Wetlands lost to developers in Kansas

In Wichita Kansas the people have allowed developers to run the city and do what ever they want. If they build homes in a flood plain, no problem, city council members, voted in by idiots, will simply spend millions to devise an expensive plan to alleviate the problem a the taxpayers expense.

Here from The Wichita Eagle is the latest fiasco. A protected wetland area, invaluable to rare species of birds, is too close to homes that were irresponsibly built there in the first place. Now the people around this wetland area want it removed so their home’s won’t flood.
史蒂夫 奥多

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle

“Developers offer wetland deal
Alleviating west Wichita floods with little cost to taxpayers has city leaders weighing a plan to fill in and relocate a protected wetland.
BY BRENT D. WISTROM
The Wichita Eagle
Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle
An area east of Maize Road, once part of the Pracht wetlands, could be a retail development, if the Army Corps of Engineers approves.
PDF: Cadillac Lake flooding study
PDF: US Army Corps of Engineers synopsis of the Cadillac Lake project
Wichita may spend $1.7 million to relocate a wetland to allow private developers to fill in part of Cadillac Lake, a major wetland in western Sedgwick County once known for bird watching.
The project, developers say, will reduce the potential for flooding in some northwest Wichita neighborhoods and make way for $31million in commercial development.
The city and the developers must get permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill in 18.5 acres of federally-protected wetlands.
Developers, who will also spend more than $1million on the wetlands project, say it's probably the cheapest option for the city to reduce flooding hazards.”

Cheap? It would have been a lot cheaper to disallow development along a wetland area in the first place. The $1.7 million is absolutely unnecessary and a waist of our tax money, not to mention it destroys the scenic beauty of the area.

史蒂夫 奥多

According to the article some people are concerned about the wildlife:

“Where will it all end?
The project, near 29th North and Maize Road, is in an area known as one of the best bird-watching areas in Sedgwick County.
Pete Janzen, author of the recently-released "The Birds of Sedgwick County," said before all the development along Maize Road, birders could spot many species of birds that live in the wetlands.
"There's no way the public can appreciate it now," he said.
It's on private land and traffic has increased so much that you can't stop on the road and observe, he said.
"As they start chipping away at it, where are they going to stop?" he asked. "I'd like to see the land reserved."
He welcomes the idea of making the area public, which is part of the plan. But, he said, he's become pessimistic about the whole area now that it is becoming so developed.
"It kills me a little bit every time I drive past it, to be honest with you," he said.