Last Friday, Madison asked for development proposals for the city's largest undeveloped piece of urban land, Union Corners at the corner of East Washington Avenue and Milwaukee Street.

Developers have six weeks to respond to the request (PDF). The city bought the 11.5-acre site for $3.3 million in 2010, using its land bank fund. The process is different from what the city is doing at the site of the old Don Miller car dealership on the 800 block of East Washington; in that case, the city caught flak for keeping the proposals secret until an ad hoc committee recommended its favorites.

"We didn't want the process we used for the Don Miller properties," says Ald. Marsha Rummel, who is on the committee that will evaluate proposals. "We wanted to be more open."

This time around, the proposals -- except for the price tag and financial details -- will be made public as the committee receives them.