Local

MIDDLETON–If you travel down Elmwood Avenue, you may have noticed temporary structures to slow traffic in downtown Middleton. The structures are accompanied by signs, explaining the traffic calming experiment.

The first is a traffic circle at Middleton Street. Much like a roundabout, the street feature slows traffic while keeping traffic flow moving. Further east barricades, known as curb bubbles, on each side of the street narrow the roadway, slowing traffic.

City of Middleton Planning Intern Abdullahi Bihi has been leading up the project as part of his graduate course work in Urban and Regional Planning, and said the measures are known as “tactical urbanism.”

“’Tactical urbanism’ promotes low-cost, temporary changes intended to calm traffic and improve the safety of pedestrian and bicycles. The process is a response to Elmwood Avenue residents' concern about the way drivers are using the street,” Bihi explained.

MIDDLETON–The Middleton Common Council voted to approve a dollar amount of $770,000 for the upcoming referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot. The city is asking residents to support the referendum to primarily increase staffing in public safety and other departments and make wages more competitive to retain current staff. 

City Administrator Bryan Gadow presented three possible options for the council to consider at varying cost levels of $500,000, $770,000, and $1 million to meet the city’s needs and match the market salary levels for employee retention.

“Our recommendation to council would be to use the majority of funding of any of these three options to do an ECI [employment cost increase] of four percent to at least be semi-competitive with the market,” Gadow said. “Then any remaining funding would be available for new positions that have a strategic need.”

MIDDLETON–Prompted by continuing aircraft noise and overflight complaints, the Airport Commission last week recommended that the Middleton Common Council explore a land use ordinance for the Middleton Municipal Airport-Morey Field.

“We need to stop people moving next to the airport, if we can,” Commission Chair John Hallick said to open the discussion.

Whether the city does it in conjunction with the neighboring towns of Middleton and Springfield, “That’s up to the city…but this is something that the city can do,” Hallick said.

In the past several years, at least 40 homes have been built west of the airport under the flight pattern used on takeoff from the main runway, said Rich Morey, airport manager.

Development is expected to continue in the Town of Middleton between the end of the runway and the high-voltage transmission line to the west.

MIDDLETON–The City of Middleton Plan Commission held a public hearing and voted on a rezoning request to construct three, eight story buildings with 376 multifamily units at 1551 Pleasant View Rd. Planning staff and plan commission members expressed support for the proposal but deferred the rezoning until various issues identified are resolved.

The proposal from LZ Ventures of Madison calls for three, eight story buildings, each containing 119 to 124 units and two levels of underground parking. The site is 5.32 acres and has been part of the Greenway Center Planned Development District (PDD) but has never been developed. The rezoning would create a new PDD. A PDD allows the city to create a zoning district tailored to a specific project which can be more or less stringent than typical zoning code.

MADISON–Nodding his head in response to Judge Ellen Berz, Eric Mehring entered guilty pleas for three counts of intoxicated use of a vehicle last week, stemming from an October 2021 accident that killed three teenage boys. 

The incident occurred in the Town of Middleton when Mehring was speeding down Mineral Point Road in the Town of Middleton and rear-ended a Chevy Cruze that contained John “Jack” Miller and Evan Kratochwill, Middleton High School students, and Simon Bilessi, a West Madision High School student. All three teens were killed in the crash. Merhing’s blood alcohol content was 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

He was driving his Jaguar an estimated 35-40 mph over the 45 mph posted speed limit at the time of the crash. At the time, a sheriff’s deputy asked Mehring how fast he was going and he estimated 75 mph. When asked why he was traveling at such a high speed he replied, “over confidence.” 

MIDDLETON–Local officials joined at a bike/pedestrian bridge on Century Avenue in Middleton last week to announce a $1 million dollar county grant for the construction of the next segment of the North Mendota Trail. The section will run from Highland Way/Century Avenue traffic signal to the eastern city limits just past Signature Drive.

Middleton Mayor Gurdip Brar and District 7 Alder Dan Ramsey joined Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and County Board Supervisors Alex Joers, District 9, Holly Hatcher, District 26 and April Kigeya, District 15 in announcing the grant on July 27.

MIDDLETON–The Middleton Common Council deliberated on several vehicle and equipment purchase requests from the police and public works departments. The requests are generally part of the budget cycle, but staff sought approval for early purchases to get ahead of long lead times due to ongoing supply chain complications. The council also approved a $16.4 million request for tax incremental financing for the planned 44 acre “Belle Farm” residential development at 4887 Parmenter St.

MIDDLETON–Property assessments in Middleton are complete and residents and business owners have received letters informing them of their current property assessments. Like much of Dane County, the City of Middleton saw a big jump in assessments, on average 26 percent–27 percent for residential properties and 25 percent for commercial properties.

Middleton Finance Director Bill Burns said the last time assessments were done in Middleton was 2018. The four-year span was determined to be adequate in determining property value, Burns said, and included, “The timing of when a revaluation is needed is based on how quickly market values are changing.”

WASHINGTON DC–“You have the right to remain silent” has been a cornerstone of the Miranda Warning in the US since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ernesto Miranda in the 1966 case of Miranda v. Arizona. The court then ruled that suspects should be informed of their rights when accused of committing a crime.

On June 23, the current Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) had a different take when it came to holding law enforcement accountable for reading those rights. In the case of Vega v. Tekoh the court voted 6-3 to remove the ability of a suspect to sue police in cases when “right to remain silent” is not read.

“The Supreme Court has slowly chipped away at it, and this is one of the biggest assaults on Miranda,” said Steven Wright, Clinical Associate Professor-UW Madison, and former director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project. “In the past 30 years the court has slowly created loopholes for police.”