City of Oak Creek
Common Council Report
Meeting Date: February 5, 2008
Item No.:
Recommendation: That the Council direct staff to investigate a moratorium on rezoning, land division and development within the boundaries of the property at 7929 S. Howell Avenue, and that they further investigate the feasibility of acquiring, remediating, planning, marketing and redeveloping of property by the City.
Background: At their meeting of December 18, 2007 the Council held a discussion regarding the future land use plan and zoning for the Delphi property at 7929 S. Howell Avenue. At that meeting, staff was directed to provide a list of available options for review at the 2/5/08 Council meeting.
When considering what the land use and zoning options are for this potential redevelopment site, it is important to start from the perspective of what is the vision. This is typically done as part of a planning process that includes opportunities for public and stakeholder input. In the absence of this defined vision, one must look at the Comprehensive Plan for guidance.
The planned land use map from the adopted comprehensive plan identifies the Delphi site as General Manufacturing. The plan defines General Manufacturing as:
“This category includes indoor heavier manufacturing, assembly, contracting, and storage uses, with moderate landscaping and signage. The General Industrial district is mapped in only three small areas of the City, generally over properties with existing established industries. M-1 zoning should be maintained over these areas. Potential use conflicts between General Industrial areas and residential areas will be mitigated by keeping these areas distant from neighborhoods.”
This land use designation was established and mapped to acknowledge the presence of large pre-existing industrial entities in the City, such as Delphi, MMSD and the Oak Creek power plant(s). It recognized the presence of these facilities, but did not necessarily take into account redevelopment opportunities, or the long term potential of some of these areas. In this case, at the time the comprehensive plan was developed, Delphi was still functioning at significantly greater employment levels. Obviously since that time they have pared down their work force, gone into bankruptcy and announced plans to close the facility.
Also within the same period of time since the comprehensive plan was adopted several things have occurred, such as:
These factors, as well as the emergence of the Howell Avenue corridor as a major retail area, have created a situation where we expect the Delphi site to generate significant interest from local and national developers. As such, the planned land use designation of General Industrial is no longer appropriate, and should be changed.
But that still does not address the issue of what should ultimately be developed at the site. Perhaps it is helpful to approach this from the perspective of what we do not want at this location. It would not be in the City’s best interest for this site to remain vacant for an extended length of time. Nor would it be appropriate for the existing buildings to remain if they were only to be used for warehousing, or other uses that do little for the community in terms of job creation or long term development that is sustainable.
As such, it is appropriate that the City take an active role in the redevelopment of this highly visible site along its major thoroughfare. The following are some options that have been discussed internally.
a. City purchase of property and RFP for development – The City would purchase the site, potentially raze the buildings and remediate, and create a request for proposals to develop the site in accordance with its vision. When faced with the prospect of large vacant, or underutilized industrial properties, other communities such as Kenosha, Glendale, West Allis and West Milwaukee have ‘taken control of their own destiny’ and acquired key properties within their jurisdiction. There are risks to this approach, but they can be managed. If the City decides to pursue this course, they would benefit greatly from consultants with experience in the field of remediation and redevelopment.
b. Create a neighborhood redevelopment plan – The traditional method of developing a neighborhood or sub area plan would be to follow a planning process resulting in the adoption of such a plan for the site. This would include considerable stakeholder and public input. The benefit would be the creation of a plan that would better refine the City’s vision for the site. An outside perspective may also be beneficial in identifying concepts that have been successful elsewhere. The potential drawbacks could