Over the past couple of years, the pond at Sherman Drive and Hercules Lane had become a body of water enjoyed by people in and outside of the Sherman Crossing neighborhood in northeast Denton. They would linger on the walkway near the pond and marvel at the family of beavers, the Canada geese and other wildlife that had come to call it home.
The area had become “wonderful and a little nature preserve with 12 different species of bird, fish, the beavers, really diverse,” said Ricky Barnett, who lives nearby and took his children to enjoy it like other nearby neighbors.
But it was a little nature preserve that shouldn’t have been. It was designed to be a detention pond, which temporarily holds stormwater, but it was acting as a retention pond, which retains stormwater.
The homeowners association management had it drained in early July, leaving fish dead, a family of Canada geese — a federally protected bird — without a home, and beavers without their food supply after neighbors say drones were used to spray and kill the vegetation.
In a July 10 email, Nathalie Leifeste told the Denton Record-Chronicle the pond was being drained “and the consequences for the local ecosystem are heartbreaking.
“Whether the decision came from the City or the HOA, the lack of foresight and regard for animal welfare is deeply troubling. We live in a community that should be able to balance maintenance with humane, ecologically responsible actions.”
Last week, the HOA board and the HOA management company, Vision Communities Management, sent a message to residents that they are not making independent decisions but instead complying with city requirements.
“Despite allegations posted on various social media platforms and through email, there have been no acts of negligence with respect to fish or other wildlife at the pond,” according to the email.
The HOA board met with residents on Thursday evening via Zoom to discuss the pond, the city’s requirements, the challenges they’ve faced and the steps the board is taking — including exploring alternatives and solutions.
VCM couldn’t be reached for comment.
“We’re basically stuck on this game where the city wants to blame the HOA, and the HOA blames the city,” Barnett said. “We’re worried about some kind of solution. I don’t care whose fault it is because I don’t want to see fish flopping around in the sun.”
Surprise draining
In late February, Erica Garland, who lives in the development, had taken photographs of the pond shortly before and after the pond drain in February. Garland had been enjoying the little makeshift nature preserve like other locals. A board member, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he had even offered to install a solar-powered water fountain in the pond and wanted to install seating and lighting around it for neighbors to enjoy.
The pond is located on a lot east of the Sherman Crossing development and across the street from an apartment complex. The HOA first appeared five years ago; most of the homes were built in 2021 and 2022.
Garland said the neighborhood “freaked out and came together” but that she didn’t make a big deal because she figured that people were just doing their jobs. She contacted the HOA management and said she was told the HOA was receiving threats of fines from the city every day that the pond retained water — a claim denied by Dustin Sternbeck, the city’s chief communications officer.
“We told the HOA about the wildlife, and they acted like they didn’t know and hated it,” Garland said. “Fortunately, it was in the spring, and the [pond] immediately backed up again.”
The wildlife remained and, as Garland pointed out, “nature fixed what people screwed up.”
Five months later, the pond contractor drained the pond again.
A few days after the drainage, Garland, who serves on the city’s zoning commission, was “1,000 percent furious” about it because this time she knew the HOA management company was aware of the wildlife. She was upset that the beavers and Canada geese had been impacted. She said they had watched the goslings hatch.
Garland said the pond held only a couple of feet of water and drained fine over the retaining wall and under Sherman Drive into big culverts that run through the city.
“There was no issue with flooding,” she said.
The anonymous HOA board member said HOA president LaQuita Fisher and VCM knew about the wildlife and that they needed a beaver trapper and wranglers since there were thousands of perch in the pond. He said he told them multiple times and that Fisher “has been very roadblocking and doesn’t want to work with anybody.”
Fisher couldn’t be reached for comment.
Neighbors turned to social media to share their concerns and photographs of the impacted wildlife. They shared their story with Lil’ D TV, which reported that the HOA had spent $70,000 so far draining the pond. They also contacted District 2 City Council member Brian Beck, who represents their area.
