Oconomowoc Downtown development

CDA works on blueprint for downtown redevelopment

Group wants to meet with council to set accepted design to attract would-be developers

By Paige Brunclik

Posted: April 25, 2011

City of Oconomowoc — The Community Development Authority is working to better market downtown redevelopment areas by literally telling developers what the city wants with established design guidelines. The CDA currently has identified eight downtown areas in need of redevelopment and has set guidelines such as acceptable building height and density for each one.
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The work, called the Oconomowoc Downtown Revitalization Plan, goes back several years, but went through a hiatus mostly because other city projects took a higher priority said Director of Economic Development, Bob Duffy. Last week, the CDA continued a revived discussion on the plan with a goal of meeting with the Common Council in the next month or two to approve set guidelines for each of the redevelopment sites.
CDA Chairwoman Floss Whalen said she feels council approval of the guidelines would not only alleviate the thinking that the CDA is another layer of red tape that developers must go through in project approval, but create more security for developers in knowing if there project lines up with accepted guidelines from the beginning.
Whalen said in the past, developers may have been given a sense of false hope by the CDA because the group would approve a project at their meeting, but when it reached Common Council, gaining acceptance for the project could be a completely different ball game and the project would not be approved entirely.
"Building consensus takes time," Whalen said. "But I do think with the new council we need more development now than ever before."
With this blueprint for accepted development in said areas greater efficiency on the city's behalf is created. The CDA is planning to bring two to three sites to council to start chipping away at approving them all together. It will decide on these during a meeting at 6 p.m. on May 10.
Duffy said by council and the CDA agreeing on set development guidelines essentially creates an overlay to the planned development. This means the developer could move right into getting their precise implementation plan approved reducing the amount of meetings and approvals by nearly half, he said.
"We are doing what we can to be prepared because the economy will turn around. We are seeing activity," Duffy said. He referred to Wangard Partners recently approved development for a 200-unit apartment complex near Highways P and Z.
"People are looking at the community for housing projects and we want to be prepared when that happens. The more we have consensus, a consistent message and clear guidelines the better it positions us," for development projects, Duffy said.
The two groups will likely meet to discuss a few sites and suggested guidelines at the May 17 council meeting or in early June.