City Meetings and Updates Week of January 12

• City Meetings:
  • Plan Commission 1/12
  • Common Council 1/13
  • Board of Park Commissioners 1/14
  • Board of Health 1/14
• Woods Farm Park and Canter Park Development Plans at BPC Wednesday
• Proposed Harm Reduction Center in the East Towne Area
• Wisconsin Master Naturalist Training Opportunity in 2026
• Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Plan Commission

The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, January 12, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include a proposal to place a moratorium on new data centers in Madison for 12 months (see this recent blog post for more information about that) and development-related requests (none in District 3).

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

Common Council

The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 13, at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include:

• Item 6: An application for a new alcohol license in District 3: La Bonita, an existing restaurant located at 4915 Commercial Avenue, is asking for a Class B Beer license.
• Item 17: A resolution establishing a temporary moratorium on new data centers and telecommunications centers (I’m a cosponsor). See this recent blog post for more information and my own thoughts about this. And here’s a memo from City Zoning staff.
• Item 52: A resolution establishing a special assessment district for the traffic signals coming to Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road. Per the resolution, the purpose of the assessment district “is to install, operate and maintain traffic signal improvements at the intersection of Milwaukee Street & Sprecher Road”. This long-awaited addition of traffic signals will take place in 2026.
• Item 63: a resolution authorizing the use of $125k in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to implement path lighting in Sycamore Park (I’m a cosponsor). This improvement was identified as the highest-priority improvement in the Northeast Area Plan list (on p. 79) of Community Action Strategy projects for the Burke Heights neighborhood in District 3. The neighborhood has been hoping for this for a long time. This improvement is contingent upon the City's receipt of its FY25 CDBG formula grant allocation from U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• Items 68 and 69: a resolution approving a revision to the preliminary plat for the Reiland Grove subdivision in District 3, and a resolution approving the final plat. Per the applicant’s letter of intent, the changes “adjust the distribution of housing within the neighborhood and incorporate a neighborhood community center. These changes are designed within the current roadway framework and result in a slight increase in density but a greater diversity of housing and amenities within the neighborhood.” Here’s the Planning staff report which recommends approval. Here’s the proposed final plat, which looks similar to the one adopted this past summer.
• Item 73: a resolution authorizing the City Attorney and Risk Manager to create a process for recovering extraordinary expenses resulting from mutual aid assistance for neighboring jurisdictions as already allowed by state law (I’m a sponsor). This is about the numerous, dangerous, high-speed police pursuits from neighboring jurisdictions that have passed through our Eastside neighborhoods in recent years and have several times caused severe crashes involving significant cost and harm to property and individuals’ safety and have led to multiple deaths. Quoting the resolution, that includes “a recent incident where a City of Madison Police Officer was seriously injured, a K9 was injured, and a squad car was completely destroyed, after the officer responded to the mutual aid request of the Monona Police Department during a high speed and incredibly dangerous pursuit of a tow truck driver which ended in a fiery crash”. By contrast, Madison Police Department’s Standard Operating Procedure on Emergency Vehicle Operation Guidelines uses an appropriately high standard for pursuits, saying officers must operate vehicles with due regard for the safety of all persons and may engage in a pursuit only if “probable cause exists to believe that the vehicle driver and/or occupant(s) has recently committed, is committing, or is about to commit a violent felony”. MPD officers may not engage in a pursuit for a traffic, ordinance, or non-violent criminal offense. The harm to people and property from these high-speed crashes is too high to justify pursuits for offenses lower than violent felonies. For that reason, this resolution is also supported by MPD Assistant Chief for Operations Matt Tye, who spoke to it in the Public Safety Review Committee’s December 10th meeting. See the Police Executive Research Forum’s 2023 Vehicular Pursuits: A Guide for Law Enforcement Executives on Managing Associated Risks for more information about why we use a high standard for pursuits in Madison.

