Waukesha council adopts William Street placemaking plan to guide future improvements

The Waukesha City Council on Feb. 16 accepted a William Street Placemaking Plan designed to guide future branding, small-scale public improvements and long-term streetscape work in the William Street corridor.

The plan was presented by Melissa Hunt of Ayers and Associates, who said her team led community and property-owner engagement, produced multiple design iterations and developed two final concept options, one of which included a possible community garden on property owned by Soberman. "I led the team full of planners, economic developers, and landscape architects on the Ayers team," Hunt said, describing a process meant to prepare the street for grant opportunities and to make projects shovel-ready.

City staff and the consultant emphasized the plan is advisory and does not obligate the council to spend money. Staff said low-cost items such as signage, banners and branding could be pursued with outside grants and façade programs, while major streetscape work and burying utilities would require capital investment and inclusion in the city's five-year CIP. The consultant presented a high-level cost range for placemaking elements "from a few thousand dollars" to a substantially larger streetscaping figure; the transcript contained a garbled larger number and staff described the top-end streetscape work as multi‑million-dollar in scope and likely requiring CIP funding.

Council members questioned parking impacts, grantability and timing. The consultant said parking was a recurring topic in outreach and that the proposed design would remove only a small number of on-street spaces (the consultant estimated approximately eight spaces lost in the design) while recommending wayfinding to a municipal lot across the street with roughly 150 spaces. When one alder raised concerns about tax and utility bills, Hunt and staff said the plan is intended to attract private investment and grant funds so the city would not shoulder all costs.

Several funding programs were named as possible sources for low-cost work, including downtown façade grants and a central-city low-interest loan program initially funded with ARPA; staff also noted an active application to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation for small-business development support.

Alderman Piper moved to accept the plan, the motion was seconded, and the council voted unanimously to adopt the placemaking plan. The acceptance is advisory and staff said future, specific construction or streetscape projects would return to the council for budgetary approval and permitting.

Next steps identified by staff included finalizing the plan documents, pursuing targeted grant applications for short-term items, and coordinating any future streetscape projects with DPW and utility scheduling so work can be included in the CIP if the council elects to advance construction.