Gans Creek Allies Conservation Overlay Proposal
Public Presentation at Columbia’s City Council on Monday, Oct. 4
On Monday, October 4 at 7 p.m., the Gans Creek Allies, Gans Creek Allies, a coalition of park neighbors, interested citizens, and local environmental organizations, will submit a public comment at the beginning of the Columbia City Council meeting to present a Conservation Overlay Proposal we have been working on for the last several months, along with the petition that 2,000 of you have signed, for a pause in annexation, and for a SE Area Plan that will protect sensitive areas, like those in Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and the Gans Creek Wild Area.
If you would like to stand with us in support of this plan while we present it shortly after 7 p.m. this Monday at City Hall, we would welcome your support! Show up with your buttons and signs. You may take it a step further and submit letters of support to Council prior to the meeting.
Rock Bridge Memorial State Park Conservation Overlay
Rationale and Request to City Council, October 4, 2021 from Gans Creek Allies (https://saveganscreek.com)
Rationale
1. Because Rock Bridge Memorial State Park (RBMSP) is an important natural, recreational, aesthetic, educational, and economic asset to the City of Columbia and the surrounding area and deserves special protection;
2. Because the greatest threat to the Park is development through removal of trees, soil disturbance, and over the long term, the amount of impervious surface cover in stream watersheds in areas just outside the park (a short list of relevant research is included);
3. Because the people of Columbia, Boone County, and the State of Missouri support protection of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park (RBMSP) and its environs as demonstrated by over 2000 signatures to the petitions included with this request, along with recommendations to revise ordinances and zoning to protect sensitive natural areas in the 2013 Columbia Imagined document, the 2010 East Area Plan, and the 2007 Bonne Femme Watershed Project (a list of the relevant strategies, action items, and recommendations from the 3 documents is included).
Request
The Gans Creek Allies request that the Columbia City Council appoint an ad hoc committee to develop a Conservation Overlay District to be added to the Universal Development Code that will protect the natural assets and experiences of nature in land in the Park by limiting the extent and kinds of development that can take place on the land near the Park.
1. The Conservation Overlay should – at a minimum – propose stricter standards than those currently in place for stream buffers, flood plains, Karst, the tree canopy, and erodible soils, plus specific limitations on impervious cover that, as can be shown by research published in refereed scientific journals (professional opinions are not sufficient), will protect the health of streams and their biodiversity. The overlay should also set guidelines and standards for alternative models of development that provide for homes while significantly limiting impervious surface. Clustered conservation subdivisions (page 131 in Columbia Imagined) are an example.
2. The conservation overlay should – at a minimum – include the area between Route K on the west, Gans Road on the north, Highway 63 on the east, and the boundary of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park on the south.
3. The conservation overlay should automatically apply to any parcels of land within the proposed area at the time of annexation, and requests for annexation and zoning should incorporate overlay conditions. Until then, county zoning and ordinances should apply.
4. The protections of the conservation overlay should be inherent in development plans that are allowed and not dependent on the understanding, training, and good will of developers, builders, and homeowners, or the ongoing functioning of a Home Owners Association or Best Management Practices that require long-term monitoring and maintenance.
5. Finally, we request a moratorium of 18 months on annexation and zoning of parcels within the proposed area to give the ad hoc committee time to develop the overlay and the council and community time to consider it.
Appointees – We will be able to provide a list of possible appointees to the ad hoc committee that includes representatives of conservation groups and land owners.
