City Updating Downtown Plan

For the third time in as many decades, the City of Milwaukee will attempt to create a shared vision for the future of Downtown.

“As you are all aware there have been significant changes to the downtown area in recent years,” said Department of City Development planner Kyle Gast to members of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee on February 23rd. A DCD report says that, since the plan was last updated in 2010, there has been $3.5 billion in development and there are now 4,800 more residential units. The plan was originally created in 1999.

Milwaukee Downtown, the area business improvement district, is leading the push for a new plan. The plan would identify key strategies and sites to improve the area and its connection with the surrounding neighborhoods.

MKE United, a Greater Milwaukee Committee initiative, has worked to build a shared and inclusive vision for Downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods in recent years. “This plan will build on that effort,” said Gast. The initiative just completed the second year of cash payments to low-income, long-time residents through its anti-displacement fund.

“The 2010 plan and so many of those catalytic projects have been implemented,” said Beth Weirick, president of Milwaukee Downtown. She said welcomed an increased focus on equity. “I look at this as a refresh of that plan.”

Milwaukee Downtown will match $50,000 of city funds, allocated through the budget, with $100,000 of its own.

The 2010 plan called for eight catalytic projects, four of which have been implemented or are well underway. The city and partners have successfully created a streetcar system, reactivated W. Wisconsin Ave., improved the connection between Downtown and the Historic Third Ward along N. Broadway and strategized for the creation of a Lakefront Gateway district, once The Couture is completed, near E. Michigan St. and N. Lincoln Memorial Dr.

Projects that haven’t advanced include the redevelopment of MacArthur Square, the redevelopment and activation of W. St. Paul Ave. near the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, an improved and better connected Pere Marquette Park, and development of the Haymarket area. But with the exception of MacArthur Square, there are major development projects pending or underway that would substantially advance the remaining projects.

The 1999 plan called for a number of projects and improvements Milwaukeeans now take for granted: the demolition of the Park East Freeway, redevelopment of the Pabst Brewery, completing the Milwaukee RiverWalk and more two-way streets. But a handful of projects continue to be carried over, including MacArthur Square and creating a neighborhood around the train station.

Weirick said a local firm would be contracted to develop a robust community engagement program to identify what should come next. “No matter how much work is done, there is still more to do,” she said.

“We want everyone to feel that Downtown is theirs and welcoming to everyone, so we will be very intentional about that,” said Gast. He said a paid resident council was being considered to engage downtown and surrounding neighborhood residents.

At least four rounds of community meetings are planned. “Our intention is to complete this process within about 14 months,” said Weirick.

The Downtown Plan, one of many planning documents the city has created to cover its 96 square miles, would identify catalytic sites for development while making suggestions about the scale and use of properties.

Other planning efforts are underway elsewhere in the city. Earlier this month the city allocated funding to create a new Bay View plan, an update of the larger southeast area plan. An area planning process is currently underway for S. 13th St., the Crisol Corridor. A similar effort is nearing completion for the area around W. Fond du Lac Ave. and W. North Ave.

The Downtown study area encompasses seven separately branded neighborhoods: East Town, Westown, The Brewery District, Deer District, Haymarket, Hillside and the southern-most portion of the Lower East Side.

The area is roughly bounded by W. Walnut St. and E. Lyon St. on the north, the Menomonee River and E. Clybourn St. on the south, N. Lincoln Memorial Dr. on the east and Interstate 43 on the west.

The committee unanimously endorsed the proposal. The full council is scheduled to vote on it on March 2nd.