Stormwater wears down a community, reinforces maxim of ‘buyers beware’

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Behind homes in the Parsons Run subdivision lies a stream, its banks gnawed away over the past couple of decades. Homeowners are at a loss of what to do.

Many sections of the stream are stagnant, deemed a future mosquito haven. Erosion has caused trees to buckle and topple, blocking water flow and collecting piles of waste. And in the summer, residents say the area reeks of sewage.

Just above the stream, on the other side of the backyards, is Chattahoochee High School. Homeowners say runoff from the school’s property has contributed to a repository of random objects in still water.

Neighbors have seen sports balls, cross ties, a school desk. They fear the football field bleachers, which are in eyesight, will fall in, too.

The situation at Parsons Run is part and parcel of what prompted Johns Creek to implement its Stormwater Utility in 2021. Each year, residents foot a $70 bill to fund a multi-million-dollar city-wide stormwater management program.

Dave Daniels and his wife Stephanie have been in Parsons Run since 2005. With a face of exhaustion and previous futile attempts to remove heavier trees, Dave led a tour along the stream March 21 to point out key areas where stormwater has taken its toll.

Some professional tree companies told Dave they couldn’t do anything because they would need a permit to use heavy equipment in the area. State regulations around natural waterways create a tedious process for any major work.

“If the citizens can’t do it, it comes down to the government,” Dave said.

But because the stream runs along private property, Johns Creek has no jurisdiction.

Cory Rayburn, Johns Creek stormwater utility manager, said the city doesn’t have a mechanism to send out a contractor.

Some of the issues stem from the school-side, Fulton County Schools’ territory. On March 21, Anne Boatwright, a spokeswoman with Fulton County Schools said its Operations Department would need another day to visit the site and investigate. As of March 23, the school district is still investigating the stormwater structures which were designed to reduce runoff from the school.

“We would like to have a conversation about this with the city and [impacted residents] about this …,” said Brian Noyes, chief communications officer with Fulton County Schools.

Contact information for the residents was sent to Noyes March 23.

Healthier days

Stephanie intended to tag along with her husband on the steam bank tour and said she would have to put on her boots. While she decided to stay in after all, she handed over a sticky note with a list of other families, including Brian and Alexis Whitman.

Alexis, who lives next door on Linbrook Lane, joined Dave to offer her perspective. The Whitmans moved in a few years before the Daniels. She recalled a once-healthy stream.

“It makes me so sad because when my kids were little this thing was full of 3- to 4-inch brim,” Alexis said. “They would fish back here. We had ducks that nested. It’s all washed away. It’s all gone.”

Alexis said she is at risk of losing her wildlife habitat certificate, which she’s had for more than a decade.

In addition to a $20 fee, the National Wildlife Federation lists necessary components to apply for certification. Applicants must provide at least one clean water source, three food sources, two places for cover, two places for wildlife to mate and raise young and engage in at least two categories of sustainable practices.

The Whitmans have a bat box attached to a 20-foot pole close to the bank, now barely hanging on. Their irrigation system, which was planted 5 feet from the bank, is now poking out of the dirt. Brian’s composting bin washed away around the same day it was built, a flood carrying its pieces at least 50 feet into Dave’s yard by the creek. Dave obliged Alexis with the clean-up.

Another resident was listed separately on the back of Stephanie’s note. She was said to have spent thousands of dollars to shore up, a process of reinforcement and prevention. Another entry on the list was “Dobe - moved,” referring to a family Stephanie said had left Parsons Run because they couldn’t tolerate the mess.

Stephanie showed pictures before erosion swept away up to 20 feet of her backyard, and the bridge that the Whitmans constructed. In one photo, Stephanie is tending to a homemade beehive while her dog snoops around. The fence is much farther back than where it sits now, and there are no fallen trees.

Revisiting those pictures, taken about six years ago, brought Stephanie to tears.

Buyers beware

Johns Creek City Councilman Larry DiBiase, a resident in Parsons Run, is in real estate by trade. He called attention to Georgia’s contract law, “Caveat Emptor,” which translates to, “Let the buyer beware.”

“I suspect most real estate agents don’t have any understanding of what a stream can do, and the consequences down the road for them,” DiBiase said. “The property owners today — the burden is on them to take care of their personal property, but it’s a heavy lift.”

DiBiase said it could be $100,000 to fix some of the problems residents in Parsons Run are facing. If buyers have done their work, he said their property would be de-valuated.

“Most people when they buy a property — look at the house, look at the backyard and are like, ‘Wow, the kids can play in the stream’ and all that,” DiBiase said. “But they don’t realize the damage a stream can do.”

The creekside properties, catching a deluge of water and waste every time it rains, lie in a flood plain. But the whole city lies in a basin.