County Board Committee Passes Employment, Environmental Standards in Development Agreements Involving County Land, Subsidies
Supervisor Weishan Says Move Will Provide the Greatest Future Benefit for the Entire Community
The Milwaukee County Board’s Economic and Community Development Committee has approved a resolution that would include employment and environmental standards for private developers, their contractors and subcontractors, who receive direct financial assistance on land sold by the County.
The Board adopted the Park East Redevelopment Compact (PERC) in 2004. The PERC was established to ensure that the development of the Park East freeway corridor provided sustainable community benefits. The Park East was recently sold to Head of the Herd, LLC, the development arm of the Milwaukee Bucks owners. The resolution approved by the committee recognizes that the PERC “should be a floor, not a ceiling, for employment and environmental standards,” Weishan said.
“If we are going to sell County land, especially at below-market value, and if we are going to subsidize development for private developers, then we should try to ensure that there are standards for these projects,” Weishan said. “We need to make sure that these developments provide good, permanent family-supporting jobs and are environmentally sound.”
The resolution states that project plans of recipients should be certified under the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design green building rating system or other national certification.
“We should have certain standards for employment and environmental issues for projects involving the County,” Weishan said. “This resolution will help to guarantee that developments involving County land and County dollars benefit the entire community, not just developers.”
The resolution requests a year-end report to assess impact on development agreements.
“The resolution is designed to measure future development proposals,” Weishan said. “It outlines guidelines to make development beneficial to the entire community.”
The measure will go before the full County Board for consideration on September 24.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
