On Aug. 12, the Madison City Council took a little more than 20 minutes to finalize textual changes to its zoning ordinance concerning industrial districts that have been looming for two decades.
The decision ends a moratorium on zoning actions for properties in Madison’s Light I-1 and I-2 districts, which was first implemented on Jan. 8.
The moratorium had been enacted, in part, due to increased interest by property owners south of I-20 in annexing the city.
The council followed the guidelines established by its planning staff and its Planning & Zoning Commission in all but a few instances.
According to city documents, “dimensional requirements for each district were altered to encourage specific scales of development.”
The Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended removing the minimum lot area, lot width, and building floor area and changing the front yard setback minimum to 100 feet in I, I-1, and I-2.
The P&Z also recommended increasing the building floor area maximum in I to 50,000 square feet, in I-1 to 100,000 square feet, and in I-2 to 500,000 square feet.
However, the city decided to establish a minimum area in I-1 of 5 acres and decrease the minimum lot area in I-2 to 10 acres.
Front yard setbacks were established in I (150 feet), I-1 (200 feet), and I-2 (250 feet, and building width maximums in I-2 were set at 500 feet.
The P&Z recommended a conditional use trigger for any development anticipating generating 175 or more Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic (AADTT), but the council lowered the threshold to 65 AADTT.
Conditional use triggers are also in place for any use that anticipates the use of 100,000 or more gallons of water per day; and anticipates the production of 100,000 or more gallons of wastewater per day.
Councilman Ed Latham said the 75-acre maximum lot size for developments was too small and recommended no maximum. He argued that this would allow developers to be more efficient and spur additional greenspace properties that did not need to be split up.
Following approval of the text and map amendments, Councilor Betsy Wagenhauser said she appreciated the involvement of those who offered input and praised the city staff for their work on the ordinance.
Latham was not as optimistic about the results.
“Right now, as we move forward, there’s going to be generations that have lived here that can’t afford to live here,” Latham said. “Because real estate prices are going up, values are going up.”
Latham said the $10,000 homestead exemption was no longer practical as property values have risen since the 1960s.
“If we don’t do something, there’s going to be a lot of folks who are displaced by all of us new people here,” Latham said. “They’re going to be displaced because they cannot afford to pay taxes. We talk about being inclusive, but we’re not. We will destroy a certain economic factor in this city.”