Letter to City Officials
Mayor Tom Barrett
Alderwoman Milele Coggs
Alderman Ashanti Hamilton
Alderman Nik Kovac
In the summer of 2008, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee voted to commit $400,000 to create the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum in partnership with the City, the County, the Urban Ecology Center, the River Revitalization Foundation and other private parties. The gift was seen as a remarkable opportunity to preserve and enhance a very valuable community asset—the natural space along the Milwaukee River—and to create a living forest classroom that our grandchildren will be able to enjoy and share with their grandchildren for many generations to come.
The Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum will extend from North Avenue to Locust Street, stretching upward through Riverside Park. It will be bounded on the west by the Milwaukee River and on the east by the Oak Leaf Trail. Wheelchair accessible trails will run through the area, connecting the river trails to the community. The $400,000 contributed by Rotary members is the catalyst for building the partnerships responsible for the project valued at over $5 million dollars.
Rotarians have shown incredibly powerful support for this endeavor. Between mid September and Thanksgiving in the midst of a major recession, over 200 individuals committed more than $400,000 to make this vision a reality.
The Mayor spoke to Rotarians on September 22, 2009 when we kicked off our fundraising campaign and let us know that he, too, shared our vision. He told the Rotary Club:
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to walk this area. I started at Locust Street and came down to North Avenue. It’s an amazing, amazing walk… People have referred to this as central park. I think you could also call it “mental health park” because it really transforms your urban experience in a dramatic way. But as we came south and we neared North Avenue we looked south toward downtown and the beautiful skyline and the condominium developments south of North Avenue, but as you turned north and looked north along the river, you basically didn’t see a building. This is truly unique in a major urban area in this country. That there is a point in our city where you literally have the meeting of a densely urban area and a very rustic sylvan area that is not untouched, but pretty darn close to being untouched. And that is the precious gift that we have here that with your generosity, not only are we going to be preserving but we’re going to be enhancing as well.
It is important to note that our decision to invest in creating the arboretum was made in 2008 within the context of our understanding that the City of Milwaukee was committed to maintaining the vistas that exist along the Milwaukee River. As you know, in May 2007 the Common Council created a temporary study overlay district for the Milwaukee River Greenway—an area that encompasses the future Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum. Per the legislation:
This portion of the Milwaukee River Corridor is predominantly natural and forms an important natural resource, education, and recreational asset for the community. The purpose of the MROD is to permanently protect the area’s existing natural areas along the Milwaukee River primary environmental corridor, floodplains, and river bluffs, and improve public access to this natural resource. These areas are important in protecting water quality, providing migratory pathways for wildlife, and minimizing flooding. It will also study establishing building setbacks, height restrictions and design guidelines for new multifamily residents, multi-lot, and commercial developments in the immediately adjacent neighborhoods that will preserve the natural character of the greenway corridor and view shed, and enhanced guidelines to control erosion and storm water run-off from entering the river.”
The study period is over and it is now time to create the legislative authority to direct the future development of the corridor—legislation that could protect the vistas or create the opportunity for the proliferation of development that would diminish the natural beauty abutting the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum.
We support strong zoning provisions that preserve the natural vistas along and around the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum including height and setback proposals. It is noteworthy that Cambridge Commons, the new UWM dorm on North Avenue, demonstrates that it is possible to develop land near the primary environmental corridor while protecting the beauty within. We encourage the City to take quick action that will complement the Milwaukee Rotary's investment, and will preserve a great asset for generations to come.
Thank you for your consideration. We will be happy to discuss this with you in more detail.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Herd Barber James T. Barry III Mary L. McCormick
President Centennial Arboretum Executive Director
Campaign Chair