Plans to reconstruct the 700 and 800 blocks of State Street and Library Mall caused a rift between the State Street Design Committee and the Wisconsin Historical Society at a meeting Thursday.
The State Street Design Committee planned to encourage food carts to use the 800 block of State Street. However, Jim Draeger, an architectural historian at the Wisconsin Historical Society, said the Society is strongly against the expansion allowing food carts in that area.
“Having all of those food carts along there detracts from the historic qualities of the buildings that are there,” Draeger said. “We don’t want to junk up the street scape with all of these carts.”
The 800 block of State Street sits on the boundary of the Bascom Hill National Historic District, and is protected under state law when reconstruction is proposed. The Wisconsin Historical Society must approve the project before it can move forward, Draeger said.
“The state law is the state law,” Draeger said in response to opposition. “And the law dictates what the process is.”
Committee members responded by saying they do not plan on constructing permanent food carts in the area, but aim to make the 800 block more accessible to food carts that currently park in the 700 block.
Draeger also voiced the Society’s concern about the relocation of the clock tower, a gift to the university from the class of 1923, which currently stands where East Campus Mall joins Library Mall. The Society has jurisdiction over the clock, and Draeger said he suggests moving the clock to a more prominent place in Library Mall.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said his biggest concern with the current plan is the lack of details about what to do with the clock tower. However, he said he is pleased with how other parts of the plan are coming together.
“Overall, this area has been in sore need of improvement,” Verveer said. “This is a long, overdue project. I’m relieved we are finally getting to it.”
The committee plans to hold a public meeting early in December to discuss the current plan and receive feedback from the community. Then the committee will do a final review of the project before sending it to the city for approval.
Construction is projected to begin in April 2014.
