Janesville’s plan commission hit the brakes on discussion of selling off a city parking lot along North Parker Drive downtown — a parcel where Kenosha developer Bear Properties wants to build mixed-income apartments.
City of Janesville administration announced Monday morning it was pulling the Bear item from Monday night’s plan commission agenda. That halted public comment on the proposal, even as multiple downtown business operators turned out to voice concerns over Bear’s plans — in person and in writing.
Plan commission chairwoman Kathy Voskuil says she is not sure why the city wanted to put the apartment talks on ice, but she says any public comment that downtown business operators submitted to the plan commission leading up to the meeting would be funneled to the city council.
The plan commission must vet the city’s idea to sell Bear its quarter-acre parking lot on the 10 block of North Parker Drive before the city council can make a final decision conveying the parcel to Bear.
A city spokesperson told Big Radio Monday afternoon that Bear had asked the city to pull the item from the plan commission’s docket so that Bear could have time to talk things over with downtown business operators.
Some in downtown’s business community have sounded an alarm over Bear’s emerging development. They worry the apartment plan tilts toward lower-income housing. They say it’s the wrong type of housing for a downtown where storefront owners have pumped millions into revitalization and cultivating new business.
They say lower-income housing could undercut downtown’s consumer-driven economy.
The downtown Business Improvement District had planned two special meetings on Monday, prior to the plan commission meeting. They’d sought to discuss the proposal and bring some comment to the plan commission.
A number of the BID’s members — about a dozen downtown business operators and property owners — attended the plan commission meeting Monday, but they were told the city’s talks with Bear would not be discussed.
Bear had been considering a similar project on two acres of city-owned, former industrial land off the east end of Rockport Road, along the Rock River.
City officials say Bear walked away from the Rockport lot because it was unsuitable for its plans.
Restaurant operator and Downtown Business Improvement District Chairman Matt Kealy says he hopes that going forward, downtown property owners have a bigger voice and a more transparent view into Bear’s new North Parker Drive plan.
Kealy says City Hall has not treated Bear’s new proposal with anywhere near the same transparent, public process as it had when Bear was considering the Rockport Road apartments.
“When they looked at doing the (apartments) on Rockport Road, there was an open forum and public comment. People came and were able to see the project and hear about it. That was far before they were talking about declaring the property surplus (and selling it to Bear),” Kealy said. “Our hope is as this (North Parker Drive proposal) moves forward, shareholders in our downtown are welcome to participate and provide comment.”
Kealy says so far, the only word BID district members have gotten from Bear Development is an indication the developer would examine whether it is possible to mix some higher-rent, “market-rate” apartment units into its Parker Drive plans.
Last week, City Manager Kevin Lahner told Big Radio that Bear’s proposal for North Parker Drive would be similar in price points to Bear’s Rockport plan. Rents would span a broad range between $450 a month and $1,500 a month. Lahner says most of the apartments would rent for between $1,000 and $1,200 a month, which he called “apartments the average Janesvillean can afford.”
Neither Bear nor Lahner were at Monday’s plan commission meeting.
The city has said it is eager to convey the North Parker Drive property to Bear soon so the developer can hit a May deadline to apply for state tax credits that could fuel the project. Under state law, the talks on selling the downtown property to Bear will not go forward until they come back to the plan commission for review.
