 inches),” the remediation plan states. “The depth throughout the site ranged from 0 to 12 inches with the average depth being approximately (four inches). The few areas of (12 inch)-deposit were small and were the exceptions to overall depth. Approximately 18-22 cubic yards of sandy materials will be removed from the two areas totaling approximately 3,000 square feet.”

David Ludder, an environmental lawyer in Alabama and Florida who has recently counseled the Fly Creek Preservation Association, said the Consent Order “contains no provision for ADEM to demand revision of the remediation plan if it is deficient. In other words, I am concerned that ADEM did not reserve the right to require plan revisions.”

Wavrunek said the Fly Creek Preservation Association has hired its own engineer in the case to represent the group in its efforts to clean up the creek and adjacent wetlands.

“Upon approval of the Remediation Plan by the City of Fairhope, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and (ADEM), restoration and enhancement efforts are anticipated to be completed within one week from that time of approval,” Pape wrote.