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......... Common Ground Editorial: March 9, 2007
Our “Crowning Glory”
Catherine Burton, President of McANA When it comes to the David and Goliath fight between trees and development, it seems David is losing. In my personal experience, the only time there is a genuine effort made to save Marion County’s wooded areas from the bull-dozer is when the neighbors step up. Even then, the successes are small and hard won, since the City seldom seems willing to put teeth into the fight. For some time, there has been an effort from Indy neighborhoods and environmental groups to persuade the powers that be to use their political weight to adopt a tree conservation ordinance that will stop the strip-mining of our valuable wooded areas. But the idea continues to languish unheeded. So, we lose an acre here – three acres there. And when the City has an opportunity to put the public good in front of more development by saying “don’t cut down the trees”, the slingshot is instead put in Goliath’s hands, and we are admonished that we can’t stand in the way of “progress.” In the meantime, we are losing this irreplaceable and essential natural asset at a disturbing pace. Between 1980 and 2000, Indianapolis lost 37% of its wooded areas. In three decades, we lost 25% of our total tree canopy. American Forests recommends a 45% tree cover to promote optimum health, environmental and quality of life benefits. Yet Marion County has a mere 24%. If we continue at this rate, a tree conservation ordinance will be a moot point – you can’t conserve what you don’t have. Enter yet another proposal for yet another development that will decimate one of Marion County’s most pristine and aged wooded areas. A petition is currently pending to rezone 70 plus acres at Crown Hill cemetery for a mix of residential and commercial uses. This in a city where houses sit in the hundreds with “for sale” signs that have become the landscape of necessity, new “high-end” condo projects can’t find buyers (the failed Market Square project) and empty storefronts sit in abundance. The sad thing is, the proposal isn’t just for more residential and commercial development - for which we must question the need - it will plunk right down on a parcel of ground that has more than 2700 mature trees, functioning wetlands and an untold wealth of plants and flowers. Have no fear for this priceless jewel however – the developer has estimated that about one quarter of the trees can “probably” be saved. And of course, the City planners are asking that the trees in the proposed preservation area be saved to “the greatest extent possible.” But without a specific tree ordinance, there is NOTHING that defines what is “possible.” How have these bold, affirmative actions through the decades helped us plan for our City’s future? Oh yes – loss of 25% of the tree canopy and 37% of the woodlands. In all fairness, some of this loss can be attributed to loss from natural disasters and pollution, neither of which account for the bulldozers ripping healthy, mature, majestic trees out by their roots. The City Planners are recommending approval of this travesty in part because the Comprehensive Plan only contemplates passive, park like uses, with no secondary recommendation for a “profitable” development. I think everyone is well aware of Crown Hill Cemetery’s financial plight – an under funded maintenance budget – that caused the trustees to put the wonder of nature on the auction block. Even the opponents of the proposed development understand the dilemma and they were not unresponsive. With Crown Hill agreeing upon a price, efforts were well underway to raise private dollars through the Indianapolis Parks Foundation to purchase the property, which has been held in a not-for-profit, non-tax paying public trust for decades. Had the effort been allowed to come to fruition, Crown Hill would have gotten several million dollars and our City would have been able to hold this property out as a beacon of environmental commitment. But that hope was ripped out by the roots when suddenly, Crown Hill was willing to sacrifice this beautiful woodland preserve to the call of “urban development” and private profit prevailed over public good. We, the people of Marion County, who have the foresight to see the real, long-term profit this property could provide if it is allowed to remain in its natural state, can still send our message to the officials who will decide it’s fate. Regardless of what corner of the county you live in, I implore you to voice your objections to this rezoning and urge the Crown Hill trustees to truly honor the public’s trust. Because if we cannot save this 70 acres, this 70 magnificent, stately acres of old-growth woods, from the jaws of the tree-munching bulldozers, then that little stand of trees in your neighborhood doesn’t have a prayer. Tell the City NO to 2006-ZON-093. Tell the City to give the slingshot back to David.
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