March 23, 2019
For Immediate Release
Date: 3/26/2019
Press Contact: Catherine Jagoe
Phone: 608-620-5850
Email: nonewstadiuminfo@gmail.com
Edgewood High School Game Schedule Begins March 26
MADISON, WI. (March 22, 2019) — Despite being notified by the City of Madison that competitive use of Edgewood High School’s athletic field violates the 2014 Campus Master Plan, the High School has posted a practice and game schedule for spring 2019, with 35+ competitive events scheduled for multiple sports. Games start March 26. The City has advised Edgewood that playing games on the field will trigger a notice of violation and further enforcement action.
In January, Edgewood High School requested an indefinite postponement of its proposed Master Plan amendment to construct a 1,000 seat stadium with amplified sound and lights. On February 22, it informed its supporters of a change of approach, saying that it intended to go ahead and install amplified sound and lighting on the field this spring, claiming that these do not require an amendment to the Campus Master Plan.
“I was alder when the master plan was adopted,” wrote former District 13 Alder Sue Ellingson in an October 29, 2018 letter to the City of Madison Plan Commission. “Edgewood’s current proposal to put a stadium in that location is a betrayal of that process and the trust the neighbors and Edgewood had in one another. A stadium with regular sporting events means lights, hundreds of people, cars parking everywhere, marching bands, and, worst of all, amplified sound. Amplified sound means you hear the event like it’s taking place in your living room. There is no escape.”
On February 22, in response to Edgewood High School’s application for a permit to install lights, City Zoning Administrator Matt Tucker wrote that “it would appear that the intended use of the facility as outlined in your letter to the “Edgewood Family”...would conflict with the approved 2014 Master Plan for the site, which limits use of the facility to ‘team practices, physical education classes’...Issuance of any lighting permit under MGO sec.10.085 does not change the City’s position that the use of the facility under the master plan is limited to ‘team practices, physical education classes.’”
“Edgewood High School is intentionally choosing to bypass the public input process with the City of Madison Plan Commission by applying separately for lights and sound,” says Marie Trest. “They have scheduled games to be played on the field, despite being told by the city that this would be in violation of the zoning code and result in enforcement action.”
About No New Stadium
No New Stadium is a grassroots organization of hundreds of neighbors who oppose Edgewood High School’s proposal to build an outdoor stadium with lights and amplified sound on its Monroe Street campus. The group was formed in October 2018. Learn more at nonewstadium.org.
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