City-County Building
Common Council

City Meetings and Updates Week of April 14

posted 
  • City Meetings: Common Council 4/15
  • Spring Yard Waste Pick-Up Begins This Week, How to Get Yours Picked Up
  • Felland Road Closure Notice: 4/15 through 5/15
  • Volunteers Needed: Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull 5/10
  • Autumn Ridge Path Ribbon-Cutting Rescheduled for 4/16
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Common Council

The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 15, at 12:00 p.m. in hybrid format for the Council session turnover meeting (thanking outgoing alders and swearing the new Council), and again at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format for the regular business meeting. Agenda items include:

  • Items 1 through 7 are honoring resolutions for outgoing alders, listing their accomplishments and thanking them for their service. I want to highlight the resolutions for two East Side alders, D16 Alder Jael Currie and D6 Alder Marsha Rummel, both of which are worth a read. The East Side has been tremendously lucky to have had these two dedicated leaders and bold advocates in our corner and I personally thank them whole-heartedly for their leadership, mentorship, and years of public service.
  • Items 8 and 9 are for the election of the Common Council’s new President and Vice President (both offices have one-year terms).
  • Item 20: A resolution that amends ordinances to allow hotel rentals of 30 days or more. Per the drafter’s analysis: “This would provide some additional flexibility while preserving the difference between hotels and apartments and preventing the hotel use from being used to bypass Parks Impact Fee requirements.”
  • Item 36: A resolution awarding a contract for bridge repairs on pedestrian/bike bridges, including the bridge over Stoughton Road that connects Portland Parkway and Dempsey Road. The lowest bid for this work came in $30,000 under City Engineering’s estimate.
  • Item 42: A resolution awarding a contract for the construction of a bundle of Safe Streets Madison traffic calming projects for 2025. This contract includes the construction three much-anticipated projects in District 3:
    • Milwaukee/Walbridge: center island and rapid rectangular flashing beacon to assist pedestrian crossings of Milwaukee Street
    • Milwaukee/Portland Pkwy: crosswalk improvements to better connect Portland Pkwy to the new Autumn Ridge Path extension
    • Cottage Grove Rd & Acewood Blvd: adding protected left turn phase for left turns from Cottage Grove Rd, accessible pedestrian signal for visually impaired pedestrians, center island nose extension on the west leg of the intersection

  • Item 50: A resolution awarding the contract to construct the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park. The lowest bid came in more than $1 million under budget. Read more here about the new joint Parks/Library facility coming to Reindahl Park, very close to the Mayfair Park and Burke Heights neighborhoods of District 3.

    a rendering of the forthcoming Reindahl Imagination Center
    Image credit: Madison Public Library
    A rendering of the Reindahl Imagination Center.
  • Item 101: A resolution authorizing Metro Transit to file an application for an Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program Grant with the U.S. Dept of Transportation (I’m a cosponsor). If awarded, 80% of the $693,174 project cost would be covered by the grant. Funding would support Metro Paratransit and the purchase of an accessible vehicle. The City’s local share is already accounted for in the adopted 2025 Metro budget.
  • Item 108: A resolution setting the rates for Sewer Utility and Stormwater Utility, which according to Finance’s estimated customer analysis document, means a monthly increase to the average residential customer of $3.86 for sanitary sewer, $0.18 for stormwater, and $0 for landfill fees.
  • Item 112: A resolution amending ordinances to give Metro Transit staff the authority to issue citations for nonpayment of bus fare. Most of this authority already exists in ordinances, but the process requires MPD’s involvement for the citations which means that if a citation is contested, the MPD officer and the bus driver need to attend municipal court for the citation, which is not a good use of City resources. I’ve asked to be added as a sponsor of this item.

Meeting info:

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

Spring Yard Waste Pick-Up Begins This Week, How to Get Yours Picked Up 

Curbside yard waste collection begins the week of April 13, 2025 for some neighborhoods.

