I am a resident of Birchwood, a neighborhood that has thrived in Plymouth for 70 years. Most probably know it as the neighborhood that includes Wayzata Central Middle School. The school’s beautiful wooded area next to the playfields serves hundreds of children who learn and enjoy the natural woods and play a variety of sports all year on the fields. These woods and wetlands have been home to birds and animals for centuries.

Now this cherished green space, woodland and wetland area is under threat due to a proposed plan to clear-cut up to an acre of it for the creation of a man-made run-off pond surrounded by chain link fence. The stated purpose is for filtration. However, independent experts agree that this filtration is already happening naturally directly next to the proposed site. 

This proposal is part of a larger plan presented in March 2023, but this piece of the plan was only revealed at the end of November 2023 with an expected vote by Plymouth City Council on January 23. It adds a quarter of a million dollars, simply to duplicate an existing system. And as citizens of Plymouth, we have not been provided with studies on the environmental impact this project might cause.

The Birchwood neighborhood was developed in the 1960’s, along with development of the new high school, now middle school. Since that time, these same houses have depended on this same stormwater being directed and contained in a natural low wetland pond located in the middle of the school’s 3.5 acres woods. The stormwater is then absorbed by the surrounding mature trees and filtered through the forest ecosystem for clean water cycle. The edge of the wetland is over 1,000 feet from Lake Gleason separated by trees and multiple homes. The proposed Bolton-Menk man-made pond would be excavated immediately adjacent to the present natural wetland to achieve the same filtering purpose. However, if the man-made pond is installed, a half-acre of mature trees and undeveloped green space is forever lost at the School with the purpose to simply duplicate the same stormwater filtration already done naturally.
 
The City of Plymouth approved similar development of man-made run-off areas within older established ecosystems in the Plymouth neighborhoods of Fox Run and Maple Creek just a bit to the east of Birchwood. It has caused those neighborhoods major flooding and muddy bogs, inviting invasive species and disease-carrying insects into Parkers Lake and surrounding areas. The neighborhood has asked the City for help, but it appears that this sort of project is approved and then forgotten. 

The Birchwood/Central Middle School woods and wetlands marked for destruction are more than just Plymouth children's playground; they are home to families of Great Horned Owls, Foxes, Sandhill Cranes among other birds, mammals and amphibians that breed and nest there every year for generations long before there were neighborhoods and schools here. The potential environmental impact from clearing these areas would be devastating for generations to come.

At this time we are asking for three things:

1. Time to get real answers for the community. With such a late addition to the plan, time should be taken to study and discuss. We urge Plymouth City Council to reconsider this plan and provide us with comprehensive independent environmental impact studies before proceeding further.
2. For the Planning Commission to table the decision until further review can be done. We believe in responsible development that respects our natural heritage while meeting community needs. We want to ensure this project does both.
3. For the City to consider why stormwater runoff treatment proposed to be done at the other two locations in the same neighborhood is not good enough for this third location. This location is further from Gleason Lake and existing ponds than the other two, and has been very naturally and efficiently filtering for a generation.

Please help us protect Plymouth’s natural beauty, biodiversity, and efficient natural ecology from unnecessary destruction - sign this petition today!