Environmental Impacts

To read more about how the new zoning degrades the environment…..

The new Zoning Degrades: Environmental Consequences of Densification

Humans affect their environment. All humans affect their environment all the time. Our opponents would have you believe that single-family homes are worse for the environment than the City of Lakewood’s planned high density zoning. Not true. High density affects the environment. Our opponents make constant, unsupported statements. But what is the reality? Single-family development and high density housing both affect the environment. Since our opponents aren’t truthful about the environmental issues associated with high density housing, we are describing them below – with references that include the National Research Council, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Forest Service.

Significant environmental effects are associated with urbanization. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined urbanization as “the concentration of human populations into discrete areas. This concentration leads to the transformation of land for residential, commercial, industrial and transportation purposes. It can include densely populated centers, as well as their adjacent or suburban fringes.” Urbanization is not synonymous with density, but it is very closely related. The environmental effects of urbanization will be the environmental effects of density. Density puts more people on less land (as does urbanization), and has a significant ecological footprint.

The United States Forest Service identifies impacts to surface water bodies, habitat and biodiversity loss, and higher ambient temperatures (urban heat islands). Urban stream syndrome affects surface water bodies. Urban stream syndrome is caused by increased stormwater runoff, a direct result of the increased addition of impervious surfaces (buildings, pavement, concrete, etc.). Increased stormwater runoff can be expected as more land is moved from vegetative cover to high density buildings. Under Lakewood’s new zoning, more buildings will be built on smaller lot sizes. This will most definitely increase stormwater runoff. Increased stormwater runoff alters stream flow, morphology (the shape, size, and form of a surface water body), temperature, water quantity, and water quality. With an increase in impervious surfaces (buildings, roads, parking lots, etc.), there also is less infiltration into groundwater (called hydrologic drought) and more water directly entering directly the stream. Further, the Forest Service identified significant amounts of nutrients, organic contaminants, and detergents being dumped into streams from leaky sewer lines and septic systems or not being removed by waste-water treatment facilities or septic systems and these affect the aquatic environments. It is not hard to see that densification will overwhelm waste water treatment facilities as more people are added to the system.

Deforestation and fragmentation of forest lands leads to the loss of forest interior habitat and shifts species composition. Habitat loss is the greatest threat to biodiversity. Urbanization leads to habitat loss and alters the environment itself.

Development also will affect the mature tree-canopy in Lakewood. Mature trees absorb vastly more carbon, produce exponentially more oxygen, intercept stormwater runoff, filter air pollutants, and reduce urban heat islands and cool neighborhoods. A two-inch sapling, planted when mature trees are cut down to make way for high density development, will take decades to do what a mature tree does today, assuming it survives at all. Much of Lakewood’s mature tree canopy is located in the northern portions of Lakewood. This is the area of Lakewood most at risk for losing trees due to high density development in the neighborhoods.

The replacement of the vegetative cover with built structures and impervious surfaces increases the amount of heat-absorbing surfaces. This, in turn, causes air temperatures in cities raise – during the day and the night – and is known as the urban heat island effect. Trees (including Lakewood’s tree canopy), grass, shrubs, and other “green infrastructure” helps reduce the urban heat island effect. Single family homes have trees, lawns, shrubs, and landscaping (green infrastructure) providing vegetation necessary to absorb stormwater, promote infiltration, and reduce urban heat island effect. And so are a necessary part of a thriving community.

How are all these environmental factors balanced and weighed against each other? By using sustainable decision making. Sustainable decision making integrates environmental, ecological, economic, and community factors to help a city thrive. It accounts for intangible components and responsible resource management. It does not shout out unsupported environmental concerns without recognizing, accounting for, or addressing the environmental impact of high density development.