Phil Lewis, "retired" Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture, shares with us a revised version of the comments he recently submitted regarding Ruekert-Mielke's proposed "Northeast Neighborhood" Plan. [Emphasis and clarification in brackets are mine.] -- Terry
To Ruekert-Mielke and Fitchburg's Planning Commission:
The option to integrate the two plans (on the rail corridor) of Kelly and Wall appears to be taking shape. Truly high-density economically viable development at this location should be considered. A design providing opportunities for such high-density development, starting with a foundation framework than over time can be added to as demand for more facilities increases, is required. Such a design could also assure that future development would occur over first-phase surface parking lots. Ideally, such a design would look to underground parking now and in the future.
Based on information presently available to me, development of the Sveum property [in the Northeast Neighborhood] should be postponed until the necessary transit-oriented density on the rail corridor is achieved. This requires a major effort by all to improve and utilize the rail corridor for transit. Consideration should be given to moderate-density adjacent to high-density development and organic food production opportunities should be pursued (see Sveum property) along with E-Way expansion at this time. I have presented such ideas publicly on a number of occasions.
I have also noted that a large percentage of the people in Dane County live within one mile of a rail corridor and Fitchburg has a grand opportunity to put into practice the kind of development that supports mass transit and higher liveable densities, that provides greater amenities for daily living, local food production, preservation of natural and cultural resources, and avoids mindless sprawl.
Since a high percentage of Dane County people live within a corridor, one mile either side of a rail line, and since this percentage uses electricity, doesn’t it seem reasonable to locate proposed new [ATC] transmission lines within this rail corridor, placed within or attached to higher density structures, or beneath them, as is possible in Fitchburg? As part of urban structures (easily accessible for repair, less susceptible to weather and other damage, grounded to eliminate stray voltage problems, and well insulated for protection of their surroundings), electricity for magnetic induction motor propelled personal rapid transit or other applications with minimal line losses would be available. Towers that unnecessarily disrupt our magnificent landscape would not be needed.
Philip H. Lewis, Jr.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Fitchburg's Grand Opportunity
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Phil Lewis - Workin' on the Railroad
You gotta love that title! On July 26, 2007, I had the pleaure of attending this presentation by retired UW Professor Emeritus, Phil Lewis who just completed his 57th year of focusing on "Regional Design," a study that requires an understanding of how communities in the region fit in harmony with the values and visions of its people. Other first-time and repeat attendees included members of the Fitchburg Planning Commission, city staff and others.
Phil Lewis (Photo by Steve App, State Journal)
Over a few posts, I will share some of what I learned about his regional designs especially for the southern part of Wisconsin including Fitchburg. The City of Fitchburg website has downloadable PDF files (here) containing slides from his Powerpoint presentation some of which I will include in my articles.
Fitchburg and all of Dane County has a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of Professor Lewis’ decades of research and design in our region. And I hope that more people are able to hear his ideas and discuss his visions for the future.
If you want to skip ahead and read about Professor Lewis' ideas for Greentech Village and the Northeast "Neighborhood" in Fitchburg, click here.
Regional Design is crucial to Goals and Visions
From Professor Lewis’ slideshow introduction:
"The use of regional design to reflect and enhance natural, social, and economic resources indigenous to a given region maximizes the existing strengths of that region... Regional design is required to make good comprehensive and transportation plans, and is deeply involved in landuse planning of all kinds... Regional design provides the designation of the proper frameworks, and the organization and methods of interpretation of available data for the development at any scale…
Development issues and the transportation and energy crisis bring regional design to the forefront. We no longer have the luxury of permitting any development scheme to proceed without determining regional goals and visions as well as the forms which they will take.
Although considerable time is required for the actualization of ‘big picture’ plans… their utility and worthiness is clear. They provide a long-term context within which to identify and evaluate short-term opportunities.”
Regional Design should precede Planning
Unfortunately, Regional Design doesn’t always precede Planning as it should. Design concepts begin by identifying all natural and cultural features you want to protect and enhance. They also look for regional patterns and identify 3D concepts for how to build higher, livable densities without destroying critical, life-sustaining systems. This certainly sounds like the right place to start.
