CEDAR-ISLES MASTER PLAN COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE

AUGUST 23 MEETING UPDATE

By Martin Carlson

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I would rate the final CAC meeting last night at Park Board headquarters as a good one, with the CAC again reaching an admirable consensus on a variety of issues.  While there were some areas of disagreement and some contentious topics unresolved, the group unanimously adopted the reports and recommendations of its three subcommittee/working groups, and hopefully set the stage for a draft final plan that will fairly reflect the actual needs of these parks and the preferences of the community.  The highlights: 

1.  Permanent Restrooms: Rather than a formal vote, the CAC conducted a round robin survey of its members to get their views on permanent restrooms in the parks.  As with previous discussions, a substantial majority of the CAC members supported having at least one per lake in the abstract, but roughly half the members expressed significant concerns about maintenance, operating hours, location, and cost.  Among supporters, the principal argument was accessibility, including a desire for changing tables for infants.  More cautious supporters expressed a desire that if such facilities are built, they should be year-round and unobtrusive.  The preferred locations were the south side of Isles and Hidden Beach on east Cedar.  I’m not sure how the Park Board will reflect this input in the final plan, but if permanent restrooms are included there will need to be credible, fact-based answers on maintenance and year-round use.  

2.  Picnic Shelters: The notion of adding a picnic shelter to each lake was less warmly received by the CAC.  A majority of the group was generally opposed, questioning the need for such structures, the fact that they are readily available nearby in the park system, and the fact that they had been considered and rejected previously after significant public criticism.  As with restrooms, the Park Board’s inability to maintain its current infrastructure was mentioned by several CAC members.  There was majority support for picnic tables, which are less intrusive and flexible.  To the extent shelters are still considered, the preference was for unobtrusive structures made of natural materials, possibly by Hidden Beach and/or the south side of Isles.  Given that shelters were previously rejected and (again) couldn’t command majority support from the CAC last night, I would hope and expect they don’t make it into the final plan.  Not every park needs a picnic shelter.  

3.  Water Quality and Cedar Lake Management: The written reports of the Water Quality Subcommittee and the Cedar Lake Land Management Working Group were unanimously adopted with only minor, non-controversial modifications.  The CAC clearly felt a justifiable sense of pride in the detailed and comprehensive work of these two groups, each of which addressed topics of broad community consensus.  

4.  Circulation Subcommittee: The report of the Circulation Subcommittee was also unanimously adopted.  The critical distinction from the prior two reports was that it was adopted only as accurately reflecting the work of the group, i.e., accepting the report unanimously did not erase or override divided votes on topics like biking through the East Cedar woods or a potential boardwalk on NW Cedar.  On those two points, the division of the group remained evident, but the discussion was thoughtful and respectful.  The question of biking on East Cedar is clearly getting punted to the Park Board, but the CAC broadly expressed a preference for finding a solution to safe bike and pedestrian transit along NW Cedar without a lengthy boardwalk.  We’ll see how this plays out in the final plan, but I would guess the broad public opposition and broad CAC concern would leave the Park Board staff highly motivated to craft a solution that avoids a boardwalk.  

The end of the CAC… and a thank you!  The meeting closed with a unanimous endorsement of the Preferred Park Concept as modified by the CAC in its past several meetings.  No surprise there; totally appropriate.  The CAC has now finished its work, and its members get to move on with their lives.  I hope that we in the community can join together in thanking this group for its impressive hard work over the past several years.  Last night marked the 20th meeting of the group, meaning that it has spent over 40 hours in meetings alone — a major commitment and responsibility for a group comprised entirely of volunteers.  While the master planning process is hardly over, this group has been remarkably responsive to public input, has not hesitated to wade into complicated, contentious topics, and — despite an evident diversity of viewpoints — has reached reasonable consensus decisions on nearly all the topics it covered. Nobody gets everything they want in this sort of process, but we’re clearly in a much better position than we were at the beginning of the year, and we seem on track to emerge with a final plan that accurately reflects the community’s most important priorities and preferences.  While public comment and participation has had a significant impact on the process, the heaviest lifting has been done by this volunteer CAC, and it’s important to acknowledge and appreciate that effort.  Kudos as well to CAC chair Win Rockwell for running such structured and efficient meetings, and for the subcommittee chairs for doing the same; the important decisions got made in a way that was respectful of everyone’s limited time.  I hope we all take a moment to thank the individual CAC members if and when we get the opportunity in the coming weeks.  

So what’s next?  The CAC process is now over, and we now head into another waiting period while the Park Board staff creates its draft final plan.  That document will be released sometime during the winter (probably the early portion), and its release will trigger another 45-day public comment period.  Unlike the prior comment periods, there will not be public meetings, just written submissions (at least until the final vote by the Commissioners).  So, enjoy your time off for a few months, but be ready to sharpen your pencils once the final plan is released.  If we like the final document, we should be prepared to say so, and if we don’t like certain aspects, we should also be prepared to speak up.  I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll like what we see, but it’s every bit as important to speak up in support as to speak up in opposition, so even though we all have some degree of process fatigue, we’ll need to make time to weigh in one final time.