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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:

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:

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:

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