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Friday, March 9, 2018 • Vol. 5, No. 1 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1
Senior center introduces memory cafe
Inside Fitchburg Faces debuts Page 2 Spring election April 3
AMBER LEVENHAGEN Unified Newspaper Group
Page 3
Kids section
A Madison-area parent’s guide to everything kids!
t by A 2018 special supplemen
Pages 8-13
Business
Photo by Scott Girard
Some city residents who live directly adjacent to McGaw Park have expressed concerns the proposed plan for some forested areas of the park would take away their privacy and cause stormwater problems on their properties. The Common Council approved the plan for more noncontroversial areas last month, but is seeking more input from the neighbors before approving the entire plan.
Too invasive?
OneNeck, Promega propose expansions Page 15
Sports
McGaw plan would cut down trees, fight non-native species SCOTT GIRARD
Plan goals
Unified Newspaper Group
West swimming wins first team state title in 25 years Section B, Page 1
Schools Security concerns prompt review of new Verona Area High School plan Section B, Page 6
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A plan that would “dramatically” change sections of the city’s largest park is a little too drastic for some neighbors. The Parks Commission’s proposal to clean up the forest areas at McGaw Park has been waiting since December 2016 for Common Council approval, and after more than a year of public outreach, both the commission and council agreed only parts of it were ready. The rest has created a controversy between neighbors of the park and users from other areas of the city. The directly adjacent neighbors claim the plan for areas known as “2, 3 and 4” of the wooded area, which involves removing around 5,000 trees, would lessen their privacy and increase the stormwater runoff their lots get. Other city residents have maintained the overall health of the park should take precedence. McGaw Park has about 30 acres of woodland, much of which contains dead or invasive trees, and under the plan, that area would become a mix of either prairie or savanna with fewer trees. The Common Council approved the two less-disputed sections of McGaw Park Natural Resources Plan PRSRT STANDARD ECRWSS US POSTAGE
• Parks host plant communities such as tallgrass prairie, oak savanna and oak woodland • Multiple opportunities for education and recreation for visitors • Minimize impact to adjoining landowners • Use external funding and partnerships on Tuesday, Feb. 13, to allow work to begin near the park’s entrance and in the southernmost portion of the woodland. It left out the most controversial areas – which include much of the trail areas – after testimony from neighbors and based on an updated recommendation from the Parks Commission on Feb. 1. As some city residents organized a show of public support for the plan at the Feb. 27 council meeting, neighbor Nancy Halford explained why the deforestation would be a problem. “We recognize that McGaw Park is a community park, but we the adjoining landowners have the only skin in the game,” Halford said. “Our property is directly impacted by this plan,
our private wells, our private septic systems, our retaining walls, our basements, our right to sit outside on a summer evening and enjoy a quiet conversation without loud voices, loud music and bright lights shining into our yards from public uses.” While the plan, prepared by Adaptive Restoration LLC in November 2016, includes an objective to “screen” views from the park into neighboring properties, it acknowledges the tree removal would “dramatically change the appearance” of large areas of the park. City forester Anna Healy clarified at the Feb. 13 council meeting that almost all of the trees that would be removed are already dead. “To be perfectly frank, I’m super surprised you (alders) aren’t concerned about the liability of those trees coming down and hurting someone,” Healy said. “There are trees falling down all over the park.” Some city residents who use the park believe getting rid of invasive species and creating a prairie or savanna environment – mostly around the park’s trails – would be a benefit and make the park more usable, they told the council Feb. 27. “I’m really ashamed that so much effort has to be needed to do the right
Turn to McGaw/Page 17
A guest speaker, some snacks and a room full of people who can all relate to living with Alzheimer’s, dementia or general memory loss. That’s a memory cafe, a program that has been growing in popularity in the Madison area in the last several of years. And it’s new to Fitchburg starting this month, designed to help support caregivers and people living with memory loss. Such programs have been around for “a long time,” Bonnie Nuttkinson told the Star. Nuttkinson is the programs and advocacy manager for the Alzheimer’s Association-South Central Wisconsin chapter, which partnered with Fitchburg Senior Center assistant director Dave Hill to bring one here. The first cafe will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, March 15, at the senior center, 5510 Lacy Road. Similar to a support group, the memory cafe is designed to give people with memory loss and early stages of Alzheimer’s a comfortable place to meet new people and relax with their caregivers, friends and family. “They’re a nice, relaxed place where people who are living with memory loss and their care partners can get together and feel safe and be engaged and not have to worry about their memory for a little while,” Nuttkinson said. “They can just be.”
Turn to Memory/Page 19
If You Go What: Memory loss and Alzheimer’s “Memory Cafe” When: 10:30 a.m. every third Thursday of the month starting March 15 Where: Fitchburg Senior Center, 5510 Lacy Road Info: 270-4290
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