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Dear Friend, Yes, the WWPC has been working on this issue for 8 and a half years, and now it comes down to the CARPC hearing tomorrow, Thursday, Sept
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 Turk's Cap Lily in the Waubesa Wetlands
Photo by Cal DeWitt |
TAKE YOUR PICK
We'll start with the biggest commitment and work down to things that only take a few minutes.
1. Come to the CARPC hearings on Fitchburg's two Urban Service Area Amendment Applications, and testify against one or both.
2. Come to the CARPC hearings and register in opposition (fill out a form, then sit in the audience and listen. Your name and short comments will be read at the end.)
3. Drop by the CARPC hearings, register in opposition, and dash out again.
4. Write to the CARPC commissioners by Wed. night, at [allcommissioners@CapitalAreaRPC.org].(mailto:allcommissioners@CapitalAreaRPC.org)
5. Watch our 20 min. video shot in the Waubesa Wetlands in July, at www.westwaubesa.org on your computer and then share it with your friends online.
6. Forward this email to friends who care about our lakes and wetlands. |
 Democracy at work: citizens testifying at a hearing |
Details on the Sept. 11 hearings
What: Meeting of the CARPC (Capital Area Regional Planning Commission), which will include 4 Urban Service Area Amendment (USAA) hearings.
Where: Fitchburg City Hall, 5520 Lacy Rd., Fitchburg
The Council Chambers are at the end of the long hall, on the left.
When: the 2 Fitchburg USA hearings come last, so please arrive at 8 p.m. and bring a book in case they begin even later. The meeting will end at 11 p.m. (But of course you can leave whenever you need to! |
 Graphic by Matt Hill |
What to do:
Everyone who wants to help save lakes, wetlands, and farmland should get 2 half-page registration slips at the back of the room and fill them out.
The agenda item # for the North Stoner Prairie Neighborhood hearing is 14c.
The agenda item # for the Northeast Neighborhood is 15c.
If you want to speak, check the box that says "I wish to speak in opposition."
If you don't want to speak, don't check that box, but check "Register in opposition" and then write a sentence or two summarizing why you oppose the amendment on water-related grounds.
Everybody: give your slip to someone at the front of them room (or to anyone carrying them up there). If you have to leave, go right ahead. After all the speakers have spoken, the chair will read your name and comments into the record.
Of course we want you to stay as long as you can. Why?
1. It's educational for you to see how decisions are made, and how the different commissioners think.
2. We want them to know that a huge number of people care deeply about these issues, enough to give up a few hours of their time!
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Advice for speakers
Please make your main arguments deal with water-related issues, like damage to the wetlands and lakes, contaminated runoff, flooding due to too much infiltration or not enough, etc. But it's fine to mention other concerns too, like loss of farmland, the need for compact cities instead of sprawl, lack of fire protection, and the fact that Fitchburg has 1126 acres of empty developable land within its Urban Service Area.
Please be respectful of the Commissioners, CARPC staff, and Fitchburg staff. Do not assume that any of them want to harm the wetlands. Please don't accuse them of anything, just state why you think the amendments should be rejected. Telling about your own experiences enjoying our water resources is always a good idea, to illustrate why you want them protected. |
 Photo © Joe Veltman |
Have you watched our video yet?
If not, please take 20 minutes to watch this enjoyable, interesting and beautiful video that we shot in the Waubesa Wetlands in July.
And then share it on Facebook, Twitter, or through emailing the link to your friends. Right now there are 140 views. Let's see how high we can get that by Thursday evening!
Click here to watch it. |
Wow! Opinions galore!
If you read the local papers, you've probably seen a lot of opinion pieces and letters to the editor on the subject of these two Fitchburg USA amendments. Here they are assembled for you. Enjoy!
In the Wisconsin State Journal
It started with "The Lake Waubesa menace – a State Journal editorial from 80 years ago." That 1934 editorial started this way...
"The malodorous condition of Lake Waubesa this summer is…rapidly developing into a menace to this whole region and especially to Madison's reputation as a city surrounded by pleasant places in which to vacation."
Click here to read more.
