Plan Commission backs updated Parks and Open Space Plan, adds bicycle parking reference

The Madison Plan Commission unanimously voted Sept. 15 to recommend approval of the Parks and Open Space Plan and to forward it to the Board of Park Commissioners and Common Council, with a friendly amendment adding a specific reference to bicycle parking in Table 3.2.

The plan, described to the commission by interim Parks Superintendent Lisa Lashinger, is the Parks Division’s five-year strategic plan that guides park development, land acquisition, financing and operations. "We are required to have an adopted park and open space plan in order to participate in state and federal grants when they're available," Lashinger told the commission during the presentation.

The plan incorporates two years of outreach and technical work, citywide surveys conducted with the UW Survey Center, targeted BIPOC outreach, youth focus groups, multiple open houses, and a public comment period this summer, Lashinger said. The draft inventories more than 295 parks and about 5,700 acres under management and lists more than 8,000 park amenities. Staff noted roughly 2,000 reservations in 2024 and more than 514 permitted park and street events that together amounted to about 1,000 program days in 2024; Olbrich Botanical Gardens recorded more than 370,000 visitors and the municipal golf program reported more than 160,000 rounds in 2024.

The plan’s recommendations are organized around seven elements drawn from the city’s comprehensive plan: land use and transportation; neighborhoods and housing; economy and opportunity; health and safety; culture and character; green and resilient; and effective government. Highlights Lashinger emphasized included improving connectivity between parks, reducing parkland deficiencies in growing neighborhoods, advancing natural-resource resilience and increasing strategic partnerships.

Public comment and commission discussion focused on bicycle parking. Nicholas Davies of District 15 registered in opposition to the plan as drafted to request that bicycle parking be treated as a default, costed amenity rather than an optional extra. "Not including bike parking in the recommendations for a new park means...it really should be just written in by default as a matter of policy," Davies said.

Commissioner Timothy Heck asked how the plan addresses the concern; Lashinger replied that bike parking is treated as park furnishings and is considered in site-specific park development, and that the plan already addresses bike access under the land-use and transportation strategy. "We do consider bike parking to be bike, to be furnishings, and the cost is significantly less than installing parking lot for vehicles," Lashinger said. Heck and other commissioners suggested a middle ground: include an explicit mention of bicycle parking in the plan’s amenity table while keeping detailed furnishing costs in the park-development budget tables.

Commissioner Solheim offered a friendly amendment to add an explicit reference to bicycle parking to Table 3.2; Alder Uguera seconded the amendment. The motion to recommend adoption of the Parks and Open Space Plan as a supplement to the Madison Comprehensive Plan, as amended, passed unanimously.

The plan will next be returned to the Board of Park Commissioners (the lead body) for further review, then to the Common Council for final adoption. Lashinger and staff told the commission they remain available to answer follow-up questions as the plan proceeds through referrals.