Developers-112, Milwaukee River-O: Hometown site is chosen. by Sura, October 1

The preliminary score is in. Yet one more development in a string of them along our river, moving north despite city promises that development would end at North Avenue.

In a move that has all the looks of a “done deal,” UWM has selected the Hometown site along the Milwaukee River as their next UWM dorm location.

The development, owned by Mandel, has the kiss of blessing from the Milwaukee River Work Group (MRWG) and Alder Nik Kovac, who told me just minutes ago that he hopes to support this project.

In his press release, Kovac sites multiple reasons:

• Setback and height restrictions established by the MRWG in order to protect the viewshed from the river valley.
• LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, green roof elements, and sufficient green space for students and for the public.
• Public access to the river trails designed and built as part of the project.
• A yearly Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) large enough to compensate the city for the additional services such a project will create.
• UWM programming for river stewardship and neighborhood quality of life education, and a continued and deepened commitment to neighborhood outreach and safety initiatives.

Questions include:

1. Setback and height restrictions are superficial to protection of the river. Protecting the viewshed without protecting the river itself is like making sure the Mona Lisa has great lighting but not securing it from theft; or like offering a hungry child a pretty dress but no food. Alas, this is the pièce de résistance of MRWG.
2. LEED designation comes in all levels–from basic certification through silver, gold and platinum. The city of Milwaukee should be requiring green buildings for all new developments and major rehabs.
3. Public access is a good thing, as long as the added density doesn’t harm the Milwaukee River corridor. To the best of my knowledge no study has been done in this regard, and a call by river-lovers, environmentalists and neighbors for a two-year moratorium until we can see the effect of the much smaller dorm (RiverView) has gone unheeded.
4. We need a PILOT that isn’t merely “large enough to compensate the city for the additional services such a project will create,” but will add to our taxbase, and will compensate for the inadquate one we got at RiverView. Alder Kovac likes to point out that the land at RiverView dorms was previously non-taxed and that’s why it’s a low PILOT payment, but the fuller truth is that it was swapped for taxed land and therefore a PILOT should have been negotiated based on its new status.
5. If the city is going to be handing prime river property over to UWM again, it should do so only after UWM has proven that it can and will offer meaningful programming for river stewardship and neighborhood quality of life education in its existing dorms.

When will residents and environmentalists have their voices heard on River issues?

It looks like no time soon.

1 Oct 2008 | 2:40 pm | UWM, Water, Development, 3rd District

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