City Meetings and Updates Week of March 10
posted- City Meetings
- Common Council 3/11
- Board of Public Works 3/12
- In-Person Absentee Voting Begins 3/18
- Coffee With A Cop Scheduled for Pinney Library 3/18
- WisDOT Public Meeting About North Stoughton Road Corridor Study 3/18
- Madison Public Libraries Offering Free Seeds for Your Garden!
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings
Note: This is not a complete list of meetings for this upcoming week. All meetings and their details can be found at the Meeting Schedule page.
Common Council
The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include:
- Item 4: Presentation by Government Affairs Team: Briefing on State Legislative Affairs
- Item 10: a request for a new alcohol license at Dream Lanes, 13 Atlas Ct in District 3, as part of a potential sale of Dream Lanes. This business hosted an information session for their neighbors and I haven’t heard about any concerns.
- Item 27: a request for a new agent on an alcohol license for Metro Market at 6010 Cottage Grove Road in District 3.
- Item 52: Awarding a public works contract for the 2025 installation of Parks sun shelters, including in Sycamore Park and North Star Park in District 3.
- Item 56: a resolution amending or repealing various ordinances in order to consolidate some committees and eliminate some others. This is a part of an effort to remove duplication of committee roles under an effort to streamline City government structure under the recommendations from the Task Force on Structure of City Government, which preceded my time on the Council. Here’s a staff memo explaining the proposed changes.
- Item 62: An amendment to the Project Plan for Tax Incremental District (TID) #44 (Royster Clark), which includes part of District 3 (I’m a sponsor). From the Fiscal Note: “The amendment adds $155,000 for lighting improvements along Stoughton Rd […] and $500,000 for small business assistance within the district. […] No additional City appropriation required with approval of this project plan amendment.”
Meeting info:
Board of Public Works
The Board of Public Works meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 12, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include a discussion about scheduling special Board of Public Works meetings for the upcoming bid opening for the construction of the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park and an annual stormwater report to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (here’s the staff presentation/summary).
Image credit:
City Engineering
This Stormwater report includes a lot of interesting information related to the City’s efforts to minimize water pollution, which I highly recommend browsing through if interested. For example, this graph from the staff presentation shows the troubling trend of increasing chloride (salt) pollution in our lakes. Preventing this and other pollution in our runoff is why the City strives to minimize salt use, sweeps all City streets each spring (collected 4,882 tons of waste in 2024, according to the staff presentation), and builds stormwater treatment ponds and greenways using funding in the Stormwater Utility which is funded by the Municipal Services bill that property owners pay each month.
If you would like more information about becoming a member of a City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.
In-Person Absentee Voting Begins Next Tuesday, March 18
In-Person Absentee Voting in the Spring Election Begins March 18th. Make a plan to vote!
Eastside locations with dates/times:
- Hawthorne Library, 2707 E Washington Ave 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. weekdays, March 18-28 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturdays, March 22 & 29
- Pinney Library, 516 Cottage Grove Rd 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. weekdays, March 18-28 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturdays, March 22 & 29
- Christ the Solid Rock/Lake Edge Lutheran Church, 4032 Monona Dr 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sundays, March 23 & 30
- East Madison Community Center, 8 Straubel Court 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. weekdays, March 24-28
- Hmong Institute, 4402 Femrite Dr 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays, March 18 & 25 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Thursdays, March 20 & 27 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Fridays, March 21 & 28
- Olbrich Gardens, 3330 Atwood Ave 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. weekdays, March 24-28
- SS Morris AME Church, 3511 Milwaukee St 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sundays, March 23 & 30
Coffee With A Cop Scheduled for Pinney Library on March 18
From East District MPD Officer Neal Crowder’s announcement:
“As I hinted in the last blog post (thanks for everyone who made it), there will be a Coffee With A Cop event on Tuesday March 18th. This time it will be at 9:00 AM at the Pinney Library Branch (516 Cottage Grove Rd). Topic of Interest to be decided soon...
Please mark your calendars! We hope to see you there.”
WisDOT Public Meeting About North Stoughton Road Corridor Study March 18
From WisDOT:
“Everyone is invited to participate in the upcoming public hearing for the US 51 (Stoughton Road) North Study.
Image credit:
Wisconsin Department of Transportation
The US 51 North Study corridor begins just south of the WIS 30 interchange in Madison and continues to just south of the I-39/90/94 interchange in the town of Burke. The study is assessing how best to accommodate traffic volumes with a focus on safety issues that affect travel along Stoughton Road.
The public hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 18th from 4-7 p.m. at Madison College. The hearing will provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about WisDOT’s preferred alternative and provide testimony. Further details about the public hearing and the study can be found here: tinyurl.com/us51-north.”
Madison Public Libraries Offering Free Seeds for Your Garden!
Public Library’s popular Garden Seed Giveaway(link is external) began last week on eight library locations. All libraries (with the exception of Central Library) will offer a variety of flower, herb, and produce seeds for visitors, free of charge.
In 2025, approximately 50 different species of seeds will be available and each year librarians modify their ordering based on both public feedback and observation. For instance, flowers and herbs have been consistently popular across locations, and so there will be more of each offered this year at each location.
The Seed Library first came to Madison Public Library as part of a larger county-wide initiative in 2014. After the initial grant funding ran out for the county-based program, Madison Public Library continued to fund it through the Friends of Madison Public Library and Madison Public Library Foundation. Over the past eleven years, the number and variety of seeds has grown, as well as the number of locations offering this service. In 2024, the Library gave away more than 46,000 seed packets!
More information is available in the news release.
Events & Announcements
- Pflaum Road, Wednesday, March 12: City Engineering plans to remove and replace the asphalt pavement and road base, replace sanitary sewer main and laterals, replace water main and laterals, replace storm sewer and private storm connections, and replace curb and gutter, sidewalk and drive aprons as needed. There is a public information meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m., March 12, 2025, via Zoom. Registration is required prior.
- Street Sweeping During the Overnight Hours Begins Sunday, March 9, 2025: Starting on the evening of Sunday, March 9, Streets Division sweepers will be on the roads working 16 hours a day to collect as much salt, sand, and other grit and grime as we possibly can. We will have one shift of operators sweeping from 10pm to… [posted March 7, 2025]
- 2025 Spring Yard Waste Collection Schedule Now Available: The dates when you should set out yard waste to the curb for collection this spring is now available. The information is available on the Streets Division’s yard waste website. All residents in Madison have two-yard waste collections in the… [posted March 3, 2025]
- Absentee Ballots are in the Mail, Tuesday, March 11: Absentee ballots for the April 1 Spring Election are in the mail. If you requested an absentee, you can track its status at My Vote Wisconsin.
- 2025 Spring Home Maintenance Workshop, Tuesday, March 11: This informative workshop will cover key topics such as seasonal inspections, energy efficiency improvements, outdoor upkeep, and preventative maintenance to help homeowners save money and avoid costly repairs. Industry experts, Project Home (Project Home | Project Home's mission is to improve the quality and affordability of housing.) and MG&E (Home - Madison Gas and Electric) will be on hand to share their expertise and answer questions, including offering solutions in regard to the annual winter moratorium, which prohibits all utility providers from disconnecting residential heating services for nonpayment, which will be ending April 15th, 2025.
- Overdose Recognition and Response: A Toolkit for Overdose Prevention and Post-Care [Webinar], Wednesday, March 12: Join us for an engaging and free virtual training on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose.
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.
