Plans for an indoor, year-round public market in Madison will be on hold until funding for the project makes its way back into the capital budget.

In a close vote, the Madison Board of Estimates decided against amending the capital budget to add the project.

“My not including funding in no way signals any lack of support,” Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said. “I don’t want to spread us too thin. I used to take the attitude that you plant a thousand seeds, and you see which ones grow. I think that’s fine in a robust economy, but we’re not in a robust economy.” 

Cieslewicz said there already are a number of other important projects on the table, such as the central library, the children’s museum and the Allied Drive redevelopment project. 

“There’s no reason why this project shouldn’t go forward in a future year,” Cieslewicz said. “I just don’t think this is the time to start advancing yet another project.”

Ald. Marsha Rummel, District 6, disagreed with Cieslewicz and said if the project is not included in this years’ budget, the City Council would be virtually “pulling out for good.”

“2009 money is critical to keep the momentum going,” said Marianne Morton, executive director for Common Wealth Development, Inc. “Without that, we will have to start all over again or the city will have to start all over again.” 

The major disagreement with the project involved the location of the market. Ald. Tim Gruber, District 11, released a statement Monday stating his opposition to the market primarily on the basis of its location.

Gruber said he became involved in the project and has become increasingly convinced the market itself is a good idea, but the location is not.

The location of the market would have been at the Brayton lot on East Washington, a couple blocks from Capitol Square. 

Gruber recommended Madison sell the Brayton lot and land behind the Madison Municipal building and use the proceeds to build the market on South Pinckney Street, where the Government East parking ramp is located.

Plans for the new market would have included 41 permanent stalls for local vendors and 15 flexible stalls. 

The market would have been similar to Pike Place Market in Seattle, Wash., offering local vendors, entertainment and cooking demonstrations, Morton said.

“We view it as probably a mixed-use development,” Morton said, adding the project would include underground parking, retail and office space.

Gruber said the ideal location for the market would be State Street, but there is not space for an indoor market of that size.

The Brayton lot is a “pedestrian dead-zone,” Gruber said, adding the Government East parking ramp needs to be torn down and the market could be the ground floor of a new ramp.

Morton said she did not understand the board’s decision to keep the project out of the budget, especially because Cieslewicz was the tie-breaking “no” vote for a project he strongly supports.

I checked this with the style book. This is the “lone exception” to the general rule in numerals that a figure is not used to start a sentence.