D6 items of Interest Week of August 21, 2023

Two public meetings are scheduled to discuss the future of the Brayton Lot (Block 113) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please join city staff and Alders from District 2, 4, and 6 for an in person meeting Tuesday, August 22 at 7:00 pm in room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building, 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Or, you have the option of participating in a virtual meeting Wednesday, August 23 at noon. Please register by clicking here . After registration you will receive a confirmation email with a link to join the meeting.

The Brayton Lot is a two-acre surface parking lot along East Washington Avenue in the First Settlement neighborhood. The future of this site has been addressed in multiple City adopted plans over nearly 30 years, and plans remain consistent in their vision for the scale and massing of future buildings with up to 10 stories along E Washington and S Butler, and 3 stories along portions of S Hancock and E Main adjacent to the First Settlement Historic District. For more details check out the Brayton Lot project website.

Traffic Engineering posted a news update Friday about Vision Zero Safety Improvement projects and speed limit reductions. Starting in August, expect speed limit reductions for Eastwood Drive (Riverside to Dunning reduction from 30 to 25 mph). On the Safe Street Madison website there is a link to an April 2023 project spreadsheet that shows estimated timeframes for safety improvements projects including projects in D6.

Last week I blogged about the neighborhood meeting regarding the proposed redevelopment of the Essen Haus parcels on E Wilson and S Blair St. I posted a link to the presentation from JCAP Real Estate, but the file was too large and the link didn’t work, so here is another version Wilson + Blair. If you are interested in watching the neighborhood meeting, the Council’s home page now has a link to Watch Neighborhood Meetings under the Meetings and Agenda tab on our home page, scroll to August 9 to find the meeting.

702 E Washington was at UDC last Wednesday August 16 for an informational presentation. Here is a link to the UDC 8.16.23 audio, the item starts at 3:30 hours. TLNA sent a letter with the results of the survey they conducted, it’s under the link to public comments Legistar 79239. Per the letter, “Respondents were asked whether they are TLNA members, and whether they supported, supported with reservations, or opposed amending the Urban Design District to allow for increased height beyond the current 8+2 restriction. Respondents were also asked a variety of free-text questions, and to rank the priorities of the current UDD8 bonus criteria. …The top priority for respondents was affordable housing. This was also clear in the free text responses filed by many of the respondents. 89 out of 108 respondents (82%) chose affordable housing as a priority.”

Save the Date: Downtown Alders Meet and Greet Thursday, August 31 - 6:30p to 8:30p, Central Library

Join Alders Juliana Bennet, Mike Verveer, MGR Govindarajan and me for our first downtown alders meet and greet. This in-person event will take place at the Madison Public Library, 201 West Mifflin St, in the Madison Room on the 3rd floor. It's a great opportunity to ask questions, share your concerns, and connect with fellow community members.

Please RSVP to this event by registering at the Eventbrite link! Light refreshments will be provided. Event Cost: Free Wheelchair Accessible: Yes Pre-Registration?: Yes Registration URL: Additional Registration Information American Sign Language (ASL) Provided?: No Event Website: Downtown Alders Meet N' Greet Eventbrite Link

Monday August 21, 2023  - Room Tax Commission – 4p Room Tax Commission Agenda 08.21.23

2. 79339 Financial Update and Budget Priorities from Organizations Receiving Room Tax Commission Allocations
a. Madison Arts Commission
b. Destination Madison
c. Monona Terrace
d. Overture Center
e. Alliant Energy Center.

Learn more about how the city and related entities propose to spend room tax income from tourism for 2024.

Tuesday August 22 – Water Utility Board – 4:30p WUB Agenda 08.22.23

2. 79431 Presentation by Isabel Reams, UW-M Graduate Research Student, on "Using SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) to identify areas of water loss in Madison Water Utility.” Conclusion: The Madison Water Utility experienced a water loss of 1.23 billion gallons in 2022, 13.5% of the total water pumped. Continue to prioritize the replacement of spun cast iron water mains, when possible. For every mile of spun cast iron replaced with ductile iron pipe, an estimated 1.7 million gallons of water loss will be prevented each year.

3. 79432 MOU regarding Crowley Station/Well 17 Open Space between the City of Madison Parks Division and the Madison Water Utility.

History of the project from the MOU: The Water Utility operates Well #17, also known as Crowley Station, at 201 S Hancock, which has a large exposed concrete surface accessible at street level. In 2013, Parks, the Water Utility, an informal group of residents, property owners and business interests, and a downtown neighborhood association, Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the use of Crowley Station as public open space. In 2017, the City amended its master community garden lease with Community GroundWorks, Inc., now known as Rooted WI, Inc. to include the Crowley Station surface, allowing the garden group to operate community gardens in the raised plating beds installed under the 2013 MOU (the “Garden Lease”). In 2020, community leaders and members began rethinking the possible uses of Crowley Station. In consultation with Parks and the Water Utility, these interested community members have developed a vision to develop and transform the Crowley Station surface into a “Lakefront Porch”, which will broaden the range of activities and uses for the space. Sufficient private funding has been secured to advance the Lakefront Porch project, which will be completed through a separate agreement between the City and the Madison Parks Foundation, the improvements being donated to the City upon completion.

Wednesday August 23 – Board of Public Works – 4:30p BPW Agenda 08.19.23

16. 79296 City Engineering Presentation: Amending Section 8.15(1) and Creating Subsection 37.05(11) of the Madison General Ordinances to allow for certain greenway encroachments and the creation of a greenway privilege. DRAFTER’S ANALYSIS: Under existing ordinances, most encroachments into City greenways and park lands are not authorized, even if similar encroachments may be approved on other City owned lands. This ordinance would amend Sec. 8.15(1) to create a limited exception to this prohibition and allow for some encroachments into greenways that are solely managed by the Engineering Division, including lands managed by the Stormwater Utility (such as ponds and other detention basins). While gardens and temporary fencing may be allowed with notification and approval of the City Engineer, more extensive encroachments, including permanent fencing, retaining walls, stairs, outbuildings, hardscape and parking areas would require the granting of a greenway privilege under the newly created 37.05(11). A greenway privilege would be similar to a privilege in street under Sec. 10.31, and would be within the discretion of the City Engineer to grant. The City will retain the ability to remove any greenway encroachment that interferes with City operations or that presents a risk to the public health, safety and welfare.

17. 79297 City Engineering Presentation: Stormwater Utility Land Management Plan Informational Presentation Why are we doing this? • Create a transparent framework regarding land management practices and the decision‐making process. • Develop a strategy that protects resources and responds to anticipated increases in storm frequency and intensity related to climate change. • Evaluate fiscal resources, opportunities and limitations, as well as anticipated growth to better manage our land and develop community priorities while understanding short term and long term fiscal impacts. • Provide a resource for the public that includes input from outside expertise regarding community concerns.

Wednesday Aug 23 – Transportation Commission - 5p  No agenda posted, yet.

Wednesday August 23 - LAKE MONONA WATERFRONT AD HOC COMMITTEE- 6p Agenda

5 79442 Review and Discussion of Proposed Master Plan Revisions DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION