Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInMADISON (WMTV) - A man was arrested Monday after a handgun was allegedly found in the parking lot of Monona Grove High School The 9mm handgun with a loaded magazine was reported to Monona Police Department at 6:51 p.m The School Resource Officer was able to review camera footage and find that a man rode through the parking lot on a bicycle near where the handgun was found Police later found the man on the bike near E Coldspring and Monona Dr The man allegedly said he was passing through the parking lot when he accidentally dropped his handgun The 33-year-old man was a convicted felon and was arrested for illegally possessing a firearm and bringing a handgun onto school grounds MOPD explained the man had no relation to or interest in the high school when he rode through the parking lot Authorities say there was no threat to the school Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app The suburb is actively exploring ‘upfill’ development in underutilized corridors A view from 300 feet above the Broadway corridor which is being eyed for high-rise development a city surrounded by a city famously surrounded by reality might prove to be the real deal in the quest to house the influx of new residents Madison’s booming economy is expected to attract in the next several decades But while Monona may be landlocked (and lakelocked) some city leaders are looking upward for how one small suburb can do its part — and much more — to help address the Madison area’s housing needs A prominent Madison-based urban planning consultant believes Monona’s time has come “I think there is significant potential,” says Vandewalle & Associates principal planner Rob Gottschalk who has been instrumental in the redevelopment of Madison’s Capitol East corridor into a vibrant residential “If [Monona] wants to really optimize that potential for its future which have sometimes been met with neighborhood and political pushback in recent years are getting a more favorable reception these days the area’s housing crisis is converging with a budget squeeze for Monona Wisconsin caps property tax increases at the percentage by which new construction has increased property values where a Qdoba here and a Chipotle there are not enough to move the needle There’s been so little recent building activity that the city is limited to a negligible levy increase for 2025 A November referendum will ask voters to permanently increase the annual limit by $3 million considering that it would raise the city portion of Monona property tax bills by 30% — the referendum is regarded as only a partial fix Feeding into the Madison area’s hunger for housing could give Monona more budget breathing room while also addressing an urgent regional priority “If we’re going to increase the population increase our tax base and become sustainable at some point with our finances we really have no choice but to grow,” says Monona Ald according to census figures compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Administration Signs of a potential Broadway revival include Yahara Terrace With no way to expand its borders and develop outward Monona is actively exploring how “upfill” redevelopment could bolster its tax base and stabilize its municipal finances “Do I think there are opportunities for redevelopment or development in Monona a senior planner with Dane County and project manager for the county’s recently completed Regional Housing Strategy report The strategy identified a need for 139,000 new dwelling units between now and 2040 to accommodate population growth and replace aging housing stock officials are eyeing the redevelopment potential of vacant undersized or underutilized commercial properties along East and West Broadway — the four-lane landscaped boulevard refashioned from the old South Beltline in the 1980s The two-mile span of Broadway from South Towne Mall to Stoughton Road includes potential housing sites that are closer to job centers like downtown Madison American Family and Epic than many of the urban and suburban areas where new apartment development is flourishing “We’re sitting on a gold mine that we’re not utilizing,” says DePula Broadway “should be a smaller version of East Washington Avenue with eight- to 10-story buildings up and down that corridor.” “Monona is closer to downtown Madison than most of Madison A few multifamily buildings and waterfront cottages face the street; otherwise amenities that new residential developments often struggle to attract — including shopping health and recreational facilities — are already in place on and near Broadway for what could be a neighborhood with walkability scores through the roof…and swimming pools on the roof “Monona is almost perfectly placed,” says City Administrator Neil Stechschulte you work on the east side — you can get everywhere in our area from Monona.” Monona will be served by full-scale public transit The city has contracted with Madison Metro to replace its limited-service Monona Express shuttle The new bus routes with expanded schedules could make parts of Monona even more viable for housing development “Owning a car is a very expensive thing,” says Parry your housing expenses are going to be less — so it’s a great place for affordable housing It’s a great place for housing in general.” The beginnings of a potential Broadway revival are already in place: Yahara Terrace is a 121-unit mixed-use apartment building on the site of a former a mobile home park near the Beltline’s Monona Drive exit; and The Current anchored by 145- and 96-unit