County Board - Regular Meeting

Alright. Please take your seats. I'm calling the county board meeting to order, and the clerk would please call the roll.

Okay. Larson. Larson here. Larson here. Marron. Marron here. McCarville.

McCarville here.

McCarville here. Peters. Here. Peters here. Peterson. Peterson. Pop Posler. Posler here. Posler and did I have Peter? Okay. Got it. Thank you. Rit. Rit here. Rit here. Rose. Rose here. Rose here. Rylander. Rylander here. Smith. Smith here. Udell. Udell here. Valdrin. Here. Valdrin here. Weigleitner. Here. Weigleitner here. Wagon. Here. Wagon here. Welsh. Here. Welsh here. Yang.

Yang here.

Yang here. Andre. Andrew here. Ruscha. Ruscha here. Blazewitz.

Blazewitz here.

Blazewitz here. Blazewitz Blazewitz Betcher. Betcher. Betcher absent. Bali. Bali here. Brower Brower here. Here. Chawla here. Doolin here. Doolin here. Downing here. Downing Downing here. Iker. Iker absent. Engelberger. Here. Engelberger here. Erickson. Here. Erickson here. Fries. Fries here. Furman. Furman absent. Glazer. Glazer here. Gray. Gray here. Gray here. Hussleman.

Hussleman here.

Hussleman here. Jackson. Jackson here. Jackson here. Kemp. Kemp absent. Crowning. Crowning here. Miles. Miles here. Miles here.

We have Quorum. Quorum being present. We shall move on to the inspirational message tonight being delivered by Supervisor Larson.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Miles. Am I close enough to this?

No, you're fine. Yep, yep.

Thanks, Chair. Chair Miles, fellow supervisors, citizens, guests if the mirror is still here there are times of the calendar year when people are drawn to step back and think more deeply about the cycles and rhythms of life. For some, it's the passing of a significant birthday milestone, graduation date, or solemnly remembering our fallen service members at the May. For others, it can be the time when putting away their skis or snowmobile as as the last snow has melted or sharpening a plow's blade to break soil for the first planting of the growing season.

For federal employees, it can

be the merciful long awaited dawn after the fiscal New Year ends on September 30 when the breathless pace of last minute procurement paperwork finally screeches to a halt. But for all of us and especially our for our fellow creatures and plants of the earth, the dawn of spring marks a uniquely shared sense of new beginnings. According to the US Naval Observatory, spring officially begins tomorrow morning at 09:46AM central time. Yay. Hopefully, the weather agrees as well.

But in the Northern Hemisphere, this moment marks the vernal solar equinox, one of the two times per year when the sun is exactly above the Equator. The hours of day and night are nearly identical tomorrow with a 07:03 sunrise here in Madison and a 07:10 sunset. If you happen to find yourself in Chicago tomorrow for any reason, you can observe the phenomenon of Chicago hinge when the city's street grid neatly aligned with the cardinal directions provides a satisfyingly perfect view of the sunset. This momentary equilibrium, a literal balance of light and darkness provides us all with a welcome moment to stop, breathe, and enjoy that ephemeral experience of near perfect celestial stability and peaceful composure. Tomorrow's official changes will hopefully open the door to enjoy more outdoor activities in this beautiful part of the country, such as visiting the zoo or enjoying one of Dane County's gorgeous parks, cycling cycling along any of our over 100 miles of shared use bike trails, or playing sports outside with friends.

Or perhaps you'll join me squinting nerdily through binoculars at the tremendous volume and variety of migratory birds who visit our wetlands. Maybe you'll simply take a light thief stroll outside, sniffing the fresh air along with your overly excited canine companion. The warmth of the sun, the scent of freshly unfrozen freshly unfrozen soil, and the welcome sight of leaf buds finally appearing along the bare bark of our trees all remind us of the frequent series of new starts that we are offered. Sometimes it's a repeated attempt to achieve something we have failed to complete in the past, and sometimes it's an entirely new and exciting opportunity. The day is approaching quickly when the membership of this very body will undergo a seasonal change led by the informed wishes of our fellow Dane County citizens.

At that point, some of our members will move on to new endeavors at the same time that newly elected members will take their place, all in service together to the public trust. In the spirit of Wisconsin's motto, forward, I wish each of you courage and enthusiasm as we move through the next seasonal cycle of change and as we renew our commitment to moving this enterprise forward together. Thank you.

So the pledge.

To the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under God, indivisible for liberty and justice

for all.

Thank you, supervisor Larson. All right. We're on to approval of payments. We have my apologies. I was like, there's no special matter, so moving on. All right. Announcements. Anybody with announcements? Go ahead. Supervisor Wegleiter.

Thank you, Chair Miles. Tonight, supervisor and first vice chair, Chad Kemp and I are introducing resolution four zero three to remove funding for a FLAC contract, which is automated license plate reader systems that's been used by Dane County Sheriff's Office. There are a number of community concerns related to privacy and data sharing with over 140 law enforcement agencies over eight states with this data from folks in Dane County. So I encourage you all to sign on. Thank you.

Supervisor Marin. Oops, sorry. There you go.

Thank you. I feel bad doing this now after this announcement. It's so serious. I just wanted to announce that the Cambridge boys basketball team made it to Division IV state. They're playing tonight for the first time in history of the Cambridge School District, and they are up by 20 points right now. Not that I'm paying attention to that because I'm paying attention to this, but I told them I'd give them a shout out. So go boys, go Blue Jays.

Supervisor Erickson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to mention something that's happening in Supervisor Welch's district is with the Equinox, We

do

have our own Stonehenge, is located in the Bear Mountain Park just up Campbell Avenue from the zoo, where the sunlight will match up on stones that were placed there by the Native Americans, probably the Ho Chunk peoples. So that's happening here as well. Thanks.

Anyone else with an announcement? Okay. And now we shall move on to approval of payments. We have before us the bills over $10,000 Refer to the county board. Is there a motion? Moved by Ericsson, seconded by Veldrin. Discussion, questions on the, bills? Hearing none. All in favor of approval, aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say no. Alright. Motion carries. The bills are approved. Onto approval of the county board minutes. We have the minutes of March 5 before us. Is there a motion moved by Ericsson, seconded by Udell? Questions, corrections, anything to the meeting minutes? Hearing none, all in favor of approval say aye. Aye. Opposed say no. Alright. Motion carries, and the minutes are approved. We're on to consent calendar. We have nine items.

Let me just move to because I believe we have a registration on f one wishing to speak. So we'll separate f one. Any other requests for separation? Supervisor McCarvel.

It was F1. Thank you.

Supervisor Wigand.

I'd just like to be recorded as voting no on F6, and then I would like to separate F4. Thank you.

Okay. Supervisor Wegleitner.

Thank you. I'd just like to be recorded as voting no on F8.

Okay. Those two notebooks. Alright. There being no further separations on the balance of items f two, three, five through nine, what is before us, our committee actions. So on those, all in favor of approval, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say no. And those items are adopted. On to f one twenty twenty five o a 30 amending chapter 67 of the Dane County Code of Ordinances addressing customers' facility charges. What is before us is public works and transportation. Committee recommendation for approval. We have a registrant wishing to speak. Bill Walschlinger wishing to speak in opposition. Is Bill online? Okay. And is he promoted? Okay. So Bill, you have up to five minutes to address the board. Go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening. I'm sorry if I'm addressing this so late in the process, but I only recently came to know the ordinance proposed. But my name is Bill Walshlager. I'm the owner operator of Avis and Budget rental car franchise in Dane County and a concessionaire at the airport.

Our company is Midwestern Wheels, and I'm a third generation family owned business. And we been servicing servicing the airport customers since the early nineteen seventies. I'm not opposed to the concept of this customer's facility charge or CFC. If the county wants to charge people who come through the airport and rent a car, a fee, for using the facility, that's the county's prerogative. So I'm not really opposed to that.

But the the thing I'm opposed to is the nature in which it's being applied. Assuming I'm reading the proposed ordinance correctly, it would only apply to customers renting a vehicle from on premise car rental companies. This to me means those companies that have entered into a multiyear concession agreement with the county, such as myself. As a concessionaire, we pay rent for the counter and parking space and guarantee a minimum annual concession that's paid to the county. What this ordinance does not seem to include are customers who rent other car rental rent from other car rental providers, such as those using a peer to peer network or p to p as we call it.

These are rental operators that use an Airbnb or VRBO type platform to rent their vehicles. This can be individuals or people that have a fleet of vehicles. As everybody knows, OSB is $4.50 a day with no limit on the number of days applied to the customer's rental period. If customers come coming through the airport and get off the plane and walk outside to the parking parked rental vehicle and be exempt from the daily fee, then the operators who will have a competitive pricing advantage over your airport concessionaires. Customers are smart and look for ways to save money without applying the CFC to all customers renting cars on airport property regardless of how they acquire the vehicle.

You will see customers wanting to save money and gravitate to a lower cost alternative. These customers, of whom they rent from, come through the airport, use the airport facility equally. Since this is a facility charge, all rental customers should be subject to the fee. As a side note, some might say that the p E2P operators make up a small number of car rentals at the airport. However, I encourage folks to shop online with one of the more prominent operators.

And I did recently do this for a week in April and found 70 vehicles available for pickup at the Dane County Airport, not a small number at all. If each of these vehicles were rented once per week for an average of four days, this would equate to approximately $65,000 in CFCs per year that the county misses out on. Additionally, this is only one p to p platform, so the real number could be much more than this. By creating an uneven playing field, many customers will not rent from concessionaires because of a legislative price advantage. This is truly if this is truly a customer's facility charge, then my belief is the ordinance should apply to all Right.

All rental customers regardless of how they obtain Rent A Car services.

When they Oh, you have just over thirty seconds left.

