D6 Items of Interest Week of July 3, 2023

I hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July holiday.

Fireworks at Breese Stevens Field

I contacted Big Top Events General Manager, Tristan Straub, about the Festival Foods Lights the Isthmus music/food/fireworks event, at Breese Stevens Field on Saturday, July 1st, 2023 after hearing from a constituent concerned about whether the fireworks should be canceled due to recent air quality alerts and the dry conditions. Tristan provided the following written response:

1 - We have been in touch multiple times with the City of Madison Fire Department regarding our plans for this event. They initially permitted the event and they reviewed the event again in the past 24 hrs to assure that the fireworks display could happen safely. They notified us this morning that they feel the event can happen safely and that the event can go on as planned.

2 - The DNR rates each county from a fire safety perspective and Dane County is currently in the 2nd lowest rating of “moderate.” https://apps.dnr.wi.gov/wisburn/#/

3 - We have reached out to Public Health Madison Dane County regarding air quality concerns. Fortunately, the Air Quality Index has dropped dramatically and the forecast looks even better over the weekend. We received the following statement from PHMDC "Aerial displays are launched higher than personal fireworks and thus okay. It is the personal fireworks that tend to concentrate smoke at ground level.” Here are some additional resources PHMDC shared with us: dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/AirQuality/Fireworks.html

4 - I want to reiterate that we take both the fire concern, and the air quality concerns very seriously. In fact, we cancelled a national concert at Breese on Wednesday and we re-scheduled a Mallards game on Wednesday due to the high AQI. We have been and will continue to take these concerns extremely seriously and make sure we are delivering safe community events.

5 - The “fall zone” for the fireworks display at Breese is very small. There is nothing potentially flammable within the fireworks fall zone, which is determined by the Fire Department. As extra due diligence, we plan to water the grass along Brearly prior to fireworks being launched, even though this is mostly outside of our fall zone.

6 - All of our fireworks are commissioned from J&M displays, a professional pyrotechnics company with over 40 years of experience. We have also confirmed they will have plenty of fallout zone spotters with protective equipment and an ample water supply.

7 - In checking with MFD again this morning, we received word that they are not concerned about dry conditions and trust the approved plans.

Quiet Zone update

Several residents living near S Livingston have contacted me wondering when the X%#K@ train horns will stop disrupting their sleep. The city has applied to the Federal Railroad Administration to implement Quiet Zones at Nolen/Willy/Wilson and Livingston rail crossings now that new signals and gates have been installed. According to Asst City Engineer Chris Petykowski the approval process will likely take until 2024. Until then, the conductors are required to sound their horns three times a minute per crossing. Plus be aware that once the QZ is formally approved, the train conductor will have discretion to sound the horn if they determine there is a safety concern. Change is coming, unfortunately slowly. FRA Fact Sheet

Comprehensive Plan Interim Update (2023) Public Meeting, 07/13/2023

The City of Madison is currently working on an Interim Update of its 2018 Comprehensive Plan. The Interim Update is focused on the Generalized Future Land Use (GFLU) map. The Goals, Strategies, and Actions as adopted within the original six Elements of the Comprehensive Plan will not be revised. The City is updating the GFLU map to reflect land use recommendations from neighborhood, area, and neighborhood development plans adopted between summer 2018 and summer 2023. In addition to these administrative updates, the public has the opportunity to propose GFLU map amendments through this online application.

Learn more about the process to revise the GFLU map by reviewing the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. A virtual public meeting has been scheduled for July 13th at 6 p.m. (registration required). Staff will provide an overview of the Comprehensive Plan Interim Update and answer questions.