City planners had to improvise their format on Tuesday when a classroom at Vel Phillips Memorial High School swelled to capacity. Some couldn’t even get in the door to hear a presentation that would, frequently, be interrupted.
City planner Linda Horvath tells WORT that the attendance at Tuesday’s in-person meeting didn’t match up with the couple dozen that had appeared at virtual meetings over the Draft West Area Plan.
That plan is one of the city’s first under a new framework for urban planning approved in 2022 that carves the city into twelve slices.
The draft for this side of the city started in January of 2023, and it covers a wide section of the West side, covering roughly 8.5 miles.
That’s larger than the old standard of neighborhood plans. Already, neighborhood plans – which date as far back as 2006 for the Spring Harbor neighborhood to as recently as 2022 for the Odana area – are archived. That means they’re no longer being used to guide development, city projects, policies, or budgets.
If approved, the draft West Area Plan would help guide a comprehensive future for this area, guiding everything from parks and recreation to housing to transportation. It would also guide land use, as the city prepares for historic growth. Horvath says the city’s now projecting 110,000 more Madison residents by 2050.
The plan is in the final stage of public feedback before being introduced to the Common Council. And residents on Tuesday voiced concerns that the land plan would materially change the character of their neighborhoods.
West side resident Scott Sussman says he opposes the plan, and doesn’t think it’s well thought out.
“I don’t think they’ve planned how to make a livable community. I realize change is going to happen, but it just doesn’t seem well thought out,” he says.
When asked by WORT why he chose to attend, Sussman says “the neighborhood pool is definitely an issue. And the parking lots.”
He’s referencing an issue raised last week in a controversial opinion piece in the Capital Times written by the newspaper’s publisher Paul Fanlund. That piece pointed to what could happen to the Hill Farm Swim Club, a sixty-year old private swim club at the heart of the West Side, if ever sold.
The swim club, alongside other areas like church parking lots, could be subject to what city planners refer to in the West Area Plan as “proactive zoning.” That process that would rezone future property consistent with its recommended land use described in the plan. That process, though, would require additional action from the council to take effect.
City planners are careful to make the distinction that the draft plan will not rezone the west side. It would indicate, though, where rezoning will likely happen in the coming years.
“The zoning is different. One of the main guiding document that decision makers use to determine if the request is appropriate is a future land use map. It does not really have the effect of law,” says one city planner.
But many of the attendees on Tuesday took those reassurances with a grain of salt. Some argued that the draft plan is just an invitation for wealthy developers to swoop in and change their neighborhoods with little oversight.
Gail Bliss, a resident of the Hill Farms neighborhood, was also at Tuesday’s meeting and has been attending related meetings over the last year.
“About 90 percent of the plan looks perfectly reasonable to me. And, a lot of people are very frustrated that they don’t feel they’re being heard. And I am somewhat frustrated that some of the material was pretty unclear,” she told WORT.
“There’s a property near me that’s to be labeled in the land use plan as mixed-use. But there’s nothing in the plan that says how many apartments would go on top of that mixed-use building. It’s not really clear. I tried to figure it out and I’m afraid that so many people are settled in their distrust of the city and the plan, that the whole thing is going to have a long and difficult and winding road, and I wish it was a different way,” she added.
In recent years, the city has made other decisions that have rankled some west siders. Things like changing the definition of single family housing, creating transit overlay districts, and implementing Bus Rapid Transit – the first leg of which cuts through the west side.
Overall, Bliss says she’s been okay with other recent changes that the city’s made in guiding the future of living and moving through Madison.
“I’m within the transit overlay. Fine with me. I remember going around telling my neighbors, this does not mean everybody is going to tear down their houses tomorrow. Similarly, the redesignation of churches as possible places for more housing strikes me as very practical.”
“I can see people being frustrated and not wanting to vote for things the city recommends because they ‘don’t listen.’ I felt for the staff member saying we have people yelling about bike paths. You can’t make everybody happy all the time, but I think they could be doing a better job of being clearer,” Bliss says. Sponsored
But residents have a bit of a cudgel to push back on the city this time around. The city of Madison is facing a yawning budget gap in this and future years. Come November, the city could need to ask voters to approve a referendum that raises taxes.
