Title
Accepting the Final Report and Recommended Solutions of the East Isthmus and Yahara Watershed Study
Body
Engineering is bringing the completed East Isthmus and Yahara Watershed Study before the Board of Parks Commissioners, seeking acceptance of the final report.
Since 2018 City Engineering has been completing watershed studies across 22 study areas citywide to identify areas at risk of stormwater flooding and develop recommendations to reduce those risks. The East Isthmus Watershed Study covers areas in the City of Madison on the Isthmus and nearby, generally east of the Capital Square, South of Aberg Ave, and west of North St and west of Starkweather Creek. The findings and recommendations from this study will be discussed in this presentation.
Watershed studies propose conceptual level improvements that show the scale and type of project necessary to meet flood mitigation targets. City Engineering has identified potential conceptual flood reduction improvements in the East Isthmus Watershed that would result in replacement of storm sewer pipes within multiple Parks within the study area. These recommendations generally include the replacement of existing pipes with larger pipes in the same locations. The locations of these include multiple pipes crossing Demetral Park, a relief storm sewer/upsized outfall through BB Clarke Beach Park, as well as upsized storm sewer outfalls crossing Yahara Place Park, Hudson Park, and several within the Yahara Parkway.
There have not been any changes to the recommendations since the study was shared with BPC for initial feedback on 9/10/25. Future detailed construction plans would come back to BPC when the project is budgeted and has undergone detailed design.