Two neighbors of the Edgewater Hotel have thrown a new monkey wrench into its prospects for redevelopment, filing a protest (PDF) against a requisite rezoning. That will require three-fourths of the Common Council to approve the Planned Unit Development.
Joseph Korb, 2 Langdon St., and Fred Mohs, 1 Langdon St., both filed petitions against the Planned Unit Development. According to the law, if "The owners of 20 percent or more of the land directly opposite the rezoning, extending 100 feet from the street frontage of such opposite land" file a protest, the council must have three-fourths vote to approve the change.
"These two owners was all it took to meet that threshold," says Brad Murphy, director of Madison's Planning Division.
The council will need three fourths of the members present at the meeting (not, three-fourths of the council) to approve the rezoning, he says.
"I don't anticipate this would delay the Common Council's eventual consideration of the project," Murphy says. "It just increases the number needed to approve it."
The PUD approval was expected to come before Common Council next week. However, the developer, Hammes Company, has not yet completed revisions to plans for the hotel, which delayed recommendations by both the Urban Design Commission and the Plan Commission.
Ald. Lauren Cnare says, "It's good new stuff but it's too new for people to process."
