Stormwater control at Mt. Olive must be improved

The former Mt. Olive Church--proposed site for senior housing.

"A proposed three-story senior citizen housing project on Mineral Point Road is drawing fire from neighbors who say the building would be too big for their quiet neighborhood."  Source

Residents are concerned that the project, to be located on the site of the former Mount Olive Lutheran Church, would

• increase traffic in the area
• be out of character, compared to size of surrounding houses
• increase stormwater runoff.

Stormwater is already a problem in the greenway below, and on University Avenue, where serious flooding occurs. This site--plus two other churches in the area--already make a big contribution to
stormwater runoff from their large parking lots and roofs. 

It's hard to bring these established properties up to modern stormwater standards. But when a property is redeveloped--that's an opportunity for improvement that shouldn't be missed.

A variety of new and effective stormwater controls are available

• green roofs
• rain gardens
• infiltration buffers
• porous pavement

Just downstream from the Mt. Olive property, there's an eroded ravine that is scheduled to undergo costly repairs--in part because of the runoff from Mt. Olive. The redevelopment of the Mt. Olive property should be part of the solution to the problems in the Hillcrest-Upland Greenway.

In order to protect Madison's lakes, and to prevent flooding downstream, the goal should be to retain as close to 100 percent of stormwater on-site.  Unless we use the full toolbox of stormwater controls, residents downstream will be paying the price. And people who love our lakes will be paying the price.

This is where the floods that damaged our ravine came from...

 This property is one cause of the erosion in the greenway, because a large percent of the current property is impervious to rain. Any new development should seek to keep 100% of the rainfall on site.

 More parking areas to the E and N of the Mt. Olive church.

 

 Large piles of snow--waiting for the thaw. Just downstream, spring runoff will cause erosion in the ravine.

 A shallow depression (called a swale) runs through the parking lot--visible here as ice. This swale is one of the upper tributaries of Sunset Village Creek.  Stormwater in this swale needs to be retained on-site.

Slide show on the Mt. Olive property.