Wilson Park’s Concrete Channels Targeted for Removal

Wilson Park Creek. Photo by Milwaukee County Parks.

Milwaukee County Parks and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District (MMSD) are partnering on another stormwater project in the Kinnickinnic River watershed, this time in Wilson Park.

As part of a larger effort to reduce flooding and re-naturalize the Kinnickinnic River, MMSD plans to rip out the concrete stream bed running through the park and also create space for catching and retaining stormwater during a heavy rain.

The sewerage district will fund the stormwater work, and in exchange for the use of county land it will fund new recreational infrastructure in the park, Parks Deputy Director Jim Tarantino told supervisors on the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Parks and Culture on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Supervisors on the committee provided initial approval of a cooperation agreement between the two governmental entities. If approved by the full board, MMSD will have the authority to move forward with detailed planning, public engagement and construction.

An example of the work MMSD has in mind can be viewed at nearby Jackson Park, where the sewerage district recently finished building out new stormwater retention infrastructure and new park amenities, including pickleball courts.

The streambed running through Jackson Park was also lined with concrete. In the middle of the 20th century, streams in the area were turned into concrete channels to move stormwater out of the watershed and into Lake Michigan as fast as possible to reduce flooding.

“It is really designed to move water like a highway,” Tarantino said.

But as it turned out out, the concrete channels also create dangerously strong water flows and flooding. In Wilson Park, 1601 W. Howard Ave., as in other parks, the concrete will be removed and the streambed renaturalized, allowing the river to spread out in a natural floodplain during a rain event and reducing flooding downstream.

The 3.25-mile Wilson Park creek is a tributary stream of the Kinnickinnic River, which has the most urbanized watershed in the state of Wisconsin.

“[The river] has not been able to handle increasingly strong storms that are occurring more frequently,” Tarantino said.

MMSD is also planning to add 220 acre-feet of stormwater storage in the park, including dredging the lagoon, according to the cooperation agreement.

The project is likely to impact baseball diamonds and trails near the lagoon. The trails in the area are in poor condition, Tarantino said, but unlikely to be addressed by the parks department.

“These are all capital needs that don’t even crack our top 100 when we request projects,” he said.

Under the cooperation agreement, MMSD would pay to relocate, or rebuild, any impacted recreation infrastructure, Tarantino said. Parks does not expect any infrastructure or recreation assets west of S. 20th Street to be impacted, including the senior center and the ice rink, he said.

“Public engagement will be a key component to it, as it has been on other phases of the project,” Tarantino said. “We have a community advisory group on the Jackson Park effort that helps inform the project. So there will be many years and opportunities for public input and involvement as that plan develops.”

Legislation Link - Urban Milwaukee members see direct links to legislation mentioned in this article. Join today

Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.