Concerns put wetlands plan on ice
northcoastNOW
LORAIN — City Council put a plan to enhance the city’s wetlands on hold Monday, citing public concern over the current maintenance of the 105-acre Elmwood Wetland Preserve.
The Council’s Building and Lands Committee unanimously approved moving the ordinance to create a city-owned wetland mitigation bank into abeyance until city officials could address concerns ranging from maintenance to security.
A number of residents said the preserve hasn’t lived up to what they hoped it would.
“I’ve yet to see anybody walking their dog or their child through that park,” said Redhill Drive resident Richard Yepko, who lives 80 yards from the edge of the preserve. “To me, it’s not a park we would be proud of.”
The proposed ordinance would have created additional wetlands within the Elmwood Wetland Preserve between Washington and Broadway avenues at North Ridge Road, which would give the city the opportunity to sell wetlands credits to developers to help generate revenue. The market price per credit was estimated at $20,000.
Yepko toured the preserve earlier on Monday with city officials and said the preserve has become a place for burning cars, beer cans and parties — hardly the habitat that would attract wildlife or people, he said.
“It would be nice to see a nice park back there,” he said. “But we know it’s not going to happen.”
Resident Steve Leslie said the preserve has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and has raised flooding issues for nearby residents. He said the preserve has made small strides but not enough to make the argument for additional enhancements. “We’re doing better than I thought we would,” he said. “But I don’t think we can call this a successful project yet.”
City planner Don Romancik said the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency declared the preserve a success.
In other business, Council’s Finance and Claims Committee spoke about the importance of passing an ordinance to reduce the city’s income tax credit by 1 percentage point for those who live in the city but work elsewhere. The public is invited to a meeting 6:30 p.m. June 18 in Council’s Chambers to discuss the issue with city officials. A second meeting is June 23, the deadline for Council to pass the issue and get it on the ballot in 2008 if there is a call for a referendum. If the ordinance doesn’t pass by June 23, a possible referendum would delay the ordinance appearing on the ballot until 2009.
Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by northcoastNOW June 10th, 2008 in Local and State.
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