Hired by the city to explore urban development plans for a tract of land on the west side of Madison, representatives from Smart Growth America presented their findings to the Madison Plan Commission during a meeting Monday night.
The development plans focused on an area of land west of West Towne Mall, in a largely rural space known as the Pioneer Neighborhood. Sandwiched between Mineral Point Road to the north and Valley View Road to the south, Pioneer pulls its name from Pioneer Road, which traces its western bounds.
According to Smart Growth’s representatives, focusing on high-density development projects like apartments is more cost effective.
Denser development would mean the city would have to pay for fewer roads per person, Smart Growth analyst Bryan Grady said. Grady added that increased development could cut costs for buses and trucks, who wouldn’t have to travel as far to serve the same populations.
Smart Growth’s high-density model pointed to a significant cut in costs, stating that “moving two [housing] units per acre to 16 could reduce costs by 33 percent.”
While reducing the cost of infrastructure, denser development could also lead to an increase in tax revenue, Grady said.
“More property on one acre means there’s more property to tax,” he said.
However, these recommended high-density development plans raise concerns about affordability in a high-density living situation, a sentiment shared by commission member Maurice Sheppard.
“It sounds as if there’s an assumption here that someone making the decision to [leave an expensive area, could do so],” Sheppard said. “Madison has the challenge of people who can’t make that choice – they’re locked in the city … so I think we should make sure to address the issue of affordability.”
While it isn’t always the case that high-density planning leads to higher-priced living, a recent study conducted in Portland, Maine, found that high-density housing projects led to increased rent prices that outpaced the average worker’s income.
Smart Growth’s representatives emphasized they were considering affordability as they planned to continue with their study.
