Supervisor Adds Domes Project to 2025 Budget
Board advances plan to redevelop the Domes, transfer operations to nonprofit.
A new plan to save the Mitchell Park Domes has found its way into the 2025 Milwaukee County Budget.
The plan was created by the non-profit Friends of the Domes in partnership with Milwaukee County Parks. It was unveiled in early September and proposes a $133.4 million redevelopment of the iconic local structures and a transfer of operations to the friends group, which was formed in 1989.
Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez, whose district includes Mitchell Park, drafted a resolution that would effectively incorporate the plan into the 2025 budget, and the board’s Finance Committee unanimously approved the amendment Thursday.
The full board must still approve the amendment.
The plan was developed by the Friends of the Domes in partnership with Milwaukee County Parks with a goal of saving the structures, which are in need of significant investment. It would use $30 million in public funding and $35 million in private funding on top of a stack of grants and tax credits.
Martinez’s amendment, which has co-sponsorship from a majority of the board, authorizes the county to negotiate an agreement with the Friends of the Domes that includes a long-term lease allowing the nonprofit to assume operational control, supports listing the Domes on the National Register of Historic Places and commits the county to providing $30 million in support for the project over an unspecified six-year period.
The county has sought a solution for the seemingly insurmountable maintenance backlog at the Domes for more than a decade. Pieces of concrete began falling out of the structure in 2013. The county convened a Domes Task Force in 2016, which worked for three years on a plan for the Domes. In 2019, the task force and a consultant, Arts Market Inc., proposed a grand redevelopment of the Domes with a financing stack similar to what the friends group proposed in September. But the task force proposal did not have a governance structure or fundraising effort in place, and assumed rapid development timelines that ultimately proved unrealistic.
“This has been years in the making,” Martinez said.
Martinez noted that the amendment was redrafted to allow the county to commit to funding the project without immediately beginning to budget for it during the next cycle. The friends group, though, can still seek donations with proof the county is backing the project.
The amendment asks Parks, the friends group and the county administration to present a draft agreement and a plan for funding the county’s commitment by May 2025.
If approved as part of the 2025 budget, Martinez said the project gives the county a “chance to really get to get the Domes to where it needs to be, get it off our books and revitalize the 12th District.”
The department supports Martinez’s amendment and the group’s plan, said Guy Smith, executive director of Milwaukee County Parks.
The full board will next vote on the amendment during adoption of the annual budget.
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More about the 2025 Milwaukee County Budget
- Milwaukee County Finance Committee Approves $250,000 for Right to Counsel Program - Sup. Jack Eckblad - Oct 24th, 2024
- Budget Amendment for Expanded Atkinson Park Improvements Advances - Sup. Priscilla E Coggs-Jones - Oct 24th, 2024
- MKE County: Supervisor Adds Domes Project to 2025 Budget - Graham Kilmer - Oct 24th, 2024
- Supervisor Taylor’s Amendment Funding Critical County Services Advances - Sup. Steve F. Taylor - Oct 24th, 2024
- Supervisor Logsdon to Host Budget Town Hall on October 23rd - Sup. Patti Logsdon - Oct 22nd, 2024
- Milwaukee DSA Opposes County Move To Weaken Successful Right-To-Counsel Program - Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America - Oct 22nd, 2024
- Supervisor Kathleen Vincent to Host Third Budget Town Hall on October 24th - Sup. Kathleen Vincent - Oct 21st, 2024
- Supervisor Deanna Alexander to Host 2025 Budget Town Hall for District 18 Residents - Sup. Deanna Alexander - Oct 18th, 2024
- Supervisors Capriolo and Bielinski to Host Community Event on Health Services and Budget Priorities this Saturday - Sup. Sky Z. Capriolo - Oct 17th, 2024
- Act 12 Benefits Continue in 2025, But Fiscal Challenges Loom for Milwaukee County - Wisconsin Policy Forum - Oct 16th, 2024
Read more about 2025 Milwaukee County Budget here
More about the Future of The Domes
- MKE County: Supervisor Adds Domes Project to 2025 Budget - Graham Kilmer - Oct 24th, 2024
- Supervisor Martinez Budget Amendment Advances “Domes Reimagined” Proposal - Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez - Oct 24th, 2024
- MKE County: Domes Group Proposes $133 Million Repair, Redevelopment - Graham Kilmer - Sep 3rd, 2024
- MKE County: New Domes Plan Expected This Summer - Graham Kilmer - Apr 22nd, 2024
- MKE County: New Plan Emerging To Save The Domes - Graham Kilmer - Nov 16th, 2023
- MKE County: Domes Costs Shock Supervisors - Graham Kilmer - Sep 12th, 2023
- Op Ed: Don’t Despair About the Domes - Emma Rudd - Aug 16th, 2023
- MKE County: Parks Launches Mitchell Park Campaign - Graham Kilmer - Jul 31st, 2023
- MKE County: New Firms Will Study Rehab, Replacement or Demo of The Domes - Graham Kilmer - Mar 18th, 2023
- MKE County: County Begins Future Domes Study - Graham Kilmer - Feb 18th, 2023
Read more about Future of The Domes here
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This is crazy! Way too expensive for County taxpayers to bear these costs. If there is such great and widespread public support for keeping these (as opposed to an extremely vocal and organized minority of interested activist) – user fees should and could be the primary financing vehicle. But in actuality, we should start thinking outside of the box about a tear down and building something new on this land. It is sad that Milwaukee is clinging to the 1950s Domes – go to Las Vegas and check out the Sphere. It’s 2024, folks!
AttyDanAdams – And how much do you think demolition and an equivalent new building that can accommodate the horticultural collection would cost to design, build, and outfit with the necessary mechanical and plumbing systems? What is the environmental cost of disposing of all that existing construction material? What is the cultural cost of Milwaukee of losing one of its icons?
AttyDanAdams: Friends of the Domes had a very detailed (and excellent) presentation at the recent Parks Commission meeting where they discussed their plans to renovate the Domes, mostly under their direction and expense, with a little bit of help from the County. This link is a very brief summary: https://milwaukeedomes.org/about-the-domes/the-future-of-the-domes/. Compared to the cost to a) demolish, b) repair, c) replace, their plan is the very best and is a model for all such projects.