• Item 79: a resolution authorizing the City to apply for and accept $6.75 million passenger rail grant from the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (I’m a cosponsor). If awarded, the $6.75 million grant would fund planned safety improvements and identify additional needs at at-grade railroad crossings that support the proposed extension of the Amtrak Hiawatha service to Madison. Existing funding available in Engineering’s Railroad Crossings and Quiet Zones capital program would be used to support the 20% local match of $1.35 million. If awarded, the grant amount will be appropriated through a separate resolution or future budget request.

  Meeting info:

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

Board of Park Commissioners

The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 14, at 6:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include: 

Meeting info:

• Item 13: A resolution adopting the Woods Farm Park and Canter Park (both in District 3) Development Plans. See the below section of this blog post for more information about these.
• Item 15: An informational update and presentation by the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s 2025 Noise Study at Warner Park. The SWBA folks set up sound monitoring equipment on Warner Island from June through August 2025 to study the impact of firework shows. One of their more interesting findings was the large number of unsanctioned fireworks unrelated to approved firework shows, see slide 12.

Meeting info:

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

Board of Health

The Madison Dane County Board of Health meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 14, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include a public hearing on a proposed harm reduction center in the East Towne area. See the below section of this blog post for more information.

Meeting info:

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

Woods Farm Park and Canter Park Development Plans at BPC Wednesday

Two new City parks are coming to District 3! Woods Farm Park is an undeveloped parkland property at 6202 White Stag Parkway in the Woods Farm subdivision off Reiner Road. Canter Park is an undeveloped property at 905 Canter Drive in the Janah Village subdivision off Felland Road. Both of these new neighborhoods have been building out over the last few years and Madison Parks has been working with local neighbors to get input on features to be added to these park properties.

Image credit: Google Maps

Parks staff held public input meeting on September 4th (with postcard invitations sent to local addresses) about park amenity options, gathered feedback and shared a survey, and presented potential concept options for resident feedback at another public meeting on October 29th. On December 10, 2025, staff presented draft plans to the Board of Park Commissioners and requested feedback. Now, parks staff are requesting that the Board adopt the proposed Woods Farm Park Development Plan (link) and Canter Park Development Plan (link) on January 14th.

Residents placed significant value on native habitat and natural features of these properties, so both plans propose half of the area to be “managed meadow” space. In addition, Canter Park is proposed to have a traditional playground, shade trees, a sun shelter/picnic area, a sport court, an open field for recreation, and a fence along Felland Road at residents’ request – see the full Canter Park design concept here. Woods Farm Park is proposed to have a basketball court (set away from adjacent homes), sun shelter/picnic area, a “community patio” gathering space, a nature play area, and a single track pat – see the full Woods Farm design concept here.

The timeline for construction of these park amenities will be driven by availability of funding in the City Capital Budget and will take place over several budgets. There is tentatively some proposed funding planned in 2027, but that isn’t made final until the Council adopts the 2027 Capital Budget later this year. Stay tuned for more information about the 2027 City Budget in the fall.

Proposed Harm Reduction Center in the East Towne Area

The Dane County Board of Supervisors allocated $800k in Opioid Settlement Funds to support the creation of a centralized Harm Reduction Drop-In Center. They did so at the recommendation of the County Health and Human Needs Committee’s Opioid Settlement Subcommittee (link to subcommittee recommendations). According to Public Health Madison and Dane County, this kind of facility is a “safe, welcoming, and low-barrier space where people at risk of overdose, infectious disease, or other substance-related impacts can access nonjudgemental support, supplies, education, and referrals without the requirement of abstinence.” From what I’m learning in relevant research, the harm reduction model of treating people struggling with opioid use disorder is widely respected among health experts and generally sounds like a good use of the County’s Opioid Settlement Funds.

Public Health staff reviewed a handful of proposals to run such a facility, and recommended awarding a contract to CAYA Clinic, Inc. In a presentation to the Board of Public Health on December 3rd, we learned that CAYA Clinic’s proposed space for their harm reduction center would be 1765 Theirer Road in Madison - basically the East Towne area. This part of the City, including the portion of District 3 in this area, has some challenges already that lead to a high number of  Police and Fire Department calls. Further, the details about CAYA’s proposal provided to City Zoning so far suggest that it would be classified as a “Daytime Shelter” under the zoning code, confirmed by City Zoning staff. (For those who pay attention to land use approvals, that means it would need to meet the City’s standards for a Conditional Use Permit.)

