Why Flood Housing Market, Destroy Farmland & More?

To: Ruekert-Meilke

From: Pat W., Town of Dunn

Please file this in the public comments on the Fitchburg Northeast Neighborhood development.

I live just east of the proposed development and have attended two of the public information sessions. I can't say that I am encouraged by what I have seen. From a very basic standpoint, why in the world would anybody propose to build over 1,400 new homes in a housing market that is in serious decline and by all reasonable accounts, is likely to stay in decline for a long time, if not permanently? The housing market in Dane County is very much overbuilt right now and flooding the market with this many new homes is not a responsible action for the city to take. It is also not a reasonable action for any developer to take. Nobody will gain from such an action, except the developer, and any area residents trying to sell a home will be negatively affected for a long time.

Regarding roads and traffic, I spoke at length with a member of the city council and one of the Ruekert-Mielke associates at the last session. I was amazed at how little understanding they had of basic traffic engineering and how this development would impact existing residents. That, or they simply didn't care. Several very basic questions I asked (pedestrian/bike traffic, rush hour flow/through traffic from Town of Dunn) were met with a shrug of the shoulders or something like, "Well, we'll have to address that in the future." No, traffic and roads need to be addressed before one more dollar is spent in planning. This time, by competent and knowledgeable people and presented by the same.

Another thing that struck me was how, in this age of supposed awareness of sustainability and lessened environmental impact, how the Northeast Neighborhood is just another gigantic, suburban development, with no regard whatsoever for the land or surrounding area. Stormwater runoff into the wetlands, obscene amounts of fresh water being taken from an aquifer in decline, a stated danger to polluting the Nevin Fish Hatchery and most of all, an automobile based lifestyle that depends on fossil fuel and asphalt.

Finally, I can't understand why there is such a push to destroy what little farmland and true greenspace Fitchburg has left. I lived in Fitchburg for nearly 12 years, but moved a few miles east five years ago to Dunn simply because I couldn't believe how little regard the city had for farmland and open space. Now, this monster is being proposed right up on the Dunn line, literally across the road from several nationally recognized prairie and wetland restorations and a world class lake. A true wildlife refuge for sandhill cranes would be paved over. One of your session displays had the audacity to say something like, "We will preserve the rural character of Larsen Road." If rural character includes 1,400+ homes within sight of what is left of the greenspace, somebody needs to check the definition of rural character.

Again, all I am able to gather from what I have seen, is a complete lack of understanding of how this development will affect anything other than Fitchburg's immediate tax base. And how it will make one developer very rich.

It's time to put a stop to the Northeast Neighborhood. Please, give yourself a reality check before this goes any further.