Just a few yards west from where speeding cars roar past the Gillespie Property driveway there is a stand of tall Pine Trees and Cedars that conceal an unnoticed treasure in our suburban landscape.
The seldom noticed wetlands, that border the Gillespie Property on the opposite side of Elm Lane total more the 35 acres. Mecklenburg County owns 24 of those acres, and the White Oak Homeowners Association owns the remaining 12.
The area known as Pooh’s Corner by local kids because of the shape of the boardwalk (a corner) is a cornucopia of nature beholding a storybook setting of a 100 Acre Wood. The Four Mile Creek boardwalk leaves Bevington Place and heads southwest running along the western bank of the marshland and pond and then turns the “corner” heading west again.
This area is home to “everything” from King Fishers and Hawks, Red Wing Black Birds, and Eagles. In the late fall the Herron and Egrets will begin to gather and at times you can find a hundred or more in the trees along the marsh. Mammals large and small live here as well, from Otters to Coyotes and White Tail Deer. Plus an endless list of snakes and turtles, lizards and aquatic life.
These wetlands are constantly changing and serve as a filter for the Four Mile Creek Water Shed and the Catawba Basin.
The area is a shock absorber that helps compensate for heavy rainfall and in return provides an abundant source of food for birds and mammals of all types.
The Rea Road Gillespie Property is surrounded on three sides by a FEMA flood zone and these “wetlands”.
More than 13 acres, nearly 25% of the Gillespie Property, is within this FEMA flood zone as well, and is unbuildable. Because the property has elevations that range from 610 feet to 540 feet (above sea level), it will require a massive amount of site work to make it buildable for a project the size of which is proposed by RK Investing, LLC.
The size and scope of the site work, the resulting runoff and sediment, is a direct threat to these wetlands. Once constructed this massive apartment project would produce unimaginable amounts of stormwater water hard surface runoff.
The problem with impervious surfaces is that they prevent the natural soaking of rainwater into the ground and slowly seeping into streams. Instead, the rainwater accumulates and flows rapidly into storm drains. This results in severe harm to streams like Four Mile Creek and wetlands like "Pooh's Corner" in three important ways:
Water Quantity: storm drains deliver large volumes of water to streams much faster than would occur naturally, resulting in flooding and bank erosion. Stream inhabitants are stressed, displaced, or killed by the fast-moving water and the debris and sediment it brings with it.
Water Quality: pollutants (gasoline, oil, fertilizers, etc.) accumulate on impervious surfaces and are washed into the streams.
Water Temperature: during warm weather, rain that falls on impervious surfaces becomes superheated and can stress or kill stream inhabitants.
In other words, the Rea Road Gillespie Project has the potential to destroy the delicate balance that has been established at “Pooh’s Corner” and within the FEMA flood plain that surrounds the Gillespie Property.
Therefore, it is obvious that a formal environmental impact assessment is needed before any consideration is given to rezoning this property. An assessment that we believe would prove the need for an alternative to development.
11 comments:
It is a fact that impervious surfaces such as parking lots cause significant damage to healthy stream systems. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, “ The problem with impervious surfaces is that they prevent the natural soaking of rainwater into the ground and slowly seeping into streams. Instead, the rain water accumulates and flows rapidly into storm drains. This results in severe harm to streams in three important ways.
Water Quantity: storm drains deliver large volumes of water to streams much faster than would occur naturally, resulting in flooding and bank erosion. Stream inhabitants are stressed, displaced, or killed by the fast moving water and the debris and sediment it brings with it.
Water Quality: pollutants (gasoline, oil, fertilizers, etc) accumulate on impervious surfaces and are washed into the streams.
Water Temperature: during warm weather, rain that falls on impervious surfaces becomes superheated and can stress or kill stream inhabitants.
Why can't the developer just build on the property as zoned?
That is a great question for the developer. And why does the developer appear to have more political power in this process than the thousands of voters who strongly oppose the rezoning? Than our city council reps who shrug and say that oh they are compromising ? Really? Vote NO
Thank God someone has finally brought this potential consequence to the fore! So many people that have been focused on traffic and infrastructure issues that they are perhaps missing the most real threat. As much as the loss of Bald Eagles nesting on the property grabs headlines—with good reason—the potential environmental destruction to the areas surrounding the development is far more troubling. I’m no tree hugger, but this magnificent piece of property needs to be preserved through conservancy before the irreversible damage caused by the development is allowed to move forward. As we watch the bulldozers mow down trees, watch the road kill pile up, and watch the red dirt hauled away by the dump truck load, we will again shrug our shoulders and say : “ what a shame, someone should have done something”…
This is such important information. I drove through there this morning on the way to a dentist appointment. I didn't realize precisely understand where this are was until then. That drive between 485 and PMH has always been magical to me. It's what neighborhoods should look like. Beautiful shade trees that you just know are full of songbirds.
There is a peace to that area, even as people speed through. It feels quiet, like our neighborhood did before the City Council allowed Beacon Partners and others destroy 146 acres of forest to build huge concrete distribution warehouses. Once peaceful walks late at night are accompanied by 60-70 decibel noise from not only 485 but 85 as well. You never understand how much trees buffer noise until they are gone. Please keep fighting to stop this. Contact PETA. Contact the EPA. Contact FEMA.
The City Council has got to stop destroying the beautiful parts of this county just to collect more money.
It could only be that he stands to make substantially more money with his multi-unit proposal.
We should be begging for it to be a park and to get the City to buy it.
Unfortunately, the current zoning would allow a homebuilder to grade every inch of it too, with even less trees saved. They are saving more than what is required, in fact 2x according to their engineer (I went to the meeting). I did ask what would happen if they went away and by right, a home builder could cram 150 or more houses on the property. I am not sure that is better than the current plan. At least this plan has some good benefits to intersections and buffers and a homebuilder would do none of it. According to the engineer, all the storm water is required to be captured, treated and released slowly, so impact to surrounding areas there should be minimal, unlike the runoff from the golf course, which I have complained about for years. Ever see what those fertilizers and chemicals do to the creek?
Wouldn’t make a difference.
Finally! Someone that gets it.
The huge tree loss and asphalt addition that is required by the construction of the new high school at Johnston Road and Community House will already have dire effects on this same natural area. Has this fact been brought up in any of the discussions?
Nope. Nothing mentioned at the community meeting regarding the high school and how much devastation that is causing. No one seems to care when they have money to make. They find a way to justify what they want. They act like they are so concerned about housing. The fact is if they find a plot of land in ballantyne it will be destroyed by builders. It’s just sad
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