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In considering further development for Madison residents, the Legislative Affairs Committee heard student questions and feedback Tuesday night about the potential renovation of Mifflin Street.
The Legislative Affairs Committee presented two plans to a crowd of more than 25 students last night. The options include Plan A, which emphasizes the renovation of current buildings and allows the construction of similar new structures, and Plan B, which includes heavier development and renovations.
Plan A seeks to redevelop two blocks from Bedford Street to Broom Street on Mifflin and university property in the area beside the Kohl Center as well as West Johnson Street. Dayton Street and West Washington Street would both be left untouched.
If the plan was enacted, houses with interior problems and exterior blemishes would be renovated or reconstructed.
Additionally, the committee said if students seek to give Mifflin a historical designation, they can do so by creating a board that will oversee future construction of the sites. However, LAC Chair Adam Johnson said creating another board means developers could still develop Mifflin, but they would have to go through this additional board for approval.
The basis of Plan B is to “allow Mifflin neighborhood to transition over time into a more urban area by permitting construction of larger residential apartments and mixed-use development,” according to the LAC proposal.
It would provide more housing opportunities as well as increase the population density on the Mifflin area, but through a case-by-case basis of individual houses.
“Developers [would] buy a few houses here and there, and there’ll be a new complex going up,” said Josh Molter, a UW senior and committee member who attended the meeting.
Overall, Plan A was the favored plan in attendance by an initial vote at the end of the meeting, which had three students voting for Plan B and the rest for Plan A.
“The city’s plan is recognizing the historical value of the district,” Molter said.
UW senior Colin Klemz is a Mifflin apartment resident also voted for Plan A.
“If you want to live on all an urban area like Bassett, then live on Bassett. Not on Mifflin,” Klemz said, adding a larger student voice is still needed.
UW freshman Alexandra Perraud, who attended the meeting because she works near Mifflin, was also concerned about the student vote.
“Being an undergrad, nobody I know knows all that’s going on. Nobody reads all the flyers or picks up a paper or reads the chalk all of the time. If a decision is made without the students, it would be tragic,” Perraud said.
Aware of this concern, Johnson took the initiative to call for student representation by sending an e-mail to every University of Wisconsin student inviting them to the hearing earlier Tuesday. He added Madison alders, especially Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Ald. Bryan Eagon, District 8, were very excited about the students’ reaction to the proposals.
Students interested in participating and finding out more about the Mifflin renovations can attend a meeting next Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union.
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Why did you not interview anyone interested in Plan B or say what the merits of it were? Talk about bias… I was at the meeting and was one of the three that liked Plan B. If your goal is to inform the students about what’s going on with the future of Mifflin, at least give them an entire depiction as to what’s going on and what the plans truly consist of.
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then why dont you tell us why the f you liked plan b, you annoying capitalist.
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As a correction, Plan A would leave Mifflin as is, while opening up construction to other areas.
Also, niether of these proposals are from the LAC, they are the city’s idea that the LAC is presenting to us.
Finally, I would like to point out that in Plan B (reconstruction) by allowing new things to be built in the area, it does not mean the city will send in bulldozers and raze the street overnight. New construction would only happen if a developer bought out several landlords and then, when there were no leasees living there, propose to the city a project which could then be built. We’re talking a 5-10 year timeframe minimally.
Basically, this allows for re-zoning and does not MANDATE reconstruction. Simply opening up the option.
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Mifflin is great as it is. It adds character to a campus that is losing it with all these high rises. Can there even be a block party without the houses? I think students are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping mifflin the way it is
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Students should not get a say, this isn’t campus property nor is it their property. This is a street with old houses with supposed “historic value”. If someone wants to pay a crapload of money to buy out the landlords and raze the old houses, let ‘em. The only historic value that 95% of students see in Mifflin is a block party to get drunk at every year and a street that is known for house parties. There are more than enough houses that suck near campus, getting rid of a few of them should be a good thing.
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Mifflin Street’s historical value is not in the buildings themselves, but in the culture and history of the area and the current buildings maintain the fabric of that culture. Also the Mifflin St Block Party is not just some random party (at least not when it was first started). That party began as a student political protest against the Vietnam war. It holds historical value as one of the most tumultuous times in the history of the UW student body and a time first establishing that students at UW had and will always have the right to freely protest. A right that is still exercised on this campus more then many other schools and one reason that many of us chose to attend this school. I’m no historian or expert, but I think that Mifflin Street has created a part of this school’s identity and it would be a shame to tear down that history because we want some new apartments or have forgotten what happened there 40 years ago. Ask your parents, your professors, or do some reading about Mifflin Street and the Vietnam protests before you commit to torch that history.