City-wide rezoning efforts are favoring developers over the natural environment, threatening the safety of Kalamazoo green space.
Asylum Lake Preserve, previously threatened due to commercial rezoning of two adjacent lots, which would allow the installation of a new car wash. Image credit: @protectasylumlake on Instagram, April 20, 2023
Over the next several months, Kalamazoo City Leadership will be finalizing a draft for a new city Zoning Code as part of a greater project to update the overarching goals and development themes in the city. As it stands now, city staff are hoping to change the language of a natural features protection overlay to “support development” instead of protecting natural features, in addition to removing several sections pertaining to permeable surface requirements and drinking water protections. Faced with a future in which commercial development takes priority over the safety of designated Natural Features and ecosystems, our Kalamazoo Team took matters into their own hands. On Thursday, our Michigan Founder and two members spoke in front of the Kalamazoo City Planning Commission at their Regular Business Meeting.
Here’s what they had to say:
View the full May 4 Planning Commission recording here
TRANSCRIPT:
Language in {curly brackets} indicates what is spoken before/after the microphone turned on.
Language in [square brackets] indicates word/grammar clarification.
{Hello, my name is Mia Breznau.} I am a youth activist in Kalamazoo County, a member of the Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Ardea Youth Climate Coalition, and a Co-Founder of National Youth for the Climate Emergency. I will be beginning a speech that comprises myself and the following two speakers, who all speak on behalf of our organization and the majority of Kalamazoo County youth.
In 2019, the leadership of this City adopted a Climate Emergency Resolution, and in a time when denialism was the cornerstone of our national government, I remember thinking, “Finally. A government that listens.”
But it seems some of your staff didn't listen. Looking through the drafts for this Imagine Kalamazoo 2025, I see goals for sustainability but not that many actions. As such, I am urging you to listen to the Kalamazoo public and county youth and incorporate the following suggestions into your final Zoning Code.
First, you must not add the proposed language to the Natural Features Protection Overlay. Despite what you hope to clarify with the addition, this action is counterintuitive to the purpose of the NFP and will do more damage to our natural environment than can be justified by any commercial benefits. To jump over the obvious environmental concerns, the proposed change contradicts half of your 10 Strategic Goals, specifically Environmental Responsibility, Safe Community, Youth Development, Strength Through Diversity, and even Economic Vitality. These goals emphasize preserving and protecting green space for public access and enjoyment, protecting water resources for safe drinking water, and promoting public health and safety for all Kalamazoo residents. Adding the proposed language directly contradicts these goals by promoting less green space, removing concrete protections for our Natural Features, fueling environmental racism, and potentially harming public health.
To address public health first, specifically youth, a 2017 study published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing says this: “Access to green space was associated with improved mental well-being, overall health, and cognitive development of children. It promotes attention restoration, memory, competence, supportive social groups, self-discipline, moderates stress, improves behaviors & symptoms of ADHD, and was even associated with higher standardized test scores.” As for overall community health, Associate Professors from North Carolina State University say that “[green spaces] are especially important for physical health,” and “[they] provide a variety of ecosystem services by improving air quality, regulating temperature, and attenuating the impacts of severe weather,” in addition to providing most of the mental health benefits quoted for youth.
HOWEVER, “these resources often remain inequitably distributed across diverse communities. Neighborhoods with a large proportion of low-income or racial/ethnic minority residents typically experience limited ... [and] lower quality [access to green spaces].” Finally, to address your Economic Vitality goal of “supporting the local economy to benefit individuals across all income levels,” the NCSU professors say that “Green land cover also yields economic benefits, and has been linked to lower levels of health care spending and higher levels of financial well-being and security.” Therefore, to continue to promote public health and financial security and fight institutional racism, the city must protect natural features and green spaces to support the ecosystems that provide these benefits, and not the {development of commercial businesses that seek to destroy them.
Thank you.}
Hello guys, my name is Alek Scarff, and I just live off of fourth street. I am also a youth activist in this county. I'm also a member of NYCE, or National Youth for the Climate Emergency. I will be continuing the previous speech with the recommendation of:
Do not remove the [Lot] Coverage Requirements from the Natural Features Protection Overlay. This action contradicts the same five Strategic Goals as previously outlined, in addition to directly preventing the achievement of the [CSP] Healthy Prepared Community goals of designing a built environment more integrated with wildlife and improving water quality in rivers and lakes, and streams.
