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Corinth approves ordinance requiring 3-foot conservation pool for retention ponds
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Summary
The Corinth City Council unanimously approved a zoning text amendment (ZTA26-0009) requiring retention ponds to be designed to maintain a minimum 3-foot conservation pool under normal conditions, with drought exceptions, limits on potable-water use, and design flexibility for engineering constraints.
The Corinth City Council on a unanimous vote approved a city-initiated amendment to the Unified Development Code that requires retention ponds to be designed to maintain a minimum permanent conservation pool depth of 3 feet under normal climatic conditions.
Melissa Daley, the city's director of community and economic development, told the council the measure clarifies design standards rather than overhauling retention-pond policy. "It would require ponds to be designed to maintain a minimum permanent conservation level, of 3 feet, under normal climatic conditions," Daley said, adding the requirement would not apply during droughts and would allow engineering-based modifications approved by the director of public works.
The amendment includes a design minimum that the 3-foot depth apply to at least 50% of a pond's surface area, prohibits use of potable water to maintain the level, and allows recirculation devices and fountains if they do not rely on potable water. Daley noted staff coordinated the wording with public works and engineers, and that the Planning & Zoning board voted unanimously to approve the amendment at its prior meeting.
A resident who spoke during the public hearing urged caution. "We are essentially mandating an ornamental feature today that becomes a taxpayer liability tomorrow," said Ashley Wharton, a Corinth resident and vice chair of Keep Grama Beautiful, who questioned whether homeowners associations could afford long-term dredging or well repairs and raised public-health and safety concerns related to mosquitoes and unsupervised children.
Council members asked technical questions about mosquito prevention and pond circulation; staff said circulation and design features are intended to limit mosquito breeding and that, if a pond becomes a health issue after construction, code enforcement can require remediation and staff would work with homeowners associations. "It's built into design, and then after the fact, if there's an issue ... then that becomes a code violation, and we would reach out to ... the HOA to help work with them to get that addressed," Daley said.
The ordinance language preserves existing safety requirements such as benching and fencing when applicable and does not change whether a pond is detention or retention; it applies only where a retention pond is used. After brief discussion the council moved to approve the amendment and the mayor stated the vote was unanimous.
The ordinance is intended to align pond design with neighborhood character and to ensure ponds contain water during normal conditions while providing limited exceptions for drought and engineering constraints. The amendment will be effective according to the city's standard ordinance-adoption timelines.
