Why you should care about Akron's Riparian Setback Ordinance

Zach Freidof

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After nearly a decade of efforts, the City of Akron is finally getting ready to put forth a riparian setback ordinance. What is it? This ordinance designates an amount of land along rivers which are meant to be left natural, and reduces activity that can happen in that zone. 
 

Why should we care? This zoning keeps development from running right up to the rivers. Having healthy waterways means we need to have healthier ecosystems, and the areas alongside the rivers are very important for the health of the rivers, fish, birds, pollinators, and aquatic life. Natural riverbanks help to keep the banks in tact, and reduce erosion. This is quite important if you own land and would like to not have more and more of your property washed downstream every year. This zone is also incredibly helpful in flood control (which is an issue that Akron will be facing ever more under the climate chaos). Natural riparian spaces can be helpful even with some efforts to keep pollutants from leeching into the river. Lastly, having healthy waterways tends to be a positive consideration in property values. 
 

It is also important because it is an important baby step for environmental sustainability in Akron. Though it is a baby step, we will have no hope of pushing for much more sweeping and radically essential environmental Justice legislation if we do not make this first step. By supporting this effort, we are sending a message to the incoming administration that environmental Justice is important to the community, and that we can be helpful partners towards further environmental Justice actions in Akron. There is another aspect that is important. 
 

The administration is seeking input and suggestions before they put the ordinance before council. This is a huge new precedent. We are called to step in and support this. Typically, the City keeps ordinances behind closed doors until it is presented to council, at which point, they are unwilling to make many changes. Plus, at that time, citizen input is extremely limited to 3 min comments at meetings which have not been designed to hear the needs and wishes of the community. 
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mperfections. As with all legislation, this is not perfect. My main concern is that it allows drilling and mining in the Riparian zone. We need to fight this as much as we can. Perhaps, there is little we can do about banning this behavior because our state has opened up anywhere and everywhere to these activities, yet I imagine we can be creative. If we can't ban the activity outright, maybe we can make sure there is some sort of noise or light restrictions, as these are both deleterious to the life around the river, and are necessary for drilling and mining activities. There is also a need for the City to have more meaningful conversations with landowners in the two neighborhoods where people are most directly affected. As most property finds the river running through the backyard space, depending on citizen complaints would mean relying upon neighbors trespassing through another's property to ever see what that neighbor is doing with their riverbanks. Lastly, any behavioral change needs incentives, and this legislation has little teeth, depending on a broken current system citizen complaints, whereby neighbors turn on each other for any petty reason. We need to find ways, perhaps its part of the redesigning of the tax abatement plan, to incentivize people to do the new behavior. Simply hoping people will behave differently does not, historically, work. 
 

*** Now, the important part ***
What can you do?
Easy! They are accepting comments and suggestions. You can submit your thoughts through both this below website, and can send an email to riparian@akronohio.gov. 
It doesn't take long to send your support of the ordinance, and to add any suggestions you might have to make it stronger. 
 

Support and comments:  
 

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Read the proposal:
 

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