Madison wants to annex north of city

Madison wants to annex north of city

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Madison aldermen last week approved plans to annex about four square miles north of the city that’s drawing opposition from the new city of Gluckstadt. 

"If the annexation is allowed to happen, it will completely block Gluckstadt's growth to the south," Gluckstadt Mayor Walter Morrison said. "The annexation comes up to our border, and I think it's a bad idea to handicap a brand new city as young as ours by prohibiting its growth to the south." 

Gluckstadt was incorporated in 2021 and will soon celebrate its two-year anniversary. 

Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler said that the property in question has always been part of Madison’s future and this should come as no surprise to Gluckstadt. 

“This area has always been in the path of growth of Madison,” she said. “When we discussed the city lines for Gluckstadt with their representatives we in good faith agreed on Madison’s path of growth.”

Hawkins-Butler has been a proponent of Gluckstadt’s incorporation efforts over the years. 

There are two sections in the proposed annexation plan — a small sliver of property by Gluckstadt and Mannsdale roads just outside of the northwest part of the city, and a large area of land west of U.S. 51 that includes the property south of the planned Reunion Parkway. 

Hawkins-Butler said the property in question was in the city’s original annexation plans that took effect in 2008, but at the time the judge said there was no growth in the area. Back then, the city nearly doubled in size when it grew by over 13 square miles. 

The planned annexation comes on the heels of a rezoning request in the county to create a highway commercial district that opens the doors for everything from hotels to gas stations on special use land that will eventually border the Reunion Parkway. 

The city of Madison has voiced its objection with supervisors on the rezoning, arguing there has been no change in character to the area as of yet, and that developers are arguing future change years down the road when the Parkway is built goes against state law. 

Supervisors are expected to rule on the rezoning in two weeks at their first board meeting in June. 






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