A new bill is circulating the halls of the Wisconsin state Capitol to increase the building-height limit from the current one-mile radius around the Capitol to a two-mile radius. Expanded height limits in Madison are entirely unnecessary and major overkill. Even though the bill is being introduced with the best intentions, the outcome is not a good urban-planning move and doesn't do much to help Madison as a city.
The bill is being introduced by state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, who co-authored the 1989 legislation that created the current one-mile radius height limit, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. A radius of two miles would stretch from East High School to West High School and include the entire Isthmus, most of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus (stopping just shy of the UW Hospital and medical school campus) and large swaths of the South side, including much of Park Street, the Alliant Energy Center and Camp Randall Stadium.
The current height limit prevents buildings from being built taller than 1,032.8 feet above sea level, or the height of the Capitol dome's base. Risser has argued that this is in response to the increased development occurring on the Isthmus and is meant to preserve sight lines of the Capitol, which is the defining characteristic of the Madison skyline and much of the city's identity.
This seems more like a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) response to the increased construction and development on the Isthmus and has little thought for the actual consequences, nor does it show any indication that urban planners were consulted.
The current height limits are working very well and many of the most impressive views—the ones worth protecting—are being preserved. The views of the Capitol from State Street, Van Hise, Olin Park and John Nolan Drive or either end of Washington Avenue are in no way being threatened to be covered by skyscrapers (a relative turn considering the tallest building in Madison other than the Capitol is The Constellation apartment building at only 260 feet tall).
Extending the limits any further hinders a lot of potential developments from getting more bang for their buck. Building up allows more activity to occur on smaller pieces of land, and that translates to more people, shops, offices (and taxes) in Madison taking up less space. Building up is not only efficient, but it also helps to combat suburban sprawl and decreases the need to build further from the city center.
If policy makers and planners are concerned for the preservation of the Capitol height limits, then they should take a different approach to controlling the heights of Madison buildings. A blanket limit does not prevent potentially positive high-rise developments in Madison—maybe ones taller than 300 feet. Creating sight lines and identifying where the best views of the Capitol are and aren't, should guide where tall buildings are and aren't allowed to be. Many cities in the world employ height limits along sight lines and not within blanket zones as is the case in Madison. These are meant to preserve important sight lines while allowing high-rise developments.
If Madison wants to preserve the views of the Capitol and the strong impression they leave on the city as a whole, then that is something to commend. But conservation of views and height limits should be done in a way that allows for diverse types of development in the city and especially does not hinder positive developments. A blanket height limit is only good to a limited extent, and extending that blanket limit does nothing to benefit the city of Madison.
Risser fears that the Capitol will be lost in a sea of skyscrapers and because of this I think he introduced this legislation, but I think it would do him well to sit back and reconsider what is being proposed, regroup and redesign the plan in a more appropriate way. As fast as Madison might be growing, we're not turning into Manhattan any time soon.
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