By Jerry Bellune
JerryBellune@yahoo.com
Irmo neighbors of a Lexington County-owned stormwater pond are upset.
In a letter to County Administrator Joe Mergo, attorney Jake Moore wrote that the county cut down trees and left a mess there.
Moore is chairman of the Irmo Arbor Day Committee, a group that advocates for more area green spaces.
But the county administrator told the Chronicle that it was only following state Department of Health & Environmental Control requirements.
“This is a county owned and operated stormwater pond, : Mergo wrote in rely to Chronicle questions,
“It is adjacent to Pawmetto Lifeline. Stewart Mungo complained about the maintenance the county performed. SCDHEC regulations do not allow for trees on fill slopes of ponds.”
Mergo said county officials met with Mungo and Denise Wilkerson of Pawmetto Lifeline, Rep. Chip Huggins and DHEC officials Rick Caldwell and Jill Stewart, director of Dam Safety and Stormwater Permitting at the pond in Irmo.
Stewart told them the county was “doing exactly what SCDHEC requires.
“The slopes will be grassed and won’t remain in its current heavy mulch condition,” Mergo said.
“There is a landscape easement in this area, however SCDHEC’s regulations control the detention pond.”
Moore said, “They have not sent me the documents yet. I understand the berm is not part of the dam. 
“If I am correct, then either DHEC or the county may not have had the right to strip the area. I await a response to my freedom of information request.”