Minutes from the March 17, 2003 Meeting of The Friends of Dicken Woods
The Friends met at 7pm, at the Dicken Elementary School Media Center.
After brief introductions, Erik Stalhandske began the reports and updates
noting that he had just called Alexis Marcarello of the Ann Arbor Planning
Department to see if there was any further news on Crosswinds plans. Nobody
knows what Crosswinds is planning at this point, but Mike Champion pointed
out that Crosswinds is probably now paying a penalty of thousands of dollars to
the Archdiocese due to the land still not being purchased.
Erik then asked Beth Loesch to provide an update on the photos she has been
taking of the area. Beth reviewed the photos and the strategy of showing water
problems in the neighborhood. Beth asked the group for advice on this strategy
and it was agreed that a mix of photos, some showing the localized
spring "flooding" and others showing less wet views, would be ideal.
Next, Stephanie Hunter reviewed the work that she and Deborah
Norbotten have
undertaken on the neighborhood water problems survey. After contacting
over 60
homes across a number of our neighborhood streets, Stephanie and Deborah
report
that 76% of the neighbors said they have water problems in their yards,
33%
reported water problems in their basements, and 35% reported low water
pressure
problems. Many neighbors reported having spent significant amounts to
correct
these problems, and very few, in fact only 2, reported having contacted
the
city regarding low water pressure problems. This last fact is
particularly
important in rebuttal to the City Planning Department Staff's report at
the
2/4/03 Planning Commission meeting where they stated that the city
believes
water pressure isn't a problem in the area because they had had almost
no
contacts from residents about the issue. It was agreed that the
responses so
overwhelmingly affirmed the water problems in the neighborhood that
there would be no further need to continue the water problem survey.
Stephanie then reported on her research into the process for forming a non-
profit organization. Stephanie noted that the process is somewhat detailed,
but completely "do-able." In fact, Stephanie has 2 sets of friends who have
formed non-profit organizations with very little difficulty. It is equally
easy to disband the organization if that makes sense down the road. It was
agreed that we will file the paperwork to begin the process, as that may play
an important role in showing how committed the Friends are to this undertaking.
Tom Ivacko then reported on the meeting that included himself, Beth Loesch,
Mike Champion, and Harry Sheehan of the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner's
Office (WCDO). On Friday 3/14/03, the four took a walking tour of Dicken Woods
to get input from the WCDO on the issue of wetlands as well as sanitary and
storm sewer drainage concerns. Sheehan reported that it is theoretically
possible for a developer to design and construct a water management system that
would improve the storm water drainage system in the neighborhood, but that it
would have to be done "just right." Importantly, it was noted that a
developer's only requirements would be for the immediate site, not for
improvement throughout the wider neighborhood, and so to assume improvement in
the neighborhood water problems would be unwise. In addition, it was also
noted that any new impervious surface (streets, parking lots, driveways,
rooftops) would lead to higher runoff volumes than are found today. Sheehan
expected that the woodland north of Stephen Terrace and South of the Pauline
Blvd. condominiums would be seriously impacted by the expected higher runoff
volumes: Sheehan predicted many of the trees would, in effect, drown. Sheehan
also discounted the City Planning Department Staff's statement that the Dicken
Woods wetlands are nothing more than remnants from drainage tiles from the old
farmstead that used to occupy Dicken Woods. Instead, Sheehan said it seems
much more likely that the Dicken Woods wetlands are in fact part of a wider
wetlands system found throughout the area.
In addition to the storm water problems, it was noted that the sanitary sewers
under both Dicken Drive and Pauline Blvd. already suffer severe surcharging
problems and so any new development on Dicken Woods would simply be adding more
sewage to an already over-capacity local system. Finally, Tom reported on a
conversation he had with Tom Bletcher, former Deputy County Drain Commissioner,
who reported that new federal regulations in the Clean Water Act have just gone
into effect for Ann Arbor, requiring new developments to have plans for managing
storm water *quality* as well as volume. Bletcher predicted this issue will be
an area of potential difficulty for developers and municipalities. The new
regulations require plans for public education, public involvement, construction-phase
storm water management, and post-construction on-going storm water management.
Next, Stephanie gave an update on the issue of a 'frog survey' in Dicken
Woods. The Chairwoman of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission had noted at the
2/4/03 meeting that a frog census could provide valuable information on the
current quality of the Dicken Woods wetlands. Stephanie has been in contact
with the City staff member responsible for such frog surveys, and the news is
good: a survey has already been done, and the results show maximum frog counts
for 3 different varieties of frogs, as well as further evidence of other types
of frogs calling Dicken Woods home. This is great documentation that the
wetlands are significant natural features today, with even greater potential
for the future once they are being actively cleared of invasive species.
