Planning staff update Southwest and Southeast area plans; transit, sidewalks and housing top concerns

Planning division staff co‑project managers gave an update to the Madison Plan Commission on June 2 on progress, outreach and emerging themes from work on the Southwest and Southeast area plans.

Urvashi Martin, co‑project manager for the Southwest area plan, and Rebecca Kinnear, co‑project manager for the Southeast area plan, described the area boundaries, demographic context, public outreach to date and the next steps to produce draft recommendations. Martin said the Southwest planning area contains “a little over 16,000 housing units” and “approximately 37,000 residents” and is more racially diverse than some other city areas. Kinnear said the Southeast area contains a little over 11,000 housing units and about 25,000 residents, and that 26% of Southeast residents identify as BIPOC or Hispanic/Latinx.

Staff summarized engagement to date: two rounds of surveys (the team said the first survey received more than 900 responses), a high‑engagement “Madison Madness” online exercise that yielded more than 1,400 responses, ten focus groups (five per area) run with community partners aimed at underrepresented residents, pop‑up events at local libraries and neighborhood walks. Staff said they also worked with UW planning students to gather youth perspectives and hired community partners to boost outreach in the Community Action Strategy (CAS) census geographies.

Martin and Kinnear described recurring concerns in both planning areas: transit shelter shortages and uncomfortable bus stops since the network redesign; missing or incomplete sidewalks, especially near schools; worries about traffic speed and unsafe crossings on key corridors; and housing affordability at multiple income levels. For the Southwest staff highlighted complaints about vacant storefronts at Meadowood Shopping Center and requests for more neighborhood‑serving businesses and library expansion. For the Southeast staff emphasized Highway 51 (South Stoughton Road) as a major corridor that presents a barrier to crossings and will be a key coordination point with WisDOT.

Staff explained the Community Action Strategy areas: census tracts where 50% or more of households have incomes at or below 80% of county median income, making them eligible for federal CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding. Martin and Kinnear said those areas in the two plans are candidates for small‑scale physical improvements and reported “approximately $400,000 in federal funding that could be used for some of these physical improvements.” They cautioned that funding availability is uncertain and that staff will avoid overpromising.

Timeline and next steps: staff said they are in Phase 1 (issues and opportunities) and expect to develop initial draft recommendations this summer and fall, produce a draft plan in late fall/winter, and bring the draft through the city’s boards, commissions and City Council for adoption in spring 2026. Staff plan to use 2‑D and 3‑D illustrations to help the public visualize land‑use scenarios, to run additional arts‑based workshops and to conduct a business walk to reach employers in major employment areas.

Commissioners asked questions about sidewalk financing and project timing; staff clarified that sidewalk construction policy has changed and property owners are no longer assessed for sidewalk placement in some contexts, and that sidewalks are typically installed at the time of street reconstruction. Commissioners also asked about park planning capacity; staff said parks is understaffed, which may affect timing for park‑related recommendations and small development plans.

Staff said they will continue targeted outreach in the CAS areas, refine draft recommendations this summer and check back with the Plan Commission and other boards as drafts are prepared. No formal action was taken.