With all of this in mind, plus the fact that we didn’t learn about the proposal until right before the meeting where this was to be approved by the Board of Health, I’ve been supporting D17 Alder Sabrina Madison’s efforts to slow down the approval process so that we can study the details and impacts. Here’s a letter that Alders Madison, Matthews, and I sent to Public Health and the Board of Health members last month. I feel that, if this contract is going to be granted, we need to make sure this would be staffed and funded appropriately for a Daytime Shelter and that we consider potential impacts to emergency service demand compared to the City agencies’ capacity to keep up with the need for emergency services in this area. If the Board of Health agrees, the parameters of the request for proposals process may need to be revised.

The Board of Public Health meets on Wednesday, January 14th and agreed to provide another public hearing opportunity on the proposal at this meeting (which wasn’t required because it technically already had a public hearing on Dec 12th). That will be a hybrid meeting at room 357 in the City County Building at 5:30pm. The final vote on the proposal will take place at the Board’s February meeting, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 4th at 5:30pm. Find the Board's meeting agenda and public registration links in the above section of this blog post. 

Here’s a link to recent news coverage of the topic by Madison365.

Wisconsin Master Naturalist Training Opportunity in 2026!

“The City of Madison Parks Division and Friends of Urban Nature are teaming up to host a 10-month Wisconsin Master Naturalist training, organized around observable changes in nature throughout the seasons. This training will explore how key Master Naturalist concepts relate to ecosystems found in local conservation parks and natural areas. Participants will be invited to become phenologists with us, as we observe and record the events that signal seasonal change – from the first spring wildflowers and migrating songbirds to autumn leaf colors and the gathering of Sandhill Cranes as they prepare to fly south.

Each monthly [Saturday] session will include field experiences led by knowledgeable guides and highlight opportunities for participants to learn about local efforts to restore, preserve, protect, and understand natural spaces in and around Madison’s parks. Connections to human impacts and culture will be woven throughout the program, as will the effects of climate change.

This training also focuses on helping Master Naturalists connect communities and kids with nearby urban nature, recreation, education, and restoration volunteer opportunities. Warner Park will be our home base; however, many field experiences will take place at other Madison-area locations. Outdoor activities will include standing, walking, and looking, as well as some navigation of uneven terrain. This program welcomes everyone and is designed to accommodate a range of physical abilities.”

Here's the training website. Registration opens January 12th.

Questions? Email: info@wimasternaturalist.org; Phone: (608) 262-0020

Events & Announcements

• 2026 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award Honorees: Dane County Executive Melissa Agard and City of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway proudly announced this year’s recipients of the City-County Humanitarian Awards honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [posted January 8, 2026]
• IM Report - Dec 17, 2025: During the December 17, 2025 meeting of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, Interim Independent Monitor, Meeka Glass provided an update to the board but was unable to share detailed information due to a technical issue. This report contains… [posted January 7, 2026]
• 2025 Housing Tracker Year in Review: New homes surpass annual average, focus on affordability: The City of Madison’s Housing Tracker shows steady progress toward the goal of adding 15,000 new homes of all types by 2030, with its latest update providing preliminary year-end totals for 2025. [posted January 7, 2026]
• Neighborhood Grant Program Workshop, Wednesday, January 14: The Planning Division will host the Neighborhood Grant Program again in 2026. If you have a project idea and want to ask questions or are simply interested in learning more about the program, please join us for this workshop! This will be a hybrid meeting.
• Bird & Nature Adventures | Starkweather Creek Area, Saturday, January 17: Otter Go Sledding Party ~  Join Naturalist Paul Noeldner and Friends of Starkweather Creek for a free family friendly sledding party and nature walk or go sledding on your own to embrace the joy of winter!  Some sleds will be provided, please bring a sled if you have one.

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.