Good evening. My name is Phyllis Hasbrouck and I'm the chair of the West Waubesa Preservation Coalition. There are so many reasons to oppose this development, and there are so many reasons why a person who supports it would still oppose it at this time. From a taxpayer's point of view, the most important reason is that it would be bad planning, and it would unnecessarily raise the real estate taxes that homeowners pay, and that renters pay indirectly through higher rents.
As of June 2012, there were already 1175 acres of vacant land within the Fitchburg Urban Service Area. The largest chunks are Uptown, formerly called Green Tech Village, and North McGaw Neighborhood. There are only 6 buildings underway in Uptown, and none as far as I know in McGaw, so where's the need for yet more space?
You may ask, "What's the problem with just getting all of our ducks in a row, going through the CARPC process so that when the market is ready, we will be too?" Well, you've already done that, by bringing in Uptown and North McGaw. When the market wants to build, you've got areas all ready for single family, multifamily, mixed use, civic, retail, even some industrial. By your own estimates, you have enough for almost 15 years of expansion.
It doesn't take 15 years to jump through the CARPC hoops. It's more like six to 18 months. So why not wait until you think you are 2 years away from filling up Uptown and North McGaw, and then start getting your ducks in a row?
What is the downside to getting ready too soon? As soon as a developer puts in infrastructure, the city has to spend tax dollars to do all the cleaning, plowing, inspecting and repairing. By opening up 1175 acres, you've already signed up the taxpayers for a big burden, and it's not clear when the tax base will catch up to the cost of the new services. So is this a good time to bring in two more neighborhoods' worth of infrastructure? I say "two more" because Mayor Pfaff also wants to bring in the North Stoner Prairie Neighborhood.
Now, I know that Fitchburg has a much better planning record the Village of Oregon and Sun Prairie, both of which expanded too much, too fast, and were left with largely empty "ghost neighborhoods." But when you get new staff and new elected leaders, practices can change. Senior Planner Tom Hovel has done an excellent job of carefully phasing in new developments, but in three years he could be retired, and there's no guarantee that his successor would be as wise. There are many pressures on staff and commissioners and alders to accommodate powerful and wealthy people who want to build. It is harder to resist those pressures when the land in question is already in the Urban Service Area.
You may ask, "What's the problem with just getting all of our ducks in a row, going through the CARPC process so that when the market is ready, we will be too?" Well, you've already done that, by bringing in Uptown and North McGaw. When the market wants to build, you've got areas all ready for single family, multifamily, mixed use, civic, retail, even some industrial. By your own estimates, you have enough for almost 15 years of expansion.
It doesn't take 15 years to jump through the CARPC hoops. It's more like six to 18 months. So why not wait until you think you are 2 years away from filling up Uptown and North McGaw, and then start getting your ducks in a row?
What is the downside to getting ready too soon? As soon as a developer puts in infrastructure, the city has to spend tax dollars to do all the cleaning, plowing, inspecting and repairing. By opening up 1175 acres, you've already signed up the taxpayers for a big burden, and it's not clear when the tax base will catch up to the cost of the new services. So is this a good time to bring in two more neighborhoods' worth of infrastructure? I say "two more" because Mayor Pfaff also wants to bring in the North Stoner Prairie Neighborhood.
Now, I know that Fitchburg has a much better planning record the Village of Oregon and Sun Prairie, both of which expanded too much, too fast, and were left with largely empty "ghost neighborhoods." But when you get new staff and new elected leaders, practices can change. Senior Planner Tom Hovel has done an excellent job of carefully phasing in new developments, but in three years he could be retired, and there's no guarantee that his successor would be as wise. There are many pressures on staff and commissioners and alders to accommodate powerful and wealthy people who want to build. It is harder to resist those pressures when the land in question is already in the Urban Service Area.
This environmentally-sensitive piece of excellent farmland should only be considered for development when there is nowhere else to build. That is clearly not the case now.
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