D6 Items of Interest Week of February 15, 2021

Last week I reported on McPike Park. I wanted to share a dedicated funding source for campers set up by the Social Justice Center and other McPike Park supporters in addition to the The Friends of the State Street Family link I provided.  Donations will help us with car repairs, gas cards and car maintenance for friends sleeping in their cars. We hope to be able to support individuals who do not qualify for the Dane County hotel programs to stay in hotels when the weather turns frigid. In addition, monetary donations will allow our groups to coordinate and provide the most essential resources equitably throughout the Madison area.  The recent story from Channel 3000 on McPike Park homeless encampment indicated that during this bitter cold stretch, everyone found temporary shelter, but some people will likely return.

The spring primary election is Tuesday, February 16.  For District 6, the only item on the ballot is the State Supt of Schools.  Please make a plan to vote if you haven't done so already, we all know the importance of public schools.  Aldermanic districts 9, 16, and 18 will have primaries.  Dane County Supervisor District 12, on the north side, also has a primary. Find out everything you need to know about voter ID, voting absentee, voter registration, where you vote and more on the City Clerk's Elections & Voting page.  If you have election questions, please email voting@cityofmadison.com.

Plans for a phased opening of public schools beginning March 9th were announced last week by Dr. Carlton Jenkins, MMSD Supt. He said the phased return to in-person instruction would start with Kindergarten students. I join many others in urging school district officials to consider waiting until all teachers and staff can be vaccinated to add the extra reassurance to frontline workers, students and their families. Here are the MMSD Reopening School Metrics

Public Health Madison & Dane County has issued Emergency Order #13 PDF . The order went into effect February 10, at 12:01a and will be in effect for 28 days. The changes include: Gathering limits indoors and outdoors increased. Updated the types of face coverings that are allowed, and added additional face covering requirements for outdoor locations. Games and competitions are allowed for all sports. In most situations, individuals must wear face coverings. Removal of provision to limit regulated childcare and four-year old kindergarten groups to 15. Indoor youth settings must follow gathering limits. Temporary retail stores are able to operate under the same requirements as permanent retail stores.

When Order #12 was issued on January 11, the seven-day case average was 213, and 71 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. On February 10, the seven-day case average is 107 and there are 63 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Over 11% of the Dane County population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Phased Reopening Continues with Latest Dane County Public Health Order

A set of ordinance changes to allow more density 'by right' in certain zoning  districts was introduced by the Mayor, Alders Lemmer, Furman, Evers, Prestigiacomo and Heck at the February 2 Common Council meeting. 63902 Amending various sections of Subchapters 28C and 28D of Madison General Ordinances in order to increase allowable densities and decrease conditional use thresholds in certain multi-family residential, mixed-use, and commercial districts. According to the drafter's analysis: "These changes will allow for the construction of more multi-family dwelling units ("higher densities") as permitted uses ("by right"). In that way, this ordinance takes one step toward removing barriers in the zoning code that have historically tended to exclude the construction of multi-family housing in areas of the City that are otherwise appropriate for it". Please take a look at Alder Patrick Heck's Update on the Proposed Zoning Code Changes for his analyses of the proposed changes. The goal of the sponsors is to align our housing types and housing densities with the City's 2018 Comprehensive Plan.  Planning staff is working on an interactive map and an in-depth staff report for the upcoming February 25 Housing Strategy Committee. I will share it once it is available.

I have been working on a street tree ordinance that will be introduced at the February 23 Council meeting. It is inspired by the recommendation of the Urban Forestry Task Force to increase the setbacks in order to allow more space for trees and canopy trees in particular to thrive. The final draft should be in legistar soon. In zoning districts for which there is currently a 0' front of street side setback required, this amendment increases the required setback to 5' in some cases. In instances where the distance between the curb and property line is greater than 15', the 0' required setback remains, but in instances where the distance between the curb and property line is less than 15 feet, buildings will need to be set back 5'. Thus, this amendment essentially eliminates 0' setbacks in places where there isn't sufficient space to support a street tree canopy, and will allow space for a wider variety of tree species, in many of the downtown and mixed-use districts where redevelopment is occurring.  There will be an exemption for the "flatiron" blocks in the Downtown area, so that it would be possible for redevelopment on those blocks to have a 0' setback, regardless of the curb-to-property line distance. The districts are:

• LMX, NMX, TSS, MXC, CC-T, CC (all of the Commercial and Mixed-Use Districts)
• DC, UMX (some Downtown Districts)
• TE, SE, EC, IL, IG (most of the Employment Districts)
• CI

