Protect the Partrick Wetlands
and our Community
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Presenter: Matthew Mandell |
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In a nut shell this proposal does not conform and the land is not usable.
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Let's take a look here at the northern section of 14 houses.
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Here is the legend.
Wetland line in blue, 25' non disturbance area marked in green, wetland setback line in red, and the open space circle. As you can see there are three open space circles.
Now what are these suppose to be. The OSRD is supposed to have space that can be used by the members of this community, not just space to left alone, but space for people to be in and use in what is called passive activities, the definition of that varies from place to place. Essentially it is to be utilized.
Let's see what the rules are concerning the usable open space.
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It is supposed to be graded and landscaped., but Conservation says No cutting, clearing or filling w/o conservation commission approval, so fragile invasive plants can only be removed by hand, supposed to be left in a natural state.
There is a problem here. The OSRD regs say it needs to be reworked and conservation says leave it alone.
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On April 29 Alicia Mozian wrote: Permission to clear, grade or fill within these areas is currently not permitted.
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Mozian continues: The only intrusion allowed is wetland enhancement and removal of invasives.
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Let's take a closer look.
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As you can plainly see this circle is in the no disturbance zone and this one even more
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And so too the third circle.
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All three usable open space areas are unusable. They have to go back to Conservation for approval. If this does happen, then the commission ought to hear this as a new application publicly and with public comment.
At present this application does not meet section 17-11 and should be denied.
It also does not conform to Section 44-5.7 which gives you protections over wetlands and vegetation in relation to the nature and intensity of the activities of the community.
This part of the your regulations gives you jurisdiction to protect the wetlands right here and now and gives you the power to deny this.
The failure to meet these regulations is symptomatic of the overcrowding of the land and the cramming in of houses. The usable open space is not supposed to be on the periphery in peoples people's back yards, it is supposed to in the middle for all to access and use.
Randall Arendt continues in his Model Ordinances when he says that 50% of the remaining land shall be designated as permanently protected and used by this new community for their open space. That means of the 9 acres they have, 4.5 are to be saved. If this this theory had been followed we would the situation we are seeing with no usable open space for this community. Hiking trails don't count you can't throw a ball or frisbee there and of course you have to have access to them.
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Let's take a look at the Southeastern 6 house cluster.
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Again the open space circle is in the non disturbance zone.
BTW this area was a wetland which I guess is being filled. There is no real open space for this "neighborhood" either.
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Now let's look at the southern cluster of two houses. Again the circle is within the non disturbance zone. But this one its more than half in it. And how is house 23 going to use what is behind 24?
And just another point here. This area is not supposed to stripped of trees, the larger trees are to be flagged and protected. Stripping this would also be out of character with the neighborhood.
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Let's take a closer look. And we see something even more troubling.
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Usable open space shall not include those portions of a lot that are utilized for building purposes of wetlands. This from the P&Z definitions.
This circle cuts the corner of the house - building purposes
And it also cuts a piece of wetland - wetlands.
This circle does not have to go back to conservation at all. This one certainly does not conform to 17-11 right here. This neighborhood, if you can call it that does meet the regulations.
Next part of Speech, Over Crowding the Land and Unenforceable Deed Restrictions