Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Great News: City Project Will Not Proceed As Planned

Neighborhood representatives met with City Staff (Mike Kelly, Chris Calvery, George Walker, Mateo Scoggins, and Roxanne Jackson) last night to discuss the planned Watershed Department project.


The City team explained that the Reach - through the determined efforts of neighbors and Nature over the years - is already much more healthy that it was when they originally assessed it in 1997. After performing some comparative measurements and a new assessment, they also found that very little to no new erosion has occurred since 1997. (Pictures and more to come soon.)

To make a long story short, the City Staff reassessed the condition of the creek and have determined that there's no need to proceed with the current plan!

That is not the end of the story, of course!

The two waste water lines crossing the creek must be dealt with, and there are other possible outcomes for the project. City Staff will be present at the CNA Quarterly on May 19 to update the hood. That will also officially begin our NEW process for looking at changes to the Reach, primarily related to the waste water lines. The neighborhood will begin meeting with the City on a monthly basis in July to talk about how they will deal with the waster water lines, how we might decrease pollution in the creek my installing rainwater swales, how we might increase wildlife habitat, and etc.

There will be lots of opportunity for neighborhood involvement and input, and I'm positive that this new direction will be very good for the Reach!

Thanks to the folks who attended last nights meeting and thanks to the City Staff for their willingness to reassess their proposed plan and stop it from moving forward.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! It show how working together things can be solved!

Unknown said...

that is great news! I was shocked they were going to destroy that beautiful area.

James said...

This is awesome! We just moved into the area and had no idea this was even considered by the city. THANK YOU for taking action. Hope to participate in the upcoming months.