Jenny Iskandar is a longtime resident of Sauk Creek, and lives right next to the Sauk Creek Greenway. She says that twelve years ago, when the city wanted to make necessary sewer improvements, she was able to work with city planners to seek compromise over details of their plan.
Recently, she’s been helping to lead the neighborhood’s push against another proposed city improvement – a potential bike and pedestrian path running through the greenway. She’s been regularly attending transportation and planning meetings, and even brought her bright yellow binder to Tuesday’s meeting.
I asked Iskandar if her interactions with the city over the bike path would inform her vote in November, if a referendum is on the ballot.
She says “Most definitely. If they come to us asking us for more money, or tax increases, to cover their shortfalls, I would definitely think twice about that with the interaction we’ve had with the city on this.”
Jane Meyer lives in the Tamarack community. While waiting in line to get in, she tells WORT that many West side residents feel that there have been too many surprises in the planning process.
“There’s more folks here than I thought. Very few of them don’t have concerns. Losing road parking, the ability to travel more freely are very much on the top of people’s worries.
She agrees that this planning process could inform her vote on a potential referendum.
“If the city were to actually look at their spending and eliminate the unnecessary spending that’s occurring in this plan, over $2 million for this bike path. Because at this moment I would not support a referendum.”
West side alder Bill Tishler represents one of several districts covered by the proposed West Area Plan. He says Tuesday’s meeting was the most contentious public meeting he’s been to – and he was somewhat anticipating this response.
“People are clearly angry and I think what it mainly is is they just want to be heard. And although Zoom does allow people to all come together and hear a presentation, I think there’s something very powerful about people coming together in a room and letting their voice be heard just by being together and – as we saw here – raising their hands when they’re not in favor of something, or clapping when they do support something. So I think this is kind of how democracy is supposed to look, in my opinion.”
Tishler also set up a camera to record the presentation. In less than 48 hours, it’s racked up almost four and a half thousand views on YouTube.
Some online panned the crowd’s reaction, pointing out the West Siders likely left out of the conversation.
Harry Jin is a high school junior, and will graduate in 2025. He lives just outside the area plan, but bikes through what’s covered in the West Area Plan every day. Tuesday wasn’t his first planning meeting – he says he finds it interesting – and he likes that the city is looking to the future.
“I think it’s great that we’re looking to take action and be ambitious with how we see the future of the city. We’re looking to see the change that could be happening that we could use to address problems like climate, like housing, and transportation safety,” says Jin.
He says for people his age, it’s important to be ambitious now.
“Housing is getting to be a pretty massive struggle, and completely determines where you live. Some of my teachers at high school have to commute because they can’t find housing that works for them near the schools.”
Jin has a license, but driving stresses him out. He prefers to bike and take the bus most places and is excited about Bus Rapid Transit. He says that in planning conversations, the voices of young people and students aren’t really being heard.
“If we don’t make any decisions to accommodate future growth, then the people right now aren’t going to have any options. When you see high schoolers joking about not being able to buy a house in the future, I don’t think it says a good thing about the future of housing in the area or the country. Yes, staying the same is easy and nice, but there are small changes we can make that will make a big difference down the road. And we should definitely be looking into those.”
Horvath says it’s not first time she’s had a contentious meeting like Tuesday – in Madison or while working in other cities.
“When people are motivated, and passionate, it’s actually pretty awesome for us. Because we want people to be involved, we want hear what they have to say. And sometimes, we’re not going to always be able to do what somebody wants us to do, but, yeah.”
The deadline to submit written feedback on the Draft West Area Plan is next Wednesday, March 20. After this meeting, though, planners say that deadline will be extended. A virtual meeting on proactive zoning in the plan is slated for next Monday, March 18.
With production help from Faye Parks for wortfm.org. This story received a Bronze award for Best Long Hard Feature Story from the Milwaukee Press Club 2024 Excellence in Journalism Winners.