NE Neighborhood "Plan" is Flawed

Submitted by Terry Carpenter, Fitchburg

The new Ruekert-Mielke Neighborhood Plan for the Northeast Neighborhood (NEN) is flawed in many ways including its name. A “plan” should create a vision of what you want to see happen, not just assume that trends of the past will continue to be the trends of the future, and then figure how to accommodate those trends.

As one example, take this quote from page 11 of the plan:

“The convenience of US Highway 14 will only be enhanced with the addition of the planned interchange at the western edge of the neighborhood, increasing the appeal of the area as a residential location for workers who are employed elsewhere in the Madison metropolitan area.”

Is it the job of the city of Fitchburg to encourage more automobile traffic at a time when global climate change is running amok? Half the country is suffering a drought. The West is experiencing triple digit temperatures. Tropical diseases like West Nile Virus are spreading northwards. And Ruekert-Mielke is enthused about creating a new, car-centered development on farmland. This doesn’t make sense.

Yes, an interchange would make driving from the NEN more convenient, which is precisely why the city should be discouraging it and encouraging mass transit instead. What if they took the $8 million that they’d have to spend on that interchange and put it into rail, buses, bike paths or other more efficient transit? I realize that the interchange is planned as part of Greentech Village but I don’t see how adding an interchange contributes to the green in Greentech. Bikes, rail and other mass transit are green -- highways are not. So, if this interchange can be avoided, it should be. And then where does that leave the Northeast Neighborhood with all that traffic on MM and the now quiet country roads to the east.

I hope Fitchburg's city government will wake up to its responsibility to make changes that will slow global warming before it’s too late. We are responsible for what we leave our children and grandchildren. And we need to start now on crucial and authentic planning that takes new realities into account.

There are many reasons not to develop according to the typical residential/office/retail plan created by Ruekert-Mielke. There are several other options for this land that:

• bring needed education and implementation of local food systems into the area;
• improve runoff problems by restoring and buffering degraded wetlands identified by a UW class study in 2006;
• and promote small-scale farming so that Fitchburg’s future includes a major farming component.

Fitchburg doesn’t need leapfrog development or more houses miles away from its city core. The 2007 Business and Community Guide lists only 4 businesses under Agriculture. While a few additional farms aren’t listed, there is a shortage of locally grown food. The "highest and best use" of this land is a combination of small-scale agriculture, wetlands and parks (or other low impact use) that blends with its surroundings and not only protects but also improves the quality of water, and therefore life, in the entire area.