Meetings and Updates Week of May 20
posted- City Meetings:
- Plan Commission 5/20
- Common Council 5/21
- WHEDA Tax Credits Funds Announced for Madison Affordable Housing Developments, comments on this
- Explaining My Chronic Nuisance Premises Ordinance Changes Proposal
- City Breaks Ground on Well 15 PFAS Treatment Facility
City Meetings
Note: This is not a complete list of meetings for this upcoming week. All meetings and their details can be found at the Meeting Schedule page.
Plan Commission
The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, May 21, in virtual format at 5:30 p.m. Agenda items include development-related requests (none in District 3).
Common Council
The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 21, in hybrid format at 6:30 p.m. Agenda items include:
- A presentation by the City Assessor about property values, levy limits, and new construction
- An appeal of the Plan Commission’s decision to deny a demolition permit for 428-448 State Street, buildings in questionable condition that are not landmarks nor in a historic district. The Plan Commission found that there was insufficient evidence of poor building condition to justify demolition, and I understand that the applicant has been preparing a structural condition report for Council that was not available at the time of the Plan Commission’s vote.
- A resolution amending the zoning code regarding drive-through windows (I’m sponsoring). This change firms up the Transit Orient Development Overlay’s rule about drive-throughs being “under the building” by clarifying there must be occupy-able building space above the drive-through, not just superficial decorative features like a plank canopy, which a technical interpretation of the current ordinance allows. This proposal also requires business with drive-throughs to also accomodate pedestrian customers instead of offering drive-through-only business. Note that these requirements will apply to new construction or major renovations, and will not affect existing businesses unless they redevelop or have a major renovation. This memo from Zoning staff explains in more detail. Early public comments shared concerns that the proposal doesn’t go far enough to hide drive-throughs from being visible, or to govern how traffic flows across a site with a drive-through, so the sponsors took more time to discuss with staff. Ultimately we determined that those design further changes go beyond the intended scope of this proposal but could be worked on in later updates to the ordinance if there’s interest among alders.
- A resolution authorizing the City’s execution of an agreement between Starkweather, LLC (Void Farm developers), and the City of Madison to sell City-owned vacant land located at 3614 Milwaukee Street.
- A resolution authorizing Madison Parks to apply for, and accept if awarded, up to $4 million in grant funds from the State of WI Grants Local Projects Program to fund renovations at the historic and aging Breese Stevens Field. I understand that Breese Stevens Field is both a local historic landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places, and that Madison Parks staff needs up to $30 million in upgrades, a level of spending that is way beyond the scope of the grant we’re considering on Tuesday. This $4 million state grant application requires that the City match with equal funding, $4 million. This resolution states that, if the grant is awarded, the 2024 Capital Budget is amended to reflect the state’s grant funds and the local share, which will be sourced from Park Impact Fees ($1.8 million), Tax Increment Finance District #36 (which is the big East Washington Ave one, $2 million, subject to TIF Joint Review Board approval), and $200,000 in City borrowing.
- A resolution authorizing Madison Parks to apply for, and accept if awarded, a grant of up to $500,000 from WI Department of Natural Resources for park improvements to offset local costs as part of the Warner Park Southeast Area Development Project (I’m a cosponsor).
- A resolution authorizing a contract with Baker Tilly for independent, external audit years for fiscal years 2024-2026.
- A resolution authorizing a contract with Stryker Sales Corp-Medical Division as the only contractor who can perform preventative maintenance and service for ambulance power cot and power load systems in the Fire Department’s ambulances (I’m the sponsor).
- Two resolutions related to the Retake Avenue (District 12) and Tree Lane (District 9) struggling properties whose owner-operator, Heartland Housing Inc., had apparently mismanaged the properties for years and walked away from them last year (here’s an article for background). Another housing provider, Cinnaire Solutions Corporation (who I understand has a better track record for housing management, including in the local Madison market), has offered to purchase and manage them. One resolution reassigns the City’s Affordable Housing Fund loans from Heartland to Cinnaire. The other resolution authorizes a grant of up to $1.5 million of the City’s one-time ARPA funds, to be matched by a similar grant from Dane County, to preserve the long-term affordability of most (but no longer all) of the units at both properties.
- Accepting the Community Development Division (CDD)’s “Older Adult Services 2024 Policy Concept Paper” as the basis for a Request For Proposals process and authorizing CDD to recommend a framework that will guide the use of CDD funds for Older Adult Services. The overall goal in the policy paper is “the desire to see that older adults have services and activities that can help them avoid disease and disability, maintain high physical and cognitive function, and reduce social isolation.” (I’m a cosponsor.)
Here’s the meeting agenda and information to join/register/comment:
WHEDA Tax Credits bring millions of dollars of support to Madison housing developments, some comments on this
Serving in this role for more than a year now, I've sometimes a narrative that the East Side of Madison gets “more than its fair share” of affordable housing. Sometimes folks reach out to ask “Why is it always on the East Side?”.
It is true that land costs tend to be lower in many parts of the East Side, which is a key factor for affordable housing when ongoing operating revenue (via rent payments) will be lower by design. However, this narrative deserves to be examined against trends demonstrating where Affordable Housing is actually being built, especially with City capital funds. I wanted to highlight the below language from a recent City press release about WI Housing and Economic Development Authority Tax Credits coming to new private-development affordable projects that are currently in the works in Madison. The bold text in [brackets] below shows my additions to emphasize locations around Madison. Dollar amounts listed below are the state tax credit fund amounts, but many of these are projects that the City is also supporting with up-front grant financing to offset construction costs in order to secure long-term affordability for low-income families and seniors.
