Well, here it is, for what it’s worth. Seems to be going no where fast, yet again. Doubtful there will be anything this winter, but that’s not news either. There is new tho. Plenty of it. It’s just hard to tell if any of it is going anywhere.
It’s irritating when you’re sitting there, you know they have information and they don’t share it. Heidi Wegleitner had to pull some of the information out of staff, other information was not revealed. I don’t know if that signals that this is just such a low priority that it didn’t seem relevant to share information or if they don’t want people to know information. It’s so very hard to tell what is going on, except there is no sense of urgency and it makes trust very, very hard.
Casey Becker says the new news is that since the last report is that staff did take a look at the Messner property, a little further down on East Washington (she doesn’t know the address), at this point all decorum in the meeting is lost, there are few people in the room, so I let her know its 1326 E. Washington Ave. They explain that it is right near Pasquals, between Pasquals and Baldwin St. It was just an initial look, evaluating to find out if that was a suitable location based on the recommendations from the committee. That’s the latest.
That would have been the full report.
Deedra Atikinson from the United Way says “what did you think?” Like I said, they had to pull information out of staff. Becker says the property has quite a bit of square footage, the property is three lots, the main Messner’s building, a maintenance repair shop and a 4 unit rental property. In all of those lots. Atkinson says “no historic concerns?” Becker says not that she is aware of. She says from a square footage perspective they would have to see if that meets with the recommendations of the committee. (What’s to see, its clearly a great deal!) She says the questions are, from the other property they considered, what could they fit in the space, what is the cost to retrofit the space, are there electrical or HVAC considerations? Those are things worth taking a look at – at this point. Again, very initial.
Heidi Wegleitner says that they were expecting, in early September, a report on the feasibility of Bellini’s. And its September 21st, so I know that some attention has shifted to Messner’s, but we did the due diligence, we did the work, are we going to get that study? We had design plans that people might be interested in, engineering staff walked through there. She wants to make sure things are still . . . I don’t want to get distracted, I want to follow through on the things that we started. To have the proper evaluation. Becker says she does not have updated information on the results of that work yet, but she will follow up.
Wegleither says “and the Town of Madison is having a hearing on the CPS petition?” Becker says yes, thank you. She doesn’t know when it is, she thinks it is “soon”. She will find out and let them know.
Atkinson asks “what is the square footage of Messner’s again?” For some reason, she doesn’t want to say, Wegleitner says its like 20,000, it’s huge! Atkinson says “wow, wow”. Weglietner says its just open. (lost of talking all at once)
(I believe it 20,000 sq ft, but I couldn’t confirm that, and the repair shop is a tear down, as well as possibly the dock.)
Atkinson asks if the property is affordable. Wegleitner just starts answering the questions – she says it about the same price as Bellini’s. But the layout is much better, and they both say the size is much more appropriate. Atkinson says that the other is like 3,000 square feet and we have these 4 buildings of historical value that we had to decide what to do. Wegleitner says there is a lot of parking, space could be designed to have an outside area with a smoking area and a house next door and one junking building (couldn’t hear the rest). Wegleitner says its huge, so much could happen there. Atkinson seems to agree.
Ulysses Williams is asking which building it is, they describe it.
Becker finally finds the date, September 29th the Town of Madison will have their hearing on the CUP. She doesn’t share a time.
p.s. The neighborhood association was told about the Messner’s site a week and a half ago. Enis Ragland mentioned it at the Downtown Coordinating Committee (I haven’t had the intestinal fortitude to blog that yet) and its seems to be slowly leaking out, so I guess its ok to talk about it.
p.p.s. In other exciting news that is slowly leaking out . . . the UW has a plan for operating a day center that is very exciting. It’s unclear if it has legs yet, but they are shopping it around and seeing if it has support. And trying to figure out what roles the city and county plan in this much more comprehensive approach to the day center.