As stated by Oregon Conservation Strategy, “Urban areas are characterized by the prevalence of built structures and impervious surfaces, which alter surfaces and water flow, degrade water quality, reduce vegetation cover and diversity, and cause habitat loss, fragmentation, and [degradation.] Urban areas are also centers of human activities that can displace sensitive fish and wildlife, introduce [and] spread invasive species, generate pollutants, noise, heat, and artificial lighting that can [disturb] wildlife, and pose hazards to wildlife from people, roads, pets, buildings, and other factors.”
The Natural Features Protection overlay is designed (without adding the proposed language) to protect pre-existing natural features from these impacts, a key component of which is providing regulation for land coverage. The current regulations require the permeable land to be located around Natural Features in a continuous section and remain undisturbed unless for restoration. These regulations are vital to the health of the designated Features and the greater Kalamazoo environment, specifically in terms of water quality. The Environmental Protection Agency states that “Natural resources such as wetlands, stream buffers, and vegetated land cover … naturally filter out pollutants such as metals, pesticides, sediment, and overabundant nutrients that may affect water quality.” Because urban areas are the most common source of [these] pollutants, maintaining protections for natural land cover is an important method to protect Natural Features in developed areas and meet Strategic and CSP goals relating to water quality and safe drinking [water.]
In addition, because these requirements promote natural land cover, maintaining them is one way to combat environmental racism, reap the benefits of green spaces previously mentioned, achieve the [CSP] Healthy Prepared Community goals of equitably increasing the tree canopy across the city, and protect Kalamazoo citizens from some aspects of climate change, like rising temperatures. An important aspect of urbanized environments is the prevalence of concrete and asphalt. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering found that “pavements absorb [and] store more heat than natural surfaces. Thus, high temperatures are emitted from conventional pavements, subsequently releasing heat into the atmosphere and contributing to the urban heat {island phenomenon.”
Thank you.}
{Hello}, my name is Alana Colvin, and I am also a member of National Youth for the Climate Emergency. I will be continuing the previous two speeches with the following recommendations:
First, do not remove the 500ft buffer zone for storing loose materials around wellheads and water resources. This action poses an unnecessary risk of water contamination and directly contradicts several goals within the 2025 Strategic Vision and Community Sustainability Plan. Out of the ten Strategic Goals, it directly contradicts three: Environment Responsibility, Safe Community, and Youth Development. All such goals stress the importance of delivering safe, clean drinking water to all residents and that to do so requires protecting our water resources. This is also proposed in the CSP in “ stormwater and wellhead policies and standards.” Do you really think that revising wellhead standards to remove protections meets that goal in a way that accounts for the previous goals of safe and clean drinking water?
Second, do not remove car washes from the vehicle services required to have [a] special use permit within the community commercial zoning. While we understand that commercial car washes have [environmental protections built-in (such as water recycling and high-pressure nozzles), it cannot be] reasonably assumed that these businesses will fully and responsibly account for all environmental impacts if not subject to special use permitting. In the case of runoff or a spill, the chemicals used in commercial car washes and found on the properties of these businesses can be detrimental to the surrounding environments. According to the EPA, “Dirty water containing soap, detergents, residue from exhaust fumes, gasoline, heavy metals from rust, and motor oils can wash off cars and flow directly to storm drains and into the nearest creek or stream where it can harm water quality and wildlife. The phosphates from soap can cause excessive algae to grow, [which] smell bad, look bad, harm water quality, [and] as algae decay, the process uses up oxygen in the water that fish need.” The potential for all of this, of course, goes against those Strategic and [CSP] goals previously mentioned that have to do with wildlife protection and water quality.
Our last recommendation has to do with the two Asylum Lake parcels removed from the city-wide rezoning effort. We urge you to remember the community-wide impacts of development around Natural Features we spoke about today, and take this knowledge with you into future decision-making around these properties. In the case that any proposal is put forth that wishes to further contradict the city goals you have set forth and jeopardize the safety of Asylum Lake Preserve, we hope you remember that similar issues required high school students to disseminate the appropriate knowledge and put forth responsible recommendations to this Commission.
Thank you.
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THE KZOO PLANNING COMMISSION IS CURRENTLY TAKING PUBLIC COMMENTS!
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Want to learn more about the Kalamazoo rezoning, how it’s impacting both the built and natural aspects of our environment, and what you can do about it? Click the image to access a slide deck of definitions, clarifications, contradictions, and more!