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City Meetings and Updates Week of June 22

posted 
  • City Meetings:
    • Common Council 6/23, Includes Southeast Area Plan
    • Board of Public Works 6/24
  • Reminder: Planned Development Rezoning Meetings 6/22 and 6/25
    • What are Planned Development zones? Why do we have them?
    • Upcoming Public Information Meetings and More Information
  • City Budget Engagement Event: Planning & Transportation 6/24
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Common Council

The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 23, at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include: 

  • Item 3: A presentation from the Welch Group (the City's lobbyist) on State Legislative Affairs, not yet attached to the Legistar item
  • Item 7: A resolution adopting the Southeast Area Plan (SEAP, includes part of District 3) and the related amendment to the Comprehensive Plan (I'm a cosponsor). Here is my recent blog post describing the extensive public engagement process to gather public feedback leading to Plan recommendations, as well as the SEAP actions related to District 3. Note: please refer to the current SEAP draft link for the most recent version of the plan. Here is the staff presentation that staff recently gave to the Plan Commission, and here is an accompanying staff memo.
  • Map showing land use categories proposed in the Southeast Area Plan, with higher density along major roads
    Image credit: City Planning
    Proposed land uses mapped over the District 3 portion of the Southeast Area Plan's area.

    Item 8: A resolution adopting the Southwest Area Plan. This Plan went through a similar, parallel process as did the Southeast Area Plan. Here's a staff presentation and a memo about the Southwest Area Plan.

  • Item 22: A resolution authorizing a cost-sharing agreement with Wisconsin Department of Transportation related to the State's upcoming North Stoughton Road redesign (I'm a cosponsor). WisDOT policy requires cost-sharing for items like multi-use paths, path lighting, and path overpasses. Funds were included in the 2026 Capital Budget; actual expenditure will depend on WisDOT's design and construction timing, which currently looks like 2028-2030 but is subject to change. 

    Door Creek Watershed Map of neighborhoods on both sides of Sprecher Rd.
    Door Creek Watershed Study boundaries.
  • Item 23: A resolution extending the contract for the Door Creek Watershed Study, which covers much of the North Star neighborhood in District 3, through January 2027 while not adding cost to the contract (I'm a cosponsor). The City is is writing a bunch of these for watersheds within the City and planning stormwater improvements to better handle large rainfall events in the future. This watershed study is nearly done and residents should watch my blog posts for an upcoming meeting to see recommendations for potential stormwater handling improvements. 
  • Items 38, 39, 40, 42: resolutions authorizing the City to enter agreements to provide transport service for eligible seniors or people with disabilities (I'm a sponsor). 
  • Item 46: a resolution authorizing the purchase of 200 acres in an area of Burke using budgeted Park Land Acquisition Funds ($6m) for future parkland northeast of the City (I'm a cosponsor). The City and County are working out the details of a cost-sharing grant. This area is scheduled to join the City of Madison in 2036, after which time Parks will begin the planning and development of this new major City park. Here's a Parks staff memo with more information. Given the current boundaries of District 3, it's possible that some of this area and surrounding neighborhoods will be within the future boundaries of the District, but we won't know until after the 2030 census and resulting aldermanic district boundary adjustments. 

Meeting info:

Board of Public Works

The Board of Public Works meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 24, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include: 

  • Item 6: A resolution adopting a relocation order to acquire land at the very southern end of MacArthur Road for improved stormwater facilities related to the Macarthur/Sycamore/Larson street reconstruction project. Here's a map that shows the area with the planned stormwater route heading south from MacArthur to a WisDOT stormwater pond.
  • Item 17: A resolution awarding a Public Works Contract for the installation of the new traffic stoplights coming to Milwaukee Street & Sprecher Road, which borders District 3, to Parisi Construction LLC.

Meeting info:

Reminder: Planned Development Rezoning Meetings Monday and Thursday

The City of Madison is looking to rezone several single- and two-family Planned Development (PD) zones across the city, including many in the North Star neighborhood in District 3, into conventional residential zoning districts. City staff will be hosting two virtual public information meetings to explain this effort and how it may benefit property owners.  

PD Rezoning Project Banner
Image credit: Madison DPCED

What are Planned Development zones? Why do we have them?

Planned Development (PD) zoning creates unique, site-specific land use and development rules for each PD zone. One PD zone may have completely different requirements for building height, setbacks from property lines, and design review processes than another PD zone nearby. This is different from conventional zoning districts, which are outlined in the City's zoning code and can be used in various similar areas throughout the city.  

PD zones were a commonly-used tool before the City of Madison updated its zoning code in 2013. PD zoning became popular in the 1980s under the previous outdated zoning code. PD zoning had the benefit of allowing entire neighborhoods to be designed at once, but those benefits were up front – with the trade-off that even small, incremental changes to a home as it ages can be burdensome to get approved. 

I've heard from multiple frustrated North Star neighborhood homeowners who were interested in adding a deck, pergola, or egress window to their property in a PD zone, only to give up when they learned about the burdensome process to approve changes to their customized PD zoning rules.

Upcoming Public Information Meetings and More Information

Residents interested in learning more can register to receive a link to one of the two virtual meetings, which will be held on:

Affected properties have been mailed postcard invitations to thee meetings. You can find the full list of PD zone addresses and their proposed new zoning district, sorted by aldermanic district, on the webpage at this link.

Please check out the City's webpage for this project to learn more.

City Budget Engagement Event Wednesday: Planning & Transportation 

Learn more about the City of Madison budget process and get your questions answered during budget engagement sessions planned across Madison. This session focuses on Planning & Transportation. 

From 6-7pm you'll have an opportunity to stop by different tables and chat with representatives from the following City agencies: Building Inspection, Community Development Authority, Community Development Division, Economic Development Division, Metro, Planning, Parking, and Traffic Engineering. 

After the open house, Finance Director Dave Schmiedicke will do a short presentation about the City of Madison budget process for 2027, followed by a Q&A with alders. The goal of these public meetings is to provide an opportunity for you to speak directly with City staff about your ideas, concerns, and priorities for Madison's future.

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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