Madison residents and planners gathered Wednesday for the second of five meetings to discuss the future of the Regent Street South Campus Neighborhood Plan, which aims to restructure the building layout in the Regent Street area.
According to Ken Maly of Vierbicher Associates architecture firm, the area is one of few in Madison that does not yet have a neighborhood plan.
Maly said public input will be important in the final plan, which is scheduled to be completed by August.
Meeting attendants were allowed time to look at maps of different sections of the neighborhood and used Lego building blocks to simulate the locations of offices, residences and retail establishments.
Bill Fruhling, Madison principle city planner, said the next meeting will take the public's building constructions and plug the information into a three-dimensional model, which will give a more accurate picture of building heights.
""They'll be able to take it and turn it so it looks like you're walking down the street,"" he said.
To help guide the creation of the plan, Fruhling added, there is a steering committee of alders, representatives from the neighborhood, business owners and students.
""They're the ones who are ultimately going to be making decisions and recommendations of what's included in the plan that gets submitted to the city for approval,"" he said.
Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, said there is a huge difference of opinion about the direction the area should take.
According to Webber, some people would like to see more density.
""They would like to see more people being able to live close to campus, and not just student oriented, but researchers, professors [and] people from the hospital,"" she said.
Others, however, believe tall buildings will bring more traffic to an already crowded area.
Webber said she thinks building condominiums would be convenient for professionals who work on campus and would be able to walk to work instead of drive.
""If you were a researcher and you wanted to go and check on your project at 1 o'clock in the morning, wouldn't it be nice to be on the other side of Campus Drive?"" she said.
