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City Meetings and Updates Week of April 5

posted 
  • City Meetings:
    • Common Council 5/6
    • Board of Public Works 5/7
  • Reminder: Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull 5/10
  • MPD East District Parks Initiative in April and May
  • What You Should Know About Low Mow May
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Common Council

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

  • Item 44: a resolution accepting sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and street improvements in District 3’s Grandview Commons phase 27 around the area of North Star Drive, Galileo Drive, Caldera Street, and Peterson Street.

  • Item 46: a resolution approving plans and authorizing the Board of Public Works to advertise for bids to upgrade and retrofit the lighting at District 3’s Fire Station 8 on Lien Road (here’s a link to the plans). 

    North and south elevations of the 12 unit townhomes building
    Image credit: City Planning
    The 12-unit townhome condominiums that were approved in 2022. 
  • Item 48: a resolution approving plans for public improvements (water main and new sidewalk) necessary for construction at 5818 Gemini Drive in District 3. This part of a project to construct a 12-unit townhouse condominium building, which has been approved by the City in a few different forms since 2006, most recently in 2022. (I was surprised to see an item for Public Works construction at this address since this project went through land use approval a couple of District 3 alders ago.) Here’s a link to the development’s 2022 approval in Legistar. And here are the approved architectural plans from 2022.

  • Item 62: a resolution approving the 2025 Neighborhood Grant Program recommendations, which includes a capacity-building grant for the new Hiestand Park Neighborhood Association in District 3! 

    Proposed boundaries of TID 55 shown in green
    Image credit: City Economic Development Division
    Proposed TID 55 boundaries in Green.
  • Item 63: a resolution authorizing the creation of a new Tax Incremental Finance District, TID #55, to assist with the development of the former Voit Farm property, now the recently-approved Starkweather Neighborhood. This isn’t in District 3 but is nearby, and the eastern boundary of the proposed TIF district runs up to Stoughton Road near Milwaukee Street. Here is the term sheet for the new TIF, and here is a memo from Economic Development staff explaining the details. Read more about the City’s use of Tax Incremental Financing at this City Economic Development webpage with more resources.
  • Item 64: a resolution amending the 2025 City Budget allowing the Madison Fire Department to accept approximately $865,000 in state funding for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Funding Assistance program (I’m a cosponsor). Here’s the funding award letter with more information.
  • Item 65: Chief of Police 1st Quarter Report by Acting Chief John Patterson. Here’s a link to the report.
  • Item 70: a resolution amending ordinances to add Disorderly Contact directed at a City Transit Operator (I’m a cosponsor). This proposal extends to Metro Transit bus drivers the same higher protections provided to Election Officials, in response to a recent increase in the incidence of assaults against bus drivers over the past few months. See my April 5th blog post for more details about the related measures Metro Transit is taking to address safety issues.

Meeting info:

Board of Public Works

The Board of Public Works meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 7, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include approving plans and specifications for public improvements required to serve Phase 1 of the Subdivision known as Starkweather Plat.

Reminder: Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull Saturday, May 10th

Parks sign for Heritage Sanctuary
Image credit: Madison Parks

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 next Saturday May 10, 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). 

Please email Beth at elsbethrich@gmail.com if you plan to volunteer.

Madison Police Department East District Parks Initiative in April and May

From East District MPD:

“Did you know that the East Police District has 62 parks, covering over 1500 acres?  Shout out to our hard working and dedicated Parks Department for creating, maintaining, and activating these spaces!

Starting back on April 1, I challenged the East District to conduct as much foot patrol as possible in our park spaces throughout April and May.

The goals of this initiative are to:

  1. Get eyes on spaces that Officers don't travel as frequently by vehicle,
  2. Interact with residents, visitors, and other #TeamCity staff who spend time outdoors in our wonderful parks and green spaces,
  3. establish a positive presence in parks going into the busier late spring and summer months, and
  4. Engage in some wellness, feel the sun on our shoulders smell the spring rain.

In addition to touching the grass, Officers receive bonus points for stopping in to all of the parks in their respective beats, taking photos, attending events or festivals, and for visiting parks outside of the East District.

I'm proud to say that the Officers, Detectives, and Sergeants on Team East have been answering the call!  Since April 1, Officers have logged over 250 foot patrol entries in our District alone!  The vast majority of these are linked to proactive park patrols.  We still have a month left!

If you see our Officers out in your neighborhood park or trail, please stop over and say HI!  We're happy to meet our neighbors and the public, and we'd like to hear from you if you have a concern for the public spaces in your neighborhood, or how you feel about this initiative.

Take care, and let's enjoy this Wisconsin spring weather together.”

What You Should Know About Low Mow May

The Building Inspection Division is again letting residents know that it will be suspending the enforcement of the City of Madison’s grass length ordinance during May as part of “Low Mow May” to help support the local pollinator population.

The City ordinance says that the maximum height for lawns is 8 inches. Typically, lawns that are taller than 8 inches are subject to a notice from City inspectors that will direct the property owner to mow their lawns by a certain date or face a fine. To help with the “Low Mow May” effort, the Building Inspection Division will once again push mowing enforcement dates into the month of June, allowing our pollinators more time to thrive.

Pollinators do best when lawns are maintained at 4 or 5 inches tall, which gives them easier access to pollen and nectar from flowers and plants like dandelions, clover, and violets. In order to preserve access to those plants and give them the opportunity to resprout quickly and flower, it’s recommended to raise your lawnmower deck and limit your mowing to twice during the month (every 14 days) instead of every 7 to 10 days.

Other Ways You Can Support Pollinators Year-Round

See the full Low Mow May news release here.

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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District 3 - Alder Field

Alder Derek Field

Alder Derek Field

District 3
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