Thank you. It is has nothing to do with car rental company, where they are located at the airport, or the way they provide the service. Not charging the car rental customers, the CFCs, and that could all go and creates a uneven playing field. My simple plea is that we make the fee universal and apply to all customers equally that rent vehicles on your port property. Thanks for your consideration, and I'm open for questions. Any

questions for our speaker? Anyone with any questions? We're moving on to discussion and debate. Supervisor McCarvel.

Thank you, Chair Miles. I too had a constituent raise a question with regards to this item and the issue of fairness. And I did reach out to the airport director and I know he's on the call tonight or on the meeting tonight via telephone. So I'm gonna call on him in just a minute. But he was able to address those issues on not only do we have the car rental businesses inside the airport, there are other entities like Turo, Uber, Lyft, and there may be others.

And they all have agreements or contracts with the airport that are being looked at as their expiration dates come up. So with that, I'd like to call on the airport director and have us give us a timeline so that what they're look what he's looking to do and what the airport's looking to do is create that level playing field so everybody can feel as though they're being treated fairly in the in the business environment. So

So you do or should

I Yeah. I Appreciate that. Can you guys hear me okay?

We can.

Okay. Perfect. I I apologize I'm not there in person. I'm, actually out in DC meeting with our delegation, spreading some of the priorities of of, Dane County and the airport. So, appreciate, supervisor Mark Carville reaching out.

I won't go into kind of the components of the CFC. We understand what that is. In the in the idea of fairness, we are absolutely, all for that. And when I've, going back into January when I talked about raising parking rates, were we gonna go through this systematically starting with parking rates, moving to rental cars. And then later in the summer, as supervisor McCarville said, Arturo agreement will come up for renewal, and that will be the time in which we look to modernize and and implement best practices and make sure that we're ensuring a level playing field from Turo, not only that, but into onto Uber and Lyft and other commercial ground transportation units.

We are one of the last airports in the state of Wisconsin to implement CFCs. It's a necessary life lifeline and funding source that is expected by customers really that are traveling into the airport. And and that's the biggest implementation is is this is a fee that is not paid by our local residents and and neighbors. It's people that are visiting the area. So they expect to pay this. They paid this at 98% of airports probably around the country, and and it's expected. Absolutely. Turtle's a little bit different. They don't have or or the peer to peer car rental is a little bit different. They don't rent physical space from us.

However, their model is they pull into the parking lot, and they pay our parking fees. And those parking fees, depending on how they're they're there. And and, Bill, we we have originally approached this subject about CFCs during our, February quarterly, rental car meeting. So we've been having this conversation, this discussion for for quite some time now. Those cars are dropped off at the airport, and they pay those daily parking fees. So they could pay upwards of $20 a day if they were to be left there for for a number of for at least one day. So those 70 cars aren't there today. Otherwise, we'd be getting parking fees for them. So they're oftentimes dropped off. But the point is absolutely valid, it's something that we fully intend to accomplish.

We are really treating this modernization of ground transportation practices and and really looking at, looking at everything from an opportunistic standpoint. Parking rates were done January 1 because that was the time rates and charges were done and my budget was needing to be done. Rental cars have been on month to month agreements since October, 2020. And and, you know, Turo and, Uber and Lyft, those, agreements come up later this summer, and we'll be looking at those next once we get through the CFC and the rental car, agreements. And and the one thing to point out is is the rental car agreements, they're they're voluntary if you wanna operate at the airport.

We're not forcing people to want to come and operate at the airport. If a rental car company does not agree with CFCs and they don't wanna be part of it, they don't have to be a concession in error bars. But when we're handing folks two and a half million customers at their doorstep and, they're underneath our roof, we have infrastructure that we need to maintain. We're looking at, parking expansion, you know, modernization of of multimodal access

to

the airport. There's a big airport master plan. All of these things take resources and money. We need to make sure that we're spreading out that cost, and this is an avenue that we can do it. One that is expected by the customer and one that's not done by our residents and our neighbors, so it's kind of a no brainer. Happy to take any questions, though.

Thank you. I don't have any more. Anyone

else have a question for director Papko?

I don't.

All right. Okay. Any further discussion on OA 30? Supervisor Wagandt.

Just like to be recorded as voting no. Thank you.

Voting no on way 30. All right. There being no further discussion, again, what is before us is Public Works and Transportation Committee recommendation for approval. So on the recommendation, all in favor say aye. Aye.

Aye.

Opposed say no. And with that, the ordinance amendment is adopted. Onto f four. F four, we have twenty twenty five resolution three seventy, approving an agreement between the county and the city of Madison for the county's contribution to the Lakeway project. What is before us is personnel and finance committee recommendation of approval. And we do have a registrant wishing to speak on the item. So let me advance. No. It's not on this one. I'm sorry.

No. This was a request for separation. Sorry. It's a different item. Supervisor Wigand, you wish to speak to this resolution?

Thank you. I will be voting no on this resolution tonight. I wanna explain why. It's not that I'm against Lake Minona. It's not that I'm against the lakefront. In fact, interesting fact, this is where I first met my wife. She tricked me on a a date. She said, let's go for a run. I said, sure. Where? She said, well, how about around Lake Monona? I had no idea how far that was. Turns out it's 11 miles. I made it to the 10 mile mark, I had to stop. Couldn't walk for a week. So I love Lake Monona. A lot of us do. There's nothing wrong with that. But $2,000,000 for lakefront improvement when we don't have the money. So I keep track of county debt.

