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City of Madison

Common Council to make final review of West Area Plan and Northeast Area Plan on September 10

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Map outlines of the West and Northeast planning areas

After eight weeks of review from several City of Madison Boards, Commissions, and Committees, the first two Area Plans from the City’s new planning framework are up for a final vote at the September 10, 2024 meeting of the Common Council.

Both the West Area Plan and the Northeast Area Plan are on the Common Council’s agenda after making their way through reviews by the Economic Development Committee, Transportation Commission, Landmarks Commission, Urban Design Commission, Board of Parks Commissioners, and Plan Commission. The Northeast Area Plan was additionally reviewed by the Community Development Block Grant Committee.

Each Board, Commission, and Committee provided the opportunity for public comment, in addition to the hundreds of comments received by City staff through the more than year-long planning process. That feedback was the basis for additional recommendations from some of the Boards, Commissions, and Committees, as well as several modifications made by Planning Division staff to previous drafts.  

The recommendations by Boards, Commissions, and Committees since the plans were submitted for approval in July include:

Transportation Commission
  • West Area Plan: Recommend adoption with a shift of a cross-Beltline connection to the east, as discussed in the staff memo for the commission, and inclusion of the revised connection as a planned on-street bike route on the Shared-Use Path and Bicycle Network Map 
  • Northeast Area Plan: Recommend adoption with the inclusion of a bike path south of Highway 30 crossing Highway 51 and the grade-separated intersection of Lexington and Commercial and Highway 51, as discussed in the staff memo for the commission. 

Landmarks Commission
  • West Area Plan: Recommend adoption with the deletion of 5717 University Avenue from the Properties of Historic Interest listing in the appendix, which was mistakenly included on the list

Board of Park Commissioners
  • West Area Plan: Recommend adoption
  • Northeast Area Plan: Recommend adoption with the exception of extending Nakoosa Trail through Sycamore Park. 

Urban Design Commission
  • West Area Plan: Recommend adoption with an update to the UDD (Urban Design District) 3 action on page 42 to consider other areas where a new UDD may be appropriate.
  • Northeast Area Plan: Recommend adoption 

Plan Commission
  • West Area Plan: Recommend adoption with incorporation of changes recommended by other Boards, Committees, and Commissions as well as the minor text edits listed in the staff memo for the commission 
  • Northeast Area Plan: Recommend adoption with incorporation of changes recommended by other Boards, Committees and Commissions and change of plan text to “preserve the opportunity to extend and connect Nakoosa Trail through Sycamore Park in the future” instead of proposing the extension as part of this 10-year plan. 

While Boards, Committees, and Commissions made these recommendations, it is ultimately up to the Common Council to make the final decisions on those items and other details in the plans.

For additional context, previous changes made by Planning Division staff to the original draft plans in response to feedback from community events and written comments include:

West Area Plan Generalized Future Land Use (GFLU) map
  • Changed Hill Farm Swim Club from MR (Medium Residential) to LR (Low Residential)
  • Changed the east side of Merrill Crest Dr. from NMU (Neighborhood Mixed Use) to LR (Low Residential)
  • Changed the west side of Dearholt Rd. from LMR (Low-Medium Residential) to LR (Low Residential)
  • Changed the northwest corner of the Segoe Rd.-Mineral Point Rd. intersection from MR (Medium Residential) to NMU (Neighborhood Mixed Use)
  • Changed the west side of Hillcrest Dr. immediately north of Mineral Point Rd. from MR (Medium Residential) to LMR (Low-Medium Residential)

West Area Plan Zoning map
  • Removed proactive rezoning for the Highlands neighborhood and the block bounded by Whitney-Regent-Merrill Crest-Langlois

West Area Plan Transportation chapter
  • Changed recommendation of “connect the two segments of Middleton Street along the east border of Stricker’s Pond, in coordination with the City of Middleton” to “preserve the opportunity to connect Middleton Street in the future.”
  • Removed proposed north-south bike path through Sauk Creek Greenway and shifted planned All Ages and Abilities bicycle route improvements to Westfield Rd. and High Point Rd.
  • Changed planned street recommendation carried over from old University-Hill Farms Neighborhood Plan that showed an east-west connection north of Rennebohm Park between Segoe Rd. and Eau Claire Ave. to instead curve to the north to intersect Sheboygan Ave. before reaching Segoe

Northeast Area Plan Transportation chapter
  • Added proactive rezoning recommendation to remove the southern 800 ft. of the commercial area that contains the Target retail store from the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) overlay district

You can find an additional recap of recommended changes to the introductory draft plans made by City staff and Boards, Commissions and Committees by reviewing the memos sent to the Plan Commission by the West Area Plan and Northeast Area Plan teams online.

Additional Public Comment

The final opportunity for public comment on the West Area Plan and the Northeast Area Plan will be at the September 10 Common Council meeting. Those wishing to submit written comments can do so by e-mailing allalders@cityofmadison.com. Those wishing to speak at the September 10 meeting or register their support for or against the West Area Plan and Northeast Area Plan can register online. As always, in the interest of time, speakers at Common Council meetings are limited to three minutes. 

About the Planning Framework

In 2022, the Common Council approved a new planning framework that would incorporate 12 Area Plans into the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Before this change, there were about 70 different plans adopted across the City of Madison, but several parts of the City were left underrepresented – or had no plans at all. The plans that did exist varied greatly in terms of when they were adopted – some dating back 40 years to the 1980s – and also varied in geographic size and the level of detail. Additionally, some parts of the City saw overlapping plans with conflicting recommendations.

The new Planning Framework, which began with the West Area Plan and the Northeast Area Plan, takes the recommendations of previous plans into consideration while making the process more equitable through public participation that included hiring community partners and numerous public meetings and focus groups with stakeholders. The end result will be 12 plans that take into account the unique character of each area of the City while also working within the seven elements laid out in the Comprehensive Plan: Land Use and Transportation, Neighborhoods and Housing, Economy and Opportunity, Culture and Character, Green and Resilient, Effective Government, and Health and Safety. This ensures that every part of the city has a plan for the future that touches on each of those elements to help guide long-term, changes to the physical aspects of the community.

Area Plans will be updated every 10 years to ensure recommendations stay up-to-date with community and City priorities. Under that schedule, work on the next West Area Plan and Northeast Area Plan should begin in 2033. Since the Area Plans are long-term plans, it is entirely possible that some changes proposed in these plans do not come to fruition by the next time they are considered. Work on the next two Area Plans, the Southeast Area Plan and the Southwest Area Plan, will begin this fall.

You can learn more about the planning framework by reviewing the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document put together earlier this year by the West Area Plan team. 

About the West Area Plan and Northeast Area Plan

You can find the full drafts of the West Area Plan and the Northeast Area Plan online, as well as slides and recordings from previous public meetings, feedback summaries, FAQs on the Planning Framework and the differences between land use and zoning, and more on the individual project pages:

Departments:
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