Community speaks out as they continue to disagree with city over fate of White Pond peat bog – (Live meeting Coverage)

The future of the beloved peat bog on White Pond Drive remains a topic of anger and sadness amongst locals as plans to repurpose the land are up in the air, prompting community members to speak out in protest. 

Protesters, the Akron Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Save White Pond, property investors, biologists, and city council members gathered at Saint Sebastian Catholic Church on Tues. at 6 p.m. for a special Ward meeting. Community members were invited to participate in activities expressing their concerns about a new project being built on the White Pond property. 

The peat bog, a place that members of the community have used as a public park is under plans to be repurposed into a mixed-use property. Originally, the city of Akron planned to create an office park on the property. In 2021, a mixed-use development permit including residential zoning was applied for and approved. The first public notice of the proposal was in May.

 The property is still up for sale. Its sale price sits at $750,000. 

It has been reported in previous meetings that many local residents don’t feel like their voices are being heard, such as ward one resident Meghan Lugo. 

“There are citizen experts who not only know the history of this land, better than some people down on High Street, there are people who know the environment better and there are people who understand building in this community better. And then if we are to listen to that we should listen to the experts in this community. Because based on that meeting, there are a lot of people that have valuable voices to be shared perspectives to be shared,” She said. “And quite personally, I don’t think that there’s too much listening that you could ever do with citizens in our community.” 

The livelihood of some of the species living in the wetland is at risk. It is home to the endangered Indiana bat, spotted turtle, spotted salamander, and several other species that are at risk for endangerment.  

The project is moving forward quicker than it should, and we need to take more time to learn about the species that live there first, Peter Niewiarowski, a biologist at the University of Akron said. 

“It could be home to two turtles– the wood turtle and the spotted turtle, that have been recommended to be federally endangered in 2016. It will be decided in 2023 whether they are listed as federally endangered. I have caught both of those turtles on Saturdays on property that’s about two miles from the development site,” Niewiarowski said. “We should find out if they’re there, we should find out if the spotted salamanders are there and collect evidence to determine whether they need that habitat.” 

To date, around 90% of wetlands have been eliminated in Ohio.

Alan Gaffney of Triton Property Ventures, the company ready to buy the property, has been looking for opportunities for development in the Akron area and sees it as a potentially good place to attract more residents, yet preserve a portion of the wetland.

“Our intention is to keep all the water areas and make that more of a feature of the community. I noticed some concerns about the tree canopy. We will end up with about 43% remaining tree canopy, and at the front gates below 50% to 51% of tree canopy. And then we’re going to try to compensate that with offsets everywhere else. And as I say, I think for the majority of the wetland areas that will be retained. To do it forward. So we think it’s a great balance for development.” Gaffney said while addressing residents’ concerns. 

Gaffney’s statement was met with a negative reaction from the crowd, and protesters of the development were invited to openly share their concerns, which included traffic, lack of historic knowledge of the landscape, and lack of faith in Triton Property Ventures’ experience repurposing nature areas. 

Today’s community-oriented meeting further swayed council member Russell Neal’s perspective, who was initially fully on board with the project. 

“I know we do need this type of housing. People want certain types of housing, and if we want to attract certain types of people we need to give them what they want,” Neal said. “But if disturbing that soil brings up toxins, we may be left where we can’t do anything. I think the problem is with our process. I’m still learning as we go.” 

 

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