I answered with a letter to the editor starting "'Madison's reputation as a city surrounded by pleasant places' is still threatened by too many nutrients."
Click here to read more.
And then Jeff Hodgson, president of the Lake Waubesa Neighborhood Association, weighed in with "[In 1934] the lake was being fouled by the sewage effluent that was dumped into it. Since then, a huge public investment has been made to cleun up the lake. But it will all be wasted if a proposed development in Fitchburg is allowed to endanger its waters once again."
Click here to read more. |
The Capital Times
Well-known environmentalist and former WI Assembly member Spencer Black wrote an opinion piece called "Speak up now to protect Waubesa Wetlands," concluding with "There are alternative places to site new housing and offices. What we don't have is an alternative for the biological richness of the Waubesa wetlands."
Click here to read more.
Former Fitchburg Alder Bill Horns then got into the discussion with his letter defending the Northeast Neighborhood proposal. Here's his letter, titled "FItchburg is watching out for Waubesa Wetlands."
This was swiftly followed by my letter, which states, "Politely listening to wetland scientists is not enough — city leaders need to be willing to change their plans to avoid damaging the natural resources that make Dane County such a great place to live."
Click here to read more. |
 Cal DeWitt
Video image by Matt Hill |
Views from two wetland scientists
Professor Cal DeWitt then wrote to the Cap Times, concluding with these words: "The far northeast corner of Fitchburg, including its prime agricultural land and the wetland area within it that has been put into agriculture, should have its landscape functions restored. It should not become a new Urban Service Area but enhanced for the ecosystem services it once provided, and can again."
Click here to read more. |
 Dr. Joy Zedler
Video image by Matt Hill |
And Dr. Joy Zedler, Aldo Leopold professor of restoration ecology and a botany professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also wrote in response to Bill Horns, pointed out that current regulations just aren't doing the job.
"If regulations and enforcement were adequate, downstream waters wouldn’t be so weedy and lakes wouldn’t be so green." ...
"Nor is it enough for regulations to call for reduced nutrient loading when the downstream wetlands are vulnerable gems. Cutting discharges in half would still threaten the Waubesa wetlands."
Click here to read more. |
Views from two very different Fitchburg officials
Fitchburg Alder Steve Arnold, who chaired the committee that came up with the Northeast Neighborhood Plan, wrote a letter titled "Why Fitchburg's expansion plans should be rejected." Among many other reasons, he states: "If both urban service area extensions are approved, Fitchburg will have the maximum permitted supply of development land under former population projections. Yet the state has recently lowered growth estimates for Dane County by a third."
Click here to read more.
And then just today Fitchburg Mayor Shawn Pfaff published a letter titled "Fitchburg is prepared for responsible growth."
Click here to read more.
Nobody's had a chance to write a rebuttal yet, but really, he doesn't give any reasons as to why these two extensions are needed at this time. He just riffs on the theme "we are good planners, we're careful, we really care about the environment." He does not answer any of the objections brought up by myself, Steve Arnold, Cal DeWitt, Spencer Black, or Joy Zedler. |
 The southern end of Lake Waubesa, looking northwesterly towards the Northeast Neighborhood.
Photo © Nadia Olker |
Thank you for helping in whatever way you can. Together we can protect the lands and waters that make our home region so great!
Yours,
Phyllis Hasbrouck
Chair of the West Waubesa Preservation Coalition
P.S. Please choose at least one of the 6 actions possible to save the Waubesa Wetlands and excellent farmland. Click here for the 6 options!
www.westwaubesa.org
westwaubesa@gmail.org |
Tips and talking points: the story in two nutshells
We are trying to stop two proposed developments from happening at this time. The reasons are both financial and environmental. Since Fitchburg already has 7 areas (1125 acres) within its current Urban Service Area that are empty and ready for development, it makes no sense to open another two areas for development, burdening the taxpayers with two more sets of infrastructure to maintain.
(If this is your first e-newsletter from us and you need some background on the issue, click here to access our brochure. And click here to see our 3-minute animated video!)
Our previous newsletter from May has a summation of the water-related concerns about these two proposed expansions. (You need to stick to those reasons when talking to CARPC.) Just click here and scroll down past the signature. |
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