apartment buildings a public park and a marina at the junction of Broadway and Bridge Road who worked on the complex riverfront plan that spawned The Current says the success of that project and Yahara Terrace helped “prove the market” for high-density residential development in the Broadway corridor “People have underestimated what you can do in Monona before,” Harrington says “and yet these projects keep showing that there’s more power in the market there than people give it credit for.” Part of the area’s unique appeal is that multistory buildings could offer tenants on the upper floors sweeping views of postcard-worthy scenery At heights and densities approaching East Wash proportions a Broadway high-rise could afford breathtaking sunset vistas silhouetting the Capitol skyline Two other projects under construction on Broadway will not reach skyscraper dimensions Besa — a smaller-scale development across from The Current — includes owner-occupied live/work units as well as market-rate apartments the nearly completed Broadway Lofts & Townhomes offer affordable workforce-priced units Monona’s largest business — WPS Health Solutions — became a virtual employer and its sprawling corporate campus on West Broadway a ghost town The insurer’s conversion to a remote workforce left nearby retailers reeling from the loss of their former customers WPS did not order its employees back to the office when the pandemic subsided allowing the insurer to consolidate its physical footprint in its main headquarters land and parking lots available for redevelopment One of the structures has become the new home of One City Schools “We’d love it if they were just going back to full strength and get that economic benefit of all those employees in and out every day but it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen,” Stechschulte says “They don’t necessarily need that physical space Word of the WPS site’s availability was soon followed by the news that Top Golf a national chain of indoor/outdoor driving ranges is planning a recreation and dining venue on the site of a small office park between WPS and South Towne South Towne itself has recently filled long-vacant spaces with new retailers but unused outlots and unneeded parking areas are being marketed for future development Broadway and its intersecting thoroughfare Monona Drive — each approximately the same length as Madison’s Capitol East corridor — are dominated by low-density commercial buildings Many contain popular and prosperous businesses and are in good repair; a few are even architecturally distinctive Others show the effects of deferred maintenance and neglect DePula’s refurbished Salvatore’s Tomato Pies restaurant occupies part of an aging strip mall that he cites as an example of Monona Drive’s unrealized potential “The highest and best use of this is to build five stories of housing above it with commercial on the ground floor,” DePula says That vision is beginning to take hold within a few blocks of Sal’s Several large market-rate housing projects on or near Monona Drive have been approved or proposed: The Bloom a 98-unit mixed use development that recently broke ground on the former site of a bar an antique store and a bank drive-thru; Monona Pines 45 apartment units on a former fast-food and oil-change site; and a two-phase where the shuttered Village Lanes bowling alley has stood empty for three years who was Sun Prairie’s longtime economic development director before coming to Monona in 2023 says Madison’s Capitol East corridor provides a better model for Monona than the sprawling auto-centric growth spurt Sun Prairie has experienced Madison was able to reinvigorate those blighted blocks without annexing a single acre of land or paving a single cornfield “I am a fan of the things that have been happening on East Wash,” Stechschulte says But “East Wash” only happened as a result of a long careful process of planning and coordination among stakeholders in the governmental Guided by Vandewalle consultants who helped not only create a vision but carry it through to implementation they looked at the corridor as a whole and made intentional decisions about what should be built where Projects in Monona under construction: Besa includes owner-occupied live/work units on Broadway “Corridor planning is a very significant tool that municipalities can use to green-light the types of projects that they want to see,” says Dane County’s Parry “It takes a whole piece of existing infrastructure and says how can we fulfill the priorities of our community within this given space It allows you to identify areas where you want housing It also signals to developers that you know this is what you want and where you want it.” a spate of new interest in Monona after years of slow development activity might tempt the city to embrace every project of any type that comes its way — in the misguided belief that somehow The Top Golf project illustrates his point a catalyst for compatible spin-off projects — much as the Capitol East district feeds off the sports and entertainment activity at Breese Stevens Field “There’s no other place in Dane County where we could look at a parcel that’s underutilized like South Towne and the whole commercial area that’s adjacent…to create a destination for Dane County and really make something spectacular there,” says DePula But “there’s a lot of detail and finesse that goes into that,” Gottschalk says If each property owner is working in their own self-interest and you’re not thinking holistically about what environment you are creating whose involvement