Both the General Planned Development, and the Detailed Planned Development for the Rivianna project were approved at the Common Council meeting.  The $80 million Rivianna project consists of three 15-story towers that will include apartments, a hotel, and first floor retail. The developer, Rivianna Development Group, intends to break ground soon after obtaining financing, and has pledged to meet the requirements of the M.O.R.E. ordinance despite not requesting any city financing as of this time.  The associated file for the project were approved with only Alderman Bauman being recorded as a no vote.

At the recent meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee the committee overruled a interim decision by the Historic Preservation Commission which designated the entire Hide House Complex as historic .  The ZND Committee found that only the buildings built in 1898 were historic, and removed the more recent buildings from protection.  Alderman Zielinski, who has been working with neighbors to stop the Hide House proposal, made a motion to amend the ZND Committee’s decision and restore the historic preservation to the entire Hide House complex.  Despite the matter at hand specifically regarding only the historic designation of a property, not the proposed development, AldermanZielinski continued his line of discussion regarding the lack of a public meeting saying “I think that just about every alderman here would want a public meeting.”  It is important to note that the proposed low-income apartment building is legally allowed under its current zoning.

Oddly, Alderman Zielinski pointed to Empowerment Village as a positive example of his intervention in development projects saying “we defeated that proposal for development along the river.”  He indicated that he helped the developer of the Empowerment Village find another site, and that the developer was content with the new site.  Although Empowerment Village was eventually able to be built, albeit as a smaller project than originally planned, in that case the property owner was the City of Milwaukee, whereas General Capital Group currently owns the Hide House property and has invested significant funds into the sites redevelopment.

Weighing in on whether or not the process use to split the historic designation was proper Alderman Bauman compared the Hide House complex to a single home saying, “it’s one address, one building,” and made the analogy that the home had various additions added to it after its initial construction.  He argued that “we’re saying part of the house is historic, part of the house isn’t historic.”  Because of this he argued that the motion made at the Historic Preservation Commission was the appropriate motion and added that “I didn’t think it was legally appropriate to split a parcel.”  This argument seemed to be a response to Assistant City Attorney Gregg Hagopian’s statements at the ZND Committee meeting that indicated the designation of an entire complex wasn’t within the bounds of interim designation law, and that the law only allowed a single structure to be designated.

Alderman Witkowiak explained that “we had this debate for three hours at committee,” and asked the council to vote against Alderman Zielinski’s simple amendment.  The motion to approve Alderman Zielinski’s amendment failed on a 4 to 10 vote.  This vote upheld the decision of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee which will allow General Capital Group to begin the demolition of the existing structure and start work on the 60-unit apartment building.

The Rivianna, at 236 S. Water St., will be made up of three 15-story towers, have up to 186 residential units and 236 hotel rooms.  As had been pointed out at the City Plan Commission meeting theRivianna project no longer includes helipads, or the waterfall feature.  The designed has been further defined since it was last before the committee.  The balconies are now inset into the building, the loading docks are hidden in the bulk of the building, and the Riverwalk will feature an elevator to insure ADA compliance.  It was also indicated that the proposal will still contain some affordable units.  The construction itself will create about 1,000 jobs of which 100% will be union labor, and the project will adhere to standards of M.O.R.E. ordinance.

Alderman Bauman, and residents from the Marine Terminal Lofts, which is located across the river, spoke in opposition to the project, generally due to the building’s height being taller than buildings in the Third Ward.  AldermanBauman stated his opposition saying that “the built environment is very important,” and that in his opinion “this is an example of bad urban planning.

Alderman Witkowiak responded to the concerns of the residents of the Marine Terminal Lofts saying that “most of the people on the south side of the river don’t feel that way.”  He explained that his constituents don’t think it should be consistent on both side, and he added his constituents believe “let’s be a little more creative,” and “let’s be different than they are in the Third Ward.”  Both approvals being requested at this committee meeting regarding theRivianna project were approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

Gorman & Company, and the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation were before the committee seeking an amendment to the Detailed Planned Development known as Villard Square.  The proposed mixed-use building will have space for the new the Villard Avenue Library as well as 47 apartments.  Although the library has yet to sign a lease for the space all intentions are to open the library in the Spring of 2011.

Alderman Witkowiak spoke in strong support of the project saying that “this maybe a model of libraries in the future,” and added “I’m looking forward to seeing this project.”  Paula Kiley, the Director of the Milwaukee Public Library, explained that this mixed-use concept is being explored, and that “other libraries have been identified for similar treatment.”  This file was approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

A Riverwalk Development Agreement with Schlitz RiverCenter LLC was before the committee to layout the terms regarding the redevelopment of the Riverwalk at 1505 North Rivercenter Drive.  The second amendment to the District 22, Beerline B, TIF was also before the committee.  This amendment would expand the boundary to include five additional parcels.  It also would fund 70% of the cost to bring the portion of Riverwalk, at 1505 North Rivercenter Drive, into compliance with the Riverwalk guidelines, and complete additional repairs.  As this section was built in 1998, prior to the guidelines, this agreement will also grant the City of Milwaukee a permanent public access easement.

This amendment also cleared the way for funding if a new section of Riverwalk is constructed at intersection of Brady St. and Water St.  The development would be eligible to receive a grant from the expanded TIF.  It was noted that with this expansion the TIF would still fully recover its costs by 2015, which would be five years prior to the statutory limit.  Both of these were approved and will now go before the full Common Council.

Paula Kiley, the Director of the Milwaukee Public Library, explained that the new facility will be somewhat smaller than the existing library but that the existing library is just one of seven City of Milwaukee libraries that are in the need a new HVAC system, and would need $750,000 to continue operating.  She went on to add that by using more technology and having one point of service the new library will offer better service despite the smaller facility.  There was some discussion regarding using this mixed-use model for other libraries in the city and she responded indicated that this concept is being looked into and that the “East library is the one that’s got the most consideration.”

Alderman Hamilton spoke in strong support of the project saying that “a lot of business that is generated over their is anchored by the library,” and that “this has been the catalytic project for that area.”  Former Saint Louis Ram, and University of Wisconsin football player Charles Belin spoke with great passion regarding the project saying that this is an “excellent, excellent thing you guys are doing here,” he went on to explain by telling his football story, that “sometimes you’re on the edge of some great thing happening,” and therefore this project should be supported.  This project had previously been approved, but hadn’t moved forward due to a lack of funding.  It has now received $7.8 million in WHEDA tax credits which should allow it to move forward soon.

This revision to the proposal was easily approved, and will now go before the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.