12/17/2022
Seasons Greetings everyone! Sorry for so many emails lately but alot of updates keep coming my way. I do try to wait and condense as much as possible as I know I personally do not love a full inbox. Thank you to everyone for sharing so many important information items with the board.
The City held its Wingra proper watershed study meeting last week. The purpose of the meeting was to inform about the study itself, early findings, and next steps. It was very informative. A recording of the meeting will be uploaded to the study web page but hasn’t been updated there quite yet (so check back). Here is a link to the study page which has a wealth of information:
https://www.cityofmadison.com/engineering/projects/wingra-proper-watershed-study
I would like to highlight that towards the bottom of the page is information about how to report flooding on your property as this has important findings for the researchers. Many of our yards experience flooding from time to time and one of the goals of this study is to improve drainage which serves us all.
The City also held its Parks Master Planning meeting this week concerning our Fraust and Harvey Schmidt parks. The goal of this meeting was to gather feedback from the community about how we use these parks and what changes we would want. Please chime in and give feedback via this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8BZTRKH
The survey closes on 1/6/23 so don’t delay! The survey link will also link you to the City’s planning and development pages for both parks which are also listed here below. Check back often for updates.
https://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/projects/fraust-park-master-plan
https://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/projects/harvey-schmidt-park-master-plan
You all have likely received your first municipal services bill from the city. Should you need any explanations regarding fees; all the fees listed can easily be searched via the internet listing the title of the fee and city of madison (example “urban forestry city of madison”). You will find web pages from the City with more detail.
One of our industrious neighbors, Jim Leide, on Balden St. has learned that his property qualifies for an adjustment to his bill as his property does not drain into the storm water system of the City and directly into the lakes instead. Quoting the information that Jim found: As I was surprised to see a stormwater fee on our new city fee bill, I did a little checking on the city website. Our property qualifies for Stormwater Fee Adjustment under Riparian Discharge Credit. I contacted engineer@cityofmadison.com and received credit approval.
The link below addresses the issue and has a link to a pdf with more information. I believe most of the arboretum properties also qualify. https://www.cityofmadison.com/engineering/stormwater/stormwater-bill/stormwater-fee-adjustment
I did reach out to the engineering department to see if the area between Martin and Carver streets (served by the Lake Forest Water Co op) would qualify, given many of us have stormwater drains directly in our yards, and they confirmed we would not. But for those homes along Balden/Covall St., Marshall Parkway, and Arboretum Lane this might be something to look into further.
Lastly the snow is finally here to stay dare I say and the temperatures are dropping and solidly freezing the lagoon over along Carver Street. I was wondering if we could get some volunteer neighbors together to create a simple cross country ski trail loop through Harvey Schmidt Park for those who might not want to ski in the Arboretum itself and for our kiddos. I was also wondering if we could get a group together to clear and maintain an ice skating area on the lagoon near the fake boulder climbing rock by the now defunct community garden in Harvey Schmidt Park. This spontaneously was happening throughout the pandemic and was greatly appreciated and well used. Let me know and I can get some volunteers connected to each other.
Speaking of cross country skiing I know some folks liked to use the trail on the berm that runs along Martin St. You may have noticed “trail closed” signs recently being placed at both ends (the radio tower and the arboretum parking area). These signs are in regards to construction work happening to the boardwalk that leads out to the radio tower. I have been assured though that a blind eye shall we say will be turned toward anyone still wanting to use the trail as long as they give any workers and equipment a wide berth near the radio tower. The City did just do some major brush clearing along the berm so the trail should be much improved.
On actively snowing days it will be important to follow the alternate side parking rules to allow for clean up and to avoid a ticket. The alternate side parking is enforced from Nov. 15th through March 15th in the evenings regardless of the weather, but enforced more so on heavy snow days. Here is a link that clarifies what the alternate side parking rules are: Alternate Side Parking Rules – Winter – Residents – City of Madison, Wisconsin
That’s all folks. Have a safe and wonderful holiday season. Be well.
Alison Stawicki, ANA Secretary
12/4/2022
Hi all,
I hope everyone is having a festive and fun holiday season. The neighborhood outdoor decorations look wonderful!
I have a few updates that may be of interest:
I recently learned that the City is not charging any fees to former Town residents that are needing to downsize/supersize their refuse and recycling carts should you find that you need more space or don’t have a need for a larger cart. To start the request process go to this website:
https://www.cityofmadison.com/reportaproblem/cartexchange.cfm
Or please refer to the personal dialogue I had with the city representative regarding my own personal need to get a larger size recycling cart (we opted for a larger size vs. a second recycling cart): “…feel free to have them give the office a call too. We do swaps and repairs year round, but for the initial Town of Madison area coming into Madison, we’re offering the 2 smaller carts instead of a swap as an option. We do always need to get the serial number of carts we work on. Normally the city charges for a second cart, but with town of Madison we wanted to throw the second smaller cart as an option. To exchange for the larger size you will need to leave the 65 gallon cart out overnight, and the cart operator comes by on Tuesday. It needs to be out adjacent to the street, and he’ll grab that and leave you a 95 gallon cart. Generally he gets the swap done before about noon. I’m also happy to answer any service or scheduling questions, as I’m sure things have changed around a bit with the city change over!
Thanks,
Christine Powell
Operations Clerk City of Madison Streets Division
Cjpowell@cityofmadison.com 608-266-4682″
Also you may have received two postcard mailings recently regarding upcoming meetings pertaining to the Lake Wingra Watershed project which directly involves our neighborhood drainage concerns along with a Parks Master Planning kick off meeting for our Harvey Schmidt and Fraust Parks. I am attaching a photo of both postcards should anyone not have received them. Both meetings will be virtual and need to be registered for ahead of time in order to receive the zoom link.
Some of you may have noticed some activity at the old Town Hall building. The City’s CARES program is moving into the building. This is the program that deals with mental health emergencies and attempts to intervene with crisis teams rather than uniformed police where appropriate. More information can be found here (thanks to Gary Davis for consolidating this information):
Also with the holidays upon us you may be thinking of a small token of appreciation for our neighborhood mail carrier. I am quoting an older message that ANA president Leslie Ladd sent out in years past with some guidance to this end: “our intrepid mail carrier is Dalon Blackwell. Further investigation has revealed he has four kids and is not a coffee drinker. A few neighbors chipped in together to get him a gift card from Kwik Trip on a suggestion from folks at the post office. I’ve also been reminded (and now I’m reminding you) that there are guidelines regarding gifting federal employees. See here:
I don’t think any of you have exceeded the boundaries of these gift-giving guidelines, but so as to avoid any awkwardness for Dalon, it’s best to keep our gifting quiet.”
And lastly the ANA is building a website! I welcome any feedback as to what residents would like to see on the website as we start developing it. We are considering a section that lists small businesses owned by neighborhood residents. Please share such details with me should you want to. We would also like to include a section with service recommendations from neighborhood residents pertaining to yard/lawn care, snow removal, small scale home repair/improvement projects, etc. Please share such recommendations with me as you deem appropriate.
Thanks everyone! Be well,
Alison Stawicki, ANA Secretary
Arboretum Neighborhood Association 
Leave a comment