with The Current convinced him of Monona’s potential advocates planning for the entire Broadway corridor rather than sitting back and watching it develop piecemeal rather than just WPS putting a sign in the yard for the rest of the property of the city being proactive and figuring out what would be the right thing there — not just from an economic standpoint but from a community standpoint?” Harrington says “A lot of communities sell themselves short and are willing to take the first thing that comes along,” he adds “There were some initial proposals in Cap East that were dramatically less intensive than what you see there today and by some pretty well respected developers And the city [of Madison] had the foresight and the courage to say no especially when you’re first trying to prove the market.” Development in Monona is currently guided by its 2016 Comprehensive Plan which sets forth general goals and land-use preferences and is scheduled to be updated in 2026 And the city is maximizing the use of incentives like tax incremental finance (TIF) districts to make redevelopment projects that meet city goals financially viable “The prudent use of TIF to spur redevelopment,” said Mayor Mary O’Connor earlier this year in a report by the Monona Community Development Authority “is the city’s #1 tool to encourage commercial and residential growth through redevelopment that will be necessary to increase the city’s tax base provide more housing and amenities to its residents and reverse the trend of declining population.” Monona this year created several “anticipatory” tax incremental finance districts identifying the kind of development it encourages in blighted areas where no specific project is yet planned One such district encompasses the East Side Club — a lakefront event venue near Olbrich Park that is not on the market but which city planners have pegged as a future location for housing located on the shores of Lake Monona with a very nice view of the isthmus has risen significantly to the point where the use and density…is no longer consistent with the value,” says a city planning document Is there the political will for a city that has stayed small for decades to suddenly go big on housing It is notoriously hard to please everybody — and sometimes Some folks don’t want affordable housing; some don’t want unaffordable housing Local real estate agent and developer Bert Slinde planned to replace the shuttered Village Lanes bowling alley and the crumbling parking lot they shared just off Monona Drive along Owen Road with an apartment building that would include affordable “workforce housing” units Concerns about density and traffic prompted the city to limit the development’s size when it was approved in 2022 But the project languished as construction costs and interest rates rose The nearly completed Broadway Lofts & Townhomes offer workforce-priced units taller and denser than the one some neighbors had already felt was too big Monona’s geographic and fiscal constraints and the realization that the comings and goings of apartment dwellers would likely cause less ruckus than a bowling alley at bar time — the city approved the larger project with little dissent like other developers of recent Monona projects he drew parallels with the Monroe Commons condominiums he developed in 2006 on Madison’s near west side ‘We want Ken Kopp’s [grocery store] to stay,’ and they’re the same people that go to Trader Joe’s now and have bought condominiums in the facility change is difficult — I get it,” Slinde told Monona’s plan commission “Even those that originally were objecting…those are ironic situations that they may very well be some of the same people that will live there,” Slinde said of his Monona project There tend to be fewer NIMBYs where there are fewer backyards a developer who had experienced neighborhood pushback in a nearby community received a warmer reception in a less populous part of Monona When Northpointe Development proposed senior apartments across the street from a cluster of existing duplex-style condominiums in McFarland the condo owners circulated petitions protesting that the project would increase traffic But when Northpointe came to Monona with its plan for workforce apartments on East Broadway there was little to no neighborhood opposition — partly because there is little to no neighborhood homeowners in the city’s more established residential areas have cited sparsely populated Broadway as a more logical place for new multifamily housing than Monona Drive where several such projects are already underway or proposed An indication of how willing Monona is to embrace higher density housing development may be that the three winning candidates in the spring 2024 city council election — DePula and fellow incumbents Teresa Radermacher and Brian Holmquist — were outspoken supporters of the idea “Let’s build up, with tall buildings in designated corridors,” Radermacher told the League of Women Voters in a candidate questionnaire. Holmquist, during a televised forum advocated a level of housing density “that is unheard of in our community and I think that is the direction that we’re going to need to move in.” Meanwhile the candidate who most brazenly equated housing density with crime — a claim that DePula calls “a racist trope” — finished 5th in the field of six “There’s always a subset of people that have been here for a long time who feel that change is scary and don’t want to change ‘the character of Monona,’” DePula says Bill Graf is a freelance writer and editor based in Monona He serves on the oversight