City-County Building
Common Council

City Meetings and Updates Week of March 17

posted 
  • City Meetings:
    • Finance Committee 3/17
    • Plan Commission 3/17
    • Transportation Commission 3/19
  • Stoplights Recommended for Milwaukee St. and Sprecher Rd.
  • Southeast Area Plan Input Opportunity: Fill out a “Madison Madness” Bracket
  • City’s Announcement Regarding the Clerk’s Office
  • 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.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include approving the issuance of a Request for Proposals for the redevelopment of Block 113, located at 1 South Butler Street.

Plan Commission

The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, March 17, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include development-related requests in Districts (none in District 3).

Transportation Commission

The Transportation Commission meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 19, at 5:00 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include the Department of Transportation Annual Operations Report (here’s a staff presentation with a lot of interesting information) and a review of the Traffic Signalization Priority List, which includes a recommendation that Traffic Commissioners approve a new traffic light at Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road (see the below section for more information about this).

If you would like more information about becoming a member of a City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.

Stoplights Recommended for Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road

City Traffic Engineering is recommending that a new all-way traffic light/stoplight be added at the intersection of Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road because this intersection’s traffic data now makes it eligible for the upgrade. The decision is ultimately up to the members of the Transportation Commission, who will vote on this on Wednesday, March 19th.

In deciding which intersections get traffic signals like stoplights, the City uses the Wisconsin Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices which are based on Federal Highway Administration standards. This means that the Traffic Engineering Department uses traffic data on crashes and time delays to determine which intersections are eligible for upgraded signal improvements based on these standards. This intersection has been close to, but not quite, eligible for traffic signal improvements for a few years, while nearby parts of the City have continued to grow.

I’ve heard about the desire for traffic signals at this busy intersection from many, many constituents. The intersection of Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road straddles both the 3rd and the 16th Alder Districts, so I’ve been working with Alder Jael Currie on this for a while. My thanks to Alder Currie and Traffic Engineering staff for their work on this improvement for Milwaukee and Sprecher! I absolutely support better traffic handling here and have asked Traffic Engineering to consider the feasibility and pros/cons of using a round-about as an alternative at the request of the North Star Neighborhood Association leadership. I'll ask Traffic Engineering to discuss this option in Wednesday’s Transportation Commission meeting. I encourage residents to weigh in with their own comments, too.

Approvals for this proposed new traffic light as recommended by staff, along with a handful of others which are not in District 3, will be discussed as part of item 6 on the Transportation Commission’s agenda for their Wednesday meeting. The email address for written public comments to Transportation Commission members is transportationcommission@cityofmadison.com. And here is the staff memo which includes more information about the staff recommendations.

A few other intersections in District 3 were also studied for their eligibility for traffic signal upgrades, but were found not eligible based on their measured traffic data: Milwaukee Street and North Thompson Drive, Milwaukee Street and Swanton Road, Commercial Avenue and Nakoosa Trail, Cottage Grove Road and South Thompson Drive, Milwaukee Street and Walbridge Avenue, and Cottage Grove Road and McLean Drive. The staff memo calls out the traffic volume results for Milwaukee Street and North Thompson Drive in particular since this is an area of concern for residents: “Automatic hose counts indicate this intersection is 56% below meeting minimum numerical volumes for meeting warrant 1-A. No other warrant that was analyzed was met.” Here's the full, City-wide list of studied intersections. Note that a left turn light for Cottage Grove Road at Acewood Boulevard has been approved and the City has contracted out some concrete/curb work that is needed for the installation of that new signal.

Southeast Area Plan  Input Opportunity: Fill Out a “Madison Madness” Bracket

From Planning Staff:

“It's that time of year again and the City of Madison is getting into the spirit with a new way for residents to share their perspectives. The “Madison Madness” bracket takes aspects of future planning – like housing, neighborhood amenities, transportation, and recreation – and puts them into a bracket format, allowing residents to think about their priorities and share them with the City in a fun and unique way. 

Madison Madness graphic on a photo of a neighborhood
Image credit: City Planning

Each “team” in the bracket represents a component of what the future of the city could be. The bracket’s four “regions” represent a different area of focus: Neighborhood Destinations, Places to Live, Streets and Getting Around, and Open Spaces and Recreation. Each “region” is broken down into eight different aspects of those categories. There are 32 items in the bracket overall.

The survey will take you through each “matchup” individually. In each matchup, you’ll choose what the higher priority is for you. The survey will keep presenting you with matchups as you work your way through the bracket until you have your “champion” -- the biggest priority you’d like to see addressed.

Fill out your bracket and tell us your perspectives!”

Please visit the Southeast Area Planning page for more info.

City’s Announcement Regarding the Clerk’s Office

From the news release:

“Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the City’s investigation into uncounted absentee ballots during the November election and other aspects of her performance. The Mayor’s Office will provide an update on the progress of the investigation as soon as possible. Until then, the City is unable to provide further details on this internal personnel matter.

City Attorney Michael Haas will assume the role of Acting City Clerk on an interim basis during Witzel-Behl’s absence and will oversee office operations to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Haas previously served as administrator of and legal counsel to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and has extensive experience with elections and administrative law. He will continue to serve as City Attorney during this period.

The City will be allocating additional resources to support the Clerk’s office during this period to make sure that preparations for the April 1 election and all other aspects of the office’s operations continue to run as smoothly as possible. Additional adjustments in assignments for both the Clerk’s Office and City Attorney’s Office will be made as needed.”

Announcements and News Releases

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.

Tags:
Was this page helpful to you?

District 3 - Alder Field

Alder Derek Field

Alder Derek Field

District 3
Contact Alder Field

Categories