March Office Hours, Housing-Related Ordinances Proposal and 2021 Crack Sealing

I will be hosting office hours in twice in March virtually. I will be using Zoom (with video).

Please use the registration links below to get the Zoom link. When you register, you'll also get an e-mail reminder on the day of Office Hours. You can register in advance or the day of.

Note: I have set it up so I can only meet one person at a time. If I'm meeting with someone else, there will be a small waiting period in a meeting lobby. If you don't want to use Zoom, I will be answering calls (608-912-0000) during this time as long as I'm not speaking with someone else. 

• Virtual Office Hours: Thursday, 3/18/2021 @ 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM : REGISTER

• VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS: Monday, 3/29/2021 @ 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM : REGISTER

If you have a question, concern, or topic of interest that you would like to discuss, but the times above don't work for you, you can e-mail me.

I'm sponsoring a package of ordinances that were recently introduced to allow for more multi-family housing to be constructed "by-right" in the City's multi-family residential and mixed-use zoning districts. Although there aren't many areas of District 19 affected by these changes, I believe strongly they help with the problem that Madison's current housing stock is not meeting the needs of our growing population. We need more housing units in general, more housing options affordable to all households, and a broader variety of housing so that people have the choices they need to live in neighborhoods across the city, regardless of income, age, race, or ability.

This set of changes is part of work on many fronts to support more housing. This particular group of changes was recommended in the City's Comprehensive Plan (2018) and several housing-specific reports completed in recent years. With a focus on removing barriers for small- and medium-scale developments, the changes impact the scale of development that would be reviewed by the City's Plan Commission.

For large-scale development proposals, these ordinance changes will not directly impact those processes. However, since today's zoning code necessitates conditional uses for nearly all multi-family housing, some folks who are typically actively involved in reviewing these proposals may notice that some smaller and medium-scale multi-family housing and mixed-use development will no longer be subject to discretionary reviews.

Importantly, all development and redevelopment will still be subject to basic ordinance requirements related to stormwater management, provision of bicycle and automobile parking, building massing and placement, and others. Further, these changes do not alter processes related to the Landmarks Commission or Urban Design Commission for development proposals requiring their review.

The hope is that these zoning code changes will support an increased supply of multi-family housing, helping Madison meet the housing needs of our growing population. Meanwhile, we hope that by making it easier to move forward with small- and medium-scale buildings, new and smaller-scale developers will find it easier to invest in Madison's neighborhoods.

The City recently recorded a ~35 min. video presentation on these changes. There is also a recording of a recently hosted Q&A.

At my request, Staff have added some additional layers to the Interactive Zoning Map to make it easier to see which zoning districts the proposed changes would apply to.  If you click on the "Layers" icon in the upper right corner, you can add or take away different layers, depending on what you'd like to see:

• "Conditional Use Threshold and Density Adjustment Districts" (new)
• "Removal of Dispersion Requirement Districts" (new)
• "Aldermanic Districts"
• "Neighborhood Association Boundaries"

If you're interested in learning more as these changes are formally reviewed by the City's Housing Strategy Committee, Plan Commission, and Common Council, please see these resources:

•        July 30, 2020 Plan Commission Special Meeting – Video of Staff Presentation and Plan Commission discussion
•        City of Madison Comprehensive Plan (adopted August 2018) (Neighborhoods & Housing Ch. starting on p. 49)
•        Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (adopted October 2019)
•        Equitable Development in Madison (accepted November 2019)
•        Draft Ordinance Changes on the City's Legistar site   

These changes will be in front of the Plan Commission on 3/22 and the Council likely at the end of the month. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc, please feel free to reach out.

City Engineering will be doing crack sealing in District 19 this year.

Crack sealing is an important part of the City of Madison’s Pavement Management Program. The benefits from the implementation of our crack sealing program include:

• Saves millions of dollars in pavement maintenance costs
• Keeps water out of the base of our street by sealing the pavement cracks
• Extends the serviceable life of the streets

You can view the City’s web site with information regarding the 2020 Crack sealing program, which should be updated shortly with more specific 2021 info.

Here's the list of streets in District 19 for 2021:

As always, if there is anything I can do to help, feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F