committee for the community radio station WVMO-FM (98.7) where his commentary “The Lake Loop” is broadcast weekly please send an email with the following information to calendar@isthmus.com Here's the information we need to include your event in our calendar: * event date; RSVP/ticket deadline if there is one email or website we can publish (REQUIRED) Optional info:* bios/press releases for posting with the online listing Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInWHITING and another has been charged after deputies were called to a home in Monona County Fifty-four-year-old Veronica Kluge of Whiting Iowa was charged with first-degree murder after the Monona County Sheriff’s Office was called to a home at 16757 County Highway K42 Deputies were called to the home at 12:05 a.m according to a press release from the Monona County Sheriff’s Office Kluge allegedly said she had killed her boyfriend When the Monona County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene they found 50-year-old Justin Luth dead inside the house Authorities say his death was the result of a stab wound Court documents show Luth and Kluge were residents of the rural Monona County home She was taken into custody and transferred to the Monona County Sheriff’s Office where she was interviewed by law enforcement held her to the ground and tried to strangle her Kluge also claimed during the fight she was able to get to the kitchen and grabbed a knife which she used to stab Luth when he approached her Authorities say the evidence they’ve gathered does not support Kluge’s story “Physical evidence at the scene does not match [Kluge’s] statement I did not see any marks or contusions on [Kluge’s] body consistent with the attack she described,” stated law enforcement in court documents A joint investigation was performed by the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation and the Monona County Sheriff’s Office Want to get the latest news and weather from Siouxland’s News Source? Follow these links to download our KTIV News app and our First Alert Weather app (WMTV) - The Monona Community Festival may not be over quite yet This summer, festival organizers announced that this would be the final year of Monona’s Fourth of July celebration Monona Mayor Mary O’Connor stated in a Facebook post that city staff are working with incoming festival leadership to continue the beloved event next year “The initial collaboration has been very productive and we are working with them on completing a formal event and facility agreement that should be ready for Council review by the end of January 2025,” O’Connor said Organizers explained in June that a combination of fewer volunteers and increased costs have made it difficult to put on the event When the organizers announced the festival’s end Monona resident Chris Walker said he wanted to find out how the community was feeling about the decision “I decided to just kind of make this Facebook group to see how much interest there was in saving it,” said Walker The Facebook page named SAVE the Monona Community Festival quickly gained traction The page caught the attention of Brian Henry “I saw that Facebook.Page and I called him up and said I’m really interested in helping in whatever way I can.” That is when Henry started his new role as the incoming community festival president the previous leadership team and the Monona Community Festival Board and I’ve met with the City of Monona many times to make this happen and we’re moving forward The new organizers are planning to continue the event in 2025 and the city is working with them to make it possible Walker said that he can’t imagine Monona without the event I’ve been raising my family in Monona,” Walker said “It’s just something that’s always been there and it’s something that we’ve always coalesced around as a community so seeing it go away was really not an option for a lot of us.” The City will make a final decision in January to approve the event for July of 2025 www.sandamianomonona.org and fun as we celebrate World Migratory Bird Day 2025 This family-friendly event is packed with educational and recreational activities for all ages set against the stunning lakeside and small arboretum of San Damiano Start the day with a peaceful bird walk led by Mary Murrell The Monona Public Library is bringing the fun with story time featuring local authors Samantha Cora along with face painting and hands-on nature crafts in partnership with Sprig Native Plant Nursery gentle yoga led by the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and explore engaging tools for bird identification while learning how native ecosystems support our feathered friends Come connect with nature, learn from local experts, and celebrate the incredible journeys of our migratory birds! Learn more at www.sandamianomonona.org. A westward view of railroad tracks along Lake Monona where the Monona Terrace now resides Historian David Mollenhoff (left) examines development plans for Lake Monona's shoreline with Allen Arntsen (center) and Jim Bradley (right) with Madison LakeWay Partners Future plans include safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians They are looking at the Wright-designed model of Monona Terrace A view of the Wisconsin State Office Building at 1 W and the Monona Terrace area on the lake in 1957 based on designs by architect Frank Lloyd Wright required decades of planning and advocacy to become reality Madison’s plan to redevelop the shoreline traces back 100 years to John Nolen’s vision and 200 years after the Ho-Chunk were driven away