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OCT 2 1985 BOOK 62 PAGE 515 <br />areas are those "particularly sensitive to development impact and <br />as such these areas will have low density requirements and will <br />be subject to regulations to assure development does not <br />interfere with the natural ecosystem." She stressed that <br />Pelican Island Audubon believes that none of the plans submitted <br />today assure any protection of the area, and she felt that the <br />first and most important issue is that the county is considering <br />introducing a tourist/commercial node into the midst of an <br />environmentally sensitive area. <br />Commissioner Scurlock believed the actual tourist/commercial <br />area is south of the harbor area, and this was confirmed. <br />Dr. Swain continued that the second issue concerns the <br />zoning change within the remainder of the environmentally <br />sensitive wetlands from RS -1 to RM -6. They feel any increase of <br />density in this area is inappropriate and would change its <br />character since 4' deep waterways do not have the same value as <br />high marsh, and high marsh is the habitat which is scarce and <br />declining. Dr. Swain believed the developer has an ideal <br />opportunity to fulfill the requirements of the Comprehensive <br />Plan by transferring this density to the uplands and noted that <br />most developers would give their eye teeth to have high marsh <br />behind rather them rather than than along the river as the <br />situation is normally reversed. Dr. Swain felt the Board should <br />ask the developer to comply with existing regulations and <br />continued that in looking at the County Code, they contend that <br />the developer has not met six out of the eleven standards of <br />review; they feel the conceptual plans presented are inadequate <br />and do not meet the required needs; they have doubts about the <br />proposal which seems to keep changing; and they fear that the <br />proposed node might end up as a white elephant in an environmen- <br />tally sensitive area. <br />Dr. Swain summarized that Pelican Island Audubon feels that <br />this is a clear case of inappropriate use of environmentally <br />sensitive land; that the developer has not demonstrated an <br />66 <br />� r r� <br />