The three finalists for UWM Dorms are: The Hometown site on the Milwaukee River (within the Milwaukee River Overlay District), the site on the 1700 block of Farwell (at Royall), and Prospect Mall. There will be meetings the first week of September (see calendar) for each site.
Alder Nik Kovac answered the questions that came up at the public meeting regarding the dorms. Here are UWM’s responses. Feel free to comment on them below.
Sign up for E-Notify to get future notices from Alder Kovac. Subscribe to the 3rd Aldermanic District Category.
21 Aug 2008 | 7:16 pm | UWM, 3rd District | Read 1 comment - Add your comments
The UWM Foundation has finally released the names of proposed locations for UWM dorms (housing 500-700 freshmen and sophomores) and their developers.
Three locations are within the Milwaukee River Overlay District (MROD), and the location on Water St. is directly on the river, but outside the MROD. Four locations are in Riverwest.
The locations include:
- Prospect Mall and parking lot
- Northwest corner of E. Locust St. and N. Humboldt Blvd. (where the bar, “Tracks” is located)
- The undeveloped portion of the housing authority’s Holton Terrace at 2825 N. Holton St.
- Just west of intersection of N. Water St. and Humboldt Ave.
- 2628-60 N. Humboldt Blvd., east side of Humboldt south of Center St. (MROD)
- Hometown site, abutting the Milwaukee River corridor at E. North Ave. (MROD)
- 1744 N. Farwell Ave.
- 1300 E. Locust St. - Heinemann’s Commissary (MROD)
You can find the full article here along with the names of the developers. You can find a map of the locations here.
Note: It will be interesting to see if UWM completes a second dorm on publicly owned land (the Holton St. location is such), and what kind of political acrobatics will lubricate that coupling. RiverView Dorms were built on County-owned parkland protected by the National Park Service, and it was orchestrated by a developer-driven land swap. What the public got in return for the taking of that land was a short section of trail (for which the public already had an easement) and a small piece of land in Oak Creek. As our economy goes down the toilet, governmental bodies are going to be more and more tempted to sell land and other assets to developers and others who are able to strike bargain deals in desperate times. Who will hold them accountable?
Keep your eye on another piece of publicly owned land (including public housing) which is on the river and may soon be on the developers’ chopping block: Riverview Housing on Kane St., the same block that Julilly Kohler is building her upscale green development. Coincidence?
4 Aug 2008 | 12:08 pm | Development, 3rd District | Read 2 comments - Add your comments
3rd District Town Hall meeting on UWM Dorms, July 29, 2008
From the Chalk Board:
What’s the rush? Wait for Master Plan
Dorms Downtown (all)
Engineering School Dtown (all)
Protect River Corridor (all agree)
Better public Transportation
“Code of Conduct” expectations/ agreement
Chapter 17 & 18 changes * Fast
Increase Minority Enrollment – Reach out into inner city (west of Holton) Pabst, Tower Automotive
Explain how UWM is taxed
Limit size/beds as sites dictate
So Milwaukee: Drinking Overlay Zone
What is the TRUE need & timeline for beds/sites
Temporary Enrollment Cap?
Are “Buffer Zones” effective for UWM locations
Has Riverview existed long enough to judge true impact?
Adeq. Parking – it’s site dependent
Green Built
Do dorms residents get a night parking permit?
Why/what proof do they need 1,500 beds?
What about UWM’s Lake Dr. properties for dorms?
Comments from index cards:
- No moratorium on dorms! Why do we treat students like an enemy and not an asset?
- Concerns and Expectations: - Protect River corridor and viewshed -“green building” - adequate parking and public transportation - reasonable “code of conduct” expectations for students - university oversight over conduct with penalties for noncompliance -community input on location, design, and compliance
- Criteria for sit selection: It’s very important that the site be buffered from existing residential neighborhoods. Noise, litter, student foot & car traffic can be very disruptive.
- Comments and Concerns :
- Impact on environment with construction & then occupancy
- Traffic impacts, parking for residents and visitors
- Building design that will compliment the neighborhood it is built in
- Construction lead the way with “green” building materials and maintenance
- Better communication and interaction with UWM planners and neighbors in the development site/sites. Follow the vision/planning of SE WI Regional Planning Commission in preserving the river corridor.