“Several housing developers in Madison received word on Thursday that they will receive millions of dollars in state and federal tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) to help support the addition of hundreds of new affordable rental units in the city.
City-backed projects based in Madison that were awarded 9% Federal Housing Tax Credits include:
- Ellis Potter Apartments (on Ellis Potter Court on Madison’s west side) -- 65 units for older adults, 55 of which are affordable: $14,000,000 over 10 years [West Side]
- Park Lofts (at 1202 S Park St.) -- 44 total units, all of which are affordable: $14,000,000 over 10 years [South Side]
City-backed projects based in Madison that were awarded 4% State and Federal Tax Credits include:
- Merchant Place Apartments (at 6706 Odana Road) – 124 total units, all of which are affordable: $18,984,510 in Federal Tax Credits over 10 years; $7,200,000 in State Tax Credits over 6 years [West Side]
- Neighborhood House Apartments (at 29 S. Mills Street on Madison’s near west side) -- 60 total units, 51 of which are affordable: $10,923,510 over 10 years in Federal Tax Credits; $4,908,048 over 6 years in State Tax Credits [Near West Side]
- Taking Shape B1/Triangle project – 164 total units, 161 of which are affordable: $23,239,280 in Federal Tax Credits over 10 years; $7,200,000 in State Tax Credits over 6 years” [Near South Side]
They join two other projects -- University Park Commons II at the former Westgate location [West Side] and Yellowstone Apartments at 426 Yellowstone Drive [West Side] on Madison’s west side -- that were awarded tax credits last year and that bring an additional 130 new units of rental housing, 110 of which will be affordable."
Reminder: the City's Community Development Division uses this map to determine which projects are eligible for City Affordable Housing funds, which favors areas that have access to frequent transit service, services, schools, and jobs.
Explaining My Chronic Nuisance Premises Ordinance Changes Proposal
You may have noticed in my May 6th blog post that I introduced a proposal to the City’s Chronic Nuisance Premises ordinance to make a few changes. Here’s the drafter’s analysis written by the City Attorney’s Office:
“The Chronic Nuisance Premises ordinance was enacted in 2009 at a time when nuisance activity associated with residential premises was related more to general quality of life issues rather than gun violence and other violent activity that deeply impacts residents’ ability to feel safe in their homes. The primary focus of this amendment is to make it easier and faster to declare a Chronic Nuisance Premises when there are firearm crimes and crimes involving serious bodily injury. The ordinance previously allowed for domestic violence offenses to be considered a nuisance activity under this ordinance subject to specific review by the Chief of Police and Office of the City Attorney. This amendment exempts domestic violence, and several other victim-centered offenses from this ordinance. Finally, there were several administrative/reorganization amendments intended to clarify some provisions and make comprehension easier.”
The lower threshold for declaring a Chronic Public Nuisance for violent offenses is my most important priority as part of this change. Properties with a Nuisance Order are required to bring to MPD a Nuisance Abatement Plan with changes and improvements to the premises or to the way it’s managed. They need to work with MPD until the City is satisfied with the plan. Now, under these changes, the premises would have a firm timeline to bring a plan to MPD and to implement those improvements in the Nuisance Abatement Plan under penalty of fines.
I’m working on this change following last year’s incidents of gun violence, including two homicides, at a property in District 3. My goal is for the Chronic Nuisance Premises ordinance to be easier for the City to apply in cases of patterns of violent offenses, where the Nuisance Abatement Plan can help to make specific safety improvements happen on a specific timeline. Some have asked very reasonable questions about the impact of this on renters, but the key point to remember about this ordinance is that the Chronic Nuisance Premises is an order against the property, not individuals living at a property, and those residents deserve a safe and well-maintained place to live. Follow-through on the premises owners' and managers' part is essential to stabilizing a struggling property.
Following its introduction at the May 7th Council meeting, the Public Safety Review Committee and the Landlord Tenant Issues Committee have unanimously recommended approval. This week, on May 23rd, the Housing Strategy will weigh in before the proposal goes back to Common Council for final action on June 4th. My goal has been to have this in place for this summer season.
Many thanks to Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Zilavy and District 16 Alder Jael Currie for working on this proposal with me. Alder Currie (who is a cosponsor) has been working hard to support her constituents living in a nearby Eastside property under a Chronic Nuisance order, and her input about that process helped to shape these changes.
City Breaks Ground on Well 15 PFAS Treatment Facility
Last Wednesday, the Madison Water Utility officially started construction on a PFAS treatment facility for one of its drinking water wells – Well 15 here on the east side. Well 15 used to serve a few areas in District 3 neighborhoods and has been shut down since 2019 following the detection of PFAS contamination.
PFAS, or Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, are a class of chemicals used in everything from food packaging and cookware to upholstery, clothing and firefighting foam. The chemicals do not break down naturally in the environment and are therefore termed “forever chemicals.”
Well 15 is the only City of Madison drinking water well that does not currently meet the new EPA PFAS standards. PFAS were first discovered at the well in 2017 and the well was later shut down in 2019 amid community concerns and has not operated since. Now, with the construction groundbreaking that took place today, work to establish a treatment system to remove PFAS from Well 15’s water is officially underway. The expectation is for the PFAS treatment system to be operational by next summer (2025), well before the new EPA rules take effect.
The PFAS treatment at Municipal Well 15 highlights Madison’s commitment to providing safe, high-quality water to our community.
Visit the Well 15 Project Website and sign up to receive email updates and alerts here. Check out the latest Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. Please contact Madison Water Utility with any questions.
