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KBartels@StarkHomes.com (608) 235-2927
Friday, January 10, 2020 • Vol. 6, No. 11 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1 Kathy Bartels
Inside
Stories of 2019
Big projects end, begin
Mayor Aaron Richardson to get a second three-year term Page 3
Community
Progress Center for Black Women evolves mission Page 5
Schools
Road, school construction changed the landscape of Fitchburg
O
ne massive project in Fitchburg was wrapping up as the year came to a close, while two others were just hitting their stride. As we look back on our stories of the year in 2019 and ahead to our stories to watch for next year, we saw construction as a consistent theme, and that didn’t even include the $190 million Promega R&D building. There was also some terrible news (a murder), plenty of conflict (development plans, a protested firing) and flooding that seems to get worse every year. The end of construction on Verona Road – for the most part – was a huge relief to drivers, particularly after an aggravating summer and fall in which several other roads were also compromised. Now, Photo by Kimberly Wethal with an overpass skipping over Cars travel along Verona Road below the Williamsburg Way bridge on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The three-lane under- and McKee Road and an underpass overpass project was completed in November after years of construction. beneath Williamsburg Way, we can all relax a bit. That is until the Fish Hatchery Road reconstruction – now split over two years – drives us all crazy again. 7. (tie) Expansion conflict at Lacy and 1. Verona Road construction ends Another major project is just Looking as exciting to some people, if 2. New elementary school breaks ground Seminole ahead to the not more so – the new elementa7. (tie) Fire Station No. 3 opens 3. Fitchburg teen murdered ry school. The opening of Forest top stories 9. Flooding causes problems 4. New school boundaries in VASD Edge Elementary in fall 2020 creof 2020 10. (tie) Fish Hatchery construction split ates new attendance boundaries in 5. Another new mayor the Oregon School District, mean6. Security guard fired, rehired for N-word 10. (tie) The end of a food desert Page 12 ing most people in Fitchburg will
Inside
Up and coming Fitchburg elementary school gets name
Stories of 2019
Turn to 2019/Page 10
Page 10
Business Charter school asks for property rezone Page 15
City of Fitchburg
Reimagining North Fish Hatchery With road reconstruction coming, city is taking a fresh look at the 15 year old redevelopment plan
Boys hockey: Wildcats in the catbird seat Page B1
Greenway Cross to just south of Traceway Drive with a variety of housing and business projects, with some already in the works. The timing of what is called the North Fish Hatchery Road Visioning and Implementation lines up with the Comprehensive Plan the city is KIMBERLY WETHAL updating and a $20 million rebuild of Unified Newspaper Group Fish Hatchery Road during 2020 and 2021. City staff and a consultant got City leaders are exploring what a general consensus from the council they want Fitchburg’s “front door” – the North Fish Hatchery Road corri- and are already working with developers to put it into practice. dor – to look like. One of the projects that correAn update to an existing redevelopsponds with the visioning plan– ment plan presented to the Common replacing a factory at Post Road with Council in November sketches out a vision to urbanize the area from
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
As the northern portion of Fish Hatchery Road gets rebuilt in 2020 and 2021, the city’s economic development and planning departments are updating a redevelopment plant that could change the look of the corridor as properties Turn to Fish Hatch/Page 9 become available. 151
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