Stoughton
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Courier Hub The
Thursday, September 13, 2018 • Vol. 137, No. 8 • Stoughton, WI • ConnectStoughton.com • $1.25 shopsaintvinnys.com &
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City of Stoughton
Parks plan gets fresh look Public input sought to update city’s five-year plan ALEXANDER CRAMER Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
Karen Warwick plays “Down in the Valley” during Yahara Strummers practice on Wednesday, September 5.
Strummin’ on the Yahara Unified Newspaper Group
Every Wednesday afternoon, the sounds of soft strumming and singing can be heard floating through the hall on the second floor of the Stoughton Area Senior Center. The Yahara Strummers are at practice. The Strummers are a ukulele group that formed in May. The group practices every week, and around eight
to 10 join in the get-together, but the group is always rotating as new members join. Ann Sawyer, the leader of the group, began playing the ukulele in February. She attended a Madison Area Ukulele Initiative (MAUI) lesson program, which eventually led her to bringing an instructor to the senior center for a five-week course that led to the start of the Yahara Strummers.
If You Go What: Yahara Strummers practice When: 1-2:30 p.m. every Wednesday Where: Stoughton Area Senior Center, 248 W. Main St. Info: Call Ann Sawyer at 206-5288 or the senior center at 873-8585
Turn to Ukulele/Page 7
Stoughton Area School District
Committee to seek Stoughton study UW-Extension to explore what makes community attractive SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
After reviewing a recent study on how various Wisconsin communities are a t t r a c t i n g a n d ke e p i n g young families, Stoughton Area school board
members would like one w r i t t e n u p s p e c i fi c a l l y about Stoughton. The idea came from last month’s meeting of the ad hoc city-school board committee, which is tasked with finding ways to attract and retain young families to help boost school district attendance. Randy S t o e c ke r o f U W- M a d i son presented on his study r e l e a s e d i n D e c e m b e r, “Gaining and Maintaining Young People in Wisconsin
Courier Hub
C o m m u n i t i e s ,” w h i c h includes data and information from several state communities near Stoughton’s size. At that meeting, Stoecker suggested rather than attempting to implement a ny s p e c i fi c s u c c e s s e s mentioned in his report, the committee should specifically study Stoughton and its young adults. Committee co-chair Jon Coughlin said at the Sept. 4 school board meeting Stoecker
and the UW Extension are ready to help if Stoughton would like a similar study done. “It’s part of his job to help build studies like this and help understand Stoughton and help understand where we improve,” he said. “Beginning by understanding Stoughton’s capacity to attract and retain young families is a better place for us to
Turn to Study/Page 8
What: Parks plan informational meeting When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18 Where: Fire Dept. training room, 401 E. Main St. Info: stoughtonrec.com
its services. “The needs of our community are changing,” Mayor Tim Swadley said. “Over the years, there’ve been different interests and uses in the parks and we want to make sure we’re on the leading edge of the evolution of the parks system.” In addition to maintaining the city’s current parks and making sure they’re aligned with residents’ needs, Swadley said the city wants the plan to include the kinds of features the public likes and wants more of, like the splash pad recently installed in Nordic Ridge.
A fresh perspective The Parks and Open Space Plan is reworked every five years to guide the city in how to offer parks services, helps plan maintenance and sets goals for how to use park impact fees and budget for land acquisitions. There’s a survey on the city’s website that asks respondents how they use the parks and what their level of satisfaction is with services, in addition to the listening session. “The survey allows us to find out what parks people use and what they use them for and what they like about the parks,” Glynn said. “What do they like to see in the parks? What’s holding them back from using the parks?” After the fall input-gathering session, which has yet to be scheduled, the consultants who are
Turn to Parks/Page 16
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AMBER LEVENHAGEN
When the Nordic Ridge subdivision was being planned more than a decade ago, the city’s Parks and Open Space Plan had already identified a need for more sports fields, as well as a shortage of neighborhood parks. That led to the inclusion of a flat 7-acre area in the southwest-side neighborhood where there now sits a splash pad and a large green area big enough for a regulation soccer field. N ex t s u m m e r, w h e n youth sports leagues start holding games there, it will be due to a process that took into account two long-term plans and input from area residents, park enthusiasts and other stakeholders. And over the next several weeks, the city is working on a similar five-year update. The city uses tools like its parks plan to keep goals and priorities straight, parks and recreation director Dan Glynn told the Hub, including when it’s time to plan future development that might not come to fruition for a decade or more. “Basically, it provides a road map for us for the next five years,” Glynn said. “Our last plan identified a need for additional flat field space for soccer and lacrosse fields, so the developer of Nordic Ridge Park was informed of this need when the park was planned.” As the city begins to update the plan, for 201923, it’s seeking public input, beginning with a survey and following with a listening session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18. It wants to know how residents use the parks, what they like about them, and how the city can improve
If You Go