City Meetings and Updates Week of March 30
posted- City Meetings: Special Policy Meeting of the Plan Commission 3/31
- Heads Up: Kennedy Park Playground Being Replaced Soon
- Volunteer With Dog Park Cleanup Day at Sycamore or North Star Dog Parks 4/4
- Reminder: District 3 Park Planning Workshop 3/31
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings: Special Policy Meeting of the Plan Commission Tuesday
The special policy meeting of the Plan Commission meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 31, at 5:00 p.m. in-person in the Madison Municipal Building room 206. The agenda includes a ton of good information related to the Commission's work plus a zoning topic important in District 3, see the below sections.
Planning Division Annual Report and Housing Forward Updates
The Planning Division's 2025 Annual Report is on Tuesday's agenda (Item 2) for review and discussion. This year for the first time, the report is a series of sequential web pages rather than a PDF document to meet new federally-mandated digital accessibility requirements that take effect in April.
The Planning Division Annual Report has a ton of good information with sections including a letter from Director Meagan Tuttle, the Planning Division's public engagement work, their work on area plans (including for the Southeast Area), progress on implementing adopted plans (including lighting in Sycamore Park), the development review process, and more. Note: the Data and Mapping page has a data dashboard that compares the various planning areas on the basis of housing growth, housing costs, travel mode, demographics, education outcomes, crime rates, and much more. I find it fascinating and useful to compare the areas, because these comparisons across topics tell a story about each area's people, resources, needs, and disparities. Check out the data here!
Item 3 on the Plan Commission agenda is a presentation of Housing Forward updates. Housing Forward is the City's program to increase housing choice, create affordable housing throughout the City, combat displacement, and work to end homelessness. It includes a goal of adding 15,000 new homes by 2030 with 25% providing long-term affordability. Tuesday's staff presentation includes updates on recent legislative changes that make housing easier to build, the City's policy and financial tools to reduce housing costs in participating projects, and City-led housing redevelopment where the City has more control over affordability and property management.
City Considering Replacing Single/Two-Family Planned Development Zoning (Important in District 3)
I ended up moving this topic into a separate, longer blog post focused on this item. Send your zoning questions to Zoning at zoning@cityofmadison.com. Please feel free to copy me on your emails so that I can follow the questions or any issues that come up.
Heads Up: Kennedy Park Playground Being Replaced Soon
Parks staff gave me a heads up that the contractor who will replace the playground at Kennedy Park this year will begin their work very soon. The playground will likely be removed sometime the week of March 30th. The contractor hasn't shared their formal work calendar with the City yet, so I don't know for certain when the new playground will be ready, but I will share that information here when I have it.
Nearby families have been waiting for this long-planned modernization of the playground for years. Several parents have advocated for upgrades and participated in the playground planning process that began in December 2024.
The Madison Parks webpage for this project has much more information about the City's playground replacement program and the planning process for this specific playground.
Volunteer With Dog Park Cleanup Day at Sycamore or North Star Dog Parks April 4th
Of the nine dog parks in Madison, District 3 is lucky to have two fantastic dog parks at Sycamore Park and North Star Park.
If your family uses these dog parks, please consider joining Madison Parks for the Dog Park Cleanup Day on Saturday, April 4. See the Dog Park Volunteers webpage. Online registration is open!
Speaking of dog parks, some of the smaller off-leash dog parks may see periodic closures during the spring thaw and rain due to muddy ground conditions. Even after the frost has moved out, Parks may require additional time for the turf to establish before reopening. Check the open or close status onsite or online Off-Leash Dog Parks.
Reminder: District 3 Park Planning Workshop on Tuesday
As a reminder: in coordination with the Southeast Area Plan effort, Madison Parks is holding a series of virtual public input sessions for the Southeast Park Development Plan process for neighborhood parks and mini parks in the Southeast planning area.
The parks planning process will result in a one page “park development plan" which will guide the improvements to the park for the next 10 to 12 years. This planning process will provide transparency regarding future plans for each park and allow park patrons to weigh in on existing and potential recreation opportunities. Additional public engagement will take place when the actual park improvement has been funded in the budget, which is a separate process.
Tuesday's workshop will include an overview of the planning effort and an opportunity for residents to share thoughts on future park improvements. The focus is on these neighborhood- and mini-parks in District 3:
- Heritage Heights Park
- Honeysuckle Park
- Kingston-Onyx Park
- McGinnis Park
- Portland Park
When: Tuesday, March 31 - Noon Open House: 11:30 am - 1:00
Where: Virtually via Zoom; Register Here
Here's the Madison Parks event webpage with more information.
(Note: Kennedy Park and Hiestand Park are “community parks", larger-scale parkland properties that serve more community stakeholders than just their immediate surrounding neighbors – e.g. Kennedy Elementary School families for Kennedy and the Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association for Hiestand. As such, writing plans for community parks would be a much larger endeavor and is outside the scope of the Area Planning process due to staff capacity. That doesn't preclude eventual plans for community parks, but any such effort would need to take place separately from and after the Area Plan's process for planning the many smaller parks. City staff continue to record and document public input received about Kennedy Park and Hiestand Park.)
Events & Announcements
- MPD Presentation: Demonstrations and assemblies, Monday, March 30: The Madison Police Department is hosting a presentation on a person's rights during assemblies and demonstrations.
- 10,000 Trips, One Month: RoundTrip Launches Third Annual Spring Roll Challenge: Dane County residents and commuters encouraged to drive less, cut costs, and go green this April. [posted March 26, 2026]
- Committee Seeks Artists for Madison LakeWay Public Art Project : The Madison LakeWay Public Art Selection Committee and the Madison Arts Commission are now accepting applications from artists, artist teams, and artist led companies to provide site-specific artwork as part of the Madison LakeWay project. [posted March 25, 2026]
- Artful Affair - Call for Artists!: Get ready for this year's Artful Affair! Artists using all mediums - including photography - are encouraged to participate. This is event features artwork by Dane County area adults age 55 or better. Register and drop-off your artwork on… [posted March 24, 2026]
- Community Academy to provide hands-on policing experience: Now accepting applications for this year's Community Academy! [posted March 24, 2026]
- REMINDER: 2026 Brush Collection Schedule is Now Available; Set Out Dates Begin Soon: The 2026 set-out date schedule for the Streets Division's brush schedule pickup is now available on the brush collection website. You will need to look up your home's brush set-out dates before you stack tree limbs and branches out for pickup. [posted March 24, 2026]
- Food Scraps Recycling Drop-off Returns to Westside Community Market on Saturday, April 11, 2026 : Free food scraps recycling drop-off will be back once again at the West Community Market. The first date food scraps will be accepted at this market is Saturday, April 11, 2026. Look for the free food scraps drop-off to drop off your coffee grounds,… [posted March 24, 2026]
- Learn & Ride: Sun Prairie Park & Ride, Tuesday, March 31: Join Metro Transit staff to learn how to ride the bus, navigate routes and stops, and feel confident getting where you need to go with Metro!
Please visit the City news webpage to find additional news and announcements and to subscribe to receive notification of news releases as they are posted. Additional upcoming events can also be found on the City events calendar.
