A retention pond is being built between the 17th and 18th holes at the Pinewood Country Club golf course, and residents who live along the course are concerned about the mounds of mud and dirt being piled up next to their houses.

“This is very scary,” said Kathy Daspit, who has lived on Country Club Boulevard since 1978. She said she woke up one morning and saw a mound “7 feet high of mud” on the edge of her property.

Daspit and her neighbors are scared the dirt will raise the elevation of the golf course, and the next time there is a heavy rain it will drain off the fairways and into their back yards, flooding their houses.

A golfer tees it up on the 16th hole of the Pinewood Country Club golf course as a power shovel behind him excavates a new retention pond to alleviate flooding in the area. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

The retention pond is a city project designed to prevent such flooding, but the neighbors are not convinced.

“The retention pond is fine, but we were not told about all this dirt,” said Daspit’s neighbor, Teresa Stanley.

The anger over the mounds of dirt has reached the ears of District G Councilman Bill Borchert and Slidell Mayor Ben Morris.

“I’ve been getting lots and lots of phone calls about this,” Borchert said. Morris said his staff members have taken a lot of calls about the pond and the dirt.

To ease his constituents’ fears, Borchert has called for a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Pinewood Country Club clubhouse. He said he, city engineers and contractors will be there to “educate the residents and dispel their fears.”

The retention pond, when finished, will hold 2.5 million gallons of water and will be 7 feet deep. The project will take about seven weeks to finish and will cost $201,000 from the city coffers, Morris said.

Pinewood Country Club donated the land to the city, and the club will maintain the pond once it is finished, Borchert said.

The idea is for the pond to fill up with rainwater that will slowly be released into the city’s drainage system after a storm. There are two other retention ponds on the golf course, and they are all linked by pipes to the drainage canal behind the golf course. Letting the water collect in the pond and then slowly releasing is supposed to prevent flooding.

“It is designed to improve drainage and eliminate flooding along that part of the street,” Borchert said.

Despite those claims, neighbors think the golf course will use all that dirt to elevate the course and make it higher than their properties.

“The water will drain toward the houses,” Stanley said.

The mayor said to cut costs, the city decided to give the dirt to the golf club rather than pay to have it hauled away. Thursday, Morris said he, too, was surprised at the piles of dirt.

“We didn’t expect it to be piled up like that,” Morris said. “But when the project is finished, the mounds will disappear.”

Jim Pittman, representing the construction company Coast 2 Coast Construction that is building the pond, agreed.

He said the dirt will be used to build up the bunkers on the course and add more challenges to the golfers. Pinewood has brought in a golf course engineer, who is designing a new look for the course.

“It will make the holes more challenging,” Pittman said.

Stanley and Daspit have their doubts. Both of them had their houses flooded in 1998 and 2001, and they don’t want a repeat.

“Where is all that mud going to go?” questioned Stanley.

“They can’t level off those hills,” Daspit said. “It will raise the elevation of the course, and water will flow into our houses.”

Both ladies are not against having a retention pond or redesigning the golf course. They just want the city and the country club to get rid of the mud.

“This is just not a good idea,” Daspit said.

The neighbors are also angry at the city for not informing them about the mess that has been created.

Morris admitted the city should have communicated better with the residents.

“I apologize, but the project will improve drainage in the area and stop the flooding,” Morris said.

Borchert looks at the project as a work in progress and asks for patience from the residents.

“It’s not finished. It is a seven-week project, and let’s let them finish,” Borchert said.

Daspit said she already pays expensive premiums for flood insurance and wonders if it is a city project, shouldn’t the city be more responsible to the residents?

“Maybe the city could help us with elevating our homes,” suggested Daspit.

But Pittman said the course is not being elevated. He said a project like that would be financially prohibitive. The club is just adding some bunkers and improving the golf course, he said.

“I think it is very innovative for the city and the club to get together on this,” Pittman said. “It’s a win-win situation for everybody. The city gets better drainage, and the club will have water to irrigate the grass.”

Still, Daspit and her neighbors are skeptical, and Borchert urged them to come to the meeting Thursday.