Friends of McDermott Park Work on a Vision for the Park

Nancy Sondergard, the spokesperson for the Friends of McDermott Park was on Between the Lines with Greg Stensland this morning.  In the interview she spoke about how the Friends' will go forward and work to improve the park.

Listen to the interview by clicking HERE

WLA Decides to Discontinue Lease Negotiations for McDermott Park

This morning, spokesperson, Rev Boggs, told Greg Stensland on Between the Lines that WLA will not continue lease negotiations with the City of Fond du Lac for McDermott Park.

Listen to the interview HERE

The Fond du Lac Reporter also has an article.  Read it HERE

Join Our Mailing List

You can join our mailing list by signing up via the sidebar or by sending an email to preservemcdermott@gmail.com.  Please put your name in the email and we will add you to our mailing list.

Thanks for your interest in McDermott Park!

City, WLA Should Void Lease - Opinion Piece in FDL Reporter

You can read the latest opinion piece in the Fond du Lac Reporter by clicking HERE

Take a Walk Through McDermott Park!

Visions for McDermott Park

Today, Tuesday, August 18, Nancy Sondergard was a guest on Between the Lines with Greg Stensland.    They talked about an alternate vision for McDermott Park.  You can listen to the program by clicking HERE

The Power of Parks

Friends of McDermott Park on Between the Lines with Greg Stensland

Greg Stensland of WFDL interviewed Nancy Sondergard today on Between the Lines.   Nancy is the leader/spokesperson for the Friends of McDermott Park.

Click HERE to listen to the program.

Overlay Map of Leased Areas

Below is a map that shows the July 2015 proposal from WLA.  This is the most recent proposal.  On this map you can see the two areas of McDermott Park that are under consideration.  The area surrounded by the red dotted line is the area that is subject to the new 50 year lease agreement.

The yellow dotted lines surround the area that is the subject of the 2005 lease agreement that runs for 30 years.  There is much more to this 2005 lease agreement.

The city wrote the 2005 lease in return for an easement across the northern portion of WLA's property.  The city needed this easement because land in McDermott Park was to be used for a treatment plant.  The lease went into effect June 1, 2005.  By July 1, 2005, the city had abandoned the McDermott Park treatment plan.  Yes, one month after the effective date, the easement was no longer needed.  For that the city gave up 30 yrs of rights to this 1 acre of McDermott Park.  You can read more on this time period by clicking here.

Park Watch Fond du Lac - Statement Regarding McDermott Park

July 30, 2015


Park Watch believes that before any changes are made to the topography of
McDermott Park it needs to be evaluated by an engineer familiar with extreme
rain events. Residents of the area report that the park was significant in
flood mitigation during the 2008 rain event. Other parks including the
Greenway Arboretum absorbed high amounts of flood waters and helped to
protect homes that are near the many waterways in Fond du Lac. This is a
very important function for Fond du Lac green spaces since the entire
community is built on a marsh. (This statement was created and presented to
Park Watch members before the recent revelation that indeed this park is
important to flood mitigation efforts.)

After the evaluation has been made by a credible and qualified engineer, the
report needs to come back to the City Council for a final vote. It is not
acceptable for an appointed city staff person to have the final decision on
whether or not the changes to the landscaping will go forward. This decision
belongs to elected officials who the citizens are able to hold accountable
in subsequent elections.

Generally Park Watch members believe that our green spaces should be
preserved for all the citizens.

We find creating more baseball diamonds in the city a waste of effort. The
most recent Recreation Plan 2015 to 2020 on page 30 lists the "Recreational
Demand & Needs by Facility - 2013." This list states that the demand for
baseball diamonds is 8 and we have 10 in the City of Fond du Lac; softball
diamond demands are 8 diamonds and we have 11. Also important to note is
that there are two baseball diamonds managed by Fond du Lac Youth Baseball
that are locked and not being used.

Park Watch was founded in 2005. Our Mission Statement is as follows:  Park
Watch is a citizen group concerned with preserving and restoring natural
habitat on public lands in the FDL area and improving access to nature
through education and trails. We have a mailing list of over 30 people who
are kept informed of local issues that concern our natural habitat on public
lands.

