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City Meetings and Updates Week of April 20

posted 
  • City Meetings: 
    • Common Council 4/21
    • Housing Policy Committee 4/23
  • Draft Pedestrian Plan Available for Public Comment Until 4/27
  • Help with Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull 5/9
  • Reminder: Volunteers Still Needed for Madison Parks Earth Day Challenge 4/25
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Common Council on Tuesday

The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 21, at 12:00 p.m. in hybrid format to hear honoring the service of outgoing alders and the election of newly Common Council President and Vice President. The Common Council will then go into recess until 6:30 p.m. to go through the rest of the agenda, also in hybrid format. Agenda items include: 

  • Items 1, 2, and 3 are honoring resolutions to be taken up at the noon Common Council-turnover meeting. These resolutions recognize and thank Council President Regina Vidaver whose term as President is ending, outgoing Alder MGR Govindarajan for his service to District 8 (UW-Madison campus area), and outgoing Alder Isadore Knox for his service to District 14 (southside). 
  • Items 4 and 5 are the election of the new Common Council session's President and Vice President. The Council will then go into a recess until 6:30pm to take up the remainder of the agenda. 
  • Item 8: a resolution approving plans, specifications, and a schedule of assessments for the installation of traffic signals at Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road bordering Districts 3 and 16. Nearby residents received this mailing sent on March 11th. According to Traffic Engineering staff, installation is on-track to begin in late summer. 
  • Item 12: A report of the Mayor submitting alder committee appointments.
  • Item 14: A resolution accepting a Report on Parking Assessments from the Parks Division. In late 2024, Council asked Parks staff to study parking assets in our parks and the feasibility of charging for parking in certain for special events (like Badger Games) or for commuters at Parks near Downtown where commuters are parking anyway (e.g. Olin park). Nobody wants to charge Parkland users to park their cars at Parkland. I'm interested to know if there's a scale-able way to charge non-park users when they park cars in our Park properties to do other things. This could in theory find revenue to support Parks operations without adding to the property tax burden. Here's the staff presentation to the Board of Park Commissioners in last Wednesday's meeting. 
  • Item 24: A resolution awarding the contract for the street reconstruction project at MacArthur Rd, Larson Ct, MacArthur Ct, and Sycamore Ave here in District 3. Contracts like this are awarded according to the City of Madison's Best Value Contracting Ordinance (MGO 33.07). This resolution proposes to award the contract to Parisi Construction LLC, the lowest bidder. Their bid was nearly $1.4 million below City Engineering's estimate for the project cost, which is good news for the City and for special assessment payers. Here's a document comparing the bids for those who are interested.
  • Item 42: A resolution re-approving a certified survey map (CSM) of property at 102 S Sprecher Road in District 3. This CSM was approved in 2025; our ordinances say they expire after 12 months, hence the re-approval. I think this request suggests this project might go forward to construction this year, but I don't know for sure.
  • Item 48: a resolution amending the 2026 Operating Budget and setting the 2026 Municipal Services bill rates for the Sewer Utility, Landfill, and Stormwater Utility. For the average residential customer, Sanitary Sewer charge is proposed to increase by 2.7% or $1.06/month, the Landfill charge will stay the same, and the Stormwater charge is proposed to increase by 2.3% or $0.29/month.
  • Item 50: A resolution approving the 2026 Neighborhood Grant Program funding recommendations (I'm a cosponsor). Two District 3 projects are recommended for grant funding: a “wayside area" with a kiosk, planting bed, and bike maintenance area at Sycamore Park proposed by the Burke Heights Neighborhood Association; and a community wellness and violence prevention program at Harmony Apartments proposed by Seein' is Believin' LLC. Here is the full list of scored proposals with more information about each.
  • Item 55: A resolution amending Madison General Ordinances to add public reporting requirements for the Office of the Independent Monitor and to clarify that the Office must follow City policies and applicable laws (I'm a cosponsor). Please see this separate blog post that I shared this morning for more information.
  • Item 56: A resolution authorizing a competitively selected contract with REDI Transports for emergency detention transport services (I'm a cosponsor). This program provides third-party, non-police transport for mental health-related transports to the Winnebago Mental Health Facility. Here's a 2023 local news story on the topic.

Meeting info:

Housing Policy Committee

The Housing Policy Committee will take place on Thursday, April 23rd at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include an expert panel discussion on Barriers and Opportunities for Residential Condominiums in Madison. Here's the staff presentation. I think this will be an interesting topic to follow, given that we've seen so few new condominium projects in recent years. 

Meeting info:

Draft Pedestrian Plan Available for Public Comment Until April 27

The City of Madison is updating its Pedestrian Plan for the first time in nearly 30 years! The Draft Pedestrian Plan is now available for public review and comment. The plan provides recommendations to make Madison an even better place to walk by focusing on the safety, comfort, convenience, and enjoyment of people walking and rolling in the city. The Plan will consider:

  • Improvements to the City's infrastructure to improve safety and connectivity.
  • Changes needed to make Madison more accessible for users of all ages and abilities.
  • Program and policy recommendations to encourage and promote walking as a safe and healthy means of transportation and recreation. 

You can learn more about the Draft Pedestrian Plan, including reviewing background materials, on the Pedestrian Plan site, which includes a link to the full draft plan where you can provide input and comments. Comments will be accepted until noon on Monday, April 27.

A public information meeting was held on Tuesday, April 7 to discuss the Draft Pedestrian Plan. The meeting provided an overview of the planning process, key recommendations in the plan, a description of how the public can comment on the plan, and time for questions and answers.

Reminder: Volunteers Still Needed for Madison Earth Day Challenge Saturday, April 25

Reminder: Celebrate Earth Day with your neighbors and friends by volunteering to clean up your local park! Join this community-wide volunteer effort to help make a difference. Accept the Earth Day Challenge with Madison Parks! Madison Parks is seeking 900 volunteers at 60+ parks, located throughout the city to assist with trash pickup, raking, trail clearing, and invasive plant removal. Madison Parks will supply gloves, garbage bags and rakes for registered volunteers. Supplies at each park will be based on the number of volunteers registered. 

Register to volunteer here!

When: Saturday, April 25, 2026 from 10:00am to 12:00pm
Where: Parks throughout the city 

Here are the event registration links for the participating parks in District 3. 

Help with Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull May 9th 

Flyer for the garlic mustard pull event
Image credit: Beth Godfrey

Garlic mustard is an aggressive invasive species threatening woodlands and native plants including the outstanding spring trillium bloom in Madison's Heritage Sanctuary. To conserve this annual “wildflower carpet," please consider joining a garlic mustard pull on Saturday May 9 from 9 am to 11 am. A Madison Parks staff person will lead this off-trail project. Meet at 8:50 am by the sanctuary sign at the south entrance (625 Meadowlark Drive). 

When: Saturday, May 9th from 9am-11am

Where: Heritage Sanctuary, 625 Meadowlark Drive

To volunteer, sign up on the Madison Parks website at https://cityofmadison.galaxydigital.com/need/detail/?need_id=1237524 or email Beth at elsbethrich@gmail.com. 

Events & Announcements 

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.

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Portrait of Alder Derek Field

Alder Derek Field

District 3
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