I have a friend, or perhaps more accurately a frienemy, who when we were working on legislation would turn to me and say, “How’s that going to work?” It irritated the hell out of me, but it kicked me in the butt, I’d find the answer and then go back with the proposal, sometimes modified, sometimes not. I could never tell if that was a stalling tactic, or they thought they were going to wear me out, or what, but in the end, it made the product better. So Tuesday night, as I was watching the Edgewater debate and thinking about the February 23rd deadline, all I could hear was that voice in my head . . . “How’s that going to work?” Good question. Here’s my shot at it.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN
I’m not sure if they intend the February 23rd date to be the final vote on the Edgewater. If they plan to vote on the PUD at that time, then the TIF has to be decided at the same time. Here’s a refresher, these are the approvals needed for approval of the project:
– Planned Unit Development Zoning Approval (Urban Design Commission, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Conditional Use Permit – Waterfront Development (Plan Commission)
– Waterfront Setback Variance (Zoning Board of Appeals)
– Amendment of the 1965 Wisconsin Avenue Vacation Ordinance (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– TIF Boundary Amendment (Board of Estimates, Joint TIF Board, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– TIF Request (Board of Estimates, Common Council)
– Change of Wisconsin Avenue street grade (Council and other committees)
– Subterranean Lease and/or Encroachment Agreement (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Developer Agreement (for Public Spaces / Right of way (I think this is staff only unless council directs otherwise, they would likely include requirements they want to see in the PUD approval as conditions of approval.)
– Management Agreement (for Public Spaces) (Also likely a staff function with direction through conditions in the PUD unless the council asked to see it again)
BIGGEST OBSTACLES
The Zoning Board of Appeals is another show stopper. If they don’t get approval from that committee, the project is once again dead. And, they can’t appeal that decision to the Council, it goes to the courts. A loudly discussed issue is that they intend to just change the law so that they can skip this process. In fact, they planned to introduce it at the end of the council meeting on Tuesday, but were convinced not to. Some believe this step can be taken after the PUD is approved, but I don’t know why’d they go through all that work if this is an outstanding issue that could make all that work for naught.
Additionally, I can’t tell what the decision before the council will be and if they intended UDC and Plan Commission to be done with the issue by the 23rd, but our policies say that TIF and land use have to be considered at the same time.
3.1 TIF Application Process (See Figure 2a)
(1) Simultaneous Land Use, TIF Application.
(b) All development projects seeking TIF assistance must receive project land use approvals simultaneous to the review for TIF assistance. In the case where land use process is completed before the TIF process, the land use resolution will be referred by the Plan Commission until the TIF Application process is completed and the Board of Estimates recommends approval of a TIF resolution to the Common Council. Land use approval does not constitute or otherwise influence TIF approval.
This isn’t even in a TIF district yet. Those boundaries still need to be amended and approved by the Joint Review Board and the TIF request has to be approved. Neither have been introduced to the council yet, unless I missed something.
Finally, the plan commission has a huge job if they are to consider all of these issues, many of which have not yet been discussed:
– Planned Unit Development Zoning Approval (Urban Design Commission, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Conditional Use Permit – Waterfront Development (Plan Commission)
– Amendment of the 1965 Wisconsin Avenue Vacation Ordinance (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– TIF Boundary Amendment (Board of Estimates, Joint TIF Board, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Change of Wisconsin Avenue street grade (Council and other committees)
– Subterranean Lease and/or Encroachment Agreement (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Developer Agreement (for Public Spaces / Right of way (I think this is staff only unless council directs otherwise, they would likely include requirements they want to see in the PUD approval as conditions of approval.)
– Management Agreement (for Public Spaces) (Also likely a staff function with direction through conditions in the PUD unless the council asked to see it again)
WHEN ARE THE MEETINGS
In order for all this to happen either they have to start scheduling extra meetings where they can get quorum or they have to start ignoring long standing process and likely a few more laws. Here’s when the regularly scheduled meetings are:
Plan Commission Dates: 1/11, 1/25, 2/8, 2/22
Urban Design Commision (UDC) Dates: 1/20, 2/3, 2/17
Landmarks Dates: 1/11, 1/25, 2/8, 2/22
Board of Estimates (BOE) Dates: 1/11, 1/25, 2/15
TIF Board of Review Dates: Meets as needed.
Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA): 1/14, 1/29, 2/11
Economic Development Commission (EDC): February 3
Potential Council Briefing: January 27th or 28th
Neighborhood Meeting Dates?
Special Plan and UDC meeting date?
TIMELINE
ASAP
– Submit Conditional Use Application, doesn’t appear to be submitted. They missed all the submittal deadlines for the plan commission meetings before the 23rd. Unless they turned it in on the 6th for the 22nd of February and its just not up on the website yet.
[NOTE: The Conditional Use Application was submitted with the other materials, I just didn’t see it on the list and the materials are not in their usual format I am used to seeing.]
Jan 11
– Submit application for ZBA approval on the 29th
– Plan Commission meeting but nothing will be ready for a decision, so it will be referred.
– Board of Estimates but nothing will be ready for a decision, perhaps preliminary discussion
Jan 19
Council meeting where they would introduce and refer items not yet introduced
– TIF Boundary Extension
– TIF Resolution
– Amendment of the 1965 Wisconsin Avenue Vacation Ordinance
– Change of Wisconsin Avenue street grade (Council and other committees)
– Subterranean Lease and/or Encroachment Agreement (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– Developer Agreement (for Public Spaces / Right of way (I think this is staff only unless council directs otherwise, they would likely include requirements they want to see in the PUD approval as conditions of approval.)
– Management Agreement (for Public Spaces) (Also likely a staff function with direction through conditions in the PUD unless the council asked to see it again)
Jan 20
– Initial Feedback from UDC
Jan 25
– Initial Feedback from Plan Commmission
– Board of Estimates meeting to deal with TIF boundary issues (the project won’t be ready for TIF amount discussions)
– Submission of ZBA materials if not submitted Jan 11
Jan 27
– Special Council Meeting?
Jan 28
– Zoning Board of Appeals?
– Special Council Meeting?
Week of Feb 1 (1st or 4th)
– Neighborhood Meeting
Feb 2
– Council meeting for further introductions if they weren’t introduced on the 19th
Feb 3
– UDC Initial Approval
– Economic Development Commission
Feb 8
– Plan commission decisions on:
– – Planned Unit Development Zoning Approval (Urban Design Commission, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– – Conditional Use Permit – Waterfront Development (Plan Commission)
– – Amendment of the 1965 Wisconsin Avenue Vacation Ordinance (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– – TIF Boundary Amendment (Board of Estimates, Joint TIF Board, Plan Commission, Common Council)
– – Change of Wisconsin Avenue street grade (Council and other committees)
– – Subterranean Lease and/or Encroachment Agreement (Plan Commission, Common Council)
– – Developer Agreement (for Public Spaces / Right of way (I think this is staff only unless council directs otherwise, they would likely include requirements they want to see in the PUD approval as conditions of approval.)
– – Management Agreement (for Public Spaces) (Also likely a staff function with direction through conditions in the PUD unless the council asked to see it again)
Feb 11
– ZBA meeting if not Jan 29th or if referred
Feb 15
– TIF issues resolved at Board of Estimates
Feb 17
– UDC Final approval?
Feb 22
– Any last minute Plan Commission Issues
– Landmarks meeting to see if they now meet the Certificate of Approval
Feb 23
– Council Meeting (There is discussion of having testimony on this evening and then having another meeting on the 24th to actually discuss and vote.
Feb 24
– Potential second night of Council meetings (Maniaci is proposing it, probably not a bad idea. I think on the 23rd they should schedule the meeting earlier, take testimony, discuss and vote on the 23rd, then do the rest of the business on the 24th )
Of course, I’m not as closely involved in the project as I once was, so I worry there may be additional issues I don’t yet know about . . . and there are some outstanding DNR issues that need to be resolved, but, it could be done, if the materials are all submitted on time instead of at the last minute and they get all the legal notices out on time, which will be tight.
