Public commenters press Janesville council on redevelopment board and ask to freeze Viridian proposal

Two residents used the public-comment period at the March 23 Janesville Common Council meeting to focus attention on redevelopment decisions and a pending petition tied to the Viridian proposal.

Mick Gilbertson, who identified himself as chair of the redevelopment board, told the council he reviewed email evidence cited in a press story about a possible conflict of interest involving redevelopment board member James Otterstein and found no basis to conclude Otterstein stood to gain personally from the Corn Maze project. Gilbertson said the board is intentionally composed of diverse members and “no single member of the board holds more influence over another,” adding the board’s recommendations will come from collective deliberation. He urged the council to allow the redevelopment board to continue its work as currently composed.

Later, Steven Atkinson, a Janesville resident who said he first addressed the council in February, asked the council to freeze the Viridian proposal at the conclusion of the letter-of-intent phase until a referendum in November. Atkinson said roughly 4,000 residents had signed a petition that he described as legal and valid and invited legal challenge if the council disputed the petition’s validity. “By vote and an open session, affirm or deny the previous request to freeze the Viridian proposal in its entirety … pending the referendum vote in November,” he told the council.

No council action on either request was recorded in the meeting minutes. The clerk moved on after the two public commenters finished; the council proceeded to regular business.