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Council creates Tax Increment District 17 and approves a series of land-use and zoning changes to enable mixed-use and residential development
Summary
The Common Council voted to create Tax Increment District No. 17, approved its project plan and boundaries, and adopted multiple comprehensive-plan and zoning changes to enable mixed-use and residential development across several parcels in the city.
The Common Council approved a resolution creating Tax Increment District No. 17, adopted its project plan and established boundaries, and approved several related comprehensive-plan amendments and rezonings to support proposed mixed-use and residential development within the city.
City staff and legal counsel explained that the TID is a mixed-use district created under Wisconsin TID law and that the district is intended to make otherwise uneconomic development feasible. Council members asked questions about the statutory ‘‘but-for’’ requirement (that the development would not occur but for the TID) and about risk protections. City attorneys and staff said the city is using developer agreements structured as PAYGO where possible and intends to include a minimum-value guarantee in the forthcoming developer's agreement; the developer's agreement was not finalized at the time of the vote because it depends on TID approval.
Council discussion highlighted caution born from past TID experiences; staff responded the city has avoided speculative up-front financing and uses PAYGO structures and minimum-value guarantees to limit exposure. The resolution creating TID 17 passed 6–1.
The council also approved a series of planning actions: a comprehensive-plan amendment and rezoning for approximately 6 acres at the northwest corner of Spade Street and South Main Street from commercial to a mixed-use designation (rezoned from B-1 Community Business to MXD Mixed Use); a comprehensive-plan change and rezoning for about 18 acres on the north side of County Trunk Highway NN (to support residential development, with zoning to RS4 Single-Family Residential); and a comprehensive-plan amendment and corresponding rezoning for a 68-acre annexed parcel west of County Trunk Highway D and north of Green Tree Road and Patricia Drive that will establish mixed-use along Main Street transitioning to two-family and single-family residential and park/open space areas as shown in the proposed map.
Other planning items approved included administrative approvals for parking and site improvements at Regal Ware, a conditional-use permit for a wireless antenna array at 20/260 Sand Drive, and creation of a 33-foot right-of-way east of Ariel Drive to facilitate utilities at the airport. The council approved a termination agreement that ends the city's lease arrangement with the Board of Regents for the UWM at Washington County facility; staff said this formalizes the university vacating the building and does not change campus ownership.
Votes on the individual rezones and plan amendments were recorded during the council meeting; several passed with unanimous or near-unanimous support and some measures recorded a 6–1 vote.
