Madison council adopts rewrite of demolition rules after months of debate

The Common Council on Feb. 25 adopted a substitute ordinance that rewrites how the city reviews demolition requests for principal buildings, shifting many nonhistoric cases to administrative permitting while retaining review by the Landmarks Commission and Plan Commission for properties identified as having historic value.

The change matters because it shortens review timelines for most demolition requests while keeping a process to consider historic resources for buildings where the Landmarks Commission finds possible significance.

City staff told aldermen the ordinance preserves the existing role of the Landmarks Commission but allows applications that the commission finds have “no known historic value” to go straight to permitting rather than wait for a Plan Commission hearing. Kevin Ferco, principal planner, told the council that over the past three years about 74% of demolition applications received a Landmarks Commission recommendation of no known historic value and that the new process would speed approvals in those cases.

“The Landmarks Commission will still review every…