By the Northside Planning Council and members of the Northside Business Association and Sherman Neighborhood Association

We are writing to express our concern about the proposed purchase of 15 acres of Oscar Mayer (OM) real estate by the City of Madison for a Metro bus storage facility. 

The City has already invested $300,000 in various planning processes for the OM property. We are confused why the City is rushing this purchase before its own Special Area Plan (SAP) process is complete. Isn’t the point of the SAP to determine a coherent vision for the property that future decision-making can be based on? Why impose a bus barn before that process has a chance to come to a natural, transparent, democratic conclusion?

We are not opposed to Metro Transit or the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)system. The Northside very much needs better public transportation and enhanced connectivity with the rest of the region. However, the proposed bus barn will not, in itself, play a role in directly improving Northside transit. Bus storage is not the same as improved bus access, as is illustrated by the fact that the Northside will not see BRT service for years after the East and West sides receive it. 

The bus barn purchase appears to us to be an expedient solution to a City problem that is being imposed on the Northside before an existing planning process can develop a coherent vision for our community.

We have been deeply invested in the future of the OM property since the company first announced the plant closure several years ago. We convened the OSCAR citizen group to gather public input, monitor developments on the property and ensure that community voice would be authentically represented in that process. A year later, the City convened the Oscar Mayer Strategic Assessment Committee (OMSAC) and several of our members either served on that committee or followed its progress closely. And now many of us have participated in the focus groups for the OM-SAP.

We are especially heartened to see that much of the property is designated for “Employment” in the draft SAP. We are also hopeful, based on the emerging plan, that the SAP will lead to some much needed traffic improvements and enhanced accessibility to the Packer Avenue corridor, along with Aberg and Commercial Avenues. This closely reflects the top priorities that have emerged from the community throughout this process. 

The Northside needs and deserves this space to be transformed into a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use center. For now, we ask that the City, rather than just pushing forward out of expediency, let its own Special Area Plan process come to a natural conclusion, and then conduct a proper, transparent analysis of whether this proposal fits into the agreed upon vision for the OM property.