Belle Isle Neighborhood Association Newsletter
In This Issue At Last- a picnic in The Park! Letter from the President Updates	Links board@belleisle.org For any neighborhood questions, comments or concerns! www.belleisle.org www.monona.wi.us Subscribe to Our E-Newsletter! Sign Up for BINA info by emailing jimL@uwalumni.com Place "subscribe to BINA" in the subject field. Don't miss what's going on in your neighborhood!

Our goal is to keep folks informed of upcoming events, neighborhood concerns, the work your elected officials are doing to improve our neighborhood and other tidbits of information that might just be entertaining or helpful! These newsletters will be available in both printed and email formats.  Please feel free to contact Jim Lampe (JimL@uwalumni.com) or any of your Board, your neighbors, with any info. You may also call 445-3055.

Big News!!! Big News!!! Big News!!! Big News!!! Big News!!!

We have a date for the Belle Isle Neighborhood Picnic, which will take place on Sunday, June 28th at 3PM. Glass Nickel will again be providing pizza, and each family is asked to bring a dish to pass. Lemonade and bottled water will be available, too. We're going to celebrate the completion of the playground, and plan to unveil the Oneida Park donation plaque! Please mark your calendar for a fun afternoon at the park, and cross your fingers for no rain! It has been a while since we could enjoy out park-take advantage of it! We will continue rain or shine!

Letter from your President June, 2009

One year ago we were under attack from Mother Nature. Record floods were making our neighborhood a team, and the team pushed forward. We have since been successful in many arenas. We have a playground in Oneida Park. We have bathrooms that are now open as we need-24-7 (thanks to City Administrator Pat Marsh). The park is dry-due to the combined efforts or the city (Mark Modoff) and neighbor Jim Lampe. Thrice-daily filling of the pump with gasoline makes our park look like a potentially usable space. Chuck Nahn has made his recommendations as to the severity of our situation, and those recommendations are registered with the city. We are certainly on track to have the channels dredged. Still, we have a distance to go before reaching the original goal of becoming the Venice of the West!

Jim Lampe, BINA President, 1402 Neponset Trail

Important Facts:

Attention all DRIVERS! While the legal speed limit is 25 MPH on residential roads, we request that you do not exceed 15 MPH on all Belle Isle neighborhood roads. Given the large number of young children, we thank you in advance for driving like those children were your own!

Do you like volleyball? Bring a cooler and a can of bug spray and meet at the sand court in Oneida Park at 7PM on MONDAY NIGHTS beginning June 22nd, weather permitting. All skill levels welcome.

Interested in making our neighborhood an even better place? We will be taking nominations for Belle Isle Neighborhood Assn officers. The offices that are available are: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and 3 Directors. Submit your nomination at the picnic! Elections will be held in August at a BINA neighborhood meeting, date and time yet to be determined.

Current BINA Board: The 2008-2009 Belle Isle Neighborhood Assn Board:

President – Jim Lampe Vice President – Susan Manning

Secretary – Bill Bland Treasurer – Rebecca Glassel

Director – Mike Brunet Director – Tim Stanton

Director – Bill Arnold

The BINA Residents Committee: For all of those that have donated money to the Oneida Park playground, the names of those that will be on the plaque are posted at www.belleisle.org website. Please confirm that your name is present, if you donated. Contact Tammy O'Brien at obrienshome@sbcglobal.net if you donated but do not see your name. The deadline for this is June 20th!

Info Board: We would like to establish a neighborhood info board at the corner of Tecumseh and Neponset. This board will provide an opportunity to connect neighbors, announce events in our area, and so forth. We would love input, as it is a certainty for this summer. We have ideas, which can be referenced by email to JimL@uwalumni.com. An example of our intentions can be found at http://www.barcoproducts.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1908&DEPARTMENT_ID=173

Shoreline improvement, Flood mitigation and Channel Dredging: An update from Bill Arnold!

In the fall of 2008 the Wisconsin DNR (WDNR) issued Monona a combined Chapter 30 dredging permit. Monona submitted its application to dredge the Belle Isle channels in 2006 and later expanded the scope of their project. The city’s approved plan now includes dredging Belle Isle, the Lagoon that passes through Winnequah Park and Monona’s three boat launches. The City may dredge all, some or none of the areas until the Chapter 30 permit expires in December 2010, unless extended.

With a Chapter 30 permit in hand Monona’s prospects look good to apply for a WDNR grant covering up to 50% of its dredging costs. The WDNR uses some of its gas tax income annually to make Recreational Boating Facilities [RBF] matching grants. Municipalities may apply to use these grants to enhance and expand recreational boating facilities. On May 4, 2009 Monona’s City Council endorsed a Park and Recreation Committee resolution to apply for a RBF grant. The application deadline is June 1, 2009 with WDNR committee review sometime in July 2009.

Chuck Nahn, a consulting engineer, prepared Monona’s successful Chapter 30 dredging plan. The city hired Chuck to prepare Monona’s RBF application. The plan calls for pumping Belle Island’s dredged material into Oneida Park, silting, drying and using the dredged material as fill in the park. Chuck estimated of the volume of Belle Island’s dredged material at 7,100 cubic yards to a depth of 5.1 feet or GOING BIG to a depth of 6.8 feet for 17,000 cubic yards of material. A rough cost estimate for dredging the Belle Island ranges from only $175,000 to $275,000. If a financing plan, bidding procedures and weather all fall into place, a project to dredge Belle Isle could take place fall 2010.

BINA plans to actively support any City effort to seek funding for dredging with rep. Mark Miller and other elected officials. BINA also discussed participating in funding a handicapped fishing / kayak dock in Winnequah Park to increase our prospects of grant funding.

Chuck Nahn, of Nahn and Associates, has conducted a door-to-door assessment or at-risk structure inventory and made recommendations to individual homeowners and the city.

www.belleisle.org: Getting better and more informative all the time! Keep checking in for updates and info!

SUGGESTED DUES

In order to cover costs of meeting spaces, printing, events and in the interest of getting funds started for future projects we would like to suggest annual dues of $20 per household.  Any amount that you can contribute is greatly appreciated and will be held in the Belle Isle Neighborhood Association bank account. Please direct any due submissions or questions to Rebecca Glassel at 1120 Birch Haven Circle or call 223-0873.  Rebecca will be keeping the neighborhood informed of expenses incurred and plans for future needs and costs throughout the year. Again, this is only a suggested amount and is not a requirement of the Belle Isle Neighborhood Association. This is only a guideline to help those currently covering costs out of their own pocket and for future projects and fun! Any help, monetary or otherwise is appreciated!

Special Thanks to:

Bill at Insty-Prints of Monona. 5401 Monona Drive. Monona, WI 53716. Phone: 608-222-3232. Fax: 608-222-5321. ipmonona@tds.net

Tammy O’Brien for her thorough (and necessary) edit of our letter