To: Ann Arbor Planning Commission, Matthew J. Kowalski, Ann Arbor City Planner, Scott Servoss, Assistant Vice President Commercial Special Assets Old National Bank, Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor, and Luke Golden, Department of Envir...
Tiny Butterfly vs. Big Developer
Permanently preserve all of South Pond Wetlands drainage basin as a nature area and wildlife sanctuary.
Why is this important?
The wetlands adjacent to South Pond serve as one of the last remaining habitats of the critically imperiled Dukes’ Skipper butterfly. These wetlands are threatened by a plan that would plop 73 McMansions, built by billionaire developer William Pulte, onto a newly deforested plateau adjacent to the wetlands.
The effluent from their massive, chemically treated lawns, would discharge into the wetlands only feet from where the Skipper has been sighted. In order to gain access to the planned development, the developer has applied to the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for a permit to build a road through the wetlands. The City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Areas Preservation (NAP) remains opposed to this road because in part because “The proposed road would be built very close to areas where rare plant and animal species have been documented, including Euphyes dukesi (Duke’s skipper), which is state-threatened and legally protected, and Carex trichocarpa (Hairy-fruited sedge), which is a species of special concern Michigan. It is likely that construction activities so close to the wetland will have negative impacts on these species and their of its impact on these sensitive wetlands.”
The developer has applied for the wetlands permit even though a reasonable and prudent alternative, which has no direct impact to the wetlands, exists. This alternative, which provides better access to the development, has been vetted by the City of Ann Arbor Planning Staff and has been recommended for approval. We call on the MDEQ to refuse to grant this permit simply because a reasonable and prudent to this wetlands destruction exists. We also call on the developer to abandon this destructive plan and donate the wetlands and surrounding land to the Ann Arbor Parks Dept. as the developer had originally proposed. See southpondnature.org for more information and beautiful pictures of the area.
Please help a tiny butterfly fend off a big developer and sign our petition.
Thanks!
The effluent from their massive, chemically treated lawns, would discharge into the wetlands only feet from where the Skipper has been sighted. In order to gain access to the planned development, the developer has applied to the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for a permit to build a road through the wetlands. The City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Areas Preservation (NAP) remains opposed to this road because in part because “The proposed road would be built very close to areas where rare plant and animal species have been documented, including Euphyes dukesi (Duke’s skipper), which is state-threatened and legally protected, and Carex trichocarpa (Hairy-fruited sedge), which is a species of special concern Michigan. It is likely that construction activities so close to the wetland will have negative impacts on these species and their of its impact on these sensitive wetlands.”
The developer has applied for the wetlands permit even though a reasonable and prudent alternative, which has no direct impact to the wetlands, exists. This alternative, which provides better access to the development, has been vetted by the City of Ann Arbor Planning Staff and has been recommended for approval. We call on the MDEQ to refuse to grant this permit simply because a reasonable and prudent to this wetlands destruction exists. We also call on the developer to abandon this destructive plan and donate the wetlands and surrounding land to the Ann Arbor Parks Dept. as the developer had originally proposed. See southpondnature.org for more information and beautiful pictures of the area.
Please help a tiny butterfly fend off a big developer and sign our petition.
Thanks!