What was most striking about the renewed debate of the wetlands issue was Rio Grande International Studies Center (RGISC) lack of future vision and misunderstanding of what was planned for the site by the developer.
When Riazul Mia, the Director of the City of Laredo's Environmental Division made his presentation at the council meeting concerning the wetlands and the rumors of it's demise, I was shocked at how much the developer had accomplished since this issue was raised years ago.
Mia's presentation showed what really was going to take place, and what the developer had done in the background to help secure and improve the sustainability of Lake Casablanca. The only thing changing in the layout of the wetland in question is the movement of a currently inefficient retention pond. The new pond will provide real filtration for run off pollutants, unlike the current pond which is filled with silt and does nothing for filtration. As an added bonus, the developers is adding a new man made run off filtration system to clean the run off even more.
Second, the developer bought 40 plus acres of land on the north side of the lake as a conservation easement. Both the conservation easement and the wetland (although a little smaller) cannot be built upon without another hearing in front of the United States Corps of Engineers.
Reality: This is a good deal for Laredo as a whole.
My issue: I suggested a couple of days ago that the folks at the RGISC might want to ask the city for some of the proceeds from the sale to start discussions on creating a wildlife refuge here in Laredo abutting Lake Casablanca on the east side. I was told that it would be too hard to do, and that I was crazy in suggesting such a thing, and that business people had no business in dealing with environmental issues. Now, these were not official statements from the RGISC, but from their followers. I guess I should have expected as much.
However, the RGISC, through it's director, failed in realizing the facts of the developers plans. They failed in understanding the meaning of the Corps of Engineers permit. The RGISC never mentioned the purchase of the additional 40+ acres north of the lake for the conservation easement. Instead they painted the movement of a 20 year old retention pond as the end of a "Laredo Treasure" which is just not true.
The RGISC missed a golden opportunity to work with the business community to further the future of Laredo by asking for future funding to develop a "real" area of wildlife preservation with protections provided by the United States government. Instead they burned valuable political capital on a misinformed venture to save something that was never gong to be destroyed.
it would be nice to see a bike trail, or wildlife refuge, or just hiking paths built and maintained around the lake....that would be a fantastic thing for families.....
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ReplyDeletethe 40 acres were mentioned constantly--the RGISC made note of it through several media..i i saw RGISC's graphic of the 40 acres on pro 8 news twice.. whether you missed it or chose to ignore it still renders your statement completely false. im glad you had no say in the whole thing because if it were left to you to decide all of laredo would just as well be concreted over.
ReplyDeleteI may have missed it on Pro 8 News, but I saw nothing in the paper, nothing on their FB page, and nothing on the RGISC website mentioning the conservation easement on the north side of the lake.
ReplyDeleteNow, you are making a pretty big assumption that I would concrete over everything. You obviously missed the last line in my article.
Imagine, if RGISC, after the 404 permit was issued, and after the 40 acre conservation easement had been secured had approached city council and said: "You know, you just sold a piece of property for $15 million dollars. How about you set aside some of that money, and we look a creating a wildlife refuge east of the lake. You know, like the Rio Grande Valley has, the one that attracts the birders and the tourist. This would be a park that requires little operating cost, as the area will be left to flourish naturally and provide a place for people and students to visit and study and admire the lake's ecosystem."
The problem with the RGISC, like city and county government, is that there is no one planning for the future. No ONE. Show me the plans, show me the maps of the green areas that RGISC thinks need to be saved.
In the RGISC, I see a group that waits until an action is about to be taken by a developer or the city/county, then the RGISC reacts.
I have chastised the city/county leaders for a lack of vision, and now I am taking that position with several other non-profits in Laredo, and that includes the RGISC.
Whe I suggested a wildlife refuge, I am talking about a lot more land than the mere 15 acres that includes an inefficient retention pond. You see, I think Laredoans deserve more than little specs of land that are called parks around this city, and that eat up the parks budget, just because the are so spread out. I believe in the two or three big parks that have many amenities that people can enjoy.
But no, that would be proactive, and that is the point of this article....
really? no planning for the future? look at north central park-- its still a work in progress, the pool will be ready in 2 months.. we are about to work on the mountain bike trails there. EVERYONE uses the park now..however back in 2003 the first thing we had to do was to save it and only after that was secured then the paved trails were put in and now the park is our jewel..it is one of the best places in laredo to walk bike or jog. now we cannot imagine our life without NCP.. we could have done the same thing with the casa blanca wetland.. had we secured it first then groups like ours, laredo cycling and others, would have taken care of the natural area and we would have put our trails in similar to the way we did the shiloh trails.. so no.. you dont really need any forward planning only to save the piece of land and simply allow conservation groups like ours to get to work on it.. if it takes a decade to get it all done then so be it. now we get nothing.. we have concrete. we have you among otheres through sheer lack of support.. to thank
DeleteBobby, again, you are missing the whole point here. North Central Park is a great facility and is going to grow. I know and support that. It is a good sized park with lots of opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThis whole wetland thing, while an interesting area, is never, never going to be a park. Did you not hear the city environmental director say that there would be no areas on the wetland for trails, or picnicking. It is not allowed under the 404 permit.
Again, my point, North Central Park was a change from the cities normal idea of building small neighborhood parks. It is the right idea. That is why RGISC should have not wasted political capital on trying to save something that was never going to be destroyed, and try to change it into a park, which was never going to happen.
They should have been in front of city council talking about the future and what could be done with some of the money.
For the last time, I am not for developing every square inch of Laredo. I am trying to get people to want more than neighborhood parks. The RGISC was NEVER GOING TO STOP the development on that land, NEVER. They had already lost when the city signed the 99 year lease, and the Corps awarded the permit.
Tom I totally agree with u on this. Laredo is a growing city its not a little dirt town i grew up playing in as a kid. With this growth there are big sacrifices of land. It does seem these RGISC groups dnt wanna stop! But believe it or not once this town center is build these RGISC group people are gonna b some of the first ones to go visit, shop or just kick back there.
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