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Lake Group Opposes Development |
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Friday, 17 April 2009 |
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
CELINA — An area organization will be representing the environment next month at a local hearing about the development of a wetland.
Members of the Grand Lake/Wabash Watershed Alliance made a motion to send Watershed Coordinator Laura Walker to a public hearing held May 28 in St. Marys at the organization’s Joint Board meeting Thursday afternoon.
“The wetland is located on the south side of the lake,” Walker said. “They’re wanting to build a subdivision and when they do that, they want to destroy the wetland.”
In addition to the GLWWA sending a letter of opposition to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and to the Army Corps, Tom Rampe with the Lake Improvement Association noted that the LIA also sent letters of opposition.
“The LIA wrote a letter and as a result of that letter, we indicated that we were requesting a public hearing,” he said. “There was a public hearing before and at that hearing was significant opposition. They’ve waited a year before tweaking a few things and now they’re trying to do the same thing.”
Rampe said that the LIA is still opposed to the wetlands being destroyed as it was in the past.
“The law is clear — you should not destroy wetlands — that is rule No. 1,” he said. “Then, if you have to destroy the wetlands, you minimize what you would destroy. Third, you then decide how to mitigate it.”
Rampe estimated the subdivision, which would be called Water Color Estates and developed by Southshore Acres, would hold 30 homes, but it would depend on the layout of the area.
Walker said neither the Army Corps nor the OEPA has yet to issue a permit, and the developer could choose another area without impacting the wetlands.
“This area could be built and not destroy the wetlands,” she said. “It could easily go somewhere else.”
Rampe said a goal of the hearing is to get as many people there as possible.
“The more organizations you can get to come and say they’re against it, the more public comments as there are against this, the less likely they are to issue a permit,” he said.
Rampe also noted that the developer has changed consultants since the first attempt, from a Columbus-based consultant to a Wapakoneta-based consultant.
Walker and Rampe said that the developer has talked about moving the wetlands, but Rampe said that could not be beneficial.
“Research shows that constructed wetlands do not function as well as ones Mother Nature made,” he told the group.
The public hearing with the OEPA will take place at 6:30 p.m. May 28 at the St. Marys Municipal Center.
The GLWWA also:
• Motioned to add Walker working with the Upper Wabash River Nutrient Management Coalition — the group focused on hypoxia in the watershed that is in conjunction with the 10 Ohio and Indiana-based counties that are in the watershed — to the GLWWA’s Watershed Action Plan.
• Motioned to accept the registration fee of $15 for the group’s Conservation Camp, which will take place July 10 for those ages nine to 12, and to apply for a $500 Step Outside Grant through the Division of Wildlife to help with the costs of the camp.
The next GLWWA meeting will be a joint board meeting held at 2 p.m. May 28 at the Mercer County Central Services Building in Celina. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 April 2009 )
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