By Beth Sluys
Northside News
Now that the beach redesign contest is finished and the Clean Lakes Alliance, Inc. (CLA) has passed the proverbial torch to the City of Madison Parks Division, there is much local conversation about what is to come in terms of the redesign and intentional investment in the beach area at Warner Park. Some of the goals of the CLA’s beach redesign contest were to “allow participants to envision a future for the beach front park area that would be enhanced in terms of water quality, sustainability, community access and placemaking” and to encourage dialogue about how to best “create stronger connections” to area lakes.
There were 26 Warner Park Beach redesign plans submitted, including one by students of Mendota Elementary School (located near Warner Park), with the winning design (awarded in May 2018) called “The Living Edge,” submitted by MSR Design Team of Minneapolis, MN. (Images of all the designs can be found at cleanlakesalliance.org/beaches.)
Now Eric Knepp, superintendent of the Madison Parks Division, will keep the conversations and planning process going with the public so that concepts from the park’s beach redesign are shared and the overall final plan components make the best sense, are practically do-able, and can meet current funding levels ($700,000). “At this point, we are transitioning from a private process to a public process and community engagement is our biggest focus as we move forward,” said Knepp. “The contest did help to create interest in the Warner Park Beach redesign as well as helped raise awareness about other use options besides the traditional Madison lake uses: recreational boating (primarily power boats), beaches for swimming with a lifeguard on duty and fishing. The CLA process brought forward many visionary and aspirational concepts that can spark good conversations, and possibly have some of the design concepts fit into an overall design for the park’s beachfront. Our next phase is public engagement toward the development of a site plan that would show a layering of uses, both traditional and new.”
Madison residents will be invited to public meetings hosted by the Parks Division this fall (September‒November) to determine the ways in which the community wants to engage with the beachfront area of the park and acknowledge that interests in lake uses are changing and multi-faceted.
In addition to the Warner Park Beach redesign, the Warner Park boat launch parking lot is being redesigned, with that work moving forward this year. A public input meeting was hosted in June, and plan revisions based on that input are currently underway. If you were unable to attend the meeting or if you have questions or comments, contact Corey Stelljes, project engineer with the Parks Division, at 266-6518 or cstelljes@cityofmadison.com.
For more details on the boat launch parking lot project, visit cityofmadison.com/parks/projects/warner-park-boat-launch-parking-lot-reconstruction
