in News

Update: The site assessment has moved to 8:30 AM Saturday.

This project is on the City's Conservancy Lands Commission (CLC) agenda for tonight at 7:45pm, Middleton City Hall conference room b. At issue is how much land, if any, the city may accept as park land in lieu of park fees. The developer has an incentive to dedicate land so they pay fewer fees. The City may not want to accept the land since it will incur ongoing maintenance costs for the area, and their public lands budget is already stretched thin.

The site has some nice oak woods with big trees, interesting topography and the potential for adding at least another 2-3 miles of singletrack to the existing Pleasant View trail system.

Other potential topics of discussion:
-how/whether the developer will mitigate the destruction of existing trail and jump line if the development goes through as currently planned
-what the mitigation ratio will be. 4:1 might be a good start. if 1300' of trail are destroyed, will the developer with plan and build a mile of trail to compensate for the loss?
-if the land is not dedicated to the city, will the developer allow public-accessible singletrack in the outlots.

CLC members and the developer may need to hear:
- the existing singletrack bike trails are an important part of the community
- there are no other bike facilities like this in Middleton
- other benefits of sustainably built singletrack trail
- protecting and restoring the oak woodland and developing singletrack trails is consistent with the goals of the City's Open Space Plan (see page 1-4 of plan)

Link to agenda: http://sire.cityofmiddleton.us/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=998&doctype=AGENDA

Link to CLC open space plan: http://www.ci.middleton.wi.us/DocumentCenter/View/434

We have a BOD meeting tonight so the stewards are tied up with that. Anyone else that can attend the PV meeting would be a benefit.

Yes OakNoll. A real nice post with some good talking points. One thing I would change: Instead of asking if they will allow singletrack if the city does not take the land, I would flip the approach. As in "with a small investment CORP is willing to supervise quality trails being added in these areas, and take on the maintenance of these trails as well. This will add a significant asset and selling point to your development, connecting this area to the existing well used system adjacent."

Also, if this is a high priority meeting I think we should find a way for the Stewards to be in attendance.

Thanks all.

I will try to make both the important CORP board meeting and this meeting. Penni K understands the importance of both.

The co-president of MadNorSki will be representing our interests if I cannot make it on time. That Walter (not ours) was at the important meeting last week. He's got a good sense of how important it is to preserve the outdoor recreation people have enjoyed there as well as good vision for how the neighborhood could be.

Thank you.

WJL

Up at approx 7:15 Monday is discussion and action on the development. I encourage people to attend and support the best options for a silent sports corridor through the neighborhood. You can download information in the agenda link.

http://sire.cityofmiddleton.us/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1005&doctype=AGENDA

FYI this development is not going to happen now. Looks like the land was brought into the City of Middleton and now may be detached back to the Town. Wish it would have happened as they could have been more trails for everyone to use.

So everything is back to square one? Or they won't build which means the existing trails are fine?

So everything is back to square one? Or they won't build which means the existing trails are fine?

2014 ended with phase II single track and flow trail corridor cut. 2015 begins with high hope Aaron will have the help and finances needed to finish it. It will turn Pleasant View into a place with a few miles of riding like other sites, and it goes through some of the neatest terrain around here.

2015 also begins with a fat bike race on there, discussions about cyclocross, and the club house manager interested in catering to the fat bikes.

Let's all support trail steward Aaron, land manger Penni, and club house manager Jeremy. This is all available car free to the whole metro area, and holds a lot of potential. We hope to see the bike at the fat bike event and helping them finish this.

So everything is back to square one? Or they won't build which means the existing trails are fine?

Im not familiar with what is going on with the existing Golf course lands but the property north of the golf is not going to be developed.