when the Ho-Chunk inhabited the place now known as Madison they built homes from tree saplings and traveled by canoe in a pristine lake they called “Where the Teepees are.”  following the forced removal of the Ho-Chunk people and the arrival of European settlers the landscape and the lake’s western shoreline began to dramatically change Settlers called the lake “Monona” and embarked on grand plans that would connect a burgeoning state capital with the beauty of the waterfront They built streets and railways to help people move faster and two parks to help them slow down another effort is underway in the capital to redevelop 1.7 miles of shoreline from Olin Park to Law Park with modern architecture and green space Planners also hope to pay homage to the Indigenous people who occupied the land and kept its waterways clean The project is set to begin next year with an overhaul of the John Nolen Drive Causeway the plans include rebuilding the causeway’s six bridges and creating new pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians “The plans are to have a green-segregated city trail where everyone is safe,” said Mike Verveer it can certainly be frightening around the lake with the high volume of traffic speeding by you.”  City leaders have also adopted future plans to build a boathouse on Lake Monona a “lake lounge” next to the Monona Terrace and an elevated nature walk near Olin Park — adjacent to a new community center public response to the future plans drew the largest ever public engagement for a city of Madison project with more than 4,000 comments and 1,500 survey responses is expected to begin a more than $15 million fundraising campaign “We had standing-room-only public meetings to discuss the master plan,” Verveer said “There was one infamous meeting where you couldn’t even get near the meeting room because so many people were there.”  The fundraising would add to about $8.5 million in funding dedicated from city and county sources Dane County officials most recently approved $2 million for the project Supporters hope millions in federal environmental grants could help finance the project If all the plans come to fruition as backers hope in the coming years Madison would complete a vision for the waterfront nearly 200 years in the making a land speculator stood on a nearly 10-story sandhill looked at the region’s isthmus and recognized a perfect location for Wisconsin’s capital “The city was conceived in the mind of one man a historian who wrote a book about Madison’s past “He had the privilege of spotting places that would be potential capital sites.”  From Doty’s vantage where Meriter Hospital now resides he believed a city along the isthmus could be beautiful “He came through here in 1829 on one of his scouting trips,” Mollenhoff said Doty favored the region for economic reasons The site was halfway between Milwaukee and the Mississippi River which people knew would become the western boundary of the Wisconsin territory Early developers of Madison identified the area between Olin Park and Law Park as prime real estate in the city Land surveyors said the area of Olin Park reminded them of parks in England Doty himself bought up large tracts of land to sell for development and the state’s future capital city was born Doty participated in a classic American land grab Ho-Chunk citizen and member of Madison LakeWay Partners which means “The Four Lakes” and is commonly translated as Teejop Several years before a treaty formally ceded the property to settlers “We have been here since the Ice Age and we have traditional stories about the short-faced bear,” Warner said referring to an extinct North American bear “So if we have stories about the short-faced bear we have been here for thousands of years.”  The Ho-Chunk lived in ciiporokes — dome-shaped huts constructed of tamarack and other tree saplings — and moved around to seasonal camps never exhausting the natural resources of one particular area Some of their canoes dating back millennia have been recovered from the bottom of Madison lakes the Ho-Chunk had recognized the region as an economic hub for trade They called the lake north of the isthmus “Where the Man Lies” and the lake south of the isthmus “Where the Teepees are.”  settlers adopted the word “Monona,” which they believed to mean “beautiful,” from the Sauk language they decided to use these other Indian names,” Warner said is believed to be the first European to arrive in the region Nicolet first landed in northeastern Wisconsin around 1634 One of the fiercest warrior nations in the region the Ho-Chunk later fought alongside the French in wars against the British the Ho-Chunk later fought alongside the British against American forces in the War of 1812 “The Native people trusted the Crown not to infringe on their lands as much as the Americans did,” Warner said “The Americans really believed in Manifest Destiny ‘It’s our right to take this land.’ They were pushing hard on their westward expansion.”  