Cedar Beach Construction 2010: Part 2- Playground, Paved Paths, Buffers and The Great Blue Heron

The easiest idea missing from the Master Plan for Phase One of Cedar Beach renovations is the common sense environmental decision.  That is, don’t pave with impermeable surfaces next to water bodies.  Don’t mow grass to creek edges.  Don’t do, pretty much everything that is currently being done at Cedar Beach.

Let’s start with the addition of rocky soil and hay on top of the paved area of buffer planted last October. This is not a common sense environmental decision.  This will exacerbate ecological degradation and lead to more maintenance cost in the future.

The widening holes near the large mirror pond have been filled.  

A curious mixture of grass seed has been placed haphazardly on top of soil fill in the spaces cleared to make room for the paving of paths near the mirror ponds.  This seed mixture has, in places, left a trail as it flows into Cedar Creek.  I am pleased to see the spaces filled, but I have reservations about what they have sprayed. 


The gouging of the land and paving of the paths continue.  New mounds of loose soil and grass stand on one side of asphalt paths while the same new cliffs developed on the other side of Cedar Creek
have appeared here.

What looks to be a new access point into Cedar Beach has been dug up and chalk outlines indicate where the new paving will connect Ott Street to the new asphalt path.

Despite this, there is beauty. Spring is still in season at Cedar Beach; they haven’t yet paved it under.

The red maples, the winterberry and many of the other plants we introduced to Cedar Beach last October have begun growing alongside Cedar Creek.

A Great Blue Heron found refuge in the developing buffer.

An easy beauty, but beauty nonetheless and in such contrast to the recreational bent the new construction at Cedar Beach has taken.  Still, despite the fact that this project is now beyond changing, serious environmental questions remain.  In addition to what I have documented thus far, I found the red flags which mark the beginnings of the “grow zones” quite curious.

Next to the foot of the pedestrian bridge an area remains designated for mowing despite limiting a buffer zone to an ineffective scant amount of feet.  Here, from the base of a nearby tree to the pedestrian bridge, the entire area should be a “grow zone”.  The large lawn would remain, the view of the creek would not change dramatically.  It is this type of simple environmentally conscious decision that is so sorely lacking from the new construction at Cedar Beach.  For instance, why not expand a buffer at the location shown in the picture below at least to the distance of the “silt fence”.  It seems common sense to me.

On the other side of Ott Street, the playground’s construction has begun.

I couldn’t help but wonder as I wandered in Cedar Beach this weekend, about how small the park felt.  The unnatural black asphalt that now snakes through the grass feels disconcertingly out of place and truly unnatural.  If the invitation to the openness of Nature ends up being completely removed by this construction, what exactly are we attempting to get more people to visit?

The issues at Cedar Beach feel endless to me at this moment as do the problems in the Parkway, at Jordan Creek, in Trout Creek Parkway, down at Canal Park, at the East Side Reservoir, on South Mountain, in Trexler Park and so on.  Some days, these issues feel insurmountable.  Some days the presence of The Great Blue Heron, or a Red Maple leaf serve as reminders as to why they’re worth addressing.

We can’t live without them.