Winter is Alive! a cooler world carnival  Feb 12 - March 7 is a multi-disciplinary event fusing art and spectacle to revision climate change and activate global relationship. Uniting us during late winter and the physical separations caused by COVID-19, Winter is Alive! gathers together diverse local and global perspectives to demonstrate the collaboration required to combat climate change. Tamsie Ringler, the Artistic Director of Winter is Alive! explains "In regard to the climate crisis, everybody's voice is important on this issue. We have to pull together as a global community. We cannot keep taking the same path. We need to go beyond sustainability and figure out a way forward, beyond the solutions that have been comfortable before." She continued with, "Part of this project is making everyone see what a wonderful, beautiful world we live in, so that we start taking care of it. It is very important that everybody participate. This is why this carnival is important. We tried to create a project that has something in it for everybody from snow sculptures to conceptual art." Winter is Alive! details

Winter isn't done with us yet!  If you haven't already, please sign up to receive Snow Plow Updates.  Snow Plow Updates explain what Streets Division operations will be doing in response to snow events, and they routinely go into detail about what people should expect on the roads so they can be prepared for their commutes. Snow Plow Updates are separate notifications from Declared Snow Emergency Alerts.  Declared Snow Emergency Alerts are about parking and making sure people know to follow alternate side parking during declared snow emergencies.  If you would like Snow Emergency Alerts, you will need to sign up for those separately. You can also sign up for Snow Emergency text alerts.

The League of Women Voters is hosting "Crisis Cops Creating Communities of Care - A Virtual Public Issues Film Screening and Forum" on Thursday, February 18. More information about the free event is available on the LWV website. Registration is here.  For more information about the film, please go to www.ernieandjoethefilm.com.

The Progress Center for Black Women has created a mini-grant for Black women's self-care. Learn more and apply.

Firefighter (Ret.) Kat Jackson Reflects on Career, Calls on Black Women to Join the Fire Service

Monday February 15

TRANSPORTATION POLICY AND PLANNING BOARD

5p You can send comments on agenda items to TransportationPolicyBoard@cityofmadison.com.

https://madison.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=821565&GUID=1F346084-877D-45E6-A75E-199DF2FF49B8

3. 64186 Capital Improvement Ranking Process - presentation and comment

Transportation Project Scoring

5. 64188 2021 Department of Transportation Work Plan

Madison Department of Transportation 2021 Work Plan

Vision Zero is a 1st level priority and the Schenk Atwood Corridor study is a 2nd level priority for Traffic Engineering for 2021.

7. 64238 Downtown Transit Discussion

The link below is the staff response to recent media articles about removing buses on State St and making it entirely a pedestrian mall. Highlights:  "Metro Transit is planning to relocate five routes off of State Street this summer to relieve bus congestion. Current bus service on State Street is about 30 percent less than it was before the pandemic. The proposed route changes will further reduce the number of buses between 25 to 30 percent on a daily basis, and almost 40 percent during the evening peak. .... Metro Transit would lose over $100,000 annually in fixed guideway funds with the removal of buses from State Street. This is the equivalent of removing a bus from service – which impacts our neighborhoods."

Seven State Street Considerations

Tuesday February 16

SPRING PRIMARY ELECTION

No city meetings are held on election day.

Wednesday February 17

ALCOHOL LICENSE REVIEW COMMITTEE

5:30p You can send comments on agenda items to licensing@cityofmadison.com

https://madison.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=811647&GUID=C2EB5DA4-D313-458C-AE42-39DA35973D96

11. 63859 Request to extend license issuance beyond the 90 day limit under MGO 38.05 Blind Shot LLC• Blind Shot Golf and Social Club 177 S Fair Oaks Ave • Agent: Michelle Duvall• Estimated Capacity (Indoor/Outdoor): (125/45) Class B Combination Liquor & Beer • 33% alcohol, 33% food Aldermanic District 6 (Alder Rummel) • Police Sector 602

Wednesday February 17

AD HOC LANDMARKS ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE

Cancelled

Hold the date for a joint meeting with the LANDMARKS ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE and the Landmarks Commission on Tuesday March 9 at 6:30p.

Wednesday February 17

GOLF SUBCOMMITTEE

Glenway Golf Park - Public Information Meeting

6p – 8:30p

The City of Madison Parks Division has the opportunity, through the generous donation of Michael and Jocelyn Keiser, to reimagine municipal golf in Madison. Michael Keiser, who draws his eco-centric inspiration from renowned naturalists as well as age-old public courses in Scotland and Ireland, approached Madison Parks and the Madison Parks Foundation, to redesign and reconstruct the 9-hole Glenway Golf Course. You must Register to attend.

Thursday February 18

LANDLORD AND TENANT ISSUES COMMITTEE

5p You can send comments on agenda items to LTIC@cityofmadison.com

https://madison.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=843716&GUID=BE6C5105-ED85-4394-A505-9DDE30336D18

7. 64235 Discussion on land banking. Staff will provide more information about the timelines for City's draft of Land Banking Guidelines.

8. 64230 Discussion of criteria for distributing future rent assistance funds and possible recommendations.

9. 64229 Discussion and preliminary proposal to make certain Building Inspection records accessible to the public online.

10. 64233 Discussion on options for recruiting property owners to our Gold Star program. MGO 32.18 Landlord and Tenant Best Practices Certification Program

Marsha Rummel

District 6 Alder

City of Madison