Laura P. DeGolier
Chairman, Park Watch of Fond du Lac

27 July 2015 Advisory Parks Board Meeting Summary

27 July 2015 Advisory Parks Board Meeting Summary

Below is a written summary of the July 2015 Advisory Parks Board Meeting. This is the segment before the public comments. Thanks to Greg Stenslands Between the Lines program, you can listen to the public commments here.

The 27 July 2015 Advisory Parks Board meeting started with a statement by Jordan Skiff, the Director of Public Works for the City of Fond du Lac. He stated that there were two significant considerations that caused WLA to not present a revised proposal at the meeting.

The first significant consideration was the 2005 lease between WLA and the city. The current copy came from a search of WLA files. The city has not been able to locate a copy in their files.  This answers our questions about why the lease is not dated or notarized.  An offical copy has not been located.   He stated that with staff turnover at the city and WLA, locating documents has been hard. 

 He described the area under the lease as a 60 ft wide x 750 ft long strip. (See the map below that shows this area, it is the red strip on the east property line of McDermott park, in the legal description with the 2005 lease it is about 1 acre of the park)  He said the city likely approached WLA because the city needed an easement across the WLA property for the proposed water mixing plant that was to be located in McDermott Park, but it was never built. He said WLA clearly got something out of the lease.

The second consideration is the floodway. He showed the floodway and the flood fringe on a map and described how a floodway acts in an event. (Below you will see a flood plain map of the area.  In our map the floodway is blue and the flood fringe is tan.) 

Basically, water moves in a floodway. In the flood fringe, the water pools; it is more like standing water. You can understand the importance of this distinction if you think about what you want to have happen when you have a flood. You want the water to move out. The floodway is where this occurs. 

The performance of the floodway is very very important during a flooding event. That is the pathway to get water out so you do not have more flooding. Because it is the pathway for the water to leave, there are special restrictions on the floodway areas. As Mr Skill stated: The land elevation cannot be raised more than 0.01 ft. (Well, you can do that, but you must compensate by lowering somewhere on the property to replace what you have altered. This is very expensive and highly unlikely for McDermott Park)  Mr Skiff said there are options for the flood fringe area and WLA and their engineers may be looking at that.

Mr Skiff then addressed “How we got here.” In a previous discussion with staff on both sides (none of who were involved in the current discussions) there was another plan. (This is shown below. The time stamp on the photo says 7/24/2011, we are calling this the 2011 proposal) When they started talking about a year ago, this was a document they looked at.  He was concerned about how spread out it was and he asked WLA to compress the plan. Unfortunately, they didn't consider the floodway.

He also wanted residents to know that any construction will have to comply with the storm water code. Not only is quantity an issue, runoff quality is important as well. Usually a wet pond is constructed and solids have a chance to settle out before the water goes into the storm water system. 

 Mr Skiff ended his presentation by saying the ball is in WLA's court. Then he took questions from the board.

Board member Block asked if the floodway can be recreated in the flood fringe.  Mr Skiff said yes, but it is very expensive and most unlikely here. 

 She asked if field #2 was fenced in the earlier proposal. (2011, this is the northern most field, it is right by the parking lot) He said they did not get that far in the discussion. 

 She asked if the proposed south parking lot was in the flood area? No it is not. At this point, Mr Skill moved the illustration so the 121 stall parking lot was visible.

Board member Eischeid asked about section #3 in the lease. Is WLA the sole user of the parking lot if it is built? Mr Skiff said that would be his reading but he would follow up with the city attorney. He said the lease is broadly written and does not protect either party very well. 

 He mentioned that Mr Brossenboek was under the impression that the public had the right (not just the opportunity) to access the baseball field. The lease does not seem to grant this right.

Mr Eischeid asked about section #14: does it mean WLA would have to remove a parking lot in 2036 if they built it? Mr Skiff said, yes, but he also thought the DPW could have it remain and the city would take it over. Mr Eischeid also confirmed that there is no renewal language.

At this point, Mr Skiff said that city staff had hoped before the floodway issue came up to find a way to make the new lease work with this 2005 lease and that they would try to make them compatible.

Board member Dennis asked if the city had alternate plans for McDermott Park. Mr Skiff said they do not. There is nothing in the capital improvement plan. He said all the citizen interest expressed about the WLA lease proposal might make them take a look at it. He said there had been a question about why the city did not do the improvements to the ball fields and lease back to WLA.  City Manager Moore has stated there is no need in the city for the ball fields, and that is correct.  The city has plenty of ball fields. 

Mr Skiff talked of meetings he had with Dr Clements and Ms Sondergard. He said Dr Clements was interested in a path that would connect with other parks and the Agnesian paths. He said Ms Sondergard had neat ideas, but he felt all of those could be put in the northern area of McDermott park that was outside of the WLA lease area.

Next, Principal Dave Schroeder of WLA spoke. He said they were notified by the city on Thursday, July 23rd of the floodway issue. They told their supporters they did not need to appear at the meeting and that might explain why there were mostly people opposed to the WLA proposal at this meeting. He said they had met today with the city about the floodway issues. They will go to their Executive Board and their General Board. Those meetings are this Thursday (7/30/2015) and next Monday (8/3/2015) and they will keep in touch with the city.

Board member McCready asked if the city got an easement for the piece of land in the 2005 lease? The question was asked of board member Kiefer as he was the Superintendent of Parks at the time. He said, yes, the lease was in exchange for the easement, but the city never used the easement. The easement still exists.

Board member Eischeid asked if WLA could extend their existing parking lot 60 ft to the east. Mr Schroeder said that was part of their revised proposal, but they are revising this again.

Mr. Eischied said he had asked for the emails sent to city council members about McDermott park. He took those roughly 80 emails and signatures on the petition against the proposal as well as the people speaking at the last parks board meeting and his tally was 75 in favor and 188 opposed.

Board Member Block asked if WLA could build a parking lot right now on the 60 ft strip with city approval. Mr Skiff said they could with his approval.

At this point, the public spoke. You can hear those comment here http://www.radioplusinfo.com/episode/7-28-mcdermott-park/

At the end of the meeting, City Clerk Margaret Hefter said that the City Council resolution approving the execution of a lease with WLA was found. She would email that to anyone who wanted it.  That resolution will be addressed in another post. 

2005 Lease between WLA and the City of Fond du Lac

Included in the July 27, 2015 Advisory Parks Board Agenda packet was a lease executed in 2005 between WLA and the city of Fond du Lac.  Below you will find that lease.

Several things about this document are interesting. 

1. It is not dated or notarized.  
2. The lease was executed because the city needed an easement to cross the north end of  WLA's property.  This easement was for a utility pipe that was needed for the proposed surface water blending plant that was slated for McDermott Park.  This plant was never built due to opposition by neighbors and other citizens.   
3. This explains why the current ball field at WLA extends into McDermott Park.  The west side of that field is in McDermott Park.  The lease essentially gives WLA rights to a 60 ft wide by 750 ft long piece of McDermott Park.  That is about 1 acre of the park.   Click here to see another post with a map of McDermott park and this leased area.
4. Section 2a of this lease gives WLA the ability to build a parking lot in that area with only the approval of the Director of the City Department of Public Works.
5. Citizens have noticed that WLA has a sign next to the tennis courts on McDermott Park property.  This sign is a concern because there is not an official sign on the south end of the park showing that this is McDermott Park.  

July 24, 2015– Jordan Skiff Memo

The last public meeting concerning the proposal for WLA to lease McDermott Park was the Advisory Parks Board Meeting on Monday, July 27, 2015.  Before a board meeting, the agenda for the meeting is posted on the city's website in the calendar section. Click here to see the packet for the July 27^th meeting. https://www.fdl.wi.gov/cofuploads/Park_Board_Agenda_Packet_0032.pdf

We watched for this posting and it finally came late in the day on Friday, July 24^th. Below you will find the memo from Jordan Skiff, the Director of Public Works included with the agenda. This document changed the focus of the Advisory Parks Board Meeting.

In this Memo, Mr Skiff revealed two things.

First, the city now realizes that part of McDermott Park is in a “floodway” This designation would make it very difficult for WLA to proceed with it's planned ball diamond improvement. We don't really know what WLA's engineering plan is for the park, but everyone is assuming they would raise the ball diamond area. That would not be allowed in the floodway, or if it is allowed, it would involve a very expensive engineering solution to preserve the floodway in the event of a flood.

The second item revealed in the memo was the existence of a lease between WLA and the city that was executed in 2005. That lease was also attached to the Advisory Parks Board Agenda. Click here to read more about this2005 lease. This was the first time a copy of this lease was produced.