In 2024, we had $500,000,000 in debt. 2025, we had $763,000,000 in debt. And now as of two weeks ago, checked with the controller. Guess what we're up to? Drum roll. $835,000,000 in debt. We have to ask ourselves, is this sustainable to go in the last three years to increase our debt by that amount? I don't think so. We talk a lot about having to say no to our wants and prioritize our needs. This is a want. It's not a need. It's a great thing. So you can accuse me of hating the lakefront, whatever. That's fine. That's not the issue.

The issue is we don't have the money. And every year, our operating budget, we spend more money on debt service because we continue to put more money on our credit card for projects like this. Good projects, nice projects, wonderful projects that we don't have the money for. And so that's why I can't in good conscience support this. And I urge all my colleagues to take a good look at this, especially as we're approaching another budget this upcoming year with a structural deficit.

At what point in time are we gonna just say no to the nice to haves so we can prioritize the things that we have to do. So with that, I definitely encourage my colleagues to vote no, not because it's not a nice project, but because we don't have the money. Thank you.

Next, Supervisor Erickson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can't think of a better way to meet your significant other. So just wanted to mention that I think that at this time, that this is an excellent investment for the county to participate in for a number of reasons, and that's why I had brought this forward. As many of you know, access to the lakes is something that's really critical.

When Monona Terrace was built, one thing that I felt that it didn't provide access to folks to actually get to the lakes in terms of or access to the lakes in terms of fishing and feeling like you're really part of it. And that's what actually this segment of this project will provide because right now there are a lot of people who do fishing from railroad bridges. So this is a piece of this project. There's many parts of it, but this particular one. The other thing I just wanted to mention, yes, the lakes are very important to us.

We purchase land in other places on the lakes. One example we contributed to was San Damiano in Monona. That was like a once in a lifetime opportunity since that was really the last large portion of open space on Lake Monona. So we were able to participate in that. Also, just wanted to mention just briefly probably heard this but the Clean Lakes Alliance did a report on the economic impact of the lakes.

And the estimate from this report is eighteen oh two full time equivalent jobs related to the Air Lakes that's generated and also contributes $220,000,000 to the economy annually. So I think we all recognize the value of the lakes. And I think we also just had a great presentation about a significant asset to the county, which is the Alliant Energy Center. And this is actually this connects the Light Energy Center and the downtown. And it's also a primary location of a lot of people entering the city, so it has an impact there.

And again, the final thing I just wanted to say, 130 ago, there were folks talking about what we can do to make the city more livable, make it more habitable, make it more appealing. And they weren't doing it necessarily for them. They were doing it for future generations and for the future. And that's the reason Madison is the way it is today and the reason that Madison and Dane County is very appealing place to live and to raise a family, etcetera. So, again, this isn't just an investment for now. It's an investment for future generations. So I'd ask that you support this. Thanks.

Anyone further on resolution three seventy? Okay. Seeing no one else in the queue, again, what's before us is personal finance committee recommendation of approval on that recommendation. All in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. That, the resolution is adopted. Let's see. Next, we have k resolutions. We have five items here.

So the first one being k one resolution two eighty nine, approving agreements for an affordable housing project at 4506 And 4514 Verona Road to be known as 4504 Verona Road in the city of Madison. What is before us is Health and Human Needs Committee recommendation of sub one to the resolution. Discussion on resolution two eighty nine. Supervisor Wegleiter.

Thank you, Chair Miles. Folks probably remember we referred this to Health and Human Needs Committee because of some concerns that have been communicated by Worker Justice Wisconsin that were not a part of the prior discussion at the Health and Human Needs Committee that we thought we wanted a little time to get more information and invite the developer to discuss our concerns with us. So we did do that last Thursday with Lincoln Capital and their construction contractor, McShane. They both had representatives in person at the committee. Supervisor Michael Engelberger joined us, who's also very concerned by these issues.

And we had a representative from Worker Justice Wisconsin there as well. I do think that the committee communicated our concerns that labor laws are complied with in Dane County funded housing projects. And I did get the sense that McShane and Lincoln Capital take these issues very seriously as well. It did this time also allowed more time for us to for me personally too to learn more about how this process works and what the rights and remedies are and issues when they surface on a work site. So we talked about potential solutions and ways we can collaboratively address these concerns going forward and a conversation that would continue with our 2026 application process and potential new or revised contracting provisions in the county's sort of boilerplate agreement.

So they they communicated a real interest in working on these issues with us. They, you know, pay their contractor and their contractor has certain rules. And it's important that workers have access to services and supports and agencies that are available and responsible for processing complaints of workers' rights violations. And so I think part of what would be helpful is for us to make sure that on these work sites there is access to that information and that there is access for worker support advocacy organizations. So anyway, I appreciate that additional two weeks for us to look into these issues.

