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Edgewood wants to hold games with lights and amplification on its athletic field.
Edgewood High School is taking a new tack in its quest to host games on its athletic field, which is located in a residential neighborhood on Madison’s west side.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway — at the request of Edgewood officials who have threatened a lawsuit based on religious discrimination — will introduce a resolution Aug. 6 to the Common Council to repeal the city-approved master plan for the Edgewood campus. If the resolution passes the full council, it would, according to Madison City Attorney Michael May, allow Edgewood High School to host games on its athletic field, something that has been a point of bitter contention with its neighbors for years.
The repeal would mean that buildings included in the campus master plan, which was approved in 2014 by the Common Council, would now need to go through the city’s regular zoning processes, says May. But restrictions in the plan on open spaces would also be lifted. Edgewood has been fighting hard for the right to add lighting to its athletic stadium and to host home games with amplification, and the repeal of the master plan would mean the school would no longer need city approval to move forward.
“Under existing zoning code there is no prohibition on playing athletic events on your campus,” May says, but adds that there might be restrictions on lighting.
Under the school’s master plan, the athletic field was to be used only for team practices and physical education, says May. Edgewood disagrees with that interpretation. The city’s zoning administrator determined that the school could not hold games on the field, and Edgewood appealed the administrator’s decision to the city Zoning Board of Appeals, which on July 11 affirmed the staff decision.
May says Edgewood has threatened to sue the city for religious discrimination under the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Edgewood in its appeal to the zoning board writes that RLUIPA is a “federal statute that was enacted primarily to protect religious institutions from improper and burdensome land-use regulations.”
The school argues that the city’s zoning administrator “has sought to impose the city’s land-use regulations in a manner that substantially burdens Edgewood’s and its students’ religious exercise.”
Edgewood writes that to further “the sincerely held religious beliefs of the Sinsinawa Dominicans and the school, Edgewood’s mission is to educate the whole student for a life of learning, service, and personal responsibility through a rigorous academic curriculum that embraces the Sinsinawa Dominican values of truth, compassion, justice, partnership and community. For nearly a century, athletics has been a primary way that the school has accomplished its mission to education the whole student ... Since 1927, Edgewood has had its athletic field and track, and has used them for athletic contests in furtherance of its religious mission and values.”
“Prohibiting Edgewood from continuing to engage in its well-established religious land use constitutes a ‘substantial burden’ on Edgewood’s religious exercise.”
Edgewood claims that the city is treating its campus different from public schools, which are located within campus-institutional districts. “By imposing its land-use regulations and the zoning administrator’s improper interpretations to restrict only Edgewood’s ability to host athletic contests, the city has treated Edgewood on less-than-equal terms as Madison’s nonreligious schools within a campus-institutional district. This disparate treatment is more than sufficient to establish a prima facie Equal Terms violation under RLUIPA.”
Mary Bottari, chief of staff to Rhodes-Conway, confirms that Edgewood High School expressed concern to the city “that it was being treated differently than public high schools in the city.” She says May advised Edgewood that a “method for Edgewood to seek equal treatment with other schools would be to terminate its master plan” and that Edgewood asked to do that. Bottari says the mayor is introducing the zoning change “to protect the best interests of the city” and that it was done in consultation with the alder of the district, the council president and city attorney.
Many neighborhood residents are opposed to the dissolution of Edgewood’s master plan including Tag Evers, alder for the area.
If repealed, Evers says, “there are no restrictions in place to prevent Edgewood from having the one thing that, over a 20-year period, the neighborhood has said it does not want.” It’s unfortunate, he adds, that the “city’s commitment to the process of weighing competing interests would be undermined.”
He says the master plan was created after neighborhood residents and Edgewood staff spent “countless hours” building trust and good will. “To take that away,” he says, “is concerning.”
He says the move also “seems contrary to the city’s commitment to neighborhoods. The city has a long history in its approach to zoning and urban planning in weighing competing interests … I’m concerned we’ve gone down this road without seriously considering the impact.”
Neighborhood resident Jon Standridge sent an email to all council members on Aug. 1, copying May and Mary Bottari, the mayor’s chief of staff, expressing his opposition to termination of Edgewood’s master plan.
“For the past 20 years I, along with many neighbors, have put in countless hours working with Edgewood in making good decisions regarding the use and improvement of the Edgewood property. All this effort has culminated in the current master plan which in my opinion is a great zoning tool,” he writes. He says that “numerous contentious issues” are dealt with in the master plan, including stormwater measures for nearby Lake Wingra as well as parking and traffic concerns. Standridge predicts that the liaison team, which is required in the master plan, would disappear along with the master plan: “The unpleasant contentiousness of the stadium project will surely continue and probably worsen.”
Edgewood emailed a statement in response to an interview request from Isthmus, saying that Edgewood College has joined the Edgewood Campus School and Edgewood High School in withdrawing from the campus plan.
“The city of Madison made all three entities aware of the option to withdraw from the Master Plan in a written follow-up to a Board of Zoning Appeals meeting,” the statement also said.
“Edgewood College reaffirms faith in both our elected and appointed officials with the city of Madison, and in our neighborhood organizations, as all parties continue to dialogue around the future use of campus facilities.”
An Edgewood spokesperson did not respond to a request for follow-up questions.
The master plan process for the city is relatively new.
In its recent zoning code revamp, the city created campus-institutional districts for schools. The idea, says May, was to streamline zoning approvals by including certain uses as permitted uses and some that would require further approval from the city.
The ordinance also provided an alternative to such districts: schools could instead prepare a master plan for adoption by the city. Edgewood decided to go that route.
“They put together their master plan,” says May. “There was a lot of discussion with the neighborhood.”
An advantage of having a master plan, says May, is that “any building that is in your approved master plan does not need further approval” by city committees.
So, for instance, if a new library were included in the master plan, campus officials would simply need to get a building permit to begin construction.
There are some disadvantages, however. May says if a school with a master plan wants to add a building to campus, it would need to amend its plan to do so. Also, “if you have designated certain uses for open spaces and you want to change your uses you generally have to get an amendment to your master plan.”
Edgewood disputes that last point. In its zoning board appeal, the school argues that master plans apply to campus buildings and not uses. It also argues that its master plan “does in fact allow athletic contests on Edgewood’s athletic field … And while it is true that the master plan states that the athletic field is used for ‘team practice’ and ‘physical education classes,’ it makes no sense to read this language as excluding the hosting of athletic contests.” Edgewood’s lawyers also wrote that this part of the master plan “was not intended to be a list of all uses of the athletic field.”
Once introduced to the city council, the mayor’s resolution to terminate Edgewood’s master plan will be referred to the Plan Commission.
[Editor's note: This story was updated to include comments from Mary Bottari, chief of staff to Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.]
