Ball in city’s court now: must protect environment as Peninsula development begins

With their latest vote of approval, the Planning Commission paved the way for the development of the Peninsula of Reservoir 4, leaving many environmental issues unresolved.

The job of protecting this environmentally sensitive and wildlife-rich area now falls on the city’s Divisions of Environmental Services, Engineering and Water Quality, which must set the conditions for construction and oversee the development.

The challenges are many.

When the city council approved the rezoning of the Peninsula in April, they mandated that a 50 foot tree buffer be protected along the outer perimeter of the development.

Combined with the strip of land to be retained along the waterfront by Kentucky American Water Company, this buffer was meant to save the existing tree canopy which provides habitat for many animal and bird species and serves as a filter for storm water runoff into the reservoir.

Unfortunately, Ball Homes is adamant that they will remove much of this vegetation and replace it with grass. Moreover, the buffer was not separated from individual home lots or placed under the coordinated control of a home owner’s association or the city, which would have created public space in this beautiful area and consolidated management under one entity. Instead, the management and protection of the tree canopy will fall to dozens of individual homeowners, presenting an enforcement nightmare.

During the recent development plan approval process, efforts to add protective language for the buffer were made by both city environmental officials and the attorney for the East Lake Neighborhood Association.

These conditions would have ensured any removal of invasive species not result in excessive thinning or reduction of the buffer by requiring replanting with native trees and bushes, would have prohibited the use of heavy equipment to prevent damage to existing trees, their roots, and the soil, and required that future homeowners be notified of the restrictions on tree removal.

Ball Homes opposed all of these conditions and the Planning Commission failed to impose the needed protections. Unless city officials require strict conditions that prohibit inappropriate removal or damage of trees and shrubs and require invasive species be replaced with native plants, the path has now been cleared for Ball Homes to substantially degrade the tree buffer with heavy equipment and replant with grass, clearly a violation of the council’s intent in creating the buffer and a violation of our local tree and water ordinances.

Other thorny issues were also left unresolved. Planning staff revealed that the Peninsula has been contaminated by past dumping of asbestos laden pipes, yet there was virtually no discussion of this matter in the Planning Commission hearing beyond a vague request for assurance from the developers that this issue will be addressed. The public has not been provided with any details.

Likewise, the issue of stormwater management on the Peninsula has been similarly kicked down the road. After city officials rejected Ball Homes’ initial plan to allow all stormwater, along with road and lawn chemical contaminants, to run directly into the reservoir — a violation of the EPA consent decree — the developers stated they will manage run-off on-site with a system of manufactured wetlands.

Once again, however, there has been no information released to the public as to how this will be achieved, where the wetlands will be built, or how they might impact the buffer.

The proposal to develop the Peninsula drew a strong response across the city from people who wanted to ensure that development did not destroy the existing tree buffer and wildlife habitat or impair the quality of our drinking water.

How this will occur has now largely been left to the discretion of city officials in charge of environmental issues and the onus is on them to impose the strong protections needed.

Suzanne and Ramesh Bhatt are members of the East Lake Neighborhood Association.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Ball in city’s court now: must protect environment as Peninsula development begins."