My thoughts about the CORE Spaces Development at Basset/Dayton

CORE Spaces Development at Basset/Dayton

Folks may have read in the news about Common Council’s rejection of a rezoning request for a large, student-oriented housing proposal downtown at our June 20th meeting. I was one of six alders who voted “yes” on the item to enable the project, which failed because thirteen alders voted no after a lengthy discussion about rent costs and the lack of affordable housing units in the proposal. I’m writing out my thoughts about this one to explain my vote because it appears that Council will reconsider that vote in our July 11th meeting next Tuesday. In summary, the proposal would add hundreds of additional beds in student-oriented housing near campus in an area with many neighborhood amenities and some of the best bus service access in town. Further, this proposal complies with adopted City land use plans and ordinances and the State prevents the City from rejecting projects on the basis of rent prices, so I'm concerned about the City's legal liability of we fail to approve the proposal.

The Project and Madison’s Housing Crisis

The proposed project would include 232 market-rate apartment units and 700-800 beds students, replacing around 60 or 70 market-rate units and around 120 beds in existing, older buildings along Johnson, Basset, and Dayton streets downtown. The units in the new building would almost certainly be more expensive than the units in the existing buildings, but the new building would accommodate hundreds more students than can currently live in the area. There is an undisputed need for more housing in the near-campus area: the rapid growth of the student population​ and subsequent higher demand for housing requires more units in order to prevent the continued displacement of low-income students and working class residents by the more-affluent, out-of-state-tuition-paying UW students who are coming to Madison in increasing numbers. If we don’t have more housing for those higher numbers of affluent students, they’re going to look to the existing stock of housing around campus and they can out-bid and will displace low-income students and other working-class folks who live in the area.

I'm all-too-aware of Madison's housing crisis and how tough it is around campus, having experienced it myself not long ago as a first-generation Pell Grant student paying for school at UW-Madison with student loans. I would have preferred to vote on a housing proposal that included affordable housing for students to replace the cheaper market-rate units being replaced by this building. However, Council cannot legally consider the affordability of housing as a factor in the approval process for private property development.

Legal Concerns

The WI Court of Appeals removed the City's ability to consider the affordability of units as a standard of approval in 2006, see decision here. Then the WI state legislature codified this into state statute with 2017 WI Act 243 (see the Legislative Council’s description of the provision at the top of page 3 here). The City expressly lacks the authority to reject private developments on the basis of affordability. 

We can't enforce ordinances that don't exist (or that have been superseded by the State) onto private property uses that are allowed “by-right”. In Wisconsin, authorization must be granted if the project complies with general standards for the zoning district, any overlay district or design standards, and related building or construction codes. Unless a property owner/developer proposes a prohibited use or a conditional use that the Plan Commission doesn't grant, owners can build projects that are permitted by right if they are consistent with adopted area plans, which this one is, and if projects don't violate ordinance, which this project does not. Here’s more information about the State’s comprehensive planning requirements of local governments. The Madison Comprehensive Plan's future land use category proposes this area as Downtown Mixed Use (DMU). The two primary zoning districts for the DMU category are Downtown Core or Urban Mixed Use zoning districts, and the item that Council voted down was to rezone these parcels to Urban Mixed Use. Common Council failed apply the rezoning called for in the land use plan that Council had previously adopted in the Comprehensive Plan.

Given that the rezoning debate and rejection in our June 20th meeting was almost entirely about the rent costs and affordability of resulting units, which the City doesn't have a legal basis to require, the City would probably lose a lawsuit challenging the decision by Common Council preventing by-right development of private property that complies with adopted ordinances and area plans. I'm worried that the City's legal costs and potential monetary damages from plaintiff legal costs and lost revenue from a project this size could be big, which I find pretty distressing, and I'd rather spend that money by acquiring and land-banking property for the City to directly provide affordable housing. We also risk further erosion of local authority to shape development projects by the outcome of a legal decision, as has happened before (that 2006 Court of Appeals decision being just one example). I do not support taking these risks.

The City has more control to design the parameters (including unit affordability) and management requirements of projects that take City money to administer an affordable housing project, but we're not allowed to force them to take City money for affordable housing if the developer doesn’t want to apply for City money. The City also has more control over projects on land-banked City property, but this property isn't owned by the city.

Reconsideration

Madison General Ordinance 2.21 lays out the process for reconsideration of a vote: in the following meeting, one of the alders on the prevailing side may move to reconsider. I’m explaining the above reasons for my vote on June 20th because an alder who voted “no” in that meeting is moving reconsideration of this rezoning item for the CORE Spaces proposal, as noted on our July 11th. Council agenda (item 98).

I’m happy to answer any of my constituents’ questions on this issue as best I can! You can reach me at district3@cityofmadison.com.