FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Alabama Department of Environmental Management had not decided by press time whether to hold a hearing on the proposed consent order that includes an $11,000 fine against the developer of the Publix Super Market in Fairhope, but the decision is imminent, according to an ADEM spokesman.

Scott Hughes, the state environmental agency’s spokesman, said Thursday that the department’s enforcement group considering the question might make a decision as soon as yesterday. But, by press time, no word had been received.

“The department may hold a hearing if the information submitted in support of the request is material and if a hearing may clarify one or more issues raised in the written comments,” ADEM regulations state. “If the department grants a request for a hearing, the department shall provide written notice of the time, date, and location of the hearing by regular mail at least 20 days prior to the hearing to all persons subject to the proposed order and all persons who submitted written comments on the proposed order that contain a current return address. At any such hearing, the department shall provide a reasonable opportunity for persons subject to the proposed order and persons who submitted written comments on the proposed order to be heard and to submit information to the director or his or her designated representative, provided, however, that the hearing shall not be subject to the procedures for hearings under Section 22-22A-7, or practices or procedures governing public hearings.”

Hughes said recently that although he had not done a thorough search regarding the question, he believed the agency may have only held one hearing on a proposed consent order pursuant to that regulation.

In the local case involving Publix, he said several people and organizations had submitted comments.

Both the Fly Creek Preservation Association and Mobile Baykeeper filed letters objecting to the proposed order.

“This proposed order, as it stands, is a conciliatory ‘slap-on-the-wrist’ that falls far short of enforcement equal to the operator’s violations and extreme damage they have caused,” wrote Jackie Wavrunek, FCPA president, referring to alleged environmental problems caused from construction of the Publix Super Market at U.S. 98 and Parker Road. “With this negotiated order, ADEM has not only compromised the department, (it) has rewarded the (developer’s) arrogance and ineptness by essentially letting them get away with it.”

Wavrunek’s letter runs five pages, setting out objections to the consent order.

The proposed consent order of July 22 setting out the $11,000 fine and remediation requirements, followed an April 1 “proposed unilateral order” setting out a $24,000 fine and other measures.

Jeff Pape, vice president of Regency Centers, which developed the Publix project, signed the proposed consent order on July 7 on behalf of the operator of the project, Fairhope LLC, a Delaware company formed earlier this year.

“We are very comfortable with the accuracy of all the information we provided to ADEM,” Pape said Friday.” We have had licensed professionals monitoring the site throughout the project and therefore all our information is well documented. ADEM has spent extensive time and effort in reviewing the information we provided and will make their decisions based on the facts presented. We are very proud of the final outcome of the Publix Shopping center and based on the shopping activity since Publix opened, it appears that the residents of Fairhope are very pleased with the project as well.”

In her three-page letter to ADEM about the proposed consent order, Casi Callaway, executive director of Mobile Baykeeper, took issue with several of ADEM’s statements in the proposed order.

“We respectfully disagree with the department’s assessment in the consent order that the (developer) took sufficient action to minimize the effects as a result of the violations that took places on this site,” she wrote. “As a result of (the company’s) repeated lack of sufficient care exercised, we insist that the current fine levied (of $11,000) is an insufficient penalty in relation to (the) standard of negligence that was displayed time and again.”

Hughes said about 30 local citizens signed a form letter alleging problems at the site and with the proposed consent order, in addition to the letters from Callaway, Wavrunek and a few other citizens who wrote individual letters.

Hughes said earlier that if a hearing were held, it could occur either in Montgomery or locally.

The FCPA has set out what it claims are the problems with the consent order and at the site on its Web site, which includes a number of photos at www.jacquelyngraphics.com/Fly_Creek.html.