12-12-2005 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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'' t*:': • drainagewty that flows southeast A swaie was also observed to lead from the adjacent church property onto the site. Plant communities observed on the site include: ■ Old Field - The site's old field contains a mixture of agronomic grasses and weeds, including smooth brome, Kentucky bluegrass, Canada goldeniod, thistles, and reed canary grass. Red cedar trees exist on the old field's higher ground, while a dense growth of invasive common buckthorn exists in the lower ground. This is not considaed a native plant community. • Deciduous Forest • This forest, primatUy located in the central portion of tte site, was dominated by relatively young volunteer trees (boxelder, American ebn, ami green ash), with scattered mature trees. The shrub layer was dominated by a dense stand of invasive common buckthorn, and the groundlayer appeal quite sparse. An area of disturbed soil was observed in the forested portion of the site, souA of the church. This forest is considered an altered native forest, and would receive a natural community ranking of poor. • Non-native Dominated Wetland • A portion of a flow-through wetland was observed on the southwest comer of the site. This w^and was dominated by invasive reed canary grass; however, narrow-leaved cattail and giant reed grass were aim observed in patches. A row of mature black willow trees and some cottonwood trees were observed on the western edge of the wetland. A channel observed to meander through the open wetland (just off site) and flow into the forest to the east This wetland is not considered a native plant community. On November IS, 200S, AES met wifii BohLand Development and reviewed the proposed development plan for the Glendale Cove site (dated 10-10-05). We understand there is little flexibility in the general lajfout of the new rood and residential lots; therefore, our recommendations are nude in the context of that In general, flu silbh natural resources have been degraded due to past land uses. However, opportunities exist to increase the aeadwtic and conservation vr iues associated with diis development. Thm opportunities and associated recommendations are provided below. Forest Preservation - While the quality of the on-site forest is not high, it still has value as wooded lufoitat, which is relatively sparse in the area. Baaed on the site plan, some forest areas will be preserved. Recommendatioos for additional forest preservation include: • Minimize site grading by working with existing site contours to the extent possible. Thisnuy entail designating look-out homes rather than walk-out homes (which typical^ require additional grading) or custom grading of lots, rather than lot-wide grading. • Ptovide opportunities for stormwater infiltrati(m(roofrunoiT, driveway runoff, etc.) to reduce the sin of stormwater poods (adiich may enable ermservatioo of additional forest areas). Viwmat PiihMiMtnant and RapaiMinn - Due tn Hm pnnr <piatity nf Hu» i« nnnnrtiiniriM to improve the ecological health of preserved fotM areas and enhance its aesthetics for site rraidents Kid thesumundingconununity. Our recommendatioos for forest enhancemoit include: a Remove all non-native wooily vegetatioo (e.g., mostly common buckthorn atul some Tartarian hrmeysuckle). This should be done in a manner aensitive to the forest (e.g., use band tools radier than mechanized equipmenu perform cutting during frozen conditions to protect site soils; do any fr)Uow-up foliar spray in a manner that protects native plants, etc.). • Remove all non-native or invasive herbaceous vegetation (e.g., reed canary grass, garlic mustard) sssmiiisos 2 of 4