To see the detailed minutes, click here.

The following topics were discussed: finances, website change, architectural committee and holding a garage sale in the spring. To see the detailed minutes, click here.

The Architectural Control Committee met to discuss violations in the neighborhood, letters that will be sent to landlords, contributing to the neighborhood newsletter, desired website changes, mailbox issues, our neighborhood sign, notifying the city of neighborhood violations, and neighborhood fences. To see the detailed minutes, click here.

The MPNA board and others met to discuss the architectural control committee that is lead by Amy and Pat Whaley. Our website at http://mapleprairie.org/ has been reconstructed by Marcie Young. You can now subscribe to our mailing list from the website. Mike will be sending newsletters to subscribers. In addition, an update to the sign, park and landscaping was discussed. To see the detailed minutes, click here.

The MPNA annual meeting was held on May 22nd, 2008 at the Heritage Congregational Church on Prairie Road. The meeting started at 7:00 PM.

Zach Brandon gave an update on the neighborhood and answered questions from meeting attendee's. Monica (our treasurer) gave an overview of the fiscal report for 07/08. Some proposed changes to the By-Laws were presented and approved. Some committees were formed, possible neighborhood part projects and neighborhood signage were discussed. To see the detailed minutes, click here.

We had a great turn out for our meeting on October 9th at the Heritage Congregational Church on Prairie Road. The meeting started at 7:00 PM.

Barb Stamm chaired her final meeting as president and serving several terms. We are proud to welcome our new President Mike Bormett and Vice-President Matt Hanson. The current Treasurer Monica Launder and Secretary Amy Mueller are both staying on for another term. I'm sure they will continue to serve the Maple Prairie Neighborhood well.

The first guest speaker was Bill Bauer from the Madison City Parks division. There was lots of discussion about the future of our park and many ideas were discussed ranging from tennis courts to a shelter to natural landscaping. The city will match any funds we put towards city approved improvements. A determination was made that there should be a committee to help our community make an informed decision about future improvements of the park.

As mentioned in the announcement for the meeting, our Alderman, Zach Brandon and Police Officer Vic Wall discussed several issues in our community. They both addressed questions as well as brought their own statistics about crime statistics in our area. It appears that criminal activity is one of the lowest in the district but does border the Meadowood area that has getting a lot of press lately. There is little to indicate that it is moving or may move into our area. The Madison Police Department (MPD) is putting significant effort into making sure it doesn't just move elsewhere.

Officer Wall spoke at length about MPD's plans including the passage of the new nuissance ordinance and how it will give MPD another tool to help evict bad tennants and if necessary deal with bad landlords. This struck a note with many members of the neigborhood as there has been growing concern with some rented properties and their appearance. People also had concerns about late night activity and asked MPD to be aware of it in the future.

Zach took the opportunity to inform us that he has spoken with other associations and invited other tennants to meetings and suggested that we include them in our meetings. He also addressed the concern about traffic patterns and speed in our neighborhood, more specifically Prairie Road and Maple Grove Road. Little can be done about Maple Grove as the city never intended it to get as much traffic as it now has but has no route for it other than the new South Highpoint Road. Prairie Road is an issue and Matt Hanson has collected signatures that will be turned into the city. The city will the assess our needs and Zach suggests that there should be very litte opposition to our petition. Most likely we will get "traffic calming" devices (a.k.a. medians) at intersections on Prairie Road that will help slow drivers. His biggest concern is that the neighborhood will keep the medians decorative and planted. If not, the city will remove the plantings and fill them with cement. We will need help with this task! Please volunteer to help if we get these medians!

The meetings ran late and not all the issues had been addressed. Look for another opportunity to meet our association members in the near future.