The Bloody Muddy Mongoose is…
… well, muddy. No surprise there! This place sits at the bottom of a watershed. Our house is in the same watershed. Its considered a “special flood area” and we’re required by law to have National Flood Insurance, but we’re a good 15 to 20 feet higher than the “Mongoose” site and we’re off to the side of the watershed. The Muddy Mess is smack dab bottom-dead-center of the watershed that feeds the Great Pond. There are only two guts that cross Rte 624 to feed into the Great Pond area. I was standing above one of them to take these pictures. Yep, almost all the water that doesn’t soak immediately into the soil, from nearly a half-mile either side of this plot passes through here before spilling into the Great Pond.
Someone in the private sector, with clearly more dollars than sense, decided it would be a good place for a commercial center, service station, etc., complete with underground tanks, leaky vehicles, and all the rest. And someone else, in government, had the PHENOMENAL lack of foresight to approve the plans! Any idiot with a firing synapse or two could have predicted this was a massive mess waiting to happen. One can only hope someone with a little more sense and the requisite regulatory authority sees this and puts the brakes on it before they cause irreparable damage.
[Click on images to see larger version.]
September 10th, 2008 at 5:37 am
seems improbable that they would get a permit…do they really have one? Maybe that is why that has been setting with no progress (except the sign) for the past two years
September 10th, 2008 at 7:42 am
The photos don’t show that the hole was completely filled up with water.
Someone told me that the road used to go straight, which would have been directly over the site, but they had to move it because there is quicksand in that spot.
Good question Larry
September 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Larry - We were at a CZM Permitting workshop several weeks ago and asked about this. Apparently, even though the plot is directly across the street from the Great Pond and has a gut running through it that feeds into the Great Pond, it is situated outside the Tier 1 Coastal Zone, therefore needs no CZM permit, just a building permit from DPW. This is one of the glaring inconsistencies that we would hope a Comprehensive Land Use Plan would rectify, but we still don’t have one. A building permit number is posted on that piece of board you can see attached to the bottom of the sign. However, it does not have the identifier letters in front of the number that are supposed to indicate the issuing authority. I think we’ve seen no progress but the sign because the economy has been poor and the land wet for the last few years. I think, and this is just my speculation, the developer here has been somewhat emboldened by Golden’s alleged progress on his project and wants to try to cash in on the sudden increase in business that would accompany a large construction project in the neighborhood. They started the work here after we had several very dry months, so they thought it would be OK. Now all work has stopped again because everything is under water.
Lisa - Yes, the holes are completely full of run-off water. In the original photos you can see reflections and ripples on the water. I was respecting their “no trespassing” signs when I took the photos, so I didn’t walk right in to get a close-up, besides, I might have sunk in the quicksand. I’ll try to zoom in on one of the pics and see if you can see it better.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I would be surprised if this enterprise can get insurance, maybe that might stop it. Isn’t there just one Senator from St. Croix who would listen to the sound reasoning of your objections? I can understand the fix the developer is in with this thing, but come on, it is in a flood zone….
September 10th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I also forgot to mention the mosquito problem with all that standing water, what a health hazard!!
September 10th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Good point Trudi. I suppose we should contact the Health Department.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Looking at the pictures of those new pools (yes, you can see the water, right up to the top), one can’t help wonder what genius would invest in that?
This is a good example of why the CZM Tier 1/Tier 2 distinction is a problem. Because of run-off and drainage patterns, development almost anywhere on the island affects the shore and sensitive habitats like Great Pond. If anything, the Tier 1 line should outline watersheds, not follow roads and property lines. Better, the entire island should be under Tier 1 rules.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I can remember in years of REALLY BIG rains when a river of water would flow across the road and that property a foot deep, making the road impassable!
Right now, the height of the water in that cistern hole probably represents the height of the water table.
Hopefully, DPNR will take another look at this project now that we are in the rainy season. Frankly, I don’t understand why they didn’t use the flood maps before granting a permit for a project in that location. It is really no different than building in the bottom of a gut, you just have sheet flow instead of channeled flow.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Thanks for your comment, Norm.
We would like to pursue this matter, hopefully for the benefit of the landowner and the environment.
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