Builder receives liability complaint

California water-quality officials have filed a civil liability complaint against JMC Homes in the amount of $500,000.Officials from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board claim the Sacramento homebuilders alle-gedly permitted sediment from a Roseville construction site to repeatedly run off into Pleasant Grove creek near a wetlands preserve. The site is the Longmeadow at Crocker Ranch housing tract, a collection of smaller homes in the planned community of Crocker Ranch in Roseville.The civil liability complaint issued by the water board's executive officer, Pamela Creedon, alleges the builder failed to control erosion from the West Roseville development. Representives from the Roseville-based builder de-clined to comment on the issue.JMC President John Mourier, a third-generation Roseville resident, started the business in the 1970s. The developer has been building, designing and developing communities throughout the Sacramento region.According to Bill Marshall, chief of the board's storm water section, a complaint was issued after numerous instances of noncompliance by JMC Homes that dated back to 2004.According to Marshall, JMC Homes officially assumed ownership of the 100-acre site. "They had two notices of violation this past rainy season and responded to both," Marshall said. "In both cases they made an attempt to fix the problem by making improvements; it's just a matter of not following up on those improvements. But the measures have to be monitored."A treatment system was installed that allows the sediment particles to cling together and settle, leaving clear water to discharge into creeks. "Long-term it (the sediment) can choke off the organisms on the bottom of the creek, which are all part of the overall food chain," Marshall said.Notices of violations were sent out in November and December of last year after state inspectors found sediment running from the Longmeadow site into storm drains that discharge into Pleasant Grove Creek. As of Friday, JMC had not responded to the latest complaint, which was issued April 12, according to Marshall. JMC Homes has 30 days to agree to pay the fine or request a board hearing, which would take place in June.Local conservationist Gregg Bates said he understands the difficulties developers face when dealing with bare dirt and excessive rain."Runoff is a very, very common thing at construction sites," Bates said. "Rain plays a big part in it and a lot of times a builder like JMC has a lot of subcontrators that they have little control over. But measures have to be maintained. I'm not sympathetic, but I'm aware of the difficulties that are part of the territory."