[media-credit name=’LUKAS KEAPPROTH/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

The city of Madison’s Planning Committee heard from community members Wednesday night to gather ideas for enhancing the quality of downtown Madison.

The Downtown Plan is set up to progress over five meetings, which started in April 2008, and will draft a plan to be proposed to the City Council in June 2009.

The main aspects of the project were discussion of enhancing the skyline, lake access, historic preservation, parks and public spaces, and making streets more pedestrian-friendly.

Archie Nicolette, a member of the Madison Planning Committee, said there is a need for more parks, places for food and entertainment.

“Basically, downtown is very dense and has a lot of people, but there aren’t a lot of parks,” Nicolette said. “The thing that came up over and over again was lake access, lake access, lake access.”

Bert Stitt, who attended the meeting, was somewhat concerned with communicating the actual intentions of the project to the public. He thought the main idea of lake access was pedestrian availability but was apprehensive that “simple pedestrian availability really means commercial development.”

“One of the beautiful things about Madison is that is hasn’t been taken over by commercial access,” Stitt said.

The meeting was the third public meeting regarding the development of the city’s new plan. It focused on alternatives, new recommendations and public input regarding ways to improve resident and tourist attraction to Madison.

Local professional design volunteers have given architectural input and sketched out elaborate designs to meet the goals of the committee. These goals include improving neighborhood connections, promoting urban development, mass transit and public places for recreation, and providing more opportunities for education.

Bill Fruhling, the principal planner for the city of Madison’s Planning Department and one of the managers on the development project, expressed his appreciation for all of the volunteers who have put time into the Downtown Plan.

Fruhling said the meeting “marks the transition to the third phase where we will really start to set some alternatives” and will help demonstrate “how some of these ideas might actually fit on the ground.”

“There were a number of comments that downtown should provide more places for housing, particularly families with children,” Fruhling said.

Brad Murphy, who presented a number of approaches to improving the city’s transportation, said there is a need for “ensuring the downtown and regional centers are well connected.”

One proposal sought to add areas of “recreation, culture and entertainment” in various locations, such as at the corner of Regent Street and West Washington Avenue near the Kohl Center.

All Madison residents have been invited to this string of meetings. Multiple posters at the meeting invited comments and recommendations for enhancing the development and atmosphere of Madison.

Murphy was optimistic about the plan and said he is hopeful it will “improve the quality of life downtown for the next 20 to 30 years.”