Wauwatosa was about to move forward last summer with plans to create a new monument paying tribute to all city veterans when disaster struck. The heavy rain in August that caused widespread flooding across the region also overwhelmed Tosa's Hart Park when the Menomonee River overflowed its banks.
The Wauwatosa Veterans Memorial was to be installed in a portion of the grassy area just east of Hart Park's football stadium, but city officials and the volunteer committee that developed plans for the memorial reconsidered that location. Since it was in the flood plain, they concluded it likely was no longer feasible.
So the volunteer committee went back to the drawing board and starting looking for alternative locations. Now they have one, on the north side of Tosa Village.
The city is offering space in a green triangle of vacant land on the southwest corner of Milwaukee and Harwood avenues. That plan is due to be presented to the city's Design Review Board at an April 16 meeting. After that, it will be taken up by the Board of Zoning Appeals on April 23 and then go before the Common Council for approval on April 28.