At the last mayor’s workgroup, Alder Zach Brandon posed a question to the committee: Do you support “100% cost offsets” for the builder?
He wanted us to go around the room and answer the questions “yes or no”.
Alder Brandon said he agreed.
Alder Palm said he agreed.
Alder Compton said she agreed.
Alder Golden, refusing to fall for the junior Alders antics said, that was the goal but that he had some concerns and that he wasn’t going to fall into the trap of saying yes and then have the problem where we disagree with the definition of “100% cost offsetting”.
Tom Hirsch, chair of the Housing Committee had the same issues and wanted to strive towards making it off-setting, but pointed out, that if the builder was being forced to build something that is infeasible, then we have the waiver process to address the issue.
Nan Fey, chair of the Plan Commission eloquently reiterated much of what Ald. Golden and Chairman Hirsch had pointed out. Including that this could be an administrative nightmare. How would we determine/verify the “costs” to the builder and how would we quantify the value of the incentives? How would the staff handle this and how much time would it add to the process?
By the time it got to the Mayor and myself, we literally said “ditto”.
At which point, Alder Brandon attempted to characterize this as a fundamental flaw and declare that we should just stop working on IZ. Alder Golden and Chairman Hirsch objected to the characterization of their position as being opposed to have the cost offsets, various folks in the room continued to characterize their comments this way. Finally, I asked Zach to share some details with us, what would this look like? He said he’d like a week to come up with a proposal. I also asked everyone in the room for an example of an ordinance that does what they were requesting. The only example came from Phil Salkin, lobbyist for the Realtors Association of South Central Wisconsin. His answer: Irvine, California.
So, another hour, and another week went by without making progress on anything substantive about the ordinance. Tonight, we are poised to have another discussion about incentives, hopefully see what Zach’s proposal is and further clarify what is meant by “100% offsetting” . . . But meanwhile, the Madison Area Builders Association sends out this letter . . .
April 18, 2006
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Room 403
Madison, Wisconsin 53703Dear Mayor Cieslewicz;
The Madison Area Builders Association has been monitoring and contributing to the discussions of the inclusionary Zoning Task Force that is looking for a “fix” to the problems associated with the current ordinance.
The Association remains firm in its stance that, for IZ to work,
1. The ordinance must be completely offsetting, so as to prevent cost shifting to the surrounding non-IZ homes. It is simply not acceptable to require 85% of homebuyers to subsidize the cost of producing $200,000 homes for the other 15%.
2. Incentives must be automatically administered, not subject to political whims.
3. The equity limits currently in place must be replaced with a reasonable and simple
method that allows the homeowner to keep as much equity as possible.
4. The city must not mandate the marketing methods or process for IZ units.
5. The business owner who creates a new community must be given the latitude to make the best decisions on where IZ homes should fit within the layout of that community.While the Association had been hopeful that there might be a reasonable “fix” to the current ordinance, in recent Task Force meetings, it has become clear that the most fundamental of these issues– that there be no cost-shifting–is not shared by the majority of the members of the IZ Task Force. Rather, the weight of sacrifice is placed unfairly on the shoulders of homebuyers and builders.
While we recognize and appreciate your leadership in attempting to solve the flaws of the current ordinance, it is clear that the Task Force does not have the political will to make IZ a truly cost-neutral ordinance. Consequently, the Madison Area Builders Association will not only disengage from the discussions of the IZ Task Force but we will also actively work to have the ordinance repealed.
Chad Wuebben
President
cc: Mayor’s IZ Task Force
Madison Common Council
So much for acting in good faith . . . I hope they reconsider their position, cuz there are many of us still at the table, still listening to suggestions and willing to reach a compromise. I’m not sure how they’ve determined that don’t have the political will to make IZ a cost-neutral ordinance, the conversation didn’t get finished. Perhaps its easier to quit than to continue the discussion?
