Published: October 18, 2006 01:06 am            

Biologists, developers discuss Sutton Creek

By Carol Cole

Transcript Staff Writer

Several experts weighed in on the effects the proposed 53-acre Sutton Creek Addition could have on the adjacent Sutton Urban Wilderness Park to the Greenbelt Commission Monday.

The developers’ representative also presented their plan and said they’d work to mitigate any adverse effects of the development, which is south of Rock Creek Road, between the IOOF Cemetery and Sutton Urban Wilderness Park.

Greenbelt Commission members pressed ahead on Phase II of its study despite recent news that the property appears to have defaulted to a R-1 or single family residential zoning designation after it was found the property may not have had zoning assigned after it was annexed by the city in 1961.

“We feel like the Greenbelt Commission was given a directive by the city council and we will proceed with that until directed differently,” said Diane Fitzsimmons, commission chair.

The commission is focusing on four factors determined from public input. Those include: maintaining the quality of the visitors’ experience at SUWP, maintaining the quality of the habitat and wildlife population, the condition of the riparian zone and maintaining open space in the subject tract.

Commission member Zev Trachtenberg, chairing the subcommittee working on the issue, said the efforts are modeled on a scientific inquiry method.

“The relevant facts we think are much the same,” he said, of the commission’s considerations if the zoning was in question.

The developers’ attorney Harold Heiple said his clients did not want to harm Sutton Wilderness in developing the property. But he said development the property was within the owners’ rights and they would likely be withdrawing their application for a Planned Unit Development and modifying it for the single family residential zoning, which requires 6,000 square feet minimum per lot.

“(The developers) want to do anything to lessen its impact,” Heiple said, with the exception of not developing the tract. “That’s not an option for us.”

Heiple said its a misconception that pesticides and herbicides would run into the creek.

“The lake in Sutton Urban Wilderness is upstream,” he said.

Heiple said the property owners had conveyed offers for the city to consider buying the property, including one for acquisition of all property and another for the northeast 10 acres. He said there had been no formal response from the city except from certain councilmembers who indicated the price was too high.

“We’ve gone about as far as we can,” he said.

He said the developer is willing to do things like shield external lights and install special fencing on the addition’s east side adjacent to the park.

The experts said the addition as it’s currently planned would degrade the diversity and health of the wildlife populations and wildlife habitat of Sutton Wilderness if the addition goes ahead.

“Equally important, the development as proposed will have a detrimental effect on critical ecological functions of the riparian zone (stream and floodplain) on the subject tract,” said Deborah Dalton, University of Oklahoma professor and director of the university’s Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environmental Program.

Dalton said the development will cut off the crucial ecological connection between Sutton Urban Wilderness and the riparian zone of Sutton Creek, which runs through the middle of the proposed development.

She said corridors that maintain connectivity for Sutton Wilderness need to be 200 to 300 feet wide, contrasted to the about 70-foot corridor planned by the developer.

Roberta Pailes said the acronym HIPPO details causes for biodiversity loss at the park, which includes forest, grasslands and wetlands. HIPPO stands for habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, population and overconsumption.

Pailes said the IOOF cemetery to the east of the proposed Sutton Creek tract provides some habitat and a reasonably secure open space, with division of a large area reducing its wildlife population.

She said cats and dogs are predators, but are protected from disease, competition for food and other factors that control the numbers of native predators such as owls, bobcats and foxes.

“Cats also kill rodents and thereby reduce the numbers of hawks and owls because decreased populations of the hawk’s and owl’s natural prey,” Pailes said, noting a female cat can produce up to 24 kittens in a year and one study showed a well-fed cat killing 1,600 small animals in an 18-month period.

“A closely packed neighborhood with a long border will inevitably result in calls for Animal Control to come and trap offending wildlife,” she said. “This will result in eventual depopulation.”

Pailes said buffers around the park have been part of the history of maintaining the park, with the buffer zone between Sutton Urban Wilderness and the Griffin Complex at 900 feet wide.

“Let it be noted that the Parks and Recreation Department was pushing for ball fields and soccer fields in this area; this was not a totally painless decision,” Pailes said.

Dr. Gary Schnell holds the OU position of professor of zoology and curator of birds in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History that George Sutton used to occupy.

Schnell said houses up against the edge of the park would have a “highly detrimental effect.”

“The edge will be lost to many types of wildlife that are now found in the park. The noise, the lights, the activity will have highly negative effects on natural aspects of the western portion of Sutton Urban Wilderness Park,” he said.

“Wouldn’t it be a sad irony if Dr. Sutton’s name were used as an integral part of the name of a new subdivision — Sutton Creek — that, if completed, would unequivocally harm Sutton Urban Wilderness Park, as well as the quality of the experience of the visitors to this park. Dr. Sutton would be appalled,” Schnell said. “Norman has a unique resource in Sutton Urban Wilderness Park, one that few communities in the United States can equal.”

Retired environmental attorney Larry Edmison said the single family residential zoning should not be assumed and recommended the city hire an independent attorney to research the zoning issue. He said records might indicate there was a reason the property was not rezoned, because it was formerly owned by the IOOF Cemetery.

Mayor Harold Haralson said last week the city might consider using its eminent domain powers if needed to acquire a buffer for Sutton Wilderness.

“The city has never used power of eminent domain,” Heiple said. “I can’t imagine that they would do it.”

The Greenbelt Commission will be collecting information regarding Sutton Creek through Nov. 8 and plans a vote on submitting their findings to council in late November.

The commission is welcoming input on its Web site at www.ci.norman.ok.us/planning/greenbelt/default.htm. The commission’s Phase I report and the development’s preliminary plat are available on the site.

Carol Cole

366-3538

ccole@normantranscript.com

        

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