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Kenosha authority approves Uptown façade grant contract template, keeps exclusions for certain businesses
Summary
The Redevelopment Authority approved a contract template for an Uptown façade grant to launch in January. Staff said day cares are eligible; the template excludes properties in tax delinquency, with repair orders, unresolved zoning, residential uses, national franchises, liquor stores, payday lenders and smoke/vape/tobacco shops, while final exceptions remain a staff recommendation to the authority.
The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Kenosha approved a contract template for an Uptown-area façade grant at its Dec. 2 meeting, endorsing staff’s recommended eligibility rules and outreach plan ahead of a planned January launch.
Staff told the authority the template was drafted with legal review and maintains the program policy discussed previously. Staff said day-care businesses are eligible to apply. Staff listed categories explicitly excluded from eligibility: properties in tax delinquency, properties subject to orders to repair, properties with unresolved zoning issues, residential properties, national franchises, liquor stores, payday-lending businesses and smoke, vape or tobacco shops.
“Those are eligible,” staff said when asked specifically about day cares. Staff also explained that if a tenant is the applicant, the building owner must sign off; owners may apply with tenant sign-off, and staff will score applications and make a recommendation to the authority. Staff said if mixed-use repairs make a project impractical, the staff recommendation would likely be to deny, but the authority retains final discretion.
Staff outlined launch and outreach plans: a January rollout, city social-media posts, a press release and flyers distributed at local outlets including the Uptown Library. When asked how excluded uses were selected, staff said the list reflected common exclusions used by other Wisconsin façade programs and legal advice, and noted the policy frames exclusions around public safety and welfare; however staff said the authority could consider exceptions through the application scoring and recommendation process.
A motion to approve the Uptown area façade grant contract template was made, seconded and approved by voice vote with the chair voting aye.
