The City Council voted Tuesday to approve the replacement of Ogg Hall with a 600-bed dormitory and expanded recreational open space.
The new residence hall will replace the former Ogg Hall building site and the asphalt lot located to the west of the structure. The new building will be six stories and encompass approximately 184,000 square feet.
The proposed structure will also house both first- and second-year students.
According to Gary Brown, UW-Madison's Director of Planning and Landscape Architecture, renovating Ogg Hall to current housing standards proved to be cost-prohibitive.
Questions about Ogg Hall ranged from the serious to the jovial, as members of the council asked if they could just \blow it up.""
However, Brown shook his head and said the remnants of Ogg Hall will not all go to waste.
""We will be recycling about 80 percent of the building materials from Ogg Hall,"" Brown said.
The City Council also addressed the smoking ban. It passed a voice vote opposing state bills that prevent local units of government from regulating smoking and smoke-free environments.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said if the Wisconsin state Legislature were to regulate smoking and smoke-free environments, their legislation would effectively overturn the ban in Madison.
""This issue goes way beyond smoking,"" said Ald. Austin King, District 8. ""What I take particular offense to is that a state senator in northern Wisconsin thinks he has a better idea on how to represent my constituents than I do. I simply reject the idea that [the state Legislature] has any ability to govern on our behalf.""
The council also voted unanimously to pass a resolution that requires the city staff to report to the City Council by July on whether Madison businesses are engaging in deplorable labor conditions.
""All this resolution says that the city will, to the best of its ability, to refrain from using tax dollars to buy garments that were made in sweatshops,"" King said, ""Especially when there are alternatives available.\
