Treating the Milwaukee River as some sort of natural wilderness area could be a contradiction in terms for most who have spent a lifetime watching its meanderings through the city. A coalition of environmentalists, however, sees a scenario of scenic solitude that could soothe the soul of anyone venturing to the valley from North Avenue to Silver Spring Drive. They're calling it Milwaukee River Central Park.

A group including Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, the River Revitalization Foundation, the Urban Ecology Center (calling itself the Milwaukee River Work Group) and Ald. Mike D'Amato will pitch the City Plan Commission on Monday a vision for the valley that would prevent high-rise intrusion, invasive development and any other changes to the view we can see in the valley now. They say the city can achieve this through a creative zoning strategy known as an overlay district.

The district would set height standards, setback requirements for buffer zones and screening rules to keep any building projects from intruding on the natural views. It would not affect current landowners, but only new development proposed for multi-lot projects. The target is essentially high-rise buildings and other plans that would attempt to abut the river bluff or cut down trees and vegetation.

Their idea is similar to building restrictions on the Lower Wisconsin River that preserve scenic qualities from the onslaught of concrete and buildings. In a converse way, the city did the same thing to create the concrete Riverwalk Downtown, preventing private landowners from building on the river.

"Many residents and visitors of Milwaukee alike marvel at the beauty of our river corridor. We don't need to go to northern Wisconsin to have a nice hike or a nice paddle down the river, but can enjoy the 'wilderness' in our own backyard," reads the 12-page proposal, which is largely full of lofty visionary language. "However, this experience is substantially degraded when adjacent buildings encroach not only physically but visually into the river corridor."

Essentially the plan would permanently protect public land, establish design guidelines and encourage land uses that would take into account the green qualities of the valley. Long-term, a Milwaukee River Central Park Trust Fund would be established to buy adjacent properties for water and land protection. The Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on the idea Monday and consider temporary zoning restrictions while the Riverway Group can put together a more detailed plan.

Preliminary drawings show the restrictive development zone reaching as far as three blocks west of the river but mostly about one block in from either bank of the river, mainly covering bluff areas.

One advantage to the plan is that most of the land from North Avenue to Silver Spring is already Milwaukee County parkland. But the report warns that the county can't be trusted to not sell off its parkland to the highest bidder, something it recently attempted when trying to pitch Bender Park to developers.

If Milwaukee sees the light of this idea, the coalition hopes other cities along the river adopt similar strategies.
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