Present at the meeting were: Sue Reindollar, Paul Beckett, Ken Doran, Brian Osborne, Char Thompson, Darin Burleigh, Amy Kinast, Tony Fernandez, Steve Siehr, Kris Schutte, Laura Brown, and Susan Daugherty.

1. The path officially opens Sat. July 28 with an informal bike ride along the path from Arrowhead Park in Fitchburg (the southern terminus) to Breese Terrace (the northern terminus). Mayor Sue Bauman and County Exec Kathleen Falk plus path leadership and designers will lead the ride with stops along the path to cut the ribbon and enjoy refreshments. See the DMNA web site www.dmna.org for the specific itinerary.

2. Six volunteers are pulling ragweed along the corridor, trying to gain some control over the spread of pollen before the plant blooms. Plants have been marked with white ribbon and signs for those who aren't sure what ragweed looks like. In the spring more work needs to be done on such noxious weeds as garlic mustard, burdock, reed canary grass, and Japanese knotweed. Sue Reindollar will put noxious weed information on the DMNA web site.

3. Tony Fernandez presented the City Engineering maintenance plan for the path. He will develop a maintenance map which will show four levels of maintenance:
   1. Frequent mowing (10 day to 2 week intervals) 5 ft. on each side of the path

   2. Infrequent mowing once a year to prevent woody plant growth, primarily in ditch bottoms

   3. No maintenance or only as needed, ex: fallen tree

   4. No maintenance or cooperative maintenance in areas being maintained by neighbors or groups

   The city will work with neighborhoods where the neighborhoods are maintaining an area, such as the Odana entrance prairie planting. The Friends of the Southwest Bike Path is encouraged to develop planting guidelines.

   The city's maintenance plan must be kept as simple as possible, with priorities given to drainage and visibility. The grass will be maintained along the 5-ft. shoulders, ditch bottoms and a couple feet up the sides of ditches, and high traffic areas at access points.

   Overhanging tree branches that present a hazard will be trimmed. City Forestry should be called, as needed, to clear fallen trees. Some areas will be left "natural" and other areas could be maintained by adjacent owners or neighborhood associations partnering with the city. The path will be treated, in general, like a street right of way.

   A 6-8 ft. swath will be plowed in the winter. The green posts will guide the plow.

4. The city is in the process of developing a policy on encroachments on the right of way.

   In general, goals of this policy will be:

   • To encourage private stewardship of land within the public corridor to the extent that it enhances public enjoyment of the path and does not harm the function of the path or the ecology of the area.

   • To preserve the integrity of the corridor for possible future rail use in accordance with the City's agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the owner of the land.

   • To discourage or prohibit actions which have the effect of appropriating public land for purely private use or enjoyment.

   • To prohibit any uses within the corridor which interfere with the operation or maintenance of the path, compromise the safety of path users or result in undue liability concerns for the City.

   • To respect historical communities and neighborhood interests in the corridor and honor specific commitments to property owners made during the planning, design and construction of the path while being fair to all adjacent property owners.

   This policy will likely be very restrictive compared to the past, when encroachment rules were rarely enforced. Fences existing before the corridor was surveyed will likely be grandfathered in. However, all new fences need to be within the property lines. Any replacement of existing fences must be the same height. For example, if the fence were only 3-4 feet high, the replacement could not be higher, such as a 6-foot fence. All people who do have fences will have to have a permit so they can't claim adverse possession.

   The city still supports planting and terracing beyond property lines and encourages stewardship with the city. Neighbors should not pile compost in the right of way as they may have done in the past. Instead, they should follow city guidelines concerning waste disposal.

5. Tony encouraged Friends of the Southwest Path to reach out to all areas along the path, particularly areas which are not currently represented. The City would like to form a cooperative relationship with the "Friends" as a liaison to all the neighborhoods in regards to maintenance and other path issues. The City will mow all the right of way in the areas south of the Beltline, including the Allied Drive area until there is a neighborhood effort for stewardship there.

6. Westmorland Neighborhood Association has proposed a neighborhood sign at the Odana entrance. At the meeting the Friends of SW Path discussed the issue at length and voted not to object to Westmorland's proposal, with the proviso that Westmorland should not (in the opinion of the Friends) use the lower portion of their sign for advertising future events in their neighborhood, citing a distraction for motorists who should be watching for traffic coming from the path at the junction with the new traffic island. Dudgeon-Monroe will consider a sign in the area on their side of the trail; the sense of the meeting was that DMNA might or might not want a sign, and we should wait and see how the area looks after landscaping.

7. There is a need for an access point through the Odana Golf course parking lot, which already receives heavy usage. Tony agreed that the issue should be discussed again and City Engineering supports the access. However, City Parks does not support it. Laura Brown suggested one-way vehicle traffic into the parking lot and diagonal parking as a solution.

8. Other business: Ken Doran discussed the potential graffiti problem on the retaining walls. It was not clear whether the walls had already been coated with the finish that would help clean up and prevent paint from adhering to the wall. Laura Brown and Sue Reindollar offered rooted cuttings of either native vines or Boston Ivy which would grow either up or down the walls and discourage graffiti.

The next meeting of the Friends of the SW Path is scheduled for Sept. 11 (the second Tue. of the month) in the Dudgeon Center Commons Room at 7:00-9:00 p.m. Paul Beckett agreed to be the organizer for this meeting.

Meeting notes submitted by Sue Reindollar

http://www.dmna.org/bikepath/bike_friends_minutes_072401.shtml
Last Modified: 03-Feb-08 05:53 PM

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