11/7/2006 Referendum: "Vote No To Stop Sprawl"

Dan Sebald:

The Nov. 7 school referendum is about more than the question of whether Madison needs a new elementary school. It's about the placement of the proposed site and its associated inefficient land use.

I see a "yes" vote as a vote for the same poor growth model of civic design that has been going on for the past 10 years in Dane County, where sprawling developments are constructed for quick revenue and services like the new elementary school come as an afterthought.

Why did the city and county not plan for an eventual site that doesn't slowly encroach on environmentally sensitive areas like Shoveler's Sink and its nearby prairies? One not so dependent on the automobile? One that doesn't consume even more farmland?

While homes in downtown Madison are overvalued and our streets are crumbling back into gravel, the growth-oriented parts of the city have new roads, large lots and no retail. Yet neighborhoods are the fabric of Madison, not subdivisions.

No one has explained what is different from the referendum that was voted on two years ago and that put before us on Nov. 7 other than the referendum's packaging. A "no" vote may force the school and city to rethink the placement of a new school and perhaps bring some regional planning back to Dane County.

Dan Sebald Madison

One of the more interesting comments I've heard on local sprawl was from a nearby town chairman when the City of Madison annexed land for what became the American Center. "When Madison annexes and develops, it's called "planned growth". When a town develops, it's "sprawl". Interesting semantics.

A Madison voter's related views.

Much more on the referendum here.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 4, 2006 5:11 PM
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