Prime Homes and its owner Alex Belous filled in a wetland without prior review and approval, failed to implement sediment control best management practices and other stormwater violations according to a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) investigation that began in December 2024. The violations involve construction of a home on Schwappauff Lake, near the town of Greenfield in Hennepin County.
The violations took place in 2022 and 2023 and included:
- failure to obtain a construction stormwater permit
- failure to develop a stormwater pollution prevention plan
- failure to implement sediment control best management practices where runoff drained into Schwappauff Lake
- failure to conduct 87 inspections of the site during construction
- failure to receive approvals from government agencies responsible for regulating wetlands because more than half an acre of wetlands adjacent to Schwappauff Lake was filled in
These violations led to Prime Homes and its owner Alex Belous paying a fine of $42,898.
MPCA rules and regulations are designed to protect human health and the environment by limiting pollution emissions and discharges from facilities. When companies do not fully comply with regulatory requirements, the resulting pollution can be harmful to people and the environment.
When calculating penalties, the MPCA considers how seriously violations affected or could have affected the environment, and whether they were first-time or repeat violations. The agency also attempts to recover the economic benefit the company gained by failing to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.