Council
to consider Canal St. access to Miller Park roads
Dec.
12, 2005 -- A
plan to allow Canal St. traffic to use a Miller
Park road to get to the freeway and other west
side streets city streets will be considered Monday
by a Common Council committee.
The
plan to route traffic from the extended Canal
St. through the stadium could also affect traffic
in Story Hill, which is northwest of the stadium.
Under
the proposal to be considered by the Public Works
Committee, traffic could enter or leave Canal
St. via the stadium's South Access Road. Click
here
to see a map.
During
normal traffic times, the traffic would flow on
two eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes, according
to city documents.
In hours preceding a Brewers game or other stadium
event, the traffic flow would be on three lanes
eastbound and one lane westbound.
That
will be reversed in the hours after an event ends
-- the traffic will be on one lane eastbound and
three lanes westbound, according to the documents.
The
plan calls for the installation of more visual
blight -- including six overhead sign structures,
a variable message sign, static signage, and pavement
markings, according to city documents.
Construction
and engineering costs of the project, which also
includes new pavement, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks,
are estimated at $350,000.
The
Wisconsin Department of Transportation has agreed
to provide
$40,000 in Marquette Interchange mitigation funds
for the signage.
Canal
Street extension moves forward
March
28, 2005 -- The
Common Council has given the go-ahead for construction
of the Canal Street extension from 25th St. to
Miller Park.
The
project, including an extension to the Hank Aaron
Trail, is expected to cost about $15.6 million,
according to city documents. The state is expected
to pay $8.2 million of the project's cost, while
the city will kick in $9.4 million, according
to the documents.
The
project needs to be completed by April 1, 2006
to allow it to qualify for $5 million in federal
funding as an alternative traffic route during
reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange. If
it's not done by then, the state can withhold
$5 million in future funds that otherwise might
be due the city.
Old
agreement resolves Canal St. issue Street extension can proceed
Feb.
28, 2005 -- A seven-year-old agreement
between the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club and
the former owner of neighboring property will
allow the Canal St. hookup to Miller Park to proceed,
according to Stadium District Executive Director
Mike Duckett.
"It
looks like Canal St.'s going to happen and it's
on schedule," Duckett said last week. Bids
will be let in March, he said.
The
city does not need to make any concessions to
the Brewers, the Stadium District, or the Story
Hill neighborhood in order to proceed with the
project.
The
Canal St. project hit snags earlier this month
when the Brewers demanded the city place parking
restrictions on private property in the Menomonee
Valley east of Miller Park and made other demands
that Ald. Robert Bauman termed "outrageous."
It looked for a time like the street extension
may not happen.
Then,
however, the city turned up a 1998 agreement between
the Brewers and CMC Heartland Partners, former
owners of Menomonee Valley land now owned by the
city. Under the agreement, which the Stadium District
also signed on to as the property's landlord,
CMC had access to Miller Park property and use
of the south ring road. The city bought the CMC
property in 2003.
The
city believes that "the agreement goes with
the land" and that the access rights now
belong to the city, Duckett said.
Stadium
District lawyers examined the document and agreed,
he said.
The
team still will have the right to install traffic
controls, Duckett said.
The
agreement calls for the city to pay 75% of the
cost of maintaining the road, and the Brewers
to pay the other 25%.
Canal
St. extension hits a roadblock
Feb.
11, 2005 -- Canal St. extension plans
were delayed at a crucial stage this week when
a Common Council committee refused to act on an
important agreement that would link Canal St.
to Miller Park.
The
committee chairman, Ald. Robert Bauman, publicly
ridiculed some of the terms sought by the Milwaukee
Brewers, the team's parking contractor, and the
Stadium District in the proposed pact.
"I'm
astounded they would have the chutzpah to make
these demands," Bauman said.
The
agreement would, among other things, require the
city to protect Imperial Parking's Miller Park
franchise by prohibiting parking on public and
private property along and near Canal St. west
of 25th St. The city would be liable for any revenue
losses suffered by the Brewers due to violations
of the restrictions.
"They
want to control the parking on Canal St., which
the citizens of Milwaukee are paying for, for
three-quarters of a mile east of their stadium
so people can't park on the street and walk to
a baseball game," Bauman said. "I find
that outrageous.
The
decision to hold the item in committee left officials
scrambling to resolve outstanding issues so bids
on the project can be bid out early next month.
Construction timing is crucial so the project
can qualify for Marquette Interchange mitigation
funding.
Officials
said they would try to complete the documents
so they can be considered at a special Public
Improvements Committee meeting before the Feb.
22 Common Council meeting.
The
draft agreement before the committee this week
outlined the terms under which Miller Park's North
and South Ring Roads would be turned over to the
city to allow traffic to enter and leave the stadium
from Canal St., which is to be extended westward
from 25th St.
The extended road is supposed to be an alternate
route for Marquette Interchange traffic when major
reconstruction work is being done on the downtown
freeway intersection.
The
city did not aggressively pursue negotiations
with the many parties involved in Miller Park.
The result: a last minute rush on a project the
city has known about for years.
As Michael Horne reported on www.milwaukeeworld.com,
the agreement was added to the committee agenda
just one day before it was to be considered. Aldermen
were supposed to vote on it even though it was
in draft form and still had negotiators' notes
and comments on its pages.
Ald.
Michael Murphy, who represents the Miller Park
and Story Hill area, said he had no objection
to delaying action on the proposed agreement.
Some of the terms in the draft were new to him
and different than what was presented to area
residents at two neighborhood meetings, he said.
Murphy said he wanted to make sure of their meaning
and impacts.
"I
have some reservations on some of the issues,"
he said. He said he had concerns about the project's
impact on the Story Hill neighborhood.
"I
just want to be more comfortable with some of
the things I've heard this morning...the devil's
in the details," he said.
Bauman
Listen to his comments
Murphy
Listen
to his comments
The
draft agreement would require the city to:
Adopt
legislation and install "No Parking 1 Hour
Before until 1 Hour after Stadium Events"
signs west of 25th St. and on nearby local roads.
Include
restrictive covenants on sales of city land
in the Menomonee Valley prohibiting parking
for Miller Park events on the property, whether
or not the parking is free.
Indemnify
the state, the Brewers and the Baseball District
for any repair or maintenance costs of the stadium
ring roads.
Traffic
on the Canal St. extension in and out of the stadium
would be maintained as two-way traffic except when
stadium events are expected to draw more than 15,000,
or whenever the Brewers or the Stadium District
felt that limiting traffic to one-way would be desirable.
Two-way
traffic in the case of crowds in excess of 15,000
would be prohibited for four hours before the event
and for one-and-a-half hours after the event.
"Now
if you take a day game, that means they control
the traffic from 9 in the morning to five thirty
in the afternoon," Bauman said. "And this
is supposed to be a Marquette mitigation measure.
You can't mitigate the Marquette Interchange when
they're out there saying you can only have one-way
traffic all day long because we have a home game
that might have 16,000 people attending it."
Full
disclosure: storyhill.net editor Gretchen Schuldt
is a former member of the Stadium District Board.
Council
to consider Canal St. access to Miller Park roads