American forces began violently removing the Ho-Chunk from the Madison area to Nebraska lands they had never known spurring new visions for development to suit the growing city’s needs As the Ho-Chunk were forced to walk what Warner called “another trail of tears,” Doty helped the territory become a state in 1848 with Madison as its capital an influential city planner named John Nolen entered the scene Towns and Villages,” Nolen said American cities had suffered from “haphazard piecemeal and shortsighted” development plans wastefully administered and mostly in private hands,” he wrote Nolen was asked to assist in planning the parks His vision for Madison revolved around the Capitol building Nolen wanted streets to flow out of a central square and for the Capitol to dominate the skyline “The city was in its infancy at that point,” said Jim Bradley “He was advocating for the city to acquire land between the Capitol and Lake Monona looks at the past and future development of the Lake Monona shoreline Nolen envisioned Lake Monona’s shoreline would include a series of similar parks all the way to Law Park “Nolen took a sleepy little Midwestern town with shacks lining its waterfront and told it that it had the stuff of greatness,” Dick Wagner a prominent civic leader who died three years ago Nolen’s ideas for the waterfront failed to gain immediate traction essentially because his plans were too ambitious and expensive Madison Mayor James Law urged revisiting some of Nolen’s concepts The city filled in part of Monona Lake  — less than Nolen wanted — to expand the land where Law Park now exists The construction of the Monona Terrace in the 20th century underscored again how visions for Lake Monona’s waterfront attracted both imagination and financial challenges excited about Law’s initiatives with the waterfront an electrical contractor met with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and spurred him to envision what could be placed there architecturally Wright presented his vision for Monona Terrace to the Dane County Board While the Great Depression shelved plans for the building Wright continued to revisit his designs for the rest of his life “He worked on this for 21 years because Madison was his hometown,” Mollenhoff said “And he wanted to have a piece of statement architecture in his hometown.”  Following population growth and rising concerns with traffic a 1954 transportation plan proposed building a freeway through the isthmus The architect William Wesley Peters also outlined plans for a series of fountain jets a boat launch and a marina along Lake Monona’s shoreline The Monona Terrace idea didn’t gain attention until decades later when then-Mayor Paul Soglin formed a perhaps unlikely alliance with a conservative banker Soglin and Nelson united with developer Jim Carly who wondered if Wright’s final Monona Terrace designs could be adapted as a civic and convention center Madison voters approved a referendum to help fund construction of the Monona Terrace The $67.1 million center received about $29 million from the city $12 million from the county and $8 million from private sources “The joke that Madison can’t put two bricks together came from the decades it took to build Monona Terrace,” said Verveer I remember constituents complaining about pile-driving into the lake bed and how noisy it was to have banging waking them up every morning.”  a member of the Monona Terrace’s board of directors said the economic impact on downtown Madison can’t be overstated conferences and conventions are held all year bringing in millions of dollars annually in the region Supporters of redeveloping Lake Monona’s waterfront again envision similar economic benefits for the community when city leaders began exploring new blueprints for future development throughout Madison and the downtown plans included visions of a “Nolen waterfront.” A group of supporters formed a nonprofit called the Friends of the Nolen Waterfront which later rebranded as Madison LakeWay Partners Madison’s City Council adopted a blueprint for redeveloping the downtown that included elements of modern plans “This volunteer group has been meeting on and off for years to keep this dream alive,” Verveer said “I was able to successfully include this project in the capital budget many years ago This idea of a Madison lakeway has been a mini-budget project for many years and it’s rewarding that we’ve made this much progress.”  the effort gained more attention when Madison LakeWay Partners presented a challenge to international landscape design firms and Agency Landscape + Planning — to envision a more connected green space stretching from Olin Park to Law Park The firms offered preliminary designs to the public at a sold-out event at Monona Terrace in 2022 said she was “very excited to see where the teams are and what they’ve come up with.” Then last year the firms submitted their final renderings for public comment and an online poll City officials reported receiving over 4,000 responses which rated Sasaki’s designs best in every category About 46% of respondents said Sasaki’s plan “best understands and responds to the priorities of Madison residents.”  “It’s honestly a dream to work with a city that is this engaged,” Anna Cawrse a Sasaki landscape architect and principal in charge of the waterfront redesign Madison LakeWay Partners and Madison’s City Council backed proceeding with Sasaki’s plans for redeveloping the shoreline Sasaki continues to update its plans for Madison and is working with Madison LakeWay Partners and Madison's parks agency on the vision for the Lake Monona waterfront Warner said a big piece of Sasaki’s vision is to pay homage to the Ho-Chunk and other Indigenous people who long occupied and cared for the land That’s where they are trying to go with it,” Warner said “It’s really more just recognizing that the Ho-Chunk have been here for 13 millennia Please consider supporting our work by becoming a Cap Times member or sponsor Sustaining local journalism in Madison depends on readers like you Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device The Madison Fire Department (MFD) rescued two individuals this week from Lakes Mendota and Monona after they fell through the ice.  