Once the Regional Design is complete, Planners use "democratic, social, political, and economic tools" to implement the overall design. As you would expect, for best results, Regional Designers and Planners should work together with feedback between them.
Unguided growth threatens global life support systems
Professor Lewis took us on a whirlwind tour starting with the broad view (the planet) and eventually focusing in on Fitchburg.
This shouldn’t be news to you, but “Unguided Growth Threatens Global Life Support Systems.” In the U.S. alone, the projected net population increase for 2007 is one person every 10 seconds. The world population is expected to double in the next 30 years. It's hard to imagine the huge impact on all of our systems. But, as Mr. Lewis points out, it certainly elevates our responsibility to future generations.
[Side note: One of my favorite tools for explaining growth rates for populations or anything else is a video by retired Professor of Physics, from the University of Colorado, Dr. Albert Bartlett. Do you think 2 or 3% annual growth is insignificant? Click here and choose Video-Stream.]
With increasing population and diminishing cultural and natural resources, what will the future look like? Phil Lewis believes that part of our challenge is to build in harmony with the area’s cultural and natural treasures and to “urbanize sprawl.” Although this sounds like an oxymoron, it means that future growth will be higher in density to lessen the impact on (at least some of) our natural resources.
How could we do this? Build densely around rail corridors.
Dane County’s Rail Network connects to Circle City
The concentration of light, seen in photographs taken from a satellite at night, shows that every one of the cities and villages in Dane County rose up along the old rail network that radiates out from Madison like a nine-armed (or is it legged?) octopus. (See image from page 4 of the presentation.) 
Most of the people in Dane County are within a 1-mile walk from a train track, yet we no longer transport people by rail. This offers an opportunity for the county and the region.
As the diagram below (from page 17) shows, we are part of a large Circle City network representing one of the 23 “Urban Constellations” identified in the U.S. These groups were formed by connecting cities, with over 20,000 people, in a way that would have the least impact on the nations resources. Circle City covers a 4-state region and its perimeter includes Chicago, Cedar Rapids, Minneapolis, Green Bay and Milwaukee.
Circle City - Major Cities and Rail Lines (page 17)
Dane County sits close to the middle of this ring of growth, situated along one rail line that traverses the state from Milwaukee to Prairie Du Chien and others extending from Madison to Janesville or Rockford before connecting to the circle near Chicago. I can't help but think that it must have been fun to create the enormous 3D model of the entire Milwaukee Road line which occupies a fraction of his immense studio. (See photo below from page 72 of the presentation.)
Approximately 85% of all people in the U.S. live in one of the 23 Urban Constellations. There are 17 million people inside of Circle City constellation, of which, as many as 85% live close to the rail lines. Thus, this large population would be well-served by passenger trains. And not just for commuting but for vacationing as well. For example, one of the scenic, recreational gems inside of the circle is the “Driftless Area,” a vast expanse of unglaciated landscape, in south-western Wisconsin and beyond, that is a valuable but little known natural resource.
The ruggedness of the landscape can be seen in the picture below (from page 21). Imagine getting on a train in Fitchburg and traveling to Lake Michigan or Chicago or perhaps heading toward the Driftless Area and then on to Prairie Du Chien where you board the Delta Queen for a trip to New Orleans (after it recovers). [Pardon the rhyming names... it couldn't be avoided.]
Circle City - 17 Million People (page 21)
Environmental CorridorsAn inventory of natural resources includes water and wetland systems which were crucial to every settlement and steep topography which often meant that timber operations were inhibited making this an area rich with both natural and cultural features. The Driftless Area is a prime example of a huge environmental corridor that should be preserved.
