City Council delays decision on Hill Place/Aspen Ridge

Aspen Ridge/Hill Place site decision delayed two weeks by council
Good news is that council amends Hill Place planned-zoning district to allow trail through Pinnacle Prairie rather than extension of Brooks Avenue to Twelveth Street. Lack of need recognized by 6-1 council vote. Right of way remains city property.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OF Hill Place/Aspen Ridge silt fence failiing to keep silt out of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River. The view is south along the area dredged out of Pinnacle Prairie to make room for the foundation of a new portion of Brooks Bayou (Brooks Avenue, I mean) to route traffic to connect to Twelveth Street and S. Duncan Avenue.
People who live on 12th Street don't want the traffic routed there and a decades old city promise to residents was relied on to prevent his from happening. Because Pinnacle Foods Inc. owns the land on either side of this incomplete road and keeps it as a barrier around its freezer plant for safety of the residents of the neighborhood and security for the factory's ammonia supply and other reasons, a trail through that natural wetland prairie would be an excellent side route for the Heritage Trail along South Hill and South Duncan Avenues. Despite the factory and the houses nearby, the prairie area would give walkers and bicyclists a close view of what the land may have looked like before settlement.

One of the problems that stormwater educators have said they have difficulty overcoming is that the public sees litter in a stream and talks about litter. Silt is easy to spot only when muddy water is flowing. Protecting water quality requires stopping inappropriate siltation. Preventing littering is important but insignificant if a stream is allowed to silt in.
Careless people everywhere litter. Getting a small crowd together and cleaning up the trash tossed on the ground and washed down storm drains to a stream isn't difficult.
Careless developers may or may not litter. But their inattention to stormwater regulations can totally change the ecology of a stream in a short time. Getting them to care and to understand is the hard part.