Dispatchers responded to reports that someone fell through the ice on Lake Mendota by Picnic Point around 10:50 p.m The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) assisted MFD in the rescue and illuminated the area while rescuers pulled the individual from the water.  The individual reported walking on the ice before falling and was in the water for roughly 20 minutes. Paramedics transported the individual to a local hospital for treatment, according to the MFD. UWPD shared drone footage of the rescue with The Daily Cardinal On Monday, multiple 911 callers reported a woman falling through ice on Lake Monona just before 7:45 a.m MPD rescued her with a paddle board found on shore and she was not injured but transported to the hospital due to cold exposure concerns The woman had attempted to ice skate with her shoes before she fell in the ice The woman fell close to areas marked off with buoys to warn of warmer water temperatures Two other lake rescues occurred this month, one involving an all-terrain vehicle also on Lake Mendota near Picnic Point First responders rescued an individual Jan 16 after their ATV was unable to climb back onto surrounding ice which could not hold up the vehicle's weight.  Early this month, an ice skater fell into Lake Monona’s ice and was rescued northeast of Monona Terrace in an area first responders say appeared to be unstable due to pressure causing ice to crack and move.  MFD and UWPD advise the public that despite the recent cold weather no ice in Madison should be considered safe Anyone choosing to go on the lake ice should avoid areas that show signs of cracking and upheaval wear a personal flotation device and bring equipment such as ice picks to help you get out if you do fall in Ella Hanley is the college news editor for The Daily Cardinal and former associate news editor. She is a fourth-year journalism and criminal justice student and has written breaking, city, state and campus news. Follow her on Twitter at @ellamhanley Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInBLENCOE Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative is calling this the most severe winter storm since the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 Residents of Iowa and Nebraska communities hit hardest by yesterday’s blizzard remain without power and authorities say it may not come back to some areas until Sunday “I’ve lived In town here for three or four years now and I can’t say I’ve ever seen a storm that bad,” said Trevor Ruffcorn Assistant Fire Chief of Blencoe Fire Department as he was taking a break from shoveling his driveway Communities on both sides of the Missouri River are now in recovery mode with residents coming together to keep each other safe while power crews work to restore electricity The Monona County Emergency Manager says there are still 3 towns on the west side of the county without power: Whiting Many residents say they can’t wait for the lights to come on “It’s a pretty hopping town this day,” said Tracey Sparks as she watched truck after truck bringing in transmission poles into Blencoe Streets are filled with linemen working to bring power back to several towns in Monona County Ruffcorn spoke with several linemen over the last few hours they said that this looks very similar to a hurricane event.” rows of power lines line the streets with snapped transmission poles Roads are closed connecting towns due to low-hanging NIPCO said the crews on Thursday focused on hardest-hit locations like Onawa Monona County Emergency Management Coordinator said “Just a big convoy of them all just coming through town here and they’re all out on the eastern side of Onawa working to try to get main power back to town.” I closed off a few of the rooms trying to keep what heat I got in the couple rooms of my house.” Some power lines disappear into snow drifts in front yards Ruffcorn explained that many of the issues are on the outskirts of town “It looks like Every pole pretty much that’s on the East-West Lines is basically stabbed off at the ground We’ve got 42 poles broken off between the town and the substation.” Many residents say they woke up to their home below 49 degrees While others are checking in on the elderly neighbors who rely on electricity for health reasons Sparks said she spent her morning with a neighbor “A lady that lives across the street from me is diabetic and she’s on a monitor that uses her phone So she was really concerned because they were real low on power.” The Blencoe Community Center is open for anybody to sleep and recharge until the power comes back on we get her power back on tonight,” Sparks said we’re just planning for West worst case scenario.” The Onawa Community Center is open until further notice with water and power The Emergency Manager said if people do leave their homes and are worried about vulnerability the Monona County Sheriff’s Office will be doing extra patrols in town looking for out-of-county plates The one thing bringing people out of their homes is food The line for free hot food was wrapping around the inside of the Onawa Community Center Thursday afternoon The Salvation Army came from Omaha to help feed the community a hot meal of hot dogs There are free meals again on Friday at lunch around Noon and again for supper Friday night around 5 p.m the Burgess Health Center handed out brown bag sack lunches to 300 community members It was drive-up style in front of the hospital with free bags of sandwiches and other snacks put together by hospital staff they still