On bikies, Jody M said: < ... The whole surrounding area is geared to the car culture, and we are way behind in addressing the seriousness of the problem..... With the exception of the bike lanes on Buckeye (which did not come without a fight, sadly), all indicators are to step on the gas and go like hell to your own private piece of sprawl.... <
Almost needless to say, this is the same problem all around Madison, not just in the Buckeye Road area. It's a problem around most moderate and large sized cities. But just because the problem is not unique to Madison, that does not excuse the City of Madison from addressing it. Unfortunately, based on my review of the city's latest plan, this problem is going to continue to get even more intolerable in Madison in the years to come. The City of Madison's new "Comprehensive Plan" was unveiled last Thursday night. The plan defers the problem to the MPO planning process. However, I have been to the MPO meetings and they are not dealing with the problem there either. What I believe we need to do is to call attention to this continuing oversight at the upcoming public hearings on Madison's "Comprehensive" Plan (CP). In a nutshell, the Draft CP is not comprehensive enough because it does not address the problem of commuter motor vehicle traffic into and out of Madison from regions of Dane County located outside the City of Madison and from the surrounding counties. The plan details the continuing increases of commuter traffic but does not contain a recommended solution to the problem. Deferring attention to the problem of ballooning vehicle miles traveled into and around Madison and the havoc too much motor vehicle driving has been creating in Madison to other ongoing planning processes (MPO, Dane Co., State Highway Plan) makes the City's draft CP less than comprehensive. I hope to provide more details on this, later. But in the meantime, I believe everyone who is concerned about this problem should attend one of the upcoming public hearings on the draft CP (listed at end of this message) and speak their mind on it. Mike Neuman "Rebates for Driving Less: A Nonstructural Alternative to Expanding the Capacity of Highways" http://living-room.org/sustain/altdrive.htm A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall http://www.newcolonist.com/kaywet.html =============================== Blueprint For City's Future Unveiled Public Input Wanted On Draft The Capital Times :: METRO :: 1C Friday, May 27, 2005 By Judith Davidoff The Capital Times If you want to have a say in the way your city looks in 25 years, now is the time to speak up. City officials unveiled a draft of the city's comprehensive plan Thursday night at the Monona Terrace Convention Center, kicking off two months of neighborhood meetings and discussions with city committees. "Planning is really about gaining control over our future," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in his opening remarks. Cieslewicz praised the 600-some page document as an invaluable tool for citizens and anyone else interested in accessing current data and recommendations for growth in such areas as land use and transportation. "It's a tremendously powerful document because information is power," Cieslewicz said. Three years in the making, the comprehensive plan is intended to provide an overview of the city's goals, policies and objectives for development in the city. It will also be used to update the city's zoning code. One thing it will not do is supplant detailed neighborhood plans, city officials have assured residents. Wisconsin's Smart Growth law, which Cieslewicz helped write when he was director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, directs that all counties, cities, villages and towns have comprehensive land use plans in place by 2010. Cieslewicz said this should help local governments more easily find ways to cooperate on providing services, ultimately saving taxpayers some money. Madison's draft plan recommends balancing infill development with the goal of preserving the character of existing neighborhoods. It also endorses the creation of New Urbanist mixed-use developments that feature small lots, quality architecture, walkable streets and mass transit. General locations for potential development, as well as expansion on the periphery, are identified. The plan recommends maintaining downtown Madison as the city's primary cultural and entertainment center and advises that the area undergo its own focused planning process. As for expansion on the periphery, the plan makes clear the last true frontier for the city lies to the east, as the rest of its borders are fairly well set by boundary agreements with neighbors. One potential expansion area is located east of Interstate 39-90 and south of Madison's Cottage Grove and Sprecher neighborhoods, The plan notes that the city currently has no agreement with the town of Cottage Grove, where most of this planning area is located, and that it would need to "identify its long-term interests in the area in order to work cooperatively with the town to address issues of mutual concern." The plan also recommends that the city begin discussions about the potential for intergovernmental agreements with the towns of Cottage Grove, Sun Prairie, Burke and Verona -- where the only identified potential west side expansion lies. Jerry Derr, Town of Bristol chairman and president of the Dane County Towns Association, said that's a good sign. "If the city of Madison is talking about working with its neighbors, that's a big step forward," he said. "They wouldn't talk to the town of Burke for 15 years over boundary issues." City Planning Unit Director Brad Murphy said that's not true, noting that an agreement was almost reached in the early 1990s with the town. He also said that Madison's neighbors have been briefed on the comprehensive plan and that he expected to have more discussions in the future. "We'll be offering to meet to talk about the draft and deal with any issues that need to be addressed," Murphy said. Developer Curt Brink, who is proposing a 27-story mixed-use development for East Washington Avenue, was glad to hear the comprehensive plan favored a mixed-use approach to redevelopment projects. "By going mixed-use, you're better able to utilize the land," he said after sitting through the briefing Thursday night given by city planner Mike Waidelich. Ald. Robbie Webber said she was pleased with the general tone of the plan, including its emphases on mixed-use and transit-oriented development. And she urged citizens to take this opportunity to provide input on how they'd like to see their city grow. "It will directly affect them," she said. "This is going to guide what the city is going to look like -- where it's going to develop and how." The comprehensive plan is available on line at http://www.madisonplan.org and at all public libraries. After this summer's meetings, the Plan Commission will consider revisions to the draft and prepare a final draft. The City Council is expected to act on the plan in ordinance form in early fall. PUBLIC HEARINGS Thursday, June 2: 6-8 p.m., Dean Clinic East, 1821 S. Stoughton Road. Wednesday, June 8: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Meadowridge Branch Library, 5740 Raymond Road. Thursday, June 9: 6-8 p.m., Catholic Multicultural Center, 1862 Beld St. Tuesday, June 14: 6-8 p.m., Ashman Branch Library, 733 N. High Point Road. Wednesday, June 15 : 6-8 p.m., Warner Park Recreation Center, 1625 Northport Drive. Thursday, June 23: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Sequoya Branch Library, 513 S. Midvale Blvd. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
