School Board Hears Thurston Pond Hassle

Concern that the Thurston School Nature ' Pond might become a "small version of I Lake Erie" from a pollution standpoint, charges that the Ann Arbor Board of Education "has completely ignored the citizen interest in their environIrr.ent," and assurance from school superintendent W. Scott Westerman that nothing would be done to harm the natural área highlighted the public forum of last night's board meeting. The controversy surrounding Thurston Pond began last Monday when heavy construction vehicles converged on the area and cut a 14-foot-wide swath through the woods from Bluett Rd. to the pond. This work was part of the new junior high school project across Bluett, as pipes were to be laid from the school site to the pond for the purpose of draining off some roof and seeded play area water into the pond. Final plans cali for this water to be kept to a minimum with the provisión that every effort should be made to keep the water as free as possible of oil, salt and sedimentary pollutants that might drain off the parking lot in instances of unusually heavy ramfall. After the work had been discovered by children and parents around Thurston who were afraid that the entire nature center, and particularly the pond, might suffer irreparable damage both from digging to lay the pipes and from fertilizer and other chemicals drained into the pond, a storm of protest went up, including student pickets around the pond. At last night's meeting, there were reports that children had blocked bulldozers by standing in front of them, although John Hubley, assistant to the superintendent for community services, called such reports "dramatic myths." Amidst a swarm of phone complaints and quick petition drives, Westerman did, however, declare a two-day moratorium on further work at the pond. During this time, a group of 10 people met to inspect the site and review development plans. Included in this group were John C. Rosemergy, science coördinator to the administration; Mei Larson, chairman of the Nature Center Committee of the Thurston PTO; Robert High, assistant to the site planner-expediter; and W i 1 1 i a m Browning, administrative consultant in conservation and outdoor education. In a report read at the meeting, Rosemergy stated that the board was attempting to avoid as much destruction of trees in the natural areá as possibie, was sensitive to the eitizen's desire to maintain the area in its present state, but had apparently not done enough to make its plans clear to residents around Thurston beiore moving the construction equipment in. Rosemergy a 1 s o explained that High had determined that for a cost of $700, soil removed from the pipe trench could be hauled out of the woods for preservation and then hauled back to fill the trench once the pipe was laid. "By not putting the son from the trench in the woods," he said, "destruction of wildflowers and other plants could be reduced substantially." Westermar confirmed that he had authorized this expenditure and stressed that the swath through the trees would not exceed the 14 feet already cut. The superintendent was unable to escape the wrath of seyeral ecology-minded citizens in the audience, however, and was criticized for his failure to better inform the public of development plans previous to starting work in the area. Five children paraded to the microphone to express their fears that the Thurston Pond might be ruined by pollutants contained in the drainage water entering the pond. The youngsters said that their reaction to the sight of bulldozers in an area they had been taught not to "vandalize" was natural since nothing had been plained to them concerning the work. Conservationist Doug Fulton lambasted the board for its "stupid" action in not informing residents near Thurston of its plans, and urged the board to consider a total site plan to avoid similar difficulties in the future. Westerman assured all present that no further work would be done on the site until further study was made to insure the safety of the Thurston Pond and Nature Center, and a 1 s o expressed his concern that some of the heavy equipment on the site had been reported vandalJzed in the last couple of days.