wanted to offer a helping hand to the community despite being closed due to the power outage These outages have some people getting creative to keep the lights on and stay warm Trevor Ruffcorn lost power at about 8:30 a.m Wednesday morning and has been using a tractor to power his generator The tractor engine does about 2,000 rotations per minute with the gearbox connected to the generator and is happy to have a means to stay warm in his home I’ve got a fuel truck on the way here to fuel my fuel trailer up so I can keep that full and as well as doing what I can do to keep our warming station running at the Community Center Other community members say that they’ve been going to one home that has a generator powering the home The Monona County Emergency Management says the city water is not being impacted by the outage Want to get the latest news and weather from Siouxland’s News Source? Follow these links to download our KTIV News app and our First Alert Weather app The public is invited to give feedback on the redevelopment of Lake Monona’s shoreline and explore what pedestrian and bike amenities could look like along John Nolen Drive.  Madison’s parks department will host a virtual public information session on January 23 between 6:30 and 8 pm.  The parks department and representatives from Sasaki will present plans for the first phase of simultaneous projects to change the face of Lake Monona’s shoreline.  Two separate projects– a redevelopment of the John Nolen Causeway and the designing of a 1.7-mile shoreline park along Lake Monona – are essentially running hand-in-hand.  The first phase of the John Nolen Causeway redevelopment is expected to begin this year and run into 2026 Phase One will involve construction between East Lakeside Street and South Broom Street.  The city is planning to reconstruct six bridges along the Causeway with three new separated bridges being constructed for bikes and pedestrians.  The first phase includes plans to improve traffic signals improve street lighting and create a new car lane configuration.  It will also expand the existing bike and pedestrian path along Lake Monona to make it safer.  “We received federal infrastructure money to rebuild the six bridges that make up the Causeway,” said Mike Verveer “When you think of the volume of folks who have utilized the lake path through the Causeway and Law Park we’re prioritizing making it as safe as possible.” The second phase is planned to run from Olin Park to East Lakeside Street and will begin when funding is available.  Madison’s LakeWay project is also underway The LakeWay project is the creation of a nearly two-mile-long park along Lake Monona.  The project is based on John Nolen’s hundred-year-old vision of what downtown Madison should look like.  Nolen presented ideas to the city of Madison which called for the Capitol building – under construction at the time – to be the centerpiece of the city Nolen wanted building height limits to prevent anything from eclipsing the Capitol dome in Madison’s skyline He also wanted the Capitol Square to be connected to the waterfront of Lake Monona through a large park extending down what is now Martin Luther King Boulevard and culminating in a green space along the shoreline.  Nolen was basically fired by the city for presenting such expensive plans although thel building height limit he proposed remains in practice today.  including famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright had visions for designing parks connecting Lake Monona with downtown Madison.  Wright spent a decade designing Monona Terrace which wound up being constructed almost 40 years after his death.  have spent a decade trying to rekindle elements of Nolen’s vision for a shoreline park they invited international landscape design firms to participate in a Lake Monona waterfront design challenge Dozens of firms were involved initially.  Three firms emerged as finalists in the challenge The city of Madison then invited the public to view presentations from the finalists.  Stunning renderings depicting a futuristic downtown Madison were presented to standing-room-only crowds at Monona Terrace and the downtown branch of Madison’s Public Library in the fall of 2022.  Madison’s parks department then opened an online portal for public feedback on the design firms’ presentations.  The survey netted more than 4,000 public comments and 1,500 survey responses The public ranked and rated the presentations and overwhelmingly favored the presentation of Denver-based Sasaki.  “I’m confident this project still holds the record for online survey responses for anything the city has asked the public to do,” Verveer said “It was approved unanimously by the Common Council No one in the community spoke against it.” Sasaki’s vision includes an elevated nature walk and community center in Olin Park; boardwalks and fishing piers along the John Nolen Causeway; and a lake lounge near Machinery Row including a public plaza possibly an amphitheater and the potential for a boathouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Sasaki’s vision is for the project to represent a return of sorts to the shoreline’s Ho-Chunk roots.  Sasaki’s project has included feedback and planning from the Ho-Chunk Nation and has focused heavily on the health and ecosystem of Madison’s waterways.  Construction on Sasaki’s project is planned to begin in 2027 and could cost up to $15 million A capital campaign will be launched to help fund the project.  People wishing to participate in the virtual feedback session on Jan 23 can follow the link here