The intersection of progress and protection lies in East Ridge
People around the world play soccer or follow it with passion and excitement. It entertains and brings economic benefits, but requires a large area for play. Where then to build a 5,500-seat soccer stadium with easy access, preferably close to large populations?
Bob Martino, owner of the new Red Wolves Soccer Team, is convinced he has found just the place: the 100 acres of wetlands and flood plain between Spring Creek and West Chickamauga Creek located in East Ridge right where I-75 splits from I-24 and curves toward Chattanooga.
He also wants to build 400 apartments and condominiums, 475,000 square feet of commercial space (including a stadium), and 375 hotel rooms.
Oh, and why not build a tunnel under I-75 to connect to Camp Jordan? How much will that cost?
By the way, Georgia and TDOT have just begun straightening the I-75/I-24 split to relieve congestion. How does that figure into this tunnel plus entrance to the soccer field and, oh, by the way, what about the sewer line that goes from Camp Jordan to the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant?
It seems Mr. Martino has overlooked a few environmental concerns that may not make it worth his while to ruin a wetland area. The Clean Water Act requires “no net loss” of wetlands. That means that filling in a wetland requires mitigation that the Tennessee Department of Conservation (TDEC) will have to permit.
Usually mitigation requires that two to four acres of wetland be replaced for every acre destroyed. That’s expensive. Besides, there are no easy places in the South Chickamauga Creek watershed for new wetlands.
Mr. Martino must have recognized he can’t build in floodway or in a designated wetland because he said he plans a network of walking trails and will develop only half the land. An open wetland shows in the plan at the edge of the buildings, no doubt left as a stormwater detention pond.
The area designated for direct development is all flood plain, with elevation ranging from 650 to 670 feet. Since those flood plain elevations are below the required building elevation, a developer must fill in the site to at least one foot higher. That means many cubic yards of dirt must be brought in so that the site is high enough to avoid floods. Many build two feet higher.
After filling, where then does future floodwater go in the highly floodable Spring Creek area where numerous floods have already impacted residents living there? With climate change bringing more catastrophic storms, we should be building more flood storage areas, not filling them up with buildings. Given past history, FEMA may refuse to sell any flood insurance for this area. Certainly extensive hydraulic engineering will be required before any permits for construction are granted.
It’s early in the process, as no applications for permit approval have been submitted. If wetlands are destroyed, mitigation will be required to replace lost wetland. It’s not so easy. One doesn’t just dig a hole and let rain fill it with water. Bona fide wetlands have hydric soils and are anaerobic, meaning no oxygen. That takes time to see if it works.
Many a developer has paid mitigation costs for new wetland and completed the development only to find a few years later that it didn’t work. About 80 percent of wetland creation attempts fail.
Some value soccer more than wetland. In fact, wetlands are nature’s nurseries, allowing for habitat to create a base food chain that harbors and supports most wildlife whether it be insect larvae, eggs from amphibians like tree frogs, toads, salamanders, reptiles, or fish, and the water loving birds and mammals that live and feed there. They are the most vital and productive of ecosystems. They also filter and clean water and hold floodwaters, a free service.
A soccer field is a good idea, but first, here are some questions for Mr. Martino:
1. Can it be built somewhere else, avoiding wetlands?
2. While the soccer field may allow floodwaters to seep through soil, buildings don’t. Can you skip the buildings?
3. Can you create totally pervious parking surfaces?
4. Can the stadium seat fewer people, thereby taking up less space?
East Ridge leaders are, of course, thrilled as they envision all that money coming into the city coffers.
However, if this idea happens as now envisioned, once again the environment loses and those in the way of excessive floodwaters do too.
Sandra Kurtz is an environmental community activist, chair of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway Alliance, and is presently working through the Urban Century Institute. You can visit her website to learn more at enviroedu.net