Yard waste is plant material from your lawn or garden, including leaves, weeds, grass clippings, garden trimmings, twigs less than 18 inches long (please save the bigger stuff for brush pick-up dates), pumpkins, crab apples, vines, corn stalks, and pinecones. The City Streets Division picks up residents’ yard waste each spring for large-scale composting.

You will have two chances for curbside pickup for yard waste – one in April and one in May. Here’s what you need to do so Streets Division crews can collect the weeds, leaves, and other yard waste you have raked or pulled from your lawns and gardens:

  1. Learn the set-out dates for your neighborhood by entering your address at this City yard waste website.
  2. Follow yard waste collection rules. Keep your yard waste piles at least four feet away from obstructions. Never place yard waste piles directly in the street. This causes damage to our lakes, and it can clog storm drains.
  3. Wait for your pick-up. The dates on the website are when you set out the yard waste. These are not the dates when crews will pick it up. Collection crews come by during the work week following your set out date.

If you miss your set-out dates, you can visit a Streets Division drop-off site (make sure you check the hours first).

Felland Road Closure Notice: April 15th through May 15th

Scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Felland Rd will close to thru traffic, from Lein Rd to Commercial Ave/Hwy T, for utility installation and to complete improvements at the Felland Rd/Bridle Way intersection. The scope of this work will require the closure of the Felland Rd/Bridle Way intersection and will limit access of this area to local traffic only, including businesses. 

felland road detour map showing drivers to use the North Thompson corridor instead
Image credit: Capitol Underground, Inc.

Additionally, there will be one month during this closure, from April 15 to May 15 where there will be no connecting access for Commercial Ave/Hwy T to Lien Rd, detours will be necessary to navigate this complete closure.

  • Access from Commercial Ave/ Hwy T will be limited to Divine St.
  • Access from Lien Rd will be limited to Bridle Way.

Please reference the attached recommended detour routes if you are traveling in the area for the duration of this work. Here's a link to a printable version of detour map.

Questions? Contact Project Manager Jim Lee at 608-318-1595 or jlee@capitolunderground.com, or City Traffic Engineering at 608-266-4761 or traffic@cityofmadison.com.

More information is available in this City news release.

Volunteers Needed: Heritage Sanctuary Garlic Mustard Pull Saturday, May 10th

Garlic mustard is an aggressive invasive species threatening woodlands and native plants including the outstanding spring trillium bloom in Madison's Heritage Sanctuary. To conserve this annual “wildflower carpet,” please consider joining a garlic mustard pull on Saturday May 10, from 9 am to 11 am. A Madison Parks staff person will lead this off-trail project. Meet at 8:50 am by the sanctuary sign at the south entrance (625 Meadowlark Drive).

Please email Beth at elsbethrich@gmail.com if you plan to volunteer.

Autumn Ridge Path Ribbon-Cutting Rescheduled for Wednesday, April 16th

The public is invited to a *rescheduled* ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m., April 16, 2025 on Madison’s east side to celebrate the City’s newest multi-use path, Autumn Ridge. This event was initially scheduled for last December when the path first opened. The ribbon cutting will be located at 4346 Commercial Avenue, near the north end of the bridge. 

Aerial photo of the Autumn Ridge bridge under construction.
Image credit: City Engineering

The Autumn Ridge Path creates a shared-use path connection between Milwaukee St. and Commercial Ave (north of Highway 30), including a new bridge over Highway 30. The project improves safety and accessibility for non-motorized modes of transportation to cross Highway 30, better connecting neighborhoods on either side of the highway. The Autumn Ridge Path expands the greater bike network of the area, as the path connects (via local streets) to the existing overpass over Stoughton Rd (Highway 51) at Portland Pkwy, through the Eastmorland neighborhood to the recently constructed Garver Path, and finally to the Capital City Trail and Downtown Madison-area. Long term plans include extending this path network further to the northeast.

More information is available in this City Engineering release.

Events & Announcements

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