June 3, 2019
EHS files appeal
In response to the two violations issued, Edgewood High School’s attorneys have filed an appeal with the Zoning Board. The date of the hearing has not yet been determined, but we will keep you informed. Our supporters have already contributed over $10,000 towards our $15,000 goal to retain counsel as EHS seeks to make a legal case for expanding the field’s use. We are filled with gratitude at the generosity of our friends and neighbors. This is a neighborhood worth protecting. Please consider making a donation to the No New Stadium legal fund.
May 23, 2019
Urgent
NEEDS YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
NNS members have been hard at work on behalf of our neighborhood since last October, researching, strategizing and advocating to preserve its residential character and to hold Edgewood High School to the City’s zoning code. The steering committee has met every week for the past six months. Our members have invested hundreds of hours and their skills and expertise in an effort to counter Edgewood’s paid lobbyists and legal counsel.
Accomplishments include:
funding an independent sound study that proved the negative impacts of noise on adjacent properties and deeper into the neighborhood. It showed that stadium noise would exceed City regulations and cannot be adequately controlled. Our findings prompted EHS to perform a sound study of its own. This study confirmed that even small crowds would create noise in excess of City ordinances. Such noise could be partially mitigated by building a wall, 26’high at minimum, on the Monroe and Woodrow sides of the field; even then, noise levels would be at/above City limits.
developing a presentation of the technical issues for a lay audience, to ensure the members of the Plan Commission and others understand the harms that EHS’s proposal would inflict on the neighborhood.
informing City staff on EHS’s intent to build a stadium via administrative means, bypassing the public process. This resulted in the City rescinding a permit to install lights on the field.
uncovering numerous misrepresentations made by EHS to the City, including the fact that EHS publicly claimed the field was for practices, whilst simultaneously negotiating with the Goodman Foundation to expand use of the field beyond the approved zoning specifications.
documenting Edgewood’s repeated violations of the City’s zoning code. We are submitting evidence to the City every time a game is played illegally on the field. This has led the Planning Department to issue notices of violation that require EHS to stop playing games and seek to amend their Master Plan through the Plan Commission.
Recently, anticipating that EHS would appeal their zoning violation and/or go back to the Plan Commission to seek an amendment to their Master Plan to allow games to be played on the field, the Steering Committee decided to retain legal counsel.
As committed as we are, the time has come to counter Edgewood’s paid counsel and lobbyists with our own professional counsel.
After a thorough vetting process, we retained a prominent Madison firm with significant experience in municipal law to represent the neighborhood’s interests, developing a legal and policy strategy to protect the residential character of our neighborhood from the negative impacts of noise, light and associated effects of a broader use of the field than the current approved use allows. Our attorneys will research, develop and execute a strategy to advance our position through legal and policy channels.
We need your help NOW — legal help is expensive. We have invested a great deal of time, talents and resources. We need to raise $15,000 to ensure we can continue to retain counsel as EHS seeks to make a legal case for expanding the field’s use. To date we have raised $7,550, including generous contributions from each steering committee member.
Please consider making a donation to our legal fund at our GoFundMe page.
Please help. Time is of the essence.
Every dollar counts.
It’s been amazing to see how strong we are together. Thank you for your continued interest and support.
APRIL 30, 2019
FAQs
We have published answers to frequently asked questions here. We welcome ideas from the greater community and draw on the collective knowledge and skills of our neighbors. No New Stadium is growing so please feel free to contribute your ideas and comments.
Thank you for your support.
April 11, 2019
Important Developments
From the No New Stadium Steering Committee
Last week the NNS Steering Committee learned that, after further review by the city attorney’s office, the city has determined that Edgewood’s current Master Plan not only prohibits the playing of games, but also prohibits the installation of lights. This has been the position of No New Stadium all along and we are heartened by the city’s decision to enforce these limits.
We have attached that letter sent by the Office of the City Attorney to Edgewood’s representative, along with a Notice of Violation from the city to Edgewood regarding their illegal use of the site. While there may be additional information we don’t have at this point, our current understanding of the situation is that the city has asked Edgewood to return to the Master Plan amendment process. We will keep you informed.
The DMNA Council recently agreed to participate in conversations with EHS Board of Trustee members within a structured, facilitated format. We appreciate DMNA’s willingness to engage and its continued advocacy in opposition to the stadium.
Where We Stand
While we have been characterized in Edgewood’s literature as a “small but vocal group, a handful of neighbors… attempting to interfere” that is not what we are or who we are. We are an increasingly large group of Dudgeon-Monroe citizens who, pressed by the aggressive efforts of Edgewood High School, have been diligent and tireless in researching every aspect of the effects a stadium would have on our lives, our environment, our domestic and our financial well-being. We have established a factual and scientific basis for our deep concerns.
Our survey and mailing list confirm that there are more than 300 neighbors now actively engaged in opposing the stadium. Our numbers are growing, as is our strength.
The stadium is not right for our neighborhood (or for any residential neighborhood) because it would destroy the livability of our homes: noise, light, traffic, pre- and post event disruption and property devaluation would certainly occur. The proposed stadium is simply too close to residences.
The time has come for neighbors and No New Stadium to develop their own legal strategy and have an advocate to communicate our legal arguments to the city. Visit the No New Stadium GoFundMe! page to donate.
Thank You for Helping
We thank you for staying informed and for continuing to be heard. Your letters to the Plan Commission and to the media, your readiness to testify should hearings or open meetings occur, your conversations with you neighbors sharing insights and ideas… all that you do magnifies the efforts of the Steering Committee beyond measure.
Our commitment to our community and the preservation of our natural environment is reflected in support from Vilas neighbors, Friends of Lake Wingra and Friends of the Park and Pleasure Drive. Our values intersect and mirror those of other civic organizations, as stated in the missions of The Monroe Street Commercial Plan, the Arboretum, Imagine Madison, Madison Urban Design Commission and all those who understand that neighborhoods are the building blocks of our city.
Under every roof in our neighborhood is a unique family, a story, a history of long lives or the beginning of a new story just unfolding. We are right to protect one another.
Continue to Stand Strong with NNS! We will keep you and all of our supporters apprised of any new developments. Watch for updates and stay with us on important changes!
Respectfully,
NNS Steering Committee