Council approves planned infill amendment for 2400 East Geneva with amended lot sizes and five-year term

The Delavan Common Council on a voice vote approved a planned infill development amendment (Step 3 general development plan) for 2400 East Geneva Street to allow residential development at the site known as Lakeland Resort. The council amended the motion to record agreed planning-commission conditions, set lot dimensions at 57 feet by 89 feet, and limit the approval period to five years while reserving the council’s right to reconsider an additional five-year extension.

Why it matters: the amendment records details the council and planning commission considered at the planning review stage. Those details — including lot sizes, a narrow north-shore setback variance for a single lot, and road-width/parking expectations — will shape the developer’s later PIP submission and the public review that follows.

Council discussion and amendment: a developer representative told the council several planning-commission items that the developer believed had been agreed at the commission meeting were missing from the draft report. The items the developer identified were (1) a flexibility provision for one north-shore setback (identified later as Lot 407), (2) a private-road widening request that required slightly smaller lot footprints, and (3) clarity on the length of approval (the developer had requested a 10-year term and accepted a 5-year term but asked for a note allowing the council to consider another 5-year extension later).

Council members and staff discussed how to capture those commitments in the ordinance language and in the record. The council adopted an amendment to the original motion to include the planning-commission and staff-discussed conditions and to specify the lot size as 57 by 89 feet and a five-year approval term; the council explicitly reserved the right to reconsider another five-year extension in the future. The council also directed that outstanding technical issues and any required variances, including the north-shore setback relief for Lot 407, be addressed in follow-up proceedings at the planning commission and in the developer’s subsequent PIP materials.

Procedural context and next steps: council members noted the PIP still must return to the planning commission for additional review and public comment before final development approvals and building permits. The amendment records the council’s expectation that the staff conditions and planning-commission recommendations be memorialized in the next iteration of the plan.

Quotations (verbatim from meeting transcript): “So would you amend your motion then to state that, subject to the list of conditions identified by city staff, planning commission, and the common council, and that's approved by the common council including amending the lot sizes to 57 by 89. Correct. And amending the length of the approval for a period of 5 years, and the council reserves the right to reconsider an additional 5 years.” (Recorded exchange during motion amendment and acceptance.)

What the council did not decide: the council’s action was limited to the Step 3 PIP amendment and did not grant building permits, final plat approval, or settle all requested variances; the file will return for the PIP and any required variance hearings.

Ending: Staff and the planning commission will carry the record and conditions into the next PIP submittal and future public hearings; the council’s amendment will be reflected in the ordinance adopting the Step 3 general development plan.