Agricultural urbanism developing in Wisconsin

Mixed use addresses sprawl

Matt Dietrichson, Jan 12, 12.

An 800-acre development, combining new homes with working farm land in the suburbs of Madison, Wis., is scheduled to break ground in March, according to BuilderOnline.com:

Located just west of Madison, Wis., the project will include a working farm that is currently in transition to grow plants organically. Its produce will be sold nearby, and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program will be available to residents. The entire Bishop’s Bay project rollout will be gradual and is expected to last 10 to 15 years.

The land that Bishop’s Bay occupies spans two communities, Westport and Middleton. For years, both towns were working together on developing the land with an eye toward mixed use, but the proposal under consideration was that of a more traditional suburban subdivison. The towns were then approached with the Bishop’s Bay plan by Terrence Wall of T Wall Properties, one of Wisconsin’s biggest developers, shortly after that firm acquired the land. Under the new, agriculturally focused design, sustainability and preservation will be top concerns throughout the proposed project, says T Wall Properties.

The development will sit on good farmland. While some might expect such a plan to simply perpetuate the sprawl problem, Bishop’s Bay is addressing the issue. A quarter of the entire development will be open space, and preserving existing farmsteads and cornfields is an essential element of the Bishop’s Bay design. Clustered in groups of six to eight, homes on The Farm, as it’s known, will be surrounded by orchards and annual crops, woven right into the farmland. The Farm will occupy 15% of the 787 acres. MORE