MCEA urges City to modify controversial development project in Ham Lake

On August 2, the Ham Lake City Council voted to reject a conservation friendly development proposal endorsed by both the developer and a coalition of hunting and conservation groups. The proposed development plan will impact a rare dry oak forest on the edge of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area in Anoka County. MCEA worked with the project developer to create an alternative plan that would protect the forest and Carlos Avery, but the city rejected it. MCEA is concerned that this project will set a precendent for environmentally damaging development near WMA's across the state. (Photo: Carlos Avery WMA)

••• MCEA urges City to modify controversial development project in Ham Lake

Last fall, MCEA served the City of Ham Lake with a Complaint for approving a large development on a locally rare dry oak forest, located at the southwestern corner of the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The Complaint alleges violations of the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act because the development was approved without requiring an Environmental Impact Statement.

The 23,000-acre Carlos Avery WMA in Anoka County is the largest public hunting ground in the metropolitan region. It supports an array of wildlife including deer, turkeys, small game and 275 bird species that nest or migrate through the WMA.

The proposed development site is the largest remaining unprotected high-quality dry oak forest in the area. The development proposal calls for 124 single-family detached homes and septic systems, which would destroy most or all of the dry-oak forest’s rare wildlife habitat values. In so doing, it would harm not just the forest, but also neighboring Carlos Avery WMA.

Litigation was on hold while MCEA and the developer searched for alternatives that would withdraw areas of highest ecological value from development, move the development back from Carlos Avery’s border, yet still allow the developer to have a fair chance of realizing a profit.

Working with the developer, MCEA commissioned an ecological study of the area to design an ecologically sound alternative development proposal. Using this study, MCEA and the developer came to an agreement on a development plan that will protect Carlos Avery WMA and allow for a modified development plan to proceed.

The agreement included:
• A buffer between the development and the edge of the WMA;
• Conserving half of the locally rare dry oak so that it would not be developed;
• Restoration work on the oak forest to return it more to oak savanna habitat that once was a major ingredient, but now is largely missing from the WMA ecosystem; and
• An alternative stormwater treatment that does not contaminate Carlos Avery with excess nutrients or other pollution, sediment, or noxious weeds.

MCEA and the developer presented the plan to the City of Ham Lake. The city agreed to a few of the important conservation changes, but did not accept the new plan as a whole, which does the most to protect Carlos Avery WMA and the rare dry oak forest.

On July 26, the city zoning and planning commission voted in favor of a development plan that does not protect the dry oak forest on the edge of Carlos Avery. The full City Council voted on August 2 to preserve their one-acre lot minimum and to not incorporate certain conservation features to address concerns about storm water run off that could threaten habitat in Carlos Avery.

MCEA has been extremely disappointed in the action by the city, as it is unusual for a conservation group and a developer to come to an agreement that allows for protection of valuable natural areas and housing growth.

MCEA is concerned that if a bad precedent is set in Ham Lake, then WMAs across the state will be in the same danger of encroaching development.

For information on contacts at the City of Ham Lake go to the city website at: http://www.ci.ham-lake.mn.us/city_hall.htm

For more information on the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area wildlife, visit the Department of Natural Resources website.

For more information, contact:
Mattt Norton, Staff Attorney and MCEA Forestry Advocate
(651) 223-5969
mnorton@mncenter.org