Bus Barn no longer planned for Oscar Mayer site
By Beth Sluys
Northside News
“When the frost is out of the ground, I will take down the sign in front of the shop,” stated Chet Hermansen, owner of Chet’s Car Care on Aberg Avenue. His business is located directly across the street from the Oscar Mayer property that Madison Metro was planning to purchase for a satellite bus storage and maintenance facility.
From the onset of the news of the city’s plan, Chet protested and placed a large “No Bus Barn” sign in front of his business. The next day, a Metro employee arrived to remove it. After a conversation with the Metro employee and a phone call from the employee to a supervisor, the confiscated sign was returned, and Chet restored it to its location. So began the two-year debate about a bus barn on Madison’s Northside.
In March 2019, the resolution was introduced that directed city staff to “pursue negotiations with the owners of the Oscar Mayer facility to facilitate its use as a Metro satellite bus site.” Over the next two years, area residents, District 12 Alder Syed Abbas, local businesses, neighborhood associations, and environmental groups shared their concerns about the known chemical contamination at the Oscar Mayer property with city leaders and staff as well as with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The contamination of the soil and groundwater under the existing buildings, the high levels of toxic vapors, and the contamination under the paved areas of the northern end of the site became of increasing concern. These concerns eventually caused the city to hire a specialized attorney to pursue the final details that would be included in a letter of intent to purchase. The legal wrangling related to the contamination and potential deed restrictions seemed to fade away when the city set its sights on a newly available property at the FedEx facility near the airport.
Opponents of using the Oscar Mayer property said that using this side for the bus facility did not make sense for the nearby neighborhoods and businesses or for the already traffic-laden Aberg Avenue. In particular, much of this area is home to our most vulnerable citizens: a tiny house village for unhoused people and two future low-income family and senior housing developments.
In a recent conversation about the FedEx facility, Justin Stuehrenberg, Metro general manager, said, “Overall, it’s a better site for us. It’s bigger, less costly, but more than anything, it allows us to move in almost immediately so we can begin using it in the near future. We are bursting at the seams and we need it as quickly as we can. We are close to signing the purchase and sale agreement. An environmental site assessment was conducted, and that report is with the Federal Transit Administration for review.”
In a February meeting of the Transportation Commission, Stuehrenberg stated that “Oscar Mayer would have required several years of environmental cleanup,” which would have delayed the use of the site. According to Stuehrenberg, funds that were approved by the FTA ($7 million) for the Oscar Mayer property will be available for the FedEx site. “We were successful in getting the grant scope changed with FTA to shift that grant to the new site.”
Maria Powell, a researcher for Madison Environmental Justice, said, “The city made a wise decision to abandon plans to locate the bus barns on highly contaminated Oscar Mayer land. It’s unfortunate that nearly two years of city resources were squandered in planning for this site before the city finally realized the folly of purchasing it. Without difficult, ongoing advocacy by the Midwest Environmental Justice Organization, No Bus Barn, Alder Abbas and many Northside residents, the city would likely have gone forward with this unwise purchase. Large amounts of city funds would be needed for investigation and cleanup, and nearby neighborhoods would endure more noise, bus traffic, air and other toxic pollution in the future. Stopping this was a hard-won grassroots victory for environmental justice.”
When Powell was asked about what the future holds for the Oscar Mayer property, she stated, “The battle isn’t over. A lot of toxic contamination remains at the Oscar Mayer site that has not been investigated, forget about cleaned up. Extensive networks of storm and sanitary drains at the site have not been investigated to assess where the contamination has migrated on-site and into neighborhoods and nearby waterways. We’ll be watching to make sure the city lives up to its stated commitments to racial equity and social justice.”
I recently called Chet Hermansen to ask about the city’s decision to purchase the FedEx facility. “I am grateful that the Northside community could come together to provide the right input and that area residents and business owners are committed to building a better neighborhood. I appreciate that the city made a good decision by choosing to locate the bus facility in an industrial area of the city with ready access to Highway 51,” stated Hermansen.
As Metro moves forward with this new satellite facility purchase, it is facing many changes in the coming years. Plans for the Bus Rapid Transit system continue to take shape. In addition, there is a major redesign project underway for the entire Metro bus network that is focused on ridership and coverage (see sidebar above).
All this as the frost is coming out of the ground.
Metro Network Redesign project
Madison Metro has a major redesign project underway for the entire Metro bus network that is focused on ridership and coverage.
Area residents are encouraged to get involved with the Metro Network Redesign. Focus groups will be convened through community organizations, business and civic associations, neighborhood associations, and other groups who would like to provide input into the redesign plan. If you are interested in hosting a focus group, send an email to MetroRedesign@cityofmadison.com.
There will be a public survey available this spring and more public meetings later in the summer.
For more information about the Metro redesign project, visit cityofmadison.com/metro/routes-schedules/bus-rapid-transit/transit-network-redesign/community-engagement.