6.1. SR 02-01-1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. Well-meaning development can end up suffocating \ By !\1ike Kaszuba SiafTWriter The seven homes in Welter's Way Sixth Addition in Eden Prairie have been heralded by the city and the developer as an example of how to build a subdivision around a wet- land without destroying the wetland. The Peter Andrea Co., the subdivi- sion's owner, says the homes were built at least 100 feet from the edge of the water-filled wetland. John Shaw, the real-estatc agent who marketed some of the lots, says they'll "be the most attractive sites in that neighborhood." The homes have sold for up to S800,000. . But Welter's Way. wetland suppon- ers say. has instead become an ex- ample of how subdivisions across the Twin Cities encircle and even- tually choke wetlands. The lots in Welter's Way that back up to the wetland divide it up like a pie, making the homeowners wet- land owners as well. Homeowners can put in lawns up to the water's edge because there are no setback regulations in Eden Prairie. That means grass can be mowed to the water line and lawn fenilizers prob- ably will drain into the wetland. One home in the subdivision that complied with a voluntary lOO-foot setback began settling into the peat. II "It was a house that set against the pond. but it was set back from the pond," said Jim Ostenson, the managing panner for Welter's Way Sixth Addition. "It was a real quirk." The wetland was drasticallv altered in the 1970s as pan of a storm- sewer project tied to increasing nearby development. Once just a grassy low spot. the wetland was dug out. That project created an open-water pond that Welter's Way Sixth was eventually built around, and in efTect changed the wetland into a basin that primarily collects storm water. Welter's Way doesn't appear to be an exception. The University of Minnesota targeted 48 wetland sites in the Twin Cities from 1988 to 1991 and found 39 had been afTect- ed by development, erosion from nearby development or highway construction, or had been conven- ed to storm water ponds. "You can drive around the metro area and see all kinds of dead wet- lands, where storm water was dumped directly into them," said Gary Obem, a senior environmen- tal planner with the Metropolitan Council. "In the long run, that's going to kill them ofT. . . . There are a lot of cities that misunderstand that whole concept."