Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Seminary Woods is too high a price to pay

Seminary Woods is too high a price to pay (Response to JSOnline Editorial "Cousins Center: South Side Vitality, January 6, 2009)

The MJS editorial, “Cousins Center: South side vitality,” mentions but dismisses environmental concerns about Seminary Woods. How did the editorial board make a decision about those environmental concerns without even trying to speak to any of the environmentalists who have raised the concerns?

Like many people, the groups that have been working to purchase Seminary Woods and place it in a conservancy so that it will be protected forever were interested to learn last summer that Cardinal Stritch University planned to purchase the Cousins Center and turn it into a south campus. We were prepared to welcome Stritch back to the neighborhood, and were hopeful that the university would be mindful of environmental issues surrounding Seminary Woods.

However, in mid November, Stritch revealed that it also plans to purchase the 84-acre We Energies land to the south and west of the Cousins Center and adjoins the Seminary Woods proper. The We Energies land is a brownfield. It contains coal ash that has been capped and buried. Because the cap cannot be broken, that land was deemed “undevelopable.” Now, Stritch plans to put at least five athletic fields, bright lights, stadium seating, parking lots, roadways and a field house on this land.

The plan is not acceptable. The damage to Seminary Woods is too high a price to pay.

Kathy Mulvey, President
South Shore Park Watch

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Park Watch Meeting on Thursday

We will be having out first meeting of the year this Thursday. Please come to find out more about Seminary Woods and the canceled public hearing.

Thursday, January 8

7:00 pm at the South Shore Park Pavilion


Please feel free to bring friends.

We will be discussing winter events in the park, updating our projects, including a debrief about the Cardinal Stritch University public hearing.

Bring your thoughts and ideas.

SEMINARY WOODS HEARING POSTPONNED

Because of estimated attendance of 450, there was not enough room to hold all in attendance at the public hearing in St. Francis regarding the proposed purchase of the Cousins Center by Cardinal Stritch University. Please see below for more about this.

Details about the rescheduled hearing will be posted as soon as they are available. Please see the list of links to the right for medial coverage.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Development Does Not Always Pay

The great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted recognized the economic value in greenspace. He used economic impacts as a justification to purchase the land for Central Park. He estimated that the property values around Central Park could increase significantly in proximity to the park.

Professor Doug Booth has prepared a report analyzing the potential economic impacts of the proposed Cardinal Stritch University, South Campus and the impacts of other types of land uses, like greenspace.

Please find the documents below. To access you may download the documents. (If you wish to read online, without downloading, right click on the document, choose "weblink," choose "open," and then choose "preview.")



There are two documents - one is a flyer, detailing the highlights of the report. The other is the full report.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Seminary Wood Public Hearing - Monday

Preserving Seminary Woods … Again!


Like many people, the groups that have been working to purchase Seminary Woods and place it in a conservancy so that it will be protected forever were interested to learn last summer that Cardinal Stritch University planned to purchase the Cousins Center and turn it into a south campus.


However, in late November, Stritch revealed that it also plans to purchase the 84-acre We Energies land that runs to the south and west of the Cousins Center and adjoins the Seminary Woods proper.


This cannot be allowed to happen.


The We Energies land is a brownfield. It contains coal ash that has been capped and buried. Because the cap must remain intact, that land was deemed “undevelopable.” Now, Stritch plans to put at least five athletic fields, bright lights, stadium seating, parking lots, roadways and a field house on this land.


In 2006, WISPARK, Inc., the development arm of We Energies, indicated the capped land would be kept as a green-space buffer for the woods. We Energies has even planted the land with prairie grasses and plants. The property has become an important environmental site in itself, as well as an essential component to the health and preservation of Seminary Woods. Animals from the Seminary Woods use the land for foraging and hunting, and the entire tract protects the woods from human impacts related to development.


A DNR Memo of October 10, 2008, states that the We Energies land:

  • Has been identified as part of the “Seminary Woods – St. Francis Lakeshore Legacy Place” in the Wisconsin Land Legacy Report, and is a special site most important to preserve;
  • Is one of the last undeveloped grasslands of over 40 acres remaining in Milwaukee County;
  • Is a nesting area and important migratory stopover area for bird “Species of Greatest Conservation Need;”
  • Is one of only four sites in Milwaukee County where the Dickcissel, small grassland bird, observations have been reported in the last 40 years;
  • Shelters wetland indicator species Nodding Lady’s Tresses, Spiranthes cernua and the State-endangered Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago caesia;
  • Contains important wetlands, which are threatened by athletic facilities and parking lots;
  • May already have contaminated soil and groundwater.


PUBLIC HEARING

Monday, January 5, 7 p.m.

St. Francis City Hall, 4235 S. Nicholson


The City of St. Francis must change the zoning on the Cousins Center and We Energies land in order for Stritch’s plans to proceed. Stopping the rezoning may be our last chance to preserve the Seminary Woods. If the We Energies land is developed, it will complete the noose of development that will eventually choke the life out of Seminary Woods.


We urge you to attend the public hearing and speak out against the rezoning.