Madison’s Finance Committee has unanimously authorized the Parks Division to apply for a $2.3 million federal grant aimed at improving James Madison Park along Lake Mendota. The city expects to submit its application by the end of September for funding through the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program, which is administered in Wisconsin by the Department of Natural Resources. If awarded, the grant would be matched with $2.3 million the city has set aside for implementing the park’s master plan, according to assistant parks superintendent CJ Ryan. That money is scheduled in the capital improvement plan for roughly two years from now. “We would use that as a match for this grant, if awarded,” Ryan told the city’s Board of Parks Commissioners. The master plan, completed after a community planning process about seven years ago, calls for major changes to the park, which sits roughly four blocks north of the state Capitol. Proposed improvements include a new or substantially upgraded park shelter, reorganized parking, an accessible path along the waterfront, safer pedestrian crossings, scenic overlooks and more ways for visitors to reach and interact with Lake Mendota. The plan also envisions removing the existing seawall and replacing it with a more naturalized shoreline. Such a change could improve public access to the lake while reshaping a heavily used downtown park in response to Madison’s continued growth. Madison has relatively few parks in its downtown area. Former downtown Ald. Ledell Zellers made that point during the earlier planning process, saying the city needed to make the most of the parks it already had. The James Madison Park proposal comes as lakefront improvements have become a larger focus of city planning. On Lake Monona, the Madison Lakeway project proposes a 1.7-mile shoreline redevelopment between Olin and Law parks. City officials have also emphasized the need for more nearby public open space while pursuing the acquisition of 200 acres near Burke and Sun Prairie for a future naturalized park. Madison previously received an Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant about a decade ago to build the skate park at McPike Park on the isthmus. The federal program has invested about $400 million in projects nationwide since it was created in 2014, according to the National Park Service. It operates under the broader Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has supported more than 1,800 projects in Wisconsin, according to the Trust for Public Land. The conservation fund was permanently authorized and fully funded through the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act in 2020. Its future became uncertain after proposed federal cuts and a broader pause affecting conservation grants. In June, the Interior Department announced $461 million in grants for parks and outdoor recreation and reopened an annual grant opportunity for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program. The city’s application is not a guarantee of funding, and construction plans would still need to move through the city’s capital and parks planning processes. But the grant could accelerate improvements that have remained on Madison’s long-term wish list for one of its key downtown lakefront parks.