Posted on 11/16/2016 6:17:33 AM PST by DCBryan1
I went to our yearly HOA meeting last night. Some consultant with GBM Associates in Bryant, AR said that he is proposing a "Neighborhood mitigation bank" where we buy "credits" for letting the Corps of Engineers (COE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) get deeded our "wetlands", which are really 2 creeks, and dry tributaries.
The consultant was honest. He said, no federal law dictates it, just a 1983 guidance. NO promises of making money, no guarantees that COE/EPA will do anything. Fines are possibe, like if my kid catches crawfish, or throws rocks in the lake/stream.
Anyways, my wife and I are pretty darn smart, and this is the first I've heard of this. The consultant said, "think of this as carbon credits", to which I replied, "Yeah, all that did was make Al Gore and consultants rich, and planted a few crappy saplings and put it on video. $100,000.00 sent in, and a neighborhood gets $100.00 worth of crappy sapling trees.
Thanks freepers!
Republicans should definitely zero the EPA out of the next budget. It was Nixon’s bad idea, so the Democrats shouldn’t have any beef about that. That agency is the best argument about allowing the federal government to start regulating anything. They make sure to grow the government agency while shrinking private ownership/control over any enterprise they touch.
OMG, this is scary, where do you live if I may ask? I’m in Rogers. I heard there was a major push towards Agenda 21 in this area recently but it was defeated, I think it happened before we moved here. Looks like they may he wanting to dig in their claws piece by piece instead of the sweeping over they tried earlier.
And thanks for fighting this. Maybe your best argument to your neighbors is that they are ceding control of their own property and setting themselves up for fines over every little thing.
I think the earlier push would have effected everyone from here to Beaver Lake, if I recall correctly. Would have had major impacts on the farmers and country folk, private hunting grounds and so forth. Basically destroying the ability of people to use and develop/change their land as they see fit.
I would move.
No go. Just moved here ...sigh. First POA meeting.
If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to protect the wetlands, they should buy it from your POA.
The consultant needs their attitude adjusted with a 2x4 out back where their screams can’t be heard.
How is this consultant compensated? I’m smelling BS no matter how frank and honest he may have come across. According to him, there are no guarantees of anything, so why do it? Sounds to me as if the HOA would be better off donating a conservation easement for tax credits, if they don’t want the land developed in the first place, to keep a pretty view, to maintain privacy or whatever.
Nose under the tent—once in place will require courts to sort out overzealous moves on their part. Probably will lower property values as buyers shy from such entanglements.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-Conservation_Easements_052708.html
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/01/21/land-trust-scams-on-rise.html
http://www.theday.com/article/20150314/NWS01/303149962
Fight it. They have no business in your neighborhood.
So you are not exactly out in the country. With all the development around you what on earth are they thinking they’ll achieve by taking over your little development? Would a few saplings mitigate the effects of a Tractor Supply store or 10 churches along that creek?
Sounds like a power grab only. To incrementally introduce people to the concept that private property must be ceded for “the greater good.”
Nothing good will come of this.
Once there is “federal land” next to your development, they will come after you for ANY runoff into the “wetlands”, including fertilizer from your lawns.
The EPA already has virtual ownership of all wetlands in that they can dictate what you can do with them. Perhaps they are afraid that with the election of Trump, they will lose this and are grabbing as much control as possible now.
Ditto what Ozark Tom said. If you give the EPA or Corps an inch of ground, you’ll be fighting them for eternity. Vote NO and encourage your neighbors to do likewise.
Bkmk
Do not allow them to do this..I live in a community in FL where these “environmental offset” credits were pushed (no one in the community was allowed to vote or was told). SO due to this and the location of my lot I can only use approx. .3 acres of my .9 acre lot.
In my community’s case at least 2 on the HOA were paid “consulting fee” and then conveniently moved out of state.
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