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What's a Bulldozer Doing in that LID?
Hey, What’s a Bulldozer Doing in that Low Impact Development?
by Jennifer Mackenzie
The Oxford Dictionary defines low-impact as: “[An activity, industry, or product] affecting or altering the environment as little as possible. For example, ‘bring a portable stove for low-impact camping.’” The Cambridge Dictionary defines low-impact as: “not having a large effect or influence.” Collins Dictionary states: “Low-impact projects, developments, and activities such as vacations, are designed to cause minimum harm to the environment.”
You get the gist of what low-impact means, right? It surely sounds commendable. So how does Low Impact Development (LID) benefit our local area?
Andy Wood, conservation biologist and Coastal Plain Conservation Group Director, sheds some light on how he sees LID in the residential building process:
“Technically, Low Impact Development relates directly to stormwater management, and nothing else. People hear a subdivision is going to be a ‘Low Impact Development’ and they relax—but then they see that every tree and every shrub has been ripped out, and every creature living at or above ground level has either been run off or run over.”
All of a sudden it sounds alarmingly like our Oxford Dictionary campers tipped over their eco-stove and burned down the forest. Can this really be how it works?
Let’s look at a local example of Low Impact Development: Clayton Properties Group, Inc. (Mungo Homes) is in the process of building 137 houses on 64 acres of forestland adjacent to Abbey Nature Preserve in Pender County. The development will be known as “Indigo at Abbey Preserve.”
In 2023, Pender Planning Director Daniel Adams told Port City Daily, “The developer has proposed to design this project to meet the standards of Low Impact Development as prescribed in Article 7.14 of the County’s development code, which is the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).”
Article 7.14 of the UDO states, “In an effort to balance development needs with natural resource protection and enhancement, additional design and dimensional flexibility are offered to projects designed utilizing Low Impact Development stormwater management techniques.”
What “additional design and dimensional flexibility” translates to is a 25% reduction in lot size, from 12,000 square feet as designated by the land’s current zoning of Residential Performance (RP) to 9,000 square feet. That’s a significantly higher density awarded to meet “development needs.”
Adams told Port City Daily, “The design engineer will have to certify that the project meets the LID standards in our ordinance.”
However, Ryke Longest, the CoDirector of the Environmental Law at Duke University School of Law, cautions against sole sign-off:
“Let’s be clear: when an engineer signs off, they are certifying that the plans are safe. Their license is on the line in terms of safety. But to prove that a project meets all the requirements of an ordinance, you would need something more than a set of sealed plans. Compliance with a legal ordinance is not just the practice of engineering. The notion that because somebody seals something, that that protects you from having to enforce an ordinance or check behind it makes zero sense as a matter of logic.”
To put it another way, who will certify a balance between development and natural resource protection has been met—and specifically, which natural resources are we talking about?
Per the August 19 article in Port City Daily, Adams indicated “He’d be hesitant to use the term ‘clear-cut,’ but confirmed Mungo Homes will be clearing the land to develop the site.”
The simple answer is, the 64 acres of mature forestland to be clear-cut (or cleared, if you prefer) will no longer be a forest. There’s really no way around that fact. A forest therefore, by logical conclusion, cannot be something the County defines as a natural resource, as it certainly is not about to enjoy protection—quite the opposite.
Forests are one of Earth’s greatest natural resources. They purify the air we breathe, filter our groundwater, prevent soil erosion, provide a home to countless species of flora and fauna and mitigate flooding. They do all this while acting as a buffer against climate change.
The County may believe the watershed will be just fine, since the developer has agreed to use stormwater management techniques to reduce the negative effects from the excessive impervious surfaces that will be created. However, the forest already is a huge biotic water pump and this one has for decades protected Scotts Hill neighborhoods and their septic tanks from flooding.
Not only does the forest canopy intercept part of every rain, causing water to evaporate back into the atmosphere, but its complex and extensive root system soaks up to 8,500 cubic yards of water per square mile.
Inconveniently for the County, the UDO is not the only document created to guide Pender County in Low Impact Development. In 2010-2011 the County published “Implementing Low Impact Development in Pender County, North Carolina.” The 22-page document defines Low Impact Development as the practice of protecting or restoring natural hydrology so that the overall integrity of a watershed is protected, and it states the principles of LID only allow minimal land clearing and minimal creation of impervious surfaces, as opposed to conventional development, which allows for the removal of all or most trees and native vegetation and creates excessive impervious surfaces.
So what exactly is the Mungo Homes Development—Low Impact or Conventional? Wood answers plainly:
“The developer will put in a grass swale to collect stormwater, run that stormwater across a band of grass into a retention or a detention pond and say it meets LID standards, but it is absolute hogwash. If it involves a 50-ton bulldozer, it can’t be called low impact.”
At some point there will be another named storm, and a whole lot of water will be looking for a place to go. Will a man-made pond be sufficient to take over the task of a centuries-old forest?
What must the County do, and what can you do?
Pender County must amend Article 7.14 to reflect the principles of true Low Impact Development. This section should define which natural resources the County will protect, and which natural resources it will not protect. Anything less specific is unacceptable. Vague statements such as, “In an effort to balance development needs with natural resource protection and enhancement” are, by default, weighted in favor of the developer.
You, the public, can insist that the County consult with independent hydrologists, ecologists and arborists to rewrite the Low Impact Development sections of its UDO. Go to Planning Board Meetings— held the first Tuesday evening of every month. Sign up for Public Comments. Express your views. Your voice will make a difference.
Jennifer Mackenzie is a freelance writer specializing in medicine and science. She is a current resident of Scotts Hill.
