Momentum has been building in recent months for the Yahara River Parkway. The Yahara River Parkway committee has been meeting for several years and has recently released a draft master plan. On April 4 a meeting was held to solicit public input for the plan, and on April 18, the Urban Open Space Foundation in collaboration with the Forum Design Team sponsored a Yahara River Parkway Public Forum. This issue of the newsletter will focus on this bold vision for Tenney-LaphamÍs eastern boundary. The following is from the draft master plan.

The Yahara River Parkway is a community-wide resource. On the easterly end of the isthmus is a mile long, linear section of the Yahara River connecting Lake Mendota to Lake Monona. This is the only segment of the Yahara River to traverse an urban setting in Madison. The Parkway provides many unique opportunities for stewardship and transformation of this precious recreational resource so close to so many people. The Park was created in the early 1900's under the sponsorship of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association. The main emphasis was on creating open space with paths and carriage trails to enjoy views and vistas of the river and the lush plantings along the way. The ideals of health, beauty, and democracy of the 19th-century park movement were embodied in the goals of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association. The Association's legacy is still shaping our ideas of the park though they have been translated into our 20th-century vocabulary. The Yahara River corridor will be planned with that legacy and spirit in mind.

In 1996, Money magazine rated Madison the number one American city in which to live because of the many attributes available to the citizens; like bicycle and walking paths, water-oriented recreational opportunities, views of lakes, safety, friendliness, well-defined neighborhoods, and many others. The Yahara River Corridor potentially embodies many of the qualities people find charming and attractive about Madison. The Planning effort will set a course in transforming and enhancing this area into a recreational jewel. It will also seek to add compatible housing and commercial developments into the existing neighborhood over the next ten to fifteen years.

Why this renewed focus on the Yahara River Parkway? While citizens, civic groups, landscape architects, and urban planners have suggested planning concepts for the Yahara River Parkway for over a century, the Yahara River Parkway Concept Plan had its most recent beginnings in the 1994 Marquette-Schenk-Atwood Neighborhood Plan and the 1995 Tenney-Lapham/Old Market Place Neighborhood Plan. Both neighborhood plans identified the Yahara River Parkway corridor as a priority planning area and recommend a comprehensive study to identify potential ways to enhance the Parkway as an aesthetic, recreational, and social asset to neighborhood and City residents. In addition, both plans emphasize the importance of enhancing the Parkway as an environmental and historic asset. Perhaps most importantly, both plans highlight the need to provide safe and convenient bike and pedestrian connections between all of the adjacent east isthmus neighborhoods, the Yahara River Parkway, and a user-friendly network of public parks. As both plans suggest, the key to making these connections is the Yahara River Parkway itself - a natural cross-isthmus connector between neighborhoods.

In July 1995, the City of Madison Common Council acted on the recommendations of these neighborhood plans by authorizing the creation of the Yahara River Parkway Ad Hoc Steering Committee (YRP Committee) to prepare a concept plan for the Yahara River Parkway in partnership with the Department of Planning and Development. After accepting nominations from citizens and community leaders, the Mayor appointed 10 YRP Committee members to seek extensive input from citizens and guidance from past planning efforts in developing the Yahara River Parkway Master Plan.

The planning philosophy and approach to the Yahara River environs fall into three basic concepts. These concepts were used throughout the plan process.

1) The plan will stay true to the spirit of the original plan developed in the early 1900's for the parkland.

2) A comprehensive approach will be utilized by integrating the open space, pedestrian/bike/vehicular circulation with land uses that will contribute and enhance the character and quality of the existing neighborhoods.

3) Encourage public participation to ensure the plan is representative of the wishes of the citizens and three adjacent neighborhoods.

(This article was excerpted from the Yahara River Parkway and Environs Draft Master Plan, March 1998)


Back to the May/June Table of Contents