Tuesday, July 29
7:00 pm
First public meeting
Urban Ecology Center
1500 E. Park Pl
(parking will be at a premium. please walk, bike or carpool.)
Where will UWM’s new dorms be?
- On the Milwaukee River?
- East Side?
- Brady St. area?
- Riverwest?
- Prospect Mall?
- Maryland Ave. School?
- Downtown?
- Capitol Drive?
UWM’s RFP (Request for Proposals) specified housing for 500-700 lower division students (RiverView Dorms house ~475 students).Will UWM show its commitment to our city and its residents? Is UWM using the UWM Foundation so they can bypass public process? How will the Dorms be designed? Will they be LEED certified? Will the Milwaukee River Overlay District be respected? Will the size of dorms be manageable? Is re-use of existing buildings being considered?
Come and find out more!
This is a resident-driven meeting. Alderman Nik Kovac will be attending to hear your concerns and answer questions.
We want a strong and healthy UWM, which will improve the health and vitality of our neighborhoods. Come hear the discussion and share your ideas about size, environmental impact, accountability, etc., with your neighbors and Alderman Nik Kovac.
On the agenda:
- Overview of process and how the community can get involved
- History/Impact of RiverView dorms
- Review of the Milwaukee River Overlay District
- Are there alternative locations?
- Feedback from residents (you!) on where or how to build the dorms
Tuesday, July 29
7:00 pm
UWM Dorms in our neighborhoods
First public meeting
Urban Ecology Center
1500 E. Park Pl
Sponsored by: Brady St. Area Assn., Cambridge Woods Neighborhood Assn., East Village Assn., Greenwich Village Neighborhood Assn., Mariners Neighborhood Assn., Murray Hill Neighborhood Assn., Prospect Ave. Assn., Riverside Park Neighborhood Assn., Riverwest Neighborhood Assn., Water Tower Landmark Trust and Milwaukee River Neighbors
21 Jul 2008 | 6:44 pm | Development, 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
I am endorsing Nik Kovac for 3rd District Alder.
I have gotten to know Nik this past year. I have seen him (and all the other candidates) in forums, I have seen him out doing doors, I have seen him in community meetings. That he and I were able to become friends during a competition speaks volumes to Nik’s ability to “play well with others.”
Nik Is a Leader
Nik Kovac has the leadership skills and the guts it takes to challenge an incumbent who negatively affects our community. He has run a clean campaign. He has not taken potshots—unsubstantiated or otherwise—at the other candidates. Nik got his votes because he did doors for 6 months, and then he did them again (and not because he had money pouring in from a political machine). He got votes because he met people, he cares about people and he educated himself on local issues. Nik got votes because he’s smart, progressive and trustworthy and people are talking about him.
Nik Is Local
In the last 7 months, I’ve seen Nik reach out to or get involved with local organizations that mean a lot to my community—the Milwaukee River Work Group, Riverwest Neighborhood Association, Milwaukee Food Policy Council, and the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network. He’s spoken up and gotten involved in expressing concern on Milwaukee’s racial and economic segregation, on Milwaukee’s political history, on the Historic Preservation Commission. He understands and has gotten involved in a zoning battle, attended to development concerns, goes to his block club meeting and got involved in the Safety Committee of RNA.
I have not seen Patrick Flaherty one time during this campaign at any organized meeting of neighbors that wasn’t specifically related to the campaign.
Nik Is Progressive
Nik is progressive, intelligent, and his journalist training allows him to see all sides of a story. Continue reading ‘Why I Am Endorsing Nik Kovac’
26 Feb 2008 | 10:19 am | 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
The Milwaukee River has become a huge issue in this race, and almost all the candidates talk about it.
Mandel Group has been floating the idea of more dorms, retail, and hotel space on the river at the Hometown site at North Ave.
The Milwaukee River Work Group (MRWG), is pushing for protections of the river’s banks, bluffs, water quality and viewshed.
