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

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.

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.

Seminary Woods: Plan Commission meeting in St. Francis

The City of St. Francis Planning Commission

Thursday, November 20

7 p.m.

St. Francis City Hall

4235 S. Nicholson Avenue.

Copies of the plan map will be available.

On November 12, Cardinal Stritch University unveiled its preliminary plans for an undergraduate campus to be built on the Cousins Center grounds and the vacant WE Energies lands to the south and west of the center.

Nine new buildings would be built on the 44-acre Cousins Center property, plus a library addition on the north side of the existing building. Several of the buildings would rise within 15 feet of the Seminary Woods. Stritch’s purchase also would include a strip of about 15 acres of Seminary Woods that has been part of what a coalition of environmental groups has been raising funds to purchase and preserve.

Almost the entire 80 acres of We Energies property, which is now a capped brownfield, would be covered with athletic fields – soccer and track stadium, baseball, softball and two practice fields – and a 558-car parking lot.

Environmentalists, preservation-coalition members and neighbors have grave concerns that the plan would eliminate the green-space buffer around the woods, severely altering the character of the woods and its ability to support existing wildlife. In addition, new buildings close to the woods would block sunlight to the woods, changing the delicate ecosystem.

A total of 1,440 new parking spaces, in addition to existing parking areas, has

raised concerns about increased traffic along Superior Street/Lake Drive, Oklahoma Avenue and Howard and Packard Avenues.

The City of St. Francis Planning Commission will meet this Thursday, November 20, at 7 p.m. to consider a zoning change that would be required for Stritch to proceed with its plans to purchase and develop the properties. The meeting will be held at St. Francis City Hall, 4235 S. Nicholson Avenue. Copies of the plan map will be available.

We urge people concerned about this plan to:

· attend the Planning Commission meeting;

· contact their aldermen;