City Project To Improve Honey Creek In Konkel Park Moves Ahead

GREENFIELD, WI — The City of Greenfield Common Council recently accepted a grant from Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District that would help to fund improvements to the Honey Creek stream in Konkel Park.

Patch reported the grant was a possibility in February, and the Common Council accepted the grant during its meeting on March 1. Under the grant, MMSD would pay the city up to about $802,000 in habitat and stormwater collection improvements.

During rain, stormwater tends to enter the MMSD sewer system, increasing the amount of water that needs to be treated. Stormwater can also directly enter surface water, increasing pollution in waterways as well as the risk of flooding, according to the grant.

To combat this, MMSD will help fund green infrastructure improvements along Honey Creek stream in Konkel Park. Green infrastructure can be anything from constructed wetlands, rain gardens, green roofs, bioswales and porous pavement, the city's grant summary says.

The grant agreement says construction on projects in Konkel Park would be completed by November 30.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday the grant comes as part of a wider City of Greenfield project to improve the park costing almost $3 million dollars. Jeff Katz, the city's director of neighborhood services, told the Journal Sentinel the project would restore parts of Honey Creek in the park to a more natural state.

According to the grant and project overview, improvements would use a natural channel design. It would stabilize the banks of the stream, increase connections to the floodplain, improve the way sediments flow, install habitats for aquatic species and improve access for community education and recreation, the grant agreement says.

The agreement also said it would restore riparian wetlands. Riparian wetlands are a section of plantings in-between land and a waterway that can help to filter out pollution. A stormwater storage facility would create almost 1.75 million gallons of new flood storage.

Some other possible improvements listed in the project overview include improved trails near Honey Creek such as a boardwalk interpretive trail over wetland, a fishing pier and a new park shelter.