If you want a basic overview of the work of the MRWG, check out my response below to the question in the Riverwest Currents on dealing with the Hometown Site owned by Mandel.
Public Trust, Zoning and Development
Cities need development to thrive—not just housing, but economic, organizational, environmental and cultural development in balance. Too much development in one area causes taxes to skyrocket. Too little foreordains blight. Cities and local governments must foster a deeper sense of “public trust” in order to be effective. Zoning, as a public asset, is part of that trust. If we want sustainable development, then we can’t allow ourselves to be held hostage to developers or to equate development merely with fast-buck condo/dorm/hotel building. In this vein, I support development that goes hand in hand with public trust. Continue reading ‘The Milwaukee River and upcoming development (more dorms?)’
17 Feb 2008 | 9:35 am | Water, Development, Environmental Sustainability, 3rd District | No comments yet - Add your comments
I believe we need to get all aspects of our water out of the hands of private, for profit businesses. Other cities have seen water bills double, triple and quadruple after private companies took over managing water resources, treatment and cleanup.
I found this press release at Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers:
Milwaukee, WI – Yesterday, Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers, Midwest Environmental Advocates, Sierra Club Great Waters Group, and Alliance for the Great Lakes wrote to the Commissioners of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (“MMSD”) to express their concern over continued privatization of the municipal wastewater treatment system. Currently, wastewater services for the City of Milwaukee are contracted out to United Water. On December 3rd, MMSD will decide whether to turn that contract over to Veolia Water North America or return wastewater treatment responsibilities to the District.
“We support the return of wastewater treatment to the District because contracting out services cannot adequately protect public health and the environment,” said Cheryl Nenn, Riverkeeper for Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers. “Our rivers and Lake Michigan have been subjected to enormous amounts of pollution from sewer overflows, many of them preventable.” Karen Schapiro, of Midwest Environmental Advocates, added, “The current contract in place does not penalize the contractors for this pollution, and fails to provide incentive for proper equipment maintenance and upgrades, which could reduce or prevent these overflows.”
Rosemary Wehnes, of the Sierra Club’s Great Waters Group, emphasized the public access and accountability benefits of returning the wastewater responsibilities to the District. “Contracting out wastewater services provides almost no transparency and weakens public accountability. A private company is not held to the same public accountability as a municipal district such as MMSD.”
The letter asks MMSD Commissioners to consider returning the operation and maintenance to a public system, and also encourages that, should another private contractor be selected, that the contract be revised to eliminate incentives that reward inadequate treatment of sewage and pollution of our waterways, and to provide stronger tools for enforcement and more public accountability.
####
FAST FACTS
-The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is a state-chartered government agency that provides wastewater treatment services to 28 municipalities in southeast Wisconsin. For the past 10 years, they have contracted operation and maintenance responsibilities to United Water Services.
- In 1994, the “Deep Tunnel” was brought online to address the problems of sewage overflows in Milwaukee, storing sewage during rainstorms when it was expected that treatment plants would be overwhelmed. The 19-mile long tunnel cost nearly $2 billion dollars, yet overflows still occur.
- Since 1995, over a billion gallons of sanitary sewage has been dumped in Milwaukeearea rivers and Lake Michigan.
- Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers’ (FMR) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting water quality and wildlife habitat and advocating for sound land use in the Milwaukee River Basin. FMR is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international coalition dedicated to protecting and restoring our world’s waterways, and is the licensed Riverkeeper® for Milwaukee.
- Great Waters Group is a Sierra Club member group of the John Muir Chapter that serves club members in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, & Waukesha counties. Sierra Club groups are run by their members who volunteer to promote environmental sustainability by taking action on local issues and educating others to understand the issues and opportunities available to make informed decisions that will better protect our shared environment.
- Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. (MEA) is Wisconsin’s only non-profit environmental law center dedicated to environmental justice and the protection of the public’s right to clean air, clean water, clean government, and responsible land use.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving and restoring the world’s largest freshwater resource using policy, education and local efforts, ensuring a healthy Great Lakes and clean water for generations of people and wildlife.
30 Nov 2007 | 2:35 pm | Water, Environmental Sustainability | No comments yet - Add your comments