Did not Worker Justice Wisconsin stated that while these concerns continue, their goal by no means was to stop funding for these projects or stop these projects from going forward, but to elevate this issue to make sure everyone was taking these issues seriously. So I would encourage folks here to vote in favor of approving these agreements. This project is exciting. We're talking about 93 units, everything affordable at different levels, 21 at the deepest affordability level of 30%, 19 to be filled by households experiencing homelessness, and a significant amount of I'm sorry. Looking at the sub, it's permanently affordable while secured by a ninety nine year land use restriction agreement and $95,000 in annual funding for the supportive services provider, which I think has got to be one of the highest amounts we've seen.

That's at least compensation to support about a full time person on-site providing supportive services. So I hope this vote will be unanimous.

Supervisor Belden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Probably not. I would be excited if this wasn't in a parking lot. I would be excited if we were giving some access to people that we care mostly about. We just heard from wants and needs. We want this. This is something we need, and we need affordable housing. But do we need or do we want it here? And I don't think the answer is yes.

I said when I first saw this on the personal finance agenda that I kind of was mad at myself because I had been looking for this project to rear its ugly head. I knew the city had passed on. There was no funding from the city on this project. And in fact, when I pulled the planning report, and I'm gonna reference a couple spots there, the city planning, and I will say this right now, the planning division recommends that the plan commission find that the standards for conditional uses are not met and place on file the requested condition of use mixed use building at 45064514 Verona Road. That would be the same as us putting it on committee.

I just forgot the name, the term, but we would move that to something that would not see the light of day again. I said when this came before us, I was surprised. And then so I did a little digging. I Casey Becker a while ago about the last meeting if she had the scoring on it. She said it was hard to get through.

I said that's fine. I asked her to send it to me and now I have it. But there seems to be a lot of things that are kind of in conflict also in this application. First When looked for it and I had been looking every time we had the properties and the projects that were going to be funded, I looked for it and it was hidden under Timberline. Now it's still my fault for not digging and opening every hyperlink.

But on that same report from the original resolution to, I think it was two eighty three, don't have it up anymore. I looked at it earlier today. There are certain projects that do have addresses. There's a Cottage Grove. There's another one in Fitchburg. So this one just kind of skated by. So at least it skated by me. And as I said, I didn't open up every one even though I had sort of been diligent for looking for it. But obviously, I missed it. So when I came to it, was surprised.

After what I just said about the plan commission staff and we care about what staff says. I think if the zoning committee would have these kind of staff recommendations, they would be something worked out. None of that was done at the city level. These parcels were zoned commercial center corridor. And this is what the property surrounds.

North, a warehouse zoned commercial corridor. The West Belt Line Highway. West, a big box hardware store, a large multi tenant commercial building. South, small single and multi unit commercial buildings and a gas station, zone commercial center. East, Verona Road, the West Belt Line Highway in a two story apartment buildings that are zoned SR, whatever that is, v two.

And that would be on the other side of the highway. There is nothing good about a building in a in a parking lot. The staff also said consistency. The comprehensive plan I'm reading from their report here recommends general commercial. That's where it should be for land use for this site.

So we already heard that it's not. Not generally compatible with residential activities. General commercial districts are not generally recommended for residential uses, especially those that are adjacent to highways due to noise impacts. Considering the language in the comprehensive plan, these are older plans from o five, and I think actually one from 1990. And the area plan right now is in development.

It's in progress. There have been meetings on it. Considering the language of the comprehensive plan regarding the general commercial land use and its incompatible compatibility with residential activities, especially in areas adjacent to highways such as this one, where there is little or no adequate access to parks or a walkable street neighborhood, staff do not believe the proposal is consistent with the recommendations of the city's adopted plans. There's three standards of this pass through that the staff also passed on, The first is the standard establishment maintenance or operation of conditional use will not be detrimental or endanger to public health, safety, general welfare. The staff's comment, a staff does not believe that the conditional use of this standard can be found met because of the citing of the proposal because of the interchanger to West Belt Line Highway and the Verona Road parking of the Big Box Power Center.

Staff believe that these are limited options of a specific location. They compared it to another project by the same developer on Grand Canyon Drive, The Canyons. They raised concerns there about conditional approval because approximately the beltline, the beltline off ramp, Gammond Road. Staff identified concerns that highway road noise have been significant impacts on the residents of the proposed building. However, when comparing that previous proposal to this proposal, those same concerns are magnified.

Second standard. Oh, excuse me. Also related concerns regarding noise proximity to the highway proposed partially funded by low income housing tax credits. This is not eligible for the city affordable housing fund support because the site is surrounded by the designated limited eligibility areas. Parks division staff has expressed concerns about the access to parks from the proposed building.

The captain of the Madison Police Department Midtown precinct has also expressed concerns that there are no easily accessible nearby parks or activities for youth in the building to be engaged in. MPD officers expressed concerns about vehicular and pedestrian safety in crossing Verona Road. Standard two, the city is able to provide municipal services property where the condition is proposed. Regarding the stand alone, the city has provided municipal services property given due consideration. The cost is primarily concerned.

