In the 1960’s the city of Madison planning staff authorized the development of lands owned by Cherokee Park, Inc. on the north side of Madison. Northsiders protested loudly, particularly about the development of one of those areas, now known as the Cherokee Park neighborhood (the place where I happen to live). This development altered the wetlands and the Yahara River in ways that we are still trying to remediate today. City staff agrees that this development should never have been built. However, the rest of the lands that the city gave permission to develop are some of the ones we are now considering. I tell this story because I don’t want to be looking at what we’ve done here in 10, 20 or 40 years and saying “it should never have been done”.

The Friends of Cherokee Marsh persist in questioning aspects of this development (against strong opposition by City planning staff) because every ecologist, biologist, environmental engineer and civil engineer that we speak to (and we are up to more than a dozen experts with whom we have consulted) takes a look at this SAP and states that there are aspects to the plan that we will live to regret. In particular, they look at Subarea 1 and immediately start discussing the problems that will be faced in that area. Joe ___________’s letter, which is in your packet, is the most recent discussion of these issues, but not the first or only one. The engineers acknowledge that you can provide a heavily engineered solution to runoff that will keep some water out of the peat marsh to the north, but they point out that the best solutions are those which nature provides, not those which humans have to design and maintain. The ecologists and biologists point out the ease with which Subarea 1 could be restored to a functioning ecosystem that would help the marsh do its important work for the rest of the Yahara watershed. City parks staff have told us that they would be happy to manage those lands, as long as the city does not have to pay for them.

Once this is done, there is no turning back. We will spend much money and time engineering solutions to try to minimize the impact of the decisions made now, some of which will work and some of which will not.

I recognize that promises were made and I don’t want to take away the developer’s right to do his job. We are appalled that there is no way to transfer development rights in this city, to allow developers to earn their living while protecting the areas that need our help. We also believe that the Comprehensive Plan, which has been touted as almost requiring development of this area, was, as it says on the first page, intended to be a Broad outline, not a to-the-letter development manual.

I ask you to amend the SAP to allow the Friends to work with the developer, private funders, and the city to find a solution that enables Subarea 1 to be undeveloped or minimally developed. If this means changing the Comp plan, which we have been told it would, then please do that as well.

I know that you understand the importance of your work and the decisions that you make which shape our future. I hope you will choose to create a Plan that leaves enough room for the best decision for our watershed, the community, and the developer. It would be a shame to find ourselves saying “we never should have…”