Local

MIDDLETON–Gilda’s Club of Madison has announced the winners of to this year’s CUREative Contest for Teens Touched by Cancer. An art reception and show of the entries was held at the clubhouse–one of the first events in two years. 

First-place winners of the CUREative Contest for Teens Touched by Cancer:

Media: Paint and Drawing, “Lost in Space: by Ellie Huttleston, 15

“My piece is about watching someone battle cancer. I’ve seen a lot of cancer in my life, the hardest to watch is my dad’s. When you watch someone battle cancer it’s scary and confusing and sad so I just think of being lost in space not knowing where you are or if there’s an end in sight. Anything could go wrong at any moment; you just don’t know and you feel so alone,” she said on an artist’s statement.

Writing, “The Pain Disguised in the Beauty” Luke Ristow, 18

MIDDLETON–The popular art experience, Immersive Van Gogh, has made its way around the country will now be coming to Middleton. Opening Nov. 24, the exhibit will be housed in the Greenway Station Shopping Center at 1651 Deming Way for a limited engagement through Jan.8, 2023. 

"Arts and culture is vital to the economy of each market that Lighthouse Immersive productions call home, and we are thrilled to bring that magic to Madison, a diverse community of professionals, students, artist sand families,” says Corey Ross, co-producer of Immersive Van Gogh. “The innovative design of the experience enchants and activates the imagination to explore beyond the walls of the space.”

MIDDLETON –Just a week after Maureen and Hayden Mauk moved into their house along Stonefield Road, they were piling sandbags to prevent the August 2018 floodwaters from reaching their home.

They succeeded despite the flood washing over Stonefield Road from a greenway on the other side of the road. The surge of water continued down what they thought was another greenway behind them which extends between Shady Oak Circle and Willow Trail and into the City of Madison.

The owner that sold them the house said the area behind was a greenway which never flooded, Hayden Mauk said.

However, the City of Middleton had long designated the 800-foot-long greenway as a drainage facility. After 30 years, rock-lined portions of the channel had become buried under sediment and trees grew out and encroached along the edges.

This year, the city’s Public Works Department is going ahead with plans to restore its flood-handling capabilities.

MIDDLETON– StoryWalk adventures are back in Downtown Middleton. 

The Middleton Public Library and Downtown Middleton Business Association (DMBA) are teaming up once again to bring stories to life through an outdoor, interactive storytelling experience. 

This summer’s StoryWalk will feature the book “Dump Truck Disco,” by Skye Silver, and tells the story of Dump Truck Daisy and friends who are on a secret nighttime mission to build a playground. This is Middleton’s sixth StoryWalk and will take place June 1-Aug. 31.

It will also kick off DMBA’s new children’s Hard Hat Club. 

TOWN OF MIDDLETON­–With a little prodding and much discussion Monday night, the Town Board agreed to conditionally apply for federal funding to repave Pioneer Road and widen its shoulders.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $550 billon through September 2026 for road, water and broadband projects, the largest such ongoing federal investment ever, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Town engineers reviewed the several funding programs, and after consulting with the Greater Madison MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization), which manages the programs, recommended Pioneer Road as it’s the only collector road that meets the Surface Transportation Program criteria.

The two-mile segment between Old Sauk and Valley View Roads, still may be a long shot for the money, said Jacqueline Monfils, of Vierbicher, Inc., the town’s consulting engineers.

MIDDLETON–The City of Middleton Plan Commission reviewed a concept plan for the first phase of the residential component of the Bruce Company’s planned major redevelopment project at 2830 Parmenter St. The first phase plan calls for a 99-unit multifamily building. Plan commission members provided feedback, but no action was taken.

In January the plan commission approved concept review for the Bruce Company’s office building, garden center and greenhouse. The master plan calls for redeveloping the 19-acre site with up to 800 residential units and 700 hotel rooms. The master plan and rezoning request were approved by the common council in Sep. 2021.

MIDDLETON–As part of state and national efforts to help keep roadways safe for all travelers, police officers with the City of Middleton, Village of Waunakee and Village of Shorewood Hills made 427 traffic stops during our OWI Traffic Grant between December 2021 and April 2022. 

The departments have focused an additional 180 hours on OWI enforcement during this timeframe and officers made nine OWI arrests in the last five months during the deployments.

While the focus of the initiative was to deter impaired driving, officers also issued citations and made arrests during traffic stops for the following:

Eighty-eight speeding violations

Forty-three operating after revocation or suspension violations

Twenty-six vehicle registration violations

One vehicle equipment violations

Thirty-three other moving violations

Two safety belt violations

Threee drug arrests

One warrant arrest

MIDDLETON–Two years of free meals for all students will be coming to an end next month and the Middleton Cross Plains Area School District is preparing to begin charging again.

Normally, schools could only serve free or reduced-cost meals to income-eligible students. However, in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Department of Agriculture waived income guidelines and allowed all students to eat for free.

That waiver expires June 30 and unless it’s extended for a third year, income guidelines will be reinstated, Erin Wheeler, director of Business Services, told the school board Monday night.

The district’s costs to fed students for free was reimbursed by the state of Wisconsin. 

The district has not raised meal prices since 2014-15 and has built a budget surplus since that time while also adding staff, a second kitchen and café at the high school.

MIDDLETON–The Middleton Common Council reviewed some of the latest data related to affordable housing in the county and recommendations to expand and preserve affordable housing. The council also reviewed the revised five-year vehicle replacement plan which will move aggressively to adopt an all electric fleet. The plan also will preserve internal combustion vehicles longer to save money and hold out until more electric vehicle options are available.

Dane County Senior Planner Oliva Parry presented the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy in Middleton to the council. The regional housing advisory committee will develop a study, inventory and assessment of programs, resources and tools currently used and develop a vision for housing and key priorities for Middleton’s plan, Parry said.

Parry described affordable housing as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a person’s monthly income on rent. 

MIDDLETON–The City of Middleton Plan Commission reviewed a preliminary plat document for a proposed 44-acre residential development at 4887 Parmenter St. and approved the University Avenue corridor plan which will guide future development.

A rezoning request for the proposed “Belle Farm” development was approved by the common council late 2021. The proposal calls for four phases of development and a fifth phase based on market conditions when the earlier phases are completed. The proposal includes 730 multifamily units and 150 single family homes with a variety of housing types including apartments, condos and townhomes and single-family homes ranging from carriage homes, cottage homes, and nest cottages to shotgun homes and estate houses with up to 3,000 square feet. 

The development would extend Belle Fontaine Boulevard from High Road to Parmenter Street creating the “main street” through the development with storefront commercial spaces.