[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Unable to discuss new business Monday, the Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee listened to a presentation by the East Campus Utility regarding the Peterson and Ogg Hall buildings, which are scheduled to come down this fall.

Since the minimum number of committee members did not attend, the meeting did not reach official quorum and debates regarding new proposals could not be discussed.

In lieu of other business needing debate, University of Wisconsin officials discussed the land on which the Peterson Building currently sits and its use for the new Chazen Museum addition.

However, exact plans for the addition have yet to be decided. Until construction begins on this new building, the lot will be used to aid in other area projects, such as the new University Square complex, which is scheduled for completion in summer 2008.

"The site of the Peterson Building will probably be a staging area for a lot of this utility work," said John Harrod, director of facilities planning and management at UW.

Harrod added UW and developers working on the project would like to keep pedestrian and vehicular conflict to a minimum.

Once Ogg Hall is torn down, the area will be cleared and turned into green space similar to what was previously located on the corner of Park and Dayton streets, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.

Had enough members attended the meeting, the committee would have held a discussion regarding proposals for the UW-owned parking ramp across the street from Witte Hall, which is jokingly referred to as the "Taj Garage" since it looks nicer than other area parking ramps.

The university would like to make some changes to the ramp, including installing additional lighting and mirrors to see around corners.

"They're responding to University of Wisconsin Police Department concerns about relatively recent — but going on for quite some time — minor crimes in that garage," Verveer said. "The No. 1 rationale for doing this, as I understand it, is to try to make the ramp more safe — it's pretty dark and dingy right now."

Trees surrounding the parking ramp would also be trimmed to give pedestrians a better view of the area around them. This work on the Taj Garage is expected to take place over the next few months.

In his other capacity as assistant district attorney for Dane County, Verveer said he reads many police reports of incidents taking place in this particular ramp.

"The police do regularly patrol that ramp religiously, and so that will probably continue, even with the upgrades to make it more safe," Verveer said.

Specific plans regarding the Taj Garage are scheduled to be discussed at the next JSCA committee meeting.

Monday's meeting also covered plans to allow construction on university buildings to take place at night. Currently, a Madison city ordinance prohibits construction work after 7 p.m.

Harrod said UW is scrambling to meet the developer's deadlines, and allowing construction crews to work at night would help them meet that timeline.

"We'll look at getting this started in the summer … and have that part of the process done before the university starts in the fall," Harrod said.