By Abby Becker
City officials heard a proposal for improving the downtown area Tuesday, including possible plans to demolish Mifflin Street housing, replacing it with high rise apartments.
In addition to the Mifflin neighborhood changes, aspects of the Downtown Plan that affect students directly include paths along the Lake Mendota shoreline and behind Langdon Street.
The Downtown Plan, three years in the making, "presents a vision for the future and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations to guide decisions for the next twenty years," according to Steven Cover, Director of Planning and Community and Economic Development.
Bill Fruhling, principal planner for the downtown project, said the plan focuses on nine key areas such as maintaining strong neighborhoods and districts, enhancing livability and preserving the lakeshore areas.
Mike Verveer, District 4, said a developer has proposed the idea of demolishing all the existing houses in the Mifflin neighborhood replacing them with 12-story high rises.
"My main concern for the Mifflin area has been about...preserving the type of housing that's there and to give students a variety of housing options," Verveer said.
Verveer also said high rise apartments will contribute to a loss of neighborliness and community, which porches on the current houses facilitate.
"I really don't want [the Mifflin neighborhood] to turn into a sterile neighborhood where it's just a bunch of block apartment buildings," Verveer said.
Plans also include a proposal to connect Lake Mendota's shoreline bike path from James Madison Park to the path on UW-Madison's campus leading to Picnic Point.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said many of the lakefront properties from the sorority and fraternity houses would be taken away to create this new path.
The plan also proposes giving the city control over the path behind Langdon Street, which many students use daily, according to Resnick.
Resnick said the plans allowing the city to light the path and plow it in the winter have received "a lot of positive feedback."
While there are controversial aspects in the Downtown Plan, both Verveer and Resnick said the plan in its entirety provides a starting point for further discussion.
