How To Watch Monday's Virtual Meeting About Reshaping Honey Creek

WAUWATOSA, WI — The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a virtual presentation on Monday evening to change Honey Creek.

The sewerage district said it is working to return Honey Creek to a naturalized state to reduce flood risks, improve public safety and restore natural habitat. The organization added that the concrete-lined ditch was constructed in the 1950's and 1960's to address flooding issues and to move water as fast as possible.

The public information meeting will be held virtually on Monday at 6 p.m. Residents can register for the Zoom meeting through the district's project webpage.

"The removal of the 50-year-old concrete channel, naturalization of the stream channel, and restoration of the stream bank will improve the habitat of Honey Creek and improve safety by slowing down the creek’s flow during extreme rain events," the district said.

So what do these organizations want to do with Honey Creek? The corps of engineers wrote a list of changes that would be made:

• Remove approximately 6,700 linear feet of concrete from Honey Creek
• Incorporate a diversity of aquatic habitats by contouring the stream channel
• Restoring the creek stream channel with natural riverine substrates of sand, gravel and j-hooks
• Removing invasive and non-native trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs
• Placing soil amendments of organic compost, sand, silt or woodchips for native river plants

The sewerage district said it would remove 3,910 feet of concrete lining from the channel starting at West Wisconsin Avenue upstream to West Fairview Avenue. Then it would remove 1,050 feet of concrete from between Currie Avenue and West Wisconsin Avenue, then rehabilitate the remaining 3,700 feet of creek from Currie Avenue to where the Honey Creek joins the Menomonee River at Hart Park.

The City of Wauwatosa said that the corps of engineers would fund 65 percent of the project up to a maximum cost of $10,000,000.

"Restoring these rivers in a systematic way, and reconnecting rivers with the floodplains, slowing them down by meandering them and creating a natural system, will also – ultimately – do a better job protecting us from flooding in the future," Cheryl Nenn, of Milwaukee Riverkeeper, told FOX6.

The city said that a public comment period has begun and will end on June 28 for the corps of engineers Honey Creek Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment. Residents can get leave a comment at HoneyCreek@usace.army.mil.