[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]A new Madison committee met Monday night to discuss possible improvements to the Regent Street neighborhood.

Topics at the first official meeting of the Regent Street-South Campus Plan Steering Committee included ways to increase the overall green space of the area, improve safety lighting and develop more retail outlets.

Community leaders, including City Council President Austin King met to review notes from the large public Regent Street gathering held early last year, where more than 100 community members met to voice their concerns about the neighborhood.

"The City Council, obviously, represents the whole city, and here we have a diverse group of stakeholders from this immediate area," King said. "We've [also] got two students, which is great because too often these committees work in a way that ignores the ideas and interests [of] students."

One of the students representing the campus community was University of Wisconsin senior Lauren Woods, who is running for King's soon-to-be vacant alderman seat.

Woods is an alternate member on the committee, and may be called on to vote if a permanent member is unable to attend a meeting.

Woods stressed the importance of these smaller city committees, and said she is optimistic the committee would be able to bring real improvements to the neighborhood.

"These small committees really allow us delve into some issues," Woods said. "It allows you to get different perspectives from different neighborhood associations, and you can't really do that at public forums."

Monday's meeting was also the first time committee members met with contractors and planners to discuss their primary concerns for the neighborhood — including the question of whether student housing should be expanded in the area, or if it should be limited in favor of other development.

"If you can take a surface parking lot, north of Regent Street by the McDonalds, and turn that into a nice student housing complex with underground parking, first-floor retail and say 100 new housing units, that's not only good for the 100 students that get to live there," King said. "It's good for all students because as you put more supply into the market, rents go down elsewhere."

Also in attendance at the meeting was Wood's opponent in this April's race, UW sophomore Eli Judge.

"The area around Regent is crucial for students," Judge said. "I live on Spring Street so I know that's very true, and some of the issues that they brought up in the area, particularly making the space greener, making it more accessible to pedestrians, is definitely important."

The committee is funded by the city of Madison, Dane County and from private donations, including $15,000 from UW.

The committee's next meeting will take place Feb. 19, and the final phase of the committee's revitalization project is scheduled for completion by August 2007.

King said he is hopeful the planners and consultants can help take the committee's vision and turn it into a plan for the area.

"The idea is we are going to see this new development," King said. "It's a question of how it will come, whether it will serve the interests of those of us that live in this area, and students."