Jim Boyd reported next on his research into the history of ownership of Dicken
Woods. Jim has spent a great deal of time tracking down leads on the sales
history of this land, but has not been able to find the record of sale to the
current owners: the Catholic Diocese of Lansing. Jim noted that we could
always request a title search by a title insurance company, if needed. Jim has
also been investigating the taxes and the taxable value of the property: the
most recent taxable value of the land is roughly $288,000 (with a higher State
Equalized Value, which is usually about half of the market value) and an annual
tax bill of roughly $12,500 to the current owners.
Erik then discussed the information he has received to date from the
environmental analyst who walked the perimeter of Dicken Woods in late
February. The assessement during the walk confirms the WCDO representative's
view that the woodlands north of Stephen Terrace would likely be lost if any
significant new volume of storm water runoff was introduced, as would be likely
under Crosswind's proposal. The assessor also noted that it seemed that the
woodlands in Dicken Woods had not been fully represented in the reports to
date: there is more area of woodland than has been identified in the
developer's process so far. Erik will contact the assessor again to get a
final report with more details.
Stephanie raised the idea that we should all be prepared to gather on short
notice to help organize our presentations to the next planning commission
meeting. We might only get a few days notice if Crosswinds does come back
again with another modified plan, and we've accomplished so much that it would
be good to coordinate our presentations to the Planning Commission. Deborah
said she could probably arrange to get Dicken Elementary School space for such
a meeting, even on short notice.
Mike Champion said that he had recently been contacted by the Ann Arbor News to
verify that he had in fact submitted the letter to the editor on behalf of the
Friends. Hopefully we will see this letter published soon. If any Friends
would like to have their names added to the web version of this letter, please
email tmi@umich.edu.
Finally, the group discussed how to best "spread the word" about our efforts.
Stephanie noted that many of the neighbors she had spoken with during
the 'water problems' survey had no idea about the threat to Dicken Woods. It
was generally agreed that either a neighborhood flyer, or the placement of many
yard signs (or both) would be good next steps. Stephanie will also work on
getting buttons that we can all wear to the next Planning Commission meeting.
The meeting wrapped up with a review of action items:
- Stephanie and Deborah will summarize the water problems survey and forward to
Tom for inclusion on the web site.
- Tom will re-contact Tom Bletcher to see if he can write some text for the web
site regarding the new federal regulations on storm water quality requirements.
- Jim Boyd will get information from Stephanie regarding the non-profit
formation process, then file the initial paperwork.
- Jim Cauley and Tom will investigate yard sign options and order 50 signs.
- Erik will contact Diane Imready to verify the number of residents in her
condo association, which impacts requirements for City Council majority vs.
super-majority votes, if Crosswinds takes it that far.
- Stephanie will contact UM ornithologists and the Audubon Society to follow up on questions of a bird census in Dicken Woods.
- Tom will investigate the possibilities for adding a 'counter' to the website,
so we can keep track of our web traffic.
- Merle Johnson will try to get an original copy of the 1947 aerial photo that
shows extensive surface wetlands - large ponds - on Dicken Drive and on the
playfields of Dicken Elementary School. If Merle cannot get these, Jim Boyd
will follow up with Alexis Marcarello.
- Merle and Jim will stay in touch with Alexis to make sure we know if and when
Crosswinds comes back to the Planning Commission.
- Erik will followup with 2 meetings he is trying to arrange: first, through
Margie Teall, our City Councilperson, with Ron Olson, of the City Parks
Department, to see about the possibility of getting Dicken Woods added to the
PROS plan of desired land acquisitions; and second, directly with Ron Olson to
learn more about how the Friends of the Bluffs successfully got the Bluffs to
be purchased by the city.
- Tom will draft the meeting minutes (this document) and forward to the
steering committee for review. After a final version is ready, he will email
the main mailing list to alert all to the new minutes.
- Beth will take more photos of the area and will also attempt to scan the
sewer schematics for inclusion on the web site.
- Mike Champion will organize regular email updates for the main mailing list
of the Friends (all@dickenwoods.org) so that all the Friends are more
frequently updated on our progess.
The meeting wrapped up at approximately 8:30 pm. The next meeting of the
Friends will be on 4/14/03 from 7:00-9:00 pm.