Beck heard from several people about the pond. He said he had been in contact with senior staff and development services as well as environmental services to find a solution. He said staff were looking into his questions but called the process “slow going right now.”
Anecdotally, Beck said he didn’t recall the pond “ever emptying back to dry” and mentioned that if not maintained, habitat builds up and the maintenance that follows is destructive to the wildlife.
Last week, Garland questioned Fisher about maintenance on Facebook and stressed that neighbors understand the difference between a detention pond and a retention pond.
“What we don’t understand is the lack of attention this area received for years which caused the situation we are currently in,” Garland wrote. “At this point, most of us do not care who is to blame but what we do care about are the people, birds, fish and wildlife that are now being impacted.”
Last week, the HOA board and VCM offered another reason why the detention pond had been retaining water in their statement to residents: “The concrete drain out had been vandalized. The drain has been compacted with rocks and mud, not caused by any wildlife but by humans.”
Aerial tech
Shortly after the early July pond drain, neighbors began noticing the vegetation that had once created a lush little nature preserve to provide food and shelter to wildlife had turned brown and looked dead around the detention pond.
“They sprayed poison from drones to kill it without telling the residents that it happened, and I walked my kids over there after they did it,” Barnett said.
Garland said she learned about the spraying during her meeting with Fisher.
“We should have known,” Garland said. “They let us know when they are spraying for mosquitoes. They didn’t give us that opportunity to make that decision.”
Garland said she was told the poison was safe and biodegradable but pointed out that “they also say Roundup is safe.”
The anonymous HOA board member pointed out that the pond contractor had sprayed herbicides inside a living, working ecosystem.
“It’s sickening,” the board member said. “I drive by it, and I don’t get it. I don’t understand why they would take that away.”
Drone technology is a new tech trend in agricultural operations. It’s been used in pond and lake management. It allows for targeted spraying of herbicides and pesticides and offers access to difficult terrain.
The Record-Chronicle contacted PondMedics, a Prosper-based company that specializes in pond management, clearing vegetation and relocating beavers. Jarrod Conner, the CEO of PondMedics, declined to discuss the company’s drone technology on record but did offer general industry information.
The Texas Department of Agriculture requires licenses for applicators who want to apply restricted-use pesticide, state-limited-use pesticide and regulated herbicides. There are also requirements for those who want to apply pesticides — regardless of classification — to plants, trees, shrubs, grass or other horticultural plants.
“I don’t want anybody in trouble,” Garland said. “We have to recognize that what we’ve done is incredibly irresponsible. We’ve done it twice, and the pond is full [again]. We are spending a whole lot of money on runoff from the apartments, buildings and the neighborhood, and the neighborhood is getting stuck with the bill.”
Pond construction
Though neighbors are interested in preserving it, turning a detention pond into a retention pond isn’t an easy task — nor an inexpensive one, said Gerald Blackler, a Colorado-based expert in the engineering of drainage systems.
Similar to a detention pond, a retention pond also holds and distributes rain runoff to prevent flooding. Instead of a dry pond, it retains water and includes wetland plants to provide bank stability while the aquatic vegetation helps remove pollutants from nearby neighborhoods.
When a retention pond is not planned, and a detention pond is functioning as one, Blackler said it becomes a “safety issue and drownings can happen.”
Blackler said designing retention ponds requires considering various factors such as whether fencing is needed and if the side slopes are mild enough to allow for gripping if someone does slip into the water.
If the HOA wants to maintain it as a retention pond, it will need to go through a re-permitting process with the city, according to the city. It requires hiring an engineer since the pond has been designed as a detention basin.
“The detention pond is to protect homes downstream,” Sternbeck said.
Beck mentioned that a halfway point may exist between a detention and retention pond that allows for promoting native vegetation and making it prettier. They’d have to look at the engineering characteristics.
“The community is clearly upset and rightfully,” Beck said. “However we got to this, having these kinds of impact on wildlife that have come here is cruel and not the Denton way and not the way that people want to see the community develop.”