Since presenting our Conservation Overlay Proposal and Petition request to City Council for a moratorium on development until a plan (by task force) is developed for sensitive areas around Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, and especially the Gans Creek Wild Area, and since defeating the developer’s latest building request last month, there’s been talk of needing County-City planning and protection for the area around Rock Bridge, especially Gans Creek Wild Area.

Thus far, many of us have submitted public comment to the City, and we’ve made ourselves heard loud and clear. So now is the time to tell the County Commissioners how YOU feel about protecting this wild area from development. 

Please share your personal experiences, feelings and thoughts about protecting this precious and irreplaceable resource. If interested, also checking back in with the City Council and asking them to move forward on setting up the Gans Creek overlay task force in coordination with the county could not hurt either.

Submit your public comments to:

Justin Aldred, District I Commissioner
801 East Walnut, Room 333
Columbia, MO  65201-7732
573-886-4308 (direct)
jaldred@bonecountymo.org

Janet Thompson, District II Commissioner
801 East Walnut, Room 333
Columbia, MO 65201-7732
573-886-4305 (Commission office)
jthompso@boonecountymo.org

Dan Atwill, Presiding Commissioner
801 East Walnut, Room 333
Columbia, MO 65201-7732
573-886-4305 (Commission office)
datwill@boonecountymo.org

Letter example (please add your own personal talking points and experiences):

Dear Commissioner (Thompson, Atwill, Aldred)

The area around Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, and especially the Gans Creek Wild Area, needs a plan by Boone County, in coordination with Columbia, to ensure the long-term protection of this precious and irreplaceable resource for the county, city and state.

Name
Address

Talking Points:

• Personal experiences in Gans Creek Wild Area
• The Gans Creek Wild Area is one of only 12 designated Wild Areas in Missouri
• Gans Creek is one of only 44 Outstanding State Resource Waters in Missouri
• Rock Bridge Park and the Gans Creek Wild Area have thousands of visits yearly and host many educational youth events
• The park is an important engine for economic growth, both through tourism and the quality of life that helps employers attract and keep good employees.
• Support a moratorium or delay on development
• Create a special task force to work on a plan to protect sensitive areas like these
• Encourage that the city and county include robust stakeholder participation, keeping the public process open, accepting input

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.

Concerns raised by the recent request to build 114 houses on a 65 acre plot directly north of the Gans Wild Area underline the challenge of reconciling development with the protection of two of Columbia’s significant natural assets, Gans Creek and the Gans Creek Wild Area. Since this is likely to be the first of several similar development requests, now is the time to address those concerns in a systematic and comprehensive way.

Therefore, we request that the Columbia City Council pause all annexation, rezoning, and development requests in the unincorporated southeast part of Columbia until there is a Southeast Area Plan that protects the sensitive area outlined in the 2013 Columbia Imagined Plan.

While Columbia Imagined outlined a sensitive area based on the recharge area of the Devil’s Icebox and the presence of karst topography, no regulations or guidelines specific to the protection of these areas have been developed. The current stormwater guidelines (and their enforcement) have already failed to protect streams in the western part of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. In addition, developments on the west boundary of the park have affected the public use and enjoyment of the park. It is particularly important that these outcomes be avoided next to the Gans Creek Wild Area, one of only 12 wild areas in Missouri, and Gans Creek, one of only 44 Outstanding State Resource Waters in Missouri.

To this end, we have drafted a new petition which we will submit to the City Council prior to their meeting on June 21st, when they are scheduled to vote on the annexation and rezoning of the Canton Estates property adjacent to Gans Creek Wild Area. The petition can be signed online here and is also available as a PDF for those would like to circulate the petition in person.

Updated 5/16/2021