Middleton aldermen direct staff to refine mid-range community campus plans after consultant recap

Middleton’s Committee of the Whole heard a final report from consultants on a proposed downtown community campus and signaled general support for refining a mid-range project rather than pursuing the most expensive, all-new options.

Consultants from SEH, EUA and Findorff told aldermen they had developed seven options for City Hall, the senior center and the library — ranging from a do-nothing baseline and a renovation-only path to combinations of renovation, additions and new construction. The team said the larger options (Options 3–7) are on the order of roughly 150,000 square feet (not including possible below-grade parking) and that parking scenarios ranged from about 135 to 215 spaces depending on grade and underground choices. “We did create 7 different options,” one consultant said during the presentation.

Finance staff provided illustrative tax‑impact scenarios based on updated cost estimates modeled with Ehlers and included a $5 million sustainability allowance in the assumptions. The report showed example peak-year impacts (project-only debt service) for each scenario: a renovation-only scenario modeled to roughly $30 million of borrowing would produce about $0.37 per $1,000 of assessed value (about $193 per year for a median city home at peak); the renovation-plus-addition scenario was shown near $1.00 per $1,000 (about $521/year); a hybrid renovation-plus-new option ran…