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Berm Offers Flood Protection For Pasco Mall Project

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - In the latest effort to control flooding, the developers of Cypress Creek Town Center today expect to complete a berm ringing their troubled site at the southwest corner of Interstate 75 and State Road 56.

The berm will turn the southern portion of the 510-acre mall site into a giant bowl. Rainfall will be kept on the property to avoid the kind of off-site pollution problems that convinced federal regulators to suspend the Richard E. Jacobs Group's wetlands-fill permit last week.

"It gives us complete onsite storage capacity for a 100-year storm. All water can and will be contained on the site," said Jacobs spokeswoman Deanne Roberts.

Last week's action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers banned Jacobs' crews from working in areas where they had filled wetlands. Those areas are now designated by black and orange fencing, corps inspector Tom Farrell said.

South-central Pasco County got between 1 and 2 inches of rain Tuesday evening, according to Weather Underground (wunderground.com), a Web-based network of amateur weather stations. The station closest to Cypress Creek Town Center is at Lake Como Resort in Land O' Lakes.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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