Olbrich Park Master Planning

I spent most of last night at a meeting talking about different plans for Olbrich Park. The meetings would have never taken place without some intervention at the previous Park Commission meeting and I'm suspicious that the result, overall, is not going to change despite the intervention of two neighborhoods.

Betty Chewning gave a presentation on an alternative neighborhood plan. Of course the "neighborhood plan" was cooked up by about three people and doesn't really represent the "neighborhood" at all. Instead, it is better to see it as a more "alternative plan" with another set of warts and wrinkles. The problem is that the Parks Commission is under pressure to do something with the Master Planning process so that the Garver Building reuse can continue. The Garver Building reuse is dependent on something good happening with the deed restriction Olbrich Gardens has over that property. Until the deed restriction is lifted, the Garver Building process will not continue. Olbrich Gardens is unlikely to lift the deed restriction until they see a Olbrich Park master plan that meets their needs.

That brings us to the Parks Department. They've failed the neighborhoods in this case and been pretty unresponsive the public input they received from neighborhoods and major user groups. It is still to be seen if they will be responsive as a result of last night's meeting.

Taking recent evidence into account, it seems unlikely that they will be.