In the 1960s, a major study categorized various landscape features and found that Wisconsin, with its Driftless Area, Northwoods and abundance of lakes and rivers, had 72 different "landscape personalities" compared to only 7 in Illinois. Anyone who has traveled through both states can surely attest to this! In Wisconsin, you need only travel a few miles for a complete change of scenery. In Professor Lewis' studio, you can examine the results of that study represented on a huge map of Wisconsin showing these cherished cultural and physical features. (See picture below from page 41.)
The Wisconsin Landscape Inventory showed that over 90% of the features, (such as trout streams, caves, hiking trails, farmers' markets, museums and marinas, to name a few), fall within the "environmental corridors" identified. Preserving these corridors is one of the goals of Regional Design.
To be continued in Part 2:
Currently, there is building and expansion on some of the richest farmland in the world all the way from Madison to Rockford. How do various growth strategies compare for resource preservation? And how can we use democratic tools, including education, to help protect our remaining resources as the population grows?
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Shape Future with Phil Lewis' Vision
Terry's Carpenter' testimony from Aug. 7th Public Hearing:
I would like to see a 50 year or permanent growth boundary and I believe that this process is not a prediction, as some have said, but an effort to shape the future. I want to pick up on Samuel’s comments. On page 138 of his presentation, Phil Lewis provides examples of his Diverse Density design (see below). This graphic shows high density, mixed-use development right along the rail line. Just below that, is the transition to Moderate density as you get farther away. Farming would be adjacent to the Moderate density area and then lastly, Nature.
On the graphic for page 137 (see below), Mr Lewis shows how this would work, from Greentech Village to the points east, including the NE Neighborhood. You can see the existing rail line running N and S parallel to Syene Rd and the existing E-Way, shown in green, creating a buffer of open space north of this entire area extending all the way from Fish Hatchery Rd on the left to Lussier Heritage Center on the right. There is also a large area of greenspace around Lacy Road at the bottom of the highlighted rectangle that represents Watershed Protection for Swan Creek.
Inside the highlighted rectangle, the leftmost reddish/orange box represents High Density along the rail to about ½ way between the tracks and Hwy 14. Moderate Density is shown as lighter orange and ends at Hwy MM on the east. The yellow area from MM to Larsen Rd shows food production and Fitchburg actually ends there but the map goes on to show the Town of Dunn with a large Natural area extending close to Lake Waubesa.
Although Mr Lewis’ vision is being used in the proposed UGB, for example by focusing on the rail corridor, it is being ignored with regard to the NE Neighborhood. His design shows that everything to the east of Highway MM should be Agriculture and therefore excluded from the UGB and I urge you to remove the NE Neighborhood to accomplish this vision.
I think Mr Lewis would agree that more information is needed to see what impact any development in this area would have on the wetlands, streams, lakes and aquifer. So, portions of the NE Neighborhood that are west of Hwy MM should be included for Moderate Density if and only if they can be shown to cause no threat to Lake Waubesa or its ecosystem.
Phasing is extremely important to the promotion of rail for mass transit. So, I also hope that you will not allow leapfrog development to skip over Greentech Village into the NEN.
Another difference between the current UGB and Mr Lewis’ design is that he excludes large portions from the N/S rail corridor for environmental buffers as you saw on the map on page 137. This is important to allow wildlife, wetlands and streams to flourish and I hope you will designate such environmental corridors to connect natural areas and farmland on the east and west sides of the rail line.
I applaud the emphasis on Mass Transit. And rail seems like the best tool for the long term if we want to reduce our carbon emissions and global warming. Although rapid bus transit might be an interum solution.
I also urge you to seek solutions that will not only protect farmland and other resources but will allow farmers to retire gracefully and help new people begin farming in the urban shadow. We need Purchase and/or Transfer of Development Rights and other programs to empower all farmers, including those whose families settled the Town of Fitchburg. We can’t ignore the fact that our decisions pit neighbor against neighbor as farms fall under different economic rules based on changes to the Growth Boundary. We need to protect farms and respect farmers.
I disagree with some who believe that we owe a profit to land speculators. But, I strongly believe that we owe a decent living and retirement to farmers after their decades of Debt, Sweat and Fears. I hope you will take this into consideration. Thank you
