Contact a Supervisor to Preserve our County Grounds!

The fight for the County Grounds in Wauwatosa continues.  We are asking for everyone to please contact your County Supervisor by Dec. 17th, when the Supervisors will determine whether to approve a plan to preserve portions of the County Grounds.

We are calling on everyone to help us protect our precious remaining natural areas.

[excerpted from the Daily Reporter]

A strategy to preserve land during construction of a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus in Wauwatosa is polarizing the project developer and environmentalists.

The UWM Real Estate Foundation Inc., which is developing the project, accepts the strategy even though it will force a complete redesign of the engineering campus.

“We need to rework our entire plan, which is again part of the stress of timing,” said David Gilbert, president of the nonprofit foundation.

Environmentalists argue the county’s preservation strategy is not good enough.

“It has been years in the making,” Barb Agnew, chairwoman of the Friends of the Monarch Trail environmental group, said of the campus plan. “Just a little more time should be allowed just to make sure there are not obstacles in the future.”

Milwaukee County must approve a plan to preserve portions of the property before selling 89 acres of undeveloped land to the UWM Real Estate Foundation for the campus. The land is east of U.S. Highway 45, north of Watertown Plank Road and south of Swan Boulevard.

County Board members are considering creation of a park on more than 50 acres of the easternmost portion of the land and protection of 14 acres in the northwest corner.

Construction would be allowed on land south of the 14-acre protected parcel.

The strategy also would allow construction of a road and campus buildings on 13 acres between the two protected areas.

Environmental groups, trying to preserve the land for monarch butterflies and other wildlife, want to protect that parcel, referred to by county planners as Outlot 1.

“I’m not conceding Outlot 1,” said Cheryl Nenn, for the environmental group Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

The Milwaukee County Board Committee on Economic and Community Development on Monday delayed a vote on the proposal. Committee Chairwoman Toni Clark said she will schedule a special meeting to consider the plan before the County Board meets Dec. 17.

*PLEASE HELP US SAVE THE COUNTY GROUNDS BY CALLING YOU COUNTY SUPERVISOR TODAY!

In order to save the threatened land on the County Grounds we are asking you to contact your County Supervisor (find yours here) by December 17th.

Please relay the following in order to protect our precious remaining natural land:

1) No development of Outlot One. Outlot One should be restored and improved as originally proposed, to provide a buffer area between the proposed UWM development and the natural areas/open space to be preserved in parcel 3.

2) No egress onto Swan Blvd or further fragmentation of habitat via a road that connects to Swan. Entrance and egress could be accommodated from Watertown Plank.

3) Permanent and legal preservation via conservation easement and zoning of parcel 3 and the county owned woodland adjacent to Ronald McDonald House as parkland.

4) Permanent protection via deed restriction of the monarch butterfly habitat adjacent to Swan Blvd and the Eschweiler Buildings as proposed as a contingency to the land sale to UWM.
The proposed redevelopment plan for the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa protects some parcels from development but allows the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to build on others.  Under the plan proposed Monday, the University could build on most of the land identified as Parcel 1 and Outlot 1 on the map. 

Outlot 2 on the left side of the map will be protected because Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans call for some if it to annexed for a freeway expansion. The northern segment of Parcel 1 depicted in yellow would also be protected from development because it is a nesting ground for monarch butterflies. (Image courtesy of Milwaukee County)