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Council performs first reading to rezone 550 McMillan for four multifamily buildings
Summary
The Fort Atkinson City Council performed the first reading May 19 to rezone 550 McMillan Street from institutional to MRH30, opening the path for a developer-proposed plan of four multifamily buildings (24 units each); the plan commission recommended approval and a traffic study found no significant traffic impacts. Additional reviews (CUP, site plan, certified survey map) are still required before final approvals.
The Fort Atkinson City Council on May 19 performed the first reading of an ordinance to rezone 550 McMillan Street from institutional to MRH30, a change staff said would allow four multifamily apartment buildings of 24 units each.
Director of neighborhood and building services Drager told the council the plan commission held a public hearing April 28 and on May 12 recommended the zoning change after residents raised questions about traffic, stormwater and pedestrian connectivity. “The basic access to this property would be McMillan Street,” Drager said, describing the project as four multifamily buildings with underground and some surface parking on a former Ford Healthcare overflow lot.
Drager said the developer commissioned a traffic-impact study that concluded the proposed development, even at the maximum allowed density, “did not elevate existing traffic conditions” and did not exceed the capacity of the nearby streets, a finding city staff summarized for the council. Drager also said the developer held a neighborhood meeting May 6 and staff expects stormwater issues to be addressed during later site-plan review and through required DNR permits.
Council members questioned whether alternate access points could be secured; Drager said other potential connections would either still tie into McMillan or require negotiation to purchase private property and that staff was not aware of any active purchase attempt. Drager and staff emphasized the zoning change is only one step in a multistage approval process that includes a certified survey map, a conditional use permit (triggered by multiple principal buildings on one site) with an additional public hearing, and a site-plan review where engineering, stormwater and final parking/access details will be scrutinized.
The motion directed the city manager to prepare the ordinance for a second reading at the June 2 council meeting. The council voted to perform the first reading; no formal roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript during the voice vote on the motion.
If the rezoning is ultimately approved, staff said it could enable additional multifamily development at the site that would increase the tax base over time. The council did not approve a project plan or site plan on May 19; those approvals will come only after the subsequent reviews and public hearings.
