Dike
14 Action Alert
Mary
Lou Gault
URGENT -
THERE'S STILL TIME TO CONTACT ODNR DIRECTOR
TO ASK FOR A PUBLIC HEARING ON PORT
AUTHORITY’S APPLICATION FOR 50-YEAR LEASE OF THE
CLEVELAND LAKEFRONT NATURE PRESERVE!
Dear Friends of the Cleveland
Lakefront Nature Preserve,
We learned yesterday that ODNR is
still reviewing the Port Authority's application -
so there is still time (one or two weeks) to
contact the ODNR Director to ask for a PUBLIC
HEARING on the Port's application for a 50-year
lease of the Cleveland Lakefront Nature
Preserve/Dike 14.
On May 9th we submitted comments to
and made a second request of the ODNR Director for
a public hearing regarding the Port Authority's
application to lease the Cleveland Lakefront
Nature Preserve/Dike 14 for the next 50 years.
SEE ATTACHED
The public hearing requests that we
and many of you made earlier this year and earlier
this month have been received by ODNR, but the
Director has yet to grant us a public
hearing.
We strongly believe that before ODNR
decides on the Port's application for a 50-year
lease of the Nature Preserve, ODNR should hear
from the citizens of Ohio!
YOU CAN HELP by contacting
ODNR and urging the Director to hold a public
hearing on the Port's application for a 50-year
lease of the Cleveland Lakefront Nature
Preserve.
U.S. mail:
Mr. James Zehringer,
Director
Ohio Department of Natural
Resources
2045 Morse Road, Building
D
Columbus, OH 43229
E-mail:
Online ODNR Comment
Form:
We remain very concerned that the
Port:
▪ has not made public any plan
to properly manage the CLNP;
▪ has not budgeted funds for
the proper management of the CLNP, or indicated
the ongoing source of funding for the operation
and maintenance of the CLNP: and
▪ continues to see the 88-acre
Nature Preserve site as a potential location to
dump dredge material.
If granted, this Lease would identify
the use of the 88-acres as the
Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve,
which is a good thing. But this Lease would also
give the Port Authority perpetual and
absolute control over this important and
unique green space on our lakefront, which is not
necessarily a good thing.
The Port is not in the business of
operating and managing nature preserves. It has no
experience, no expertise, and a nature preserve
will never be the Port’s first
priority.
The Port’s budgeting for the CLNP is
a question. In our recent public records request
we asked the Port for any documents related to
budgeting for the Nature Preserve, and the Port
had no documents to provide.
On the Lease Application the Port
provided no information or any details about the
Port’s plans for the Nature Preserve. Neither did
the Port include any management plan for the
Nature Preserve among the attachments to the Lease
Application.
The ODNR decision on the Port’s Lease
Application should include consideration of
whether the public interest in this critically
important and uniquely significant Nature Preserve
on the Cleveland lakefront will be properly met,
and whether the lessee, the Port, is capable,
ready and willing to properly operate and manage
this lakefront land as a nature preserve over the
next 50 years.
Here are some questions that need to
be answered:
1) Why
isn’t the Cleveland Metroparks applying for the
Lease for CLNP, since the Metroparks recently took
over the entire Cleveland Lakefront Park System
from the State of Ohio, including Gordon Park,
which is adjacent to the Nature Preserve? (Note:
The Metroparks has been doing much of the work at
the Nature Preserve, such as creating the trails,
etc.)
2) What
are the Port’s plans for the Nature Preserve in
the short run and the long run? Where is the
management plan for the Preserve? Who prepared or
is preparing it? What input has or will the public
have in the Preserve’s management?
3) How
much has the Port budgeted for the next 3-5 years
for the Nature Preserve?
4) What
will be the permanent source of funding for the
Nature Preserve from among the Port’s revenue
sources?
5)
Where will the Port get the expertise necessary to
properly manage the Preserve?
6) ADD YOUR OWN
QUESTION(S) HERE!
_____________________________________________________________________
The DIKE 14 NATURE PRESERVE COMMITTEE
welcomes and is open to all persons and
organizations interested in the conservation of
the existing 88-acre Lake Erie coastal wildlife
area at Dike 14, for the benefit of wildlife and
people. Diverse habitats at Cleveland
Lakefront Nature Preserve (at Dike 14) provide
essential sanctuary for significant numbers and
diversity of migratory birds as well as refuge for
nesting and resident birds and other
wildlife. Unique to Cleveland's shoreline,
this wildlife area provides the only quality
habitat for migratory birds along 100-miles of
urbanized Lake Erie coast between Huron and
Mentor. The Dike 14 Nature Preserve
Committee advocates the preservation of Dike 14 as
a nature preserve with judicious public
access. Since January 2001, the Dike 14
Nature Preserve Committee has functioned as a
clearinghouse, an information source and a point
of contact for Dike 14
issues.
Victoria Peterlin, Treasurer, Dike 14
Nature Preserve Committee, 440-221-2902
Save Ohio's Migratory Birds &
Wildlife Habitats @ Cleveland Lakefront Nature
Preserve (at Dike 14)
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