The cost of it is and has been raised by Parks division staff. And finally, establishment of a conditional use will not impede normal or orderly development and improvement of the surrounding property for uses in this district. Finally, with regard to standard four, the establishment of the conditional use will not impede the normal and orderly development. Beyond the commercial planning, staff once again, sorry, notes that this area is planned for zone commercially. Other considerations.

Neighborhood meeting was on May 8. Was at that. And this is not about a NIMBY project, just so everyone understands that. This is a bad spot. In the conclusion, staff do not believe proposals consistent with the recommendation of the city's adopted plans considering the language in the comprehensive plan regarding the general commercial land use and its incompatibility with residential activities, especially in the areas, highways such as this one, where there is little or no adequate access to parks or a walkable street network.

The concerns are specifically addressed in how they relate to the condition. Standards and approvals. Noise and air pollution from this belt line of a runner road have been identified as significant concerns related to standard of approval in condition one.

Vice President Eldon, you have a minute left. Thank you.

We have heard parks have concerns. The state is all of the municipal all the agencies of the city has concerns. But when I looked at the the county's the affordable hon affordable housing fund committee recommendations for this, they cited a school that's not even in the district. They cited walkable to going under the belt line to go to a grocery store. This is not a good spot.

I understand there's a great need for this, these properties. This is just not a good spot. Now this is an eleventh hour throw, and I admit it. But we can use this money elsewhere. And I think we need to. So I would just hope for voting no on this project. Thank you.

Anyone further on K1? Sorry. Supervisor Weigler, second time.

Thank you, Chair Miles. Well, the County Board is not in a land use role in evaluating these agreements. I mean, I understand this is Supervisor of Aldrin's district. And he may have received some contacts about it. But I I think when we think about the county's goals with affordable housing and the reason this is recommended for funding and the award was approved by the county board back in November, December is because it hits our goals, which include reaching those folks that are at very low incomes, which includes opening up opportunities that are not otherwise available to people experiencing homelessness, which includes protecting tenants and promoting security of tenure in rental properties that the county funds.

That's why it's recommended, was recommended and approved for an award by this body and is before us tonight with these agreements. This is the next part in the process. We don't decide whether or not it meets the land use requirements of the municipality where it sits. That's for the city of Madison process. I believe it did get through that process.

It didn't get through that process, we would obviously not be funding it. So I encourage you all to support this. This is a very important project that meets a lot of goals, including permanent affordability, which I discussed before. Thanks.

Supervisor Verlnier about 15¢.

That's fine. It's a good comment. I forgot to say this anyway. The votes on this were all surrounded a certified survey map. That means just changing the zoning for the property. There was no debate. There was nothing discussed at anything I saw. This went right through the council, right through Planning Commission. And Planning Commission does not have anything accessible. There's no so there was nothing I could see if there was a debate or not. So with that, that's what's going on. We're just putting people in a place that's cheap, that's affordable, that they'll have no access to anything other than that. Thank you.

Supervisor Engelberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess I don't know. Does anybody know or would Heidi, supervisor Wiegleitner, possibly know whether this project has other affordable housing or affordable funding in it from other entities? It it sounds like it doesn't for Madison. Is there WIDA money in it or other? So I mean, if we didn't pass this tonight, it more than likely is not gonna go as a project, would think. Is that correct?

Supervisor Wiglaitner, did you wanna respond to that or do we wanna ask staff?

Well, I would say that it would give them a $3,500,000 gap in their capital stack, which would be highly problematic. So at this point in the process, that would be very disappointing. And just to clarify, I think Supervisor Beldren confirmed that the city has already approved the use of this.

Okay.

And I guess

I wouldn't

I I guess I don't know if the if the project would go through or not. But

I our

conditions also wouldn't go through. Through, right? Even though the money wouldn't go through and our conditions that we lay out. That would be there would be other conditions. They'd probably have to go back and try to get other funding, I would assume. So thank you.

Supervisor Downing.

Thank you, chair Miles. Location, location, location. Let's let's support the supervisor who knows this district well, has been around, seen this kind of thing before, and very likely, there are other locations. And let them find it, And let's, let's vote no with a roll call vote, please.

Supervisor Heelsman.

Thank you, chair. So I do live over in this area. My kids regularly bike over to this area to go to the gym, to go to Goodwill, and all of that. And to say that there's no grocery access and you have to go under the belt line, it's not true. You have Lunas over here now.

There's also lots of bike paths that are accessible that make more parks and all of that accessible as well. Is the is the location ideal? Not currently. But, also, remember that we're going to be seeing a lot of changes to Verona Road in the next few years in that spot specifically. There are as I said, there's tunnels underneath the, the road there that are accessible.

There's roads now, but that have been changed that are making more accessible. I think also a thing that's key for this population is the accessibility to public transportation which has changed a lot for this area. This is one spot that will have that, especially when we're talking about people who have experienced homelessness that may not have cars themselves. They'll have bike paths. They'll have I mean, like I said, people walking right into my neighborhood where we do have cars.

And is it ideal for children? It's debatable depending on the age of the children, but there are also daycares over here that are accessible. There's Head Start. There's there is schools that are in a neighboring neighborhood that, yes, it would be further away. But to say that they're not, like and, yes, the noise complaints are are an issue, and they're an issue for the toll neighborhood, but that has more to do with the history of redlining in our we built our highways that we are trying to work on, but it's going to take time and we have to be able to have that time to do that and the funding to do that which we don't control here at the county level.

So I see the points that have been made against this project, but I also see where it has the ability to benefit a lot of people. And if you're not familiar with this area, it sounds bad. But if you actually live here and walk here and move around here the way my family has and the way other families have, you can understand why this would be a good location you if you have experienced any of these low income challenges as well as homelessness. And needing public transportation being a big one for this area. Thank you.

All right. I have a register and wishing to speak that I didn't see here before on k one. So I'm not sure when that popped up. So but I guess I'll assume I missed it, but I don't think I did. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm gonna call on a speaker from the public wishing to speak in support. You can promote. Registrant? Or no? Do you not see this?

I don't know if I can talk here. Yeah, it looks like at the time of registration, it looks like it was registered don't speak. And it looks like this person might have changed their option to speak at this point.

Okay. Are you able to promote them? Yep. Are they promoted?

They should be joining now. Yep, looks like they're on.

All right. Erica, you have up to five minutes to address the board.

Yeah. Thank you all for your time, and I appreciate all of the comments. My name is Erica Meissner. I am with Lincoln Avenue Communities. We're the developer on the project. And I wanted to just address two questions that were raised in the recent comments. The first was with respect to Planning Commission, City of Madison. So the project went before Planning Commission in June. It was passed with unanimous approval. And then the second question was with respect to other funding.

So this project has low income housing tax credits as allocated by WIDA. It also has over a million dollars in soft funding also coming from WIDA through their vacancy to vitality program and also their infrastructure access loan program. And we further, because of the energy standards that we're meeting on the project, so this is going to be the first Wisconsin Green Built Homes net zero ready building in the City Of Madison. That's a mouthful. But because we're meeting these energy standards, we're also looking at about 700 to $800,000 coming back to us in energy rebates that are crucial to the project.

So this funding from the county is absolutely necessary. Were we not to be approved today, you know, it would put the the project essentially at a at a standstill. We are otherwise ready to start construction in June. Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer any more questions.

Any questions for the speaker, Erica Meisner? All right. Supervisor Weiglian, you have a question? Go ahead.

Did you want to speak any further to any of the location concerns?

Yeah. So I do. So one thing that my colleague wanted us to point out, so this is Kevin McDonald who's been through, you know, essentially at all other board and commission meetings, was that there is multifamily at all four corners of this intersection. So it's not complete outlier in the context. It's also just given the population that we serve, you know, closer to some of the employment center.

Sorry. Can you repeat the last part of your your comment? You froze.

Yeah. Sorry about that. So we are in terms of location, also close to some of the employment centers where our residents might be working, specifically these big box retailers. So, you know, it's obviously not downtown, but, you know, there are employment centers to the south of downtown in this in this region where, you know, we expect to draw a resident base from.

Okay. Any other questions for the speaker? Okay. Hearing none, back to discussion. Supervisor Yang.

Thank you, chair. I appreciate supervisor Vildren talking about the need for food deserts and or the fact that they exist, and I think that's a real issue in our community. But I also grew up in low income housing, affordable housing my entire life pretty much. And I think the need there is more pressing, and the people who are needing affordable housing, I really don't think we have the time that's needed to stop this project and that is impacting people directly. And I think that's what I think about the most when I think about these kinds of needs in our community.

Who is is it impacting directly? And is it ideal that we build it at this place? Probably not. But there are other factors that are pros that I would encourage us to also think about that stuff. And I would encourage us to think to vote for this because as we've heard already, the city of Madison has already approved this, and it is really up to us to kind of seal the deal for this. And I hope that you guys will vote yes on this as well because and think about the people who are really needing this support in this especially this affordable housing project. So thank you.

Any further discussion? Hearing none, a roll call has been requested. So proceed.

Okay. Larson? Aye. Larson, aye. Maren? Aye. Maren, aye. McCarville? No. McCarville, no. Peters? Aye. Peters, aye. Peterson? Peterson? Come back to me.

Come back to me.

Okay. Posler. Posler, I. Posler, I. Ritt?

Ritt, I.

Ritt, I. Ritt, I. Rose, I. Rylander, I. Rylander, Smith? Smith, Smith, I. Udell? Duan, I. Duan, I. Downing. Downing. No. Downing. Iker. Iker. Absent. Engelberger. Aye. Engelberger, I. Ericsson?

Aye. Ericsson, Fries. Fries. Fermin. Fermin. Absent. Glazer.

Laser eye.

Glazer eye gray. Gray eye. Gray eye. Hussleman.

Hussleman eye.

Hussleman eye. Jackson. Jackson eye. Jackson eye. Kemp. Kemp's absent. Crowning? Crowning I, Miles. Miles I. Miles I. 284.

Are you gonna go back to Peterson?

It's up to him. Peterson.

Peterson I.

Peterson I.

Alright. With that, the motion passes or the recommendation passes. Resolution two eighty nine is adopted. All right. On to k two, resolution three sixteen, approving the state of Wisconsin Department of Health Services Agreement for income maintenance functions. It was before us as Health and Human Needs Committee recommendation for approval. Discussion on resolution three sixteen. Hearing none on the recommendation of approval, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say no.

That motion carries and resolution is adopted. Onto K3 twenty twenty five resolution three forty four, approving agreements for an affordable housing project at 6,822 Nesbitt Road, Fitchburg. What is before us is Health and Human Needs Committee recommendation of approval. Discussion on resolution three forty four. Hearing none, all in favor of approval say aye.

Aye. Opposed say no. That motion carries. Resolution three forty four is adopted. Onto item four, twenty twenty five, resolution three fifty seven, approval of the 2026 Community Development Block Grant Home Investment Partnerships annual action plan funding recommendations. What is before us is Health and Human Needs Committee recommendation for approval of sub one. Discussion on K-four. Supervisor Weidblander.

Thank you, Chair Miles. I'm employed by Legal Action Wisconsin Inc, which is an agency mentioned and part of the funding in this resolution. So I will be abstaining. Please record me as such and not participating in debate.

Okay. So supervisor, I'd like to recuse this from item four. Any discussion? No discussion. All in favor of the recommendation for approval of sub one, say aye.

Aye. Opposed, say no. Resolution three fifty seven is adopted. Onto k five is 2025 resolution 400, the twenty twenty six-twenty eight Dane County legislative agenda. What is before us is executive committee action taken earlier tonight with a recommendation of approval. We have a registrant wishing to speak in support. Steve Books.

Okay. Thank you, Sheriff Miles. Yes. I'm in support of this, and I wasn't aware that the county had this for legislators, and I I know some of you are legislators. And I think this is a a really good thing. And this is the first time I ran across it. And looking looking at it briefly, I'm interested in air service development. And okay. Yeah. So I'm Steve Books, Madison resident, Bay Creek neighborhood.

As it so happens today, I was at a legislative conference at Monona Terrace for the Regional Council of Carpenters, and I'm a retired member. The Carpenters regional is made up of union members from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Did I say Minnesota? And once once a year, we go to the the capital to talk to legislators. So as you know, that's an important thing to do, and I I hope all the county board members have a chance to do that from time to time.

Go to committees, talk to your legislators. That's it's a good thing. Okay. So very I I'm I'm here tonight. We missed a meeting due to the blizzard on Monday.

I sent a letter out, and I hope email the email letter got out to people. What's missing, I think, in the comment FL 14 for air service development, if you're looking at grants, I'm I'm a hydrogen supporter for the hydrogen economy, the coming pending hydrogen economy, believe it or not. And like I mentioned before, under the Joe Biden bipartisan infrastructure law, he set out a lot of things for hydrogen development. And one of them, I believe, should be for airports also for the pending airport hydrogen infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell airplanes, believe it or not. So getting back to our legislative conference that we had today, Melissa Aigard spoke, our county exec.

So that was very nice that she came and spoke. So where am I going with this? We missed the meeting due to the blizzard regarding the airport expansion, so I will wait on that. I will not comment on that tonight, the possible expansion, but there's scrutiny that I think all Dane County board members should have just as much as you have scrutiny for everything else for funding. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Steve? Hearing none. All right. So like I said, what is before us is the Executive Committee recommendation of approval. Discussion? Supervisor Weigandt.

Just like to be recorded as voting no. Thank you. Any

other discussion? Hearing none. All right. On the recommendation of approval, all in favor. Oh, sorry. Supervisor Berushek. Thank you. Just confirming there's no amendments done at the executive committee? No. Okay. Thank you. I didn't say sub one, did I?

No. I think I assumed there was sub one.

Oh, k. Alright. Again, on the recommendation of approval, all in favor, aye.

Aye.

Aye. Opposed say no. Motion carries. Resolution is adopted. On to l appointments, what is we have one twenty twenty five resolution three ninety six, county executive appointments. What is before us is the executive committee action taken earlier tonight with the recommendation of approval. Any discussion on resolution three ninety six? Okay. Then on the recommendation of approval, all in favor say aye. Opposed?

Sorry. Opposed? With that, resolution three ninety six is adopted. We're on to M, items requiring more than a simple majority vote. We do have three items here. Let's make absolutely sure there are no registrants.

Okay.

Any requests for separation of the three items? Hearing no request for separation, what is before us are committee actions on the three items, and I'd like to record those as having passed unanimously if there's no objection. Hearing no objection, it will be so recorded. The three items are adopted. So that takes us on to any other business as allowed by law? Anybody? How about motion to adjourn? Moved by Bollig, seconded by Larson. All in favor of adjournment, aye. Aye.

Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you all. Good night.