Lake Monona waterfront proposals debut Thursday night

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The city of Madison showed off the top three plans for the future of the Lake Monona shoreline in a series of presentations Thursday night.

The city’s Parks Division explained the three design teams that came up with the proposals for the 1.7 miles of shoreline and showcased the work at the Madison Central Library. The winning master plan is intended to guide future improvements along the lake, a selection the Lake Monona Waterfront Ad-hoc Committee will make at the end of April.

“This is the unveiling of those plans,” said committee chair Allen Arntsen. “They’re showing the pictures of what they’re planning, and they’re making presentations to tell us about their plans for the Lake Monona Waterfront.”

Each of the plans covers the stretch of the shore from Law Park to the north side of Olin Park, near the John Nolen Drive causeway, and city leaders hope the redevelopments will serve to link the area to south Madison and nearby communities. They aim to build a welcoming, inclusive master plan that remains environmentally focused.

The three finalists’ plans were revealed during a kick-off event in October. The following month, the designers offered a taste of their vision for Lake Monona and released concepts. According to the city, each team has spent the last two months refining their plans to prepare for Thursday night’s debut of the master plans. But Thursday night is as much about engagement as the designs themselves.

“It’s how does the team engage with Madison Community? How can they what one getting Community input but also selling the plan selling the idea to the community, so I think it’s critical,” said Arntsen.

Members of the Madison business community, professors from the local universities, and anyone else interested in the waterfront’s future attended the event to review the designs and hear the pitches.

“I think all three of the teams really took sustainability seriously,” said Madison’s mayor, Satya Rhodes-Conway. “They looked at the sort of Waters Edge and how we can restore some native plants and some wetlands, and so that’s exciting to me, but I also they all had different ways of connecting the Waterfront with downtown.”

Arntsen says there is still plenty of work ahead following the Thursday presentations. Once one of the design teams is selected from the collection of Agency Landscape + Planning, James Corner Field Operations and Sasaki, the team will work with the committee for six months. During that time a master plan will be developed with input from the public.

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