The City of Madison
“Endless Hometown Fun”
Overview
Purpose of the Plan
Madison’s Comprehensive Plan is a vision of what the City wants to be. It is a guide to help the City preserve what citizens value and to enhance what should be improved. In addition, the Plan serves the following purposes:
v Addresses physical planning issues such as land use, transportation, housing, public facilities, parks and open spaces. The plan also considers social and economic issues.
v Ties together land use, transportation, parks and other components of the City into a single “comprehensive” plan that reflects the interrelationships and importance of all aspects of the City.
v Creates a forum for the community to express a long-range vision for the City of Madison through the year 2023.
v Identifies key issues and goals expressed by the community and develops policies for achieving the goals and sets forth an implementation process to reach the established goals. This provides the legal basis for land use control and it provides a link to the City’s ordinances that, by law, must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
v Guides City Staff, the Planning Commission, the City Council and private developers in decisions related to preservation and development in the City.
Use of the Plan
City staff and government will use the Plan to assist them with a variety of tasks including:
ü development and infrastructure decisions
ü acquisition and use of public land
ü budgeting capital improvements
ü annexation issues
ü establishing regulatory changes
ü communicating to the public Madison’s vision for its future
Property owners and residents will use the plan to assist them with tasks such as:
ü determining potential property use
ü understanding possible land use changes in the surrounding area
ü establishing reasonable land value
ü understanding future infrastructure improvements
ü making property improvements
Developers will use the plan as a basis for:
ü property acquisition
ü establishing reasonable land value
ü coordinating development plans with City infrastructure plans
Planning Process
The Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission (UMVRDC) was hired by the City of Madison to facilitate a planning process and prepare a Comprehensive Plan. The UMVRDC worked with the City of Madison to establish a Comprehensive Plan Task Force. The Task Force included representation from the City Council, Planning Commission, Park Board, Economic Development Authority, Airport Commission and individuals representing business and community interests. The UMVRDC met with the Task Force in 2002 to identify important issues to address in the Comprehensive Plan. In order to gain broad citizen participation, results from a community-wide survey were also used to identify the needs and issues of local residents.
Content of the Plan
Chapter One: Community Profile
Chapter One examines the City’s location, regional context, surrounding natural resources, history, population trends and other socio-economic information.
Chapter Two: Current Land Use
Chapter Two identifies current land use within the City and provides an inventory and analysis for housing, businesses, community buildings and services, utilities, transportation, and parks and recreation.
Chapter Three: Future Land Use Plan
Chapter Three establishes a future land use plan for the City. The topics examined include business and economic development, housing, transportation, parks and recreation, infrastructure, services and facilities, and land use. This section of the Comprehensive Plan also discusses specific planning strategies the community could follow to make land use decisions. These strategies include goals, objectives and policy guidelines and planning activities.
Chapter Four: Using and Updating the Plan
Chapter Four explains how to use the Comprehensive Plan by examining tools for implementing the Plan’s contents. In addition, the chapter explains how the Comprehensive Plan should be reviewed and updated whenever revisions are needed.
Vision Statement
A vision statement for the City of Madison was developed during the Task Force planning meetings in 2002. The purpose of a vision statement is to write down the values and concerns of the community as well as ideas of the future. A vision statement articulates the best possible future based on an understanding of current reality and anticipated future change.
The following vision statement represents Madison’s view of the next 20 years. Many aspects of this vision statement already exist in Madison and articulating them in the vision statement helps the community realize what they value and want to keep in their community. There are also concepts in this vision statement that the community can improve.
This vision statement provides a foundation for future visioning processes. There are many general statements in this vision statement that could become more specific through additional visioning exercises. It also provides the City of Madison its own vision when working with other communities in the region to see where similarities occur.
This vision statement also provides a foundation for planning decisions. When discussing projects, the City of Madison should consider the vision statement to see if the project fits into the vision of the future.
Map 1.1
Location of Madison within Lac qui Parle County and Minnesota
City of Madison vi Comprehensive Plan
Chapter One: Community Profile
Location
Madison is located in west central Minnesota and in the geographical center of Lac qui Parle County. Madison is approximately 150 miles west of Minneapolis and ten miles east of the South Dakota border. Lac qui Parle Lake forms Lac qui Parle County’s eastern border and is 12 miles from Madison. Map 1.1 on the previous page shows the location of the City of Madison.
Regional Context
Madison connects with the surrounding areas via U.S. Highway 75 and Minnesota Highway 40. Watertown, South Dakota and Interstate Highway 29 are about 50 miles west of Madison. Fargo, North Dakota is approximately 145 miles north of Madison on Highway 75.
As the county seat and largest city in Lac qui Parle County, Madison provides many services and recreational opportunities to the region. These services include a hospital and clinic, nursing home facilities, a golf course, a museum, the county fair, courthouse and a swimming pool.
History
Timeline
1884 / Village of Madison founded. Land was bought from John Anderson and at the time was a field of wheat. Many people moved from Lac qui Parle Village. Madison was located on the rail line of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad. The name Madison was suggested by C.P. Moe in memory of his former home, Madison, WI.1884 / Both the first freight and the first passenger train arrived.
1885 / Madison incorporated. Both Dawson and Madison started to petition for county seat status. The first county seat was in Lac qui Parle Village.
1885 / City grew to a population of 600.
1886 / The “Independent Press” moved from Lac qui Parle Village to Madison. Many of the homes in Lac qui Parle Village also moved to Madison. It was not uncommon to see a prairie house moving cross-country in the horizon.
1886 / Lac qui Parle County Fair began on present site.
1889 / Madison won county seat status.
1893 / New school building replaces old one which had been destroyed by fire.
1894 / Madison Milling Company incorporated.
1895 / Common school district changed to an independent school district and a high school was organized. First graduate from Madison High School finished in 1897. The second graduate finished in 1898.
1899 / Courthouse built.
1903 / City Hall built.
1908 / School was expanded.
Through the years, four separate fires destroyed main street, which resulted in a lack of wood-framed buildings as main street buildings were replaced with modern brick structures.
1950’s / Memorial Athletic Park erected.
1960 / Highest recorded population of 2,380.
1987 / High School burned.
1990 / The regional high school, Lac qui Parle Valley, began classes. Madison, Milan, Appleton and Marietta built a 7-12 school in the country centrally located among the cities.
Demographics
This section assembles and analyzes the demographics of Madison and surrounding communities. Areas explored are population, households, employment, income, education, age, race and ethnicity. Analysis of this data is important when making planning decisions for the City of Madison.
Population
One of the most important aspects of developing a comprehensive plan is to determine what trends exist among the city’s population. This should include information on past, current and projected population data. The United States government conducts a census of the population every ten years and provides a reasonably accurate profile of communities and information on various housing, economic and social statistics for a community.
The most important information to a city’s future is to determine how many residents it could potentially have. To help determine this, historic population trends have been analyzed and projections have been developed to predict what the future may look like for the city.
Projections conducted in this chapter are based on historic trends, however, a number of factors can impact the rate of growth a community experiences. These factors include the rate of births, deaths, migration, annexed land, housing availability, waste treatment capacity, a city’s growth policies, housing costs, schools, ease of commuting to an employment center, a change in economic situation and many other issues. When analyzing the projections in this chapter, it is important to consider the factors listed above which could greatly impact Madison’s future population levels. These projections should also be periodically updated to reflect any factors impacting the population.
The economy of Madison and the surrounding area plays a large role in the demographic changes. Madison’s economy is rooted in agriculture. Trends in agriculture have resulted in larger farms and fewer people farming the land that surrounds Madison. As small family farms become scarce, the demand for non-agriculture jobs for residents increases.
The following tables and figures provide data on population. The bulleted information following each chart summarizes the data.
Table 1.1:
Population of Madison and Lac qui Parle County since 1930
Year / City of Madison / Change / Lac qui Parle County / Change# / % / # / %
1930 / 1916 / -- / -- / 15,398 / -- / --
1940 / 2312 / 396 / 21% / 15,509 / 111 / 1%
1950 / 2303 / -9 / -0% / 14,545 / -964 / -6%
1960 / 2380 / 77 / 3% / 13,330 / -1215 / -8%
1970 / 2242 / -138 / -6% / 11,164 / -2166 / -16%
1980 / 2212 / -30 / -1% / 10,592 / -572 / -5%
1990 / 1951 / -261 / -12% / 8,924 / -1668 / -16%
2000 / 1768 / -183 / -9% / 8,067 / -857 / -10%
Totals / -148 / -148 / -8% / -7,331 / -7,331 / -48%
Figure 1.1:
Madison’s Population since 1930
Table 1.1 & Figure 1.1 Summary
Ø Madison’s population has decreased each decade since 1960.
Ø The City’s highest loss in total number of people was 261 during the 1980s.
Ø Madison experienced growth during the 1930s and the 1950s. There was very little loss in the 1940s.
Ø Lac qui Parle County has experienced an overall population decrease since 1940.
Ø Madison has lost only eight percent of its 1930 population, while Lac qui Parle County has lost 48 percent.
Table 1.2:
Population Comparison Since 1960 for Madison & Neighboring Townships
Area
/ 1960 / 1970 / 1980 / 1990 / 2000 / PopulationChange
City of Madison / 2,380 / 2,242 / 2,212 / 1,951 / 1,768 / -612 / -26%
Madison Township
/ 540 / 427 / 370 / 278 / 251 / -289 / -54%Lake Shore Township
/ 434 / 347 / 336 / 265 / 239 / -195 / -45%Cerro Gordo Township / 371 / 298 / 274 / 303 / 256 / -115 / -31%
Hamlin Township / 374 / 306 / 296 / 215 / 185 / -186 / -51%
Arena Township / 343 / 267 / 153 / 182 / 153 / -190 / -55%
Totals / 3,902 / 3,460 / 3,271 / 2,916 / 2,601 / -1,301 / -33%
Data from U.S. Census
Table 1.2 Summary
Ø Madison lost 26 percent of its 1960 population. This was a lower percentage loss in population compared to the surrounding townships.
Table 1.3:
Population Comparison Since 1960 for Madison
& Neighboring Cities in Lac qui Parle County
City / 1960 / 1970 / 1980 / 1990 / 2000 / Change / PercentChange
Bellingham / 327 / 263 / 290 / 247 / 205 / -122 / -37.3%
Boyd / 419 / 311 / 329 / 251 / 210 / -209 / -49.9%
Dawson / 1,766 / 1,699 / 1,901 / 1,626 / 1,539 / -227 / -12.9%
Louisburg / 91 / 75 / 52 / 42 / 26 / -65 / -71.4%
Madison / 2,380 / 2,242 / 2,212 / 1,951 / 1,768 / -612 / -25.7%
Marietta / 327 / 264 / 279 / 211 / 174 / -153 / -46.8%
Nassau / 182 / 126 / 115 / 83 / 83 / -99 / -54.4%
Data from U.S. Census
Table 1.3 Summary
Ø Madison lost 21 percent of its 1970 population. All other communities in Lac qui Parle County lost population as well. Dawson had the smallest percentage decline in population in Lac qui Parle County since 1970.