Committee approves lease amendment for Stoneman Road Occupy Madison site after public opposition about safety and project readiness

The Personnel & Finance Committee on June 9 approved an amendment to a county lease for property at 201 South Stoughton Road related to Occupy Madison's Stoneman Road project.

Liz Darby, in-house counsel for a nearby business, spoke in opposition to the amendment. Darby told the committee the amendment removed safety requirements that had been included in Occupy Madison's grant application and extended a deadline the project had not met. She said the site is in an industrial park and that nearby businesses are concerned about introducing a residential population into an industrial area without equivalent safety standards. Darby also criticized the project's costs, saying the tiny trailers planned for Stoneman Road would cost substantially more than comparable tiny-home projects elsewhere and noted prior county funding for an Occupy Madison project that Darby said remains unfinished.

Todd Campbell and county staff said the lease amendment is intended to make the county lease consistent with the City of Madison's conditional-use permit (CUP) and applicable city ordinances and to extend a deadline from June 30 to September 30 to give the project additional time to meet conditions. Staff said the city will enforce CUP conditions and that the amendment does not make the project independent of city approvals.

After questions and discussion, the committee approved the lease amendment by voice vote.

The transcript records the public comment and staff responses but does not include a roll-call tally for the committee vote.