Students fight Madison development

By James Briggs

Afraid of being priced out of a neighborhood popular among 20-somethings, University of Wisconsin-Madison students are standing up against a proposed apartment development.

“In all the years I’ve served,” 16-year Alderman Michael Verveer said, “I have never seen this level of student interest in a land-use application.”

Thousands of students have organized online, making plans to attend meetings to stop a 46-apartment building from going up in Madison’s West Mifflin neighborhood.

“We do not want future individuals pushed out of this area due to prohibitive rent costs,” said Adam Milch, a UW-Madison student.

West Mifflin is home to the storied Mifflin Street Block Party, an annual party that stretches across the neighborhood. The neighborhood is full of old houses divided into two or three units students can rent for as little as $400 a month per person.

A new apartment building, students argue, would be the first step toward transforming West Mifflin from student-rate housing to more expensive apartment buildings.

But the developer, Madison-based McCaughey Properties LLC, is only working on one development; not a neighborhood takeover, company owner Pat McCaughey said. McCaughey’s plan would demolish one house and one commercial building to make way for the apartment building.

“Contrary to Twitter and Facebook, we’re not out there to tear down the rest of the block,” he said.

“We’re not out to take away housing from other people. We feel adding housing to the downtown market actually increases availability.”

But the students’ collective voice has been heard and already has led to changes to the plan, which is to go before the Plan Commission in two weeks.

McCaughey has agreed to set back the fourth floor so the building blends in better with shorter houses next door and also to set back the building farther from the street.

“I believe the modifications they’ve proposed are in the right direction,” Verveer said.

UW-Madison students, though, are not conceding as easily.

“If you choose to live on Mifflin, you’re choosing to live there because of the character, and this building isn’t in line with that character,” said Hannah Somers, legislative affairs vice chairwoman for Associated Students of Madison. “We need to fight to preserve Mifflin’s character because that will be a lot harder to do in the future.”

McCaughey, though, said construction economics would not let him or anyone else pay for a building similar to the other houses lining Mifflin.

“Yeah, it’d be nice to build a two-story house and make everybody happy, but it’s not gonna happen,” McCaughey said. “If I walk away, the next guy’s gonna have the same problem.”

The debate comes as Madison is drafting a new downtown plan that could settle such disputes. Among the debated issues are building elements such as height, the restrictions for which either could maintain West Mifflin as a neighborhood of houses or set a pattern for tall apartment buildings.

Students want to preserve West Mifflin as it is, said Rachel Klaven, a UW-Madison student.

“Although we might not be here in five years,” she said, “we’d like to think the spirit will stay the same.”

This generation of students will have a chance to leave a lasting mark, Verveer said.

“I absolutely appreciate their involvement and treasure their involvement,” he said, “and want to keep them involved.”