Flat Creek Golf Course representatives say that a wetlands mitigation behind several homes on Stratford Court is officially dead, and the area will be restored to its "preconstruction contours."

But Marjorie Bachman, adjacent homeowner who has been active in protesting the golf course's methods, remains skeptical. She says the golf course representatives and their wetlands design consultant, Butch Register of EcoSouth Inc., have said they would let homeowners know what is planned, but she has not heard anything official.

"Mr. Register did call me to say that the area behind our home was being dropped from the wetlands plan," she said. "Then this week I was told by one of the workers that they don't plan to bring any dirt back into the area."

She says that enough dirt was removed from the half-acre to "build three tee boxes," and that she doesn't think that Register's plan to "rearrange the dirt and the slopes" will result in anything but "a boggy pond-type situation."

Jim Williams, city director of development services, and several of the Peachtree City Planning Commission members told Register and Lee Burton, a representative of golf course owner Patten Seed Co., that the city still needs to review the company's entire wetlands mitigation plan, not just the portion behind the Stratford Court homes.

"We understand that EPD (the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources) has not approved the original wetlands mitigation proposal," Williams said.

Register and Burton said they thought that the Stratford Court area was the only problem the city was concerned with, and that once that was dropped from the plan, they would be able to move forward with the mitigation.

"We have yet to review the total package for this project," said commission chairman Julian Campbell Jr.

"Is the city questioning the whole plan?" Burton asked. "I thought there was only one problem."

The city has been monitoring the wetlands project since it was learned that the golf course had received approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate wetlands at Flat Creek, but had not sought any city permits or consultation on the project. The wetlands mitigation became necessary when the Patten Seed Co. disturbed wetlands at their Canongate course during expansion.