Brown Appointed To City Plan Commission

Martha Brown. Photo courtesy of Brown.

Mayor Tom Barrett found a familiar face to fill a vacant seat on the City Plan Commission.

Barrett appointed Martha Brown, recently retired deputy commissioner of the Department of City Development, on November 4th. Her nomination is subject to Common Council confirmation.

The citizen-led City Plan Commission provides design oversight on rezoning requests, land sales and other built environment issues.

Most of its decisions take the form of recommendations to the Common Council, but it has final oversight over a couple dozen development incentive zones including The Brewery, Midtown Center and Reed Street Yards.

Brown, a resident of the Concordia neighborhood, retired in May following a 41-year-career with DCD. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in urban analysis from UW-Green Bay, according to a resume submitted with the nomination, and worked briefly in journalism and public relations before joining DCD.

She served as the deputy under Commissioner Rocky Marcoux from 2004 until this year when both retired. Brown was very involved in the day-to-day administration of the department and regularly appeared before the council.

She’s slated to replace a seat last occupied by the late Whitney Gould.

Gould, an architecture critic and former journalist, passed away in December 2019 at the age of 76 after battling a number of health issues. She served on the plan commission for over a decade after retiring from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2007 and was often its most outspoken member.

Brown would join Stephanie Bloomingdale, Allyson Nemec, Darryl Johnson, Brianna Sas-Pérez, Ranell Washington and Catrina Crane. The latter three all joined the commission after June 2019.

Appointees serve two-year terms and are paid $3,000 annually.

Vanessa Koster, who formerly staffed the commission as DCD’s city planning manager, was promoted to Brown’s former post. Sam Leichtling in turn was promoted to Koster’s role and now presents DCD’s design feedback to the commission.