Residents Explore Development Ideas for Lisbon Avenue

Community members, developers, architects and others are planning for the future of Lisbon Avenue.

They gathered on Feb. 23 for the Lisbon Avenue Corridor Charette at Urban Ecology Center – Washington Park, 1859 N. 40th St., to see what it could look like.

Design firms developed plans for six sites along Lisbon Avenue in the Washington Park neighborhood during the event. Attendees gave feedback on the project concepts during the working sessions and presentations.

The charette aims to foster development projects that will enhance the quality of life for residents in the neighborhood, organizers say.

“This is what residents asked for,” said Adrian Spencer, deputy director for Rooted & Rising, a nonprofit that was one of the hosts of the event. “How do we attract businesses to this community? How do we make it walkable? How do we make it vibrant?”

Designs tied to Quality of Life plan

Rooted & Rising has been working with residents for two years to develop a Washington Park Quality of Life plan that focuses on housing, economic development, public safety, domestic violence/human trafficking and youth development.

The charette designs incorporated multi-story apartment buildings, townhomes or senior living units to bring more housing density in the neighborhood. Many also included mixed uses for retail or green space and improvements to the streetscape and crosswalks.

One design for a site on Lisbon Avenue between North 29th and North 30th streets included a four-story apartment with a grocery store, some retail space and a community plaza on the ground level.

A different design for a site located on both sides of North 36th Street across from Progressive Community Health Centers included options for the development of apartments or townhomes, two outdoor plazas, a cafe and a possible community fitness area with youth-friendly activities like a climbing wall.

Residents hope to see projects developed

Angela Pruitt, who has lived in the neighborhood for 32 years and is a resident leader for the quality of life plan, said she thought the ideas were good but wanted more information on how the plans would actually be developed.

She hopes that out of the process comes at least one project that developers could commit to completing within the next three or four years, like a new apartment building.

“That’d bring business and, hopefully, the businesses would be prosperous because we’ve got more room for people able to make money and spend money,” Pruitt said. “That’s what we’re looking to do as residents is to prosper our community and become more stable and beautiful.”

Another resident, JoAnn Johnson, said she would like to see more African American designers or developers involved in the event.

The charette process ties into plans for the neighborhood by bringing experts and residents together to generate ideas for housing and economic development, as well as possible spaces for youth development, in vacant or underused buildings, Spencer said.

In May, Rooted & Rising will have the completed report from the charette projects, as well as the final draft for the Quality of Life plan being produced by Athena Communications.

Going forward, Rooted & Rising will work with developers and builders to see if they want to invest in the sites.

“The first two years have been spent just really listening to the community and collecting data, and now we’re moving into the implementation portion,” Spencer said.

Ce Planning Studio and Athena Communications supported the event.

The Milwaukee Department of City Development is creating a corridor plan for Lisbon Avenue between North 27th Street and North 46th Street, and is also working on a protected bike lane project.

Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.

This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.