Judge hits pause on embattled Madison apartment building

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Nicole Pollack | Wisconsin State Journal

The site of a contested apartment development on Madison's West Side, active Thursday with workers and machinery, sat idle by Friday after a Dane County judge suspended construction in response to a recent third lawsuit from nearby residents.

Paul F. Umbeck Jr. and Mary A. Umbeck, who live adjacent to the roughly 4-acre Old Sauk Road development site, were among the neighbors who asked the city last year to reject the project over concerns including flooding. When the project went forward, the Umbecks and another household filed a pair of petitions in Dane County Circuit Court challenging two city approvals. Neither of those two cases -- which were decided on June 10 and July 30 of this year -- stopped the project from proceeding.

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But on July 24, the Umbecks filed a complaint, this time against Stone House Development, Inc. and Old Sauk Road, LLC, arguing that the plan for managing stormwater at the site threatens their own flood-prone property. On Wednesday, Judge Nia Trammell issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the development team "from engaging in further construction work or activities" at the project site until the court orders otherwise.

The three-story, 138-unit apartment building by Stone House and New Madison Development was originally expected to open next month, according to a letter submitted to the city in April 2024. As of Friday, the site at 6610-6706 Old Sauk Road was a mostly undeveloped sea of dirt, rocks and construction equipment, all encircled by construction fencing that was padlocked shut. The site previously held two houses, a duplex and a century-old barn, all demolished in late spring.

A number of neighbors told the city last year that in addition to believing the apartment building would be too big for the neighborhood and bring unwanted noise and traffic, they were worried the significant decrease in open land on the property that could capture rainfall would raise the risk of flooding in the surrounding area. A civil engineer, Chuck Nahn, who local property owners hired to evaluate the development team's stormwater management plan, said in June 2024 that he had "a number of concerns."

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Helen Bradbury, Stone House's president, said at the time that her team believed their plan met all of the city's stormwater requirements and that they had taken Nahn's recommendations into account.

The development team's stormwater management plan, which was then preliminary, has since been finalized. The Umbeck property has flooded several times, according to the complaint filed July 24, which says the plan underestimates how much water will drain onto their property and would result in water being discharged closer to their home than before any development occurred.

Ald. John Guequierre, who represents the neighborhood in the 19th District, said in an email Friday that he had not heard about the temporary restraining order, but that the city had approved a stormwater plan "that I understand addresses the earlier concerns about stormwater infiltration near the plaintiff's lot line."

The Umbecks and Stone House did not respond by Friday evening to requests from the Wisconsin State Journal for comment.

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