Action item: Public comments needed on EAW
The Minnesota State Environmental Quality Board has published the Pavilion Estates Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW), which was prepared by the developer. The EAW is now available for review. We now have a short period of time to send comments to Rochester Township! End of Comment Period: August 26, 2021, 4PM
While the developer hired out-of-state consultants to prepare this EAW, regional experts have rushed in to help make the case that this rookery is worth protecting. Our experts, including the legendary Carrol Henderson, the region’s leading authority on Great Blue Herons, agree that development would disrupt one of our few remaining mature forests and destroy the only Great Blue Heron rookery of its size and age in Olmsted County.
The developer’s EAW alleges that this Great Blue Heron rookery is not significant and has minimal bird activity- despite the opinions of Minnesota experts and accounts of neighbors who have observed significant nesting activity for decades. The EAW has not demonstrated an abundance of great blue herons in Minnesota, and failed to address the dramatic decline in herons in the state as shown by the federal breeding bird survey. Those numbers have declined by about 50% since 1967.
Great Blue Herons are in decline in Minnesota
“Here is a rather revealing look at the number of Great Blue Heron reports recorded per Breeding Bird Survey route in Minnesota from 1967 to about 2017….their numbers have declined significantly since about 2000.”
-Carrol Henderson, former director of the Minnesota DNR Nongame Wildlife Program
(Chart from Robert B. Janssen, "Birds in Minnesota", Univ of MN Press, 2019. Used with permission.)
For example, the developer states (on page 39 of the EAW) that “the Great Blue Heron Rookery is not unique, even within the vicinity of the Connelly property.” In contrast, Minnesota expert Carrol Henderson concludes: “In sum, based on my familiarity with Great Blue Heron colonies across Minnesota over the past 45 years, I feel that the uniqueness of the Rochester Rookery is so different from any other heronry in Minnesota that it would be an appropriate selection for designation for a state Scientific and Natural Area (SNA)”.
Another example: the developer states (on page 19 of the EAW) that "the greatest threat to the local ecology is that the abutting Adamson and Segura properties are designated as Rochester’s Future Urban Service Areas.” The facts: Adamson and Segura currently doing everything within their power to try to get the rookery acreage, including the parts of the rookery plus buffer zones on their own properties, permanently designated as a state “Scientific and Natural Area” that can never be developed.
Comments that Henderson and other experts have made, based on reviews of this EAW, make a strong case that a more thorough investigation in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is needed before granting permission to the developer to bulldoze the forest and build new luxury homes.
We urge members of the public to submit comments to the Township stressing that the potential impacts of the development warrant the need for an EIS. The Township will measure, in part, the value of this resource to our community based upon the volume of comments they receive.
We urge members of the public to submit comments to the Township. Comments can address:
1) The accuracy and completeness of information in the EAW;
2) Clarity of the EAW (the EAW is supposed to be clear and easy to understand)
3) Potential impacts that warrant further investigation; and
4) The need for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In particular, we would like to request the EIS, which is a more thorough environmental review.
Also: the Township is having a special “informational meeting” on Monday, August 23, 6PM at the Rochester Township Town Hall, and will take public comments there as well as in writing. Click here for meeting announcement.
Links to Public Documents: Click here to download & read the EAW (Please note, this is a large file size!)
You can also click here for township press release.
(Most) Township documents related to Pavilion Estates posted here
BY THURSDAY, AUGUST 26: Submit your comments by email to Rochester Township, Roger Ihrke, roger@tcpamn.org or in writing to the Township Cooperative Planning Association, 4111 11th Ave SW, Room 10, Rochester, MN
Please speak out for the creatures that reside here - they cannot speak for themselves!
Photo by Rick Kollmeyer