From Alder Marsha Rummel . . . what exactly is going on with that pile of rubble at Union Corners? And new plans for the site.
The pile of rocks at Union Corners is recycled pavement from the reconstruction of Williamson St. The contractor, R.G. Huston is required by the contract to recycle and re-use the asphalt and concrete that is removed. The crushed pavement will be used for the gravel base for the new road. Doing this work closer to Williamson St would be the preferred solution, but the need to reduce Willy St to one lane of traffic meant that Union Corners became the next best option in terms of adequate space. Neighbors around Union Corners were sent a letter informing them of the use.
The concrete and asphalt crushing will not be taking place continually throughout the project. The contractor will stockpile the removed material until it is needed back on the project site and at that time the crushing will take place. It is anticipated that the crushing will last 3 or 4 days once it starts and this will likely occur twice during the project; once near the end of June and sometime in August. The hours of crushing will be limited to 8a-5p. Trucks hauling the removed material to Union Corners will enter the property off of E Washington and exit the property on to Winnebago and over to Milwaukee St so they can use the traffic light to get back to E Washington. The contractor will be required restore the Union Corners property back to its original condition after their work is complete. The city project manager is Jim Wolfe 266-4099 or jwolfe@cityofmadison.com.
Work on Union Corners is taking shape in other ways. The city is hosting the national conference of the Congress for the New Urbanism June 1-4 and Union Corners has been chosen by CNU for a design competition. http://www.cnu.org/cnu19/news_authenticity_design. Submissions are due by 4/29. The local organizers working with CNU are reaching out to East High, MATC, and UW-Madison students.
The three alders and three neighborhood associations in the area surrounding Union Corners held a joint meeting April 9 to discuss temporary and transitional uses and review a list of planning principles for the site to inform the participants in the CNU competition. Architect Lou Host Jablonski facilitated the meeting. Neighbors came up with 140 ideas!
A community open house will be held June 3 at the former Union Corners sales building to display the submissions. The winner will be chosen on June 4 by a jury that contains several local residents and as well as design professionals from the national membership of CNU. After the CNU conference, I will convene another neighborhood meeting with my fellow alders invite the community to review the winning proposal and figure out the next steps for implementing temporary and transitional ideas for short and long term uses at Union Corners.
SASYNA has gathered an archive of info about Union Corners here http://unioncorners.blogspot.com/, it will be updated as our work continues.
The CNU’s focus on Union Corners offers an exciting opportunity to start re-vision the site now that it has been landbanked. I invite all interested neighbors to get involved. The stockpile of rocks is the first temporary use but not the only one! We can look forward to several events this summer and over the next few months and beyond.
