Fiscal Note
No appropriation is required. A modest increase in General Fund revenues may result if additional uses are approved by the Board of Parks Commissioners or Parks management.
Title
SUBSTITUTE. Authorizing the Board of Parks Commissioners and the Parks Division to Disregard certain the Breese Stevens Athletic Field Deed Restrictions.
Body
WHEREAS, on December 1, 1936, following the satisfaction of a land contract entered into in 1923 and the payment of a total of $35,000, the City of Madison obtained title to Block 159 in the Original Plat of Madison (aka the Pritchette Plat), the land encompassed by E. Mifflin St., N. Brearly St., E. Washington Ave., and N. Paterson St. that now makes up the Breese Stevens Athletic Field property (see the Warranty Deed recorded on December 14, 1936 in Vol. 379 of Deeds at p. 171, Doc. 591365);
WHEREAS, as a condition of the purchase from the two surviving children of Breese Stevens, Amelia Stevens and Elizabeth Stevens Jackson, the City agreed to a deed restriction upon the City’s use of the land, specifically that “said block shall forever be known and designated as the ‘Breese Stevens Athletic Field,’ and that said premises shall never be used for any other purpose than that of an athletic field”; and,
WHEREAS, there is a history of periodic non-athletic uses of Breese Stevens Athletic Field since 1936, uses which have been in violation of the terms of the deed restriction; and,
WHEREAS, there have been some recent community requests to use the Breese Stevens Athletic Field facility for non-athletic events in violation of the terms of the deed restriction; and,
WHEREAS, the deed restriction regarding use has left the Breese Stevens Athletic Field facility underutilized in an area of the City where large outdoor open space is sparse; and,
WHEREAS, as the Breese Stevens Athletic Field facility approaches its second century of service, more flexibility in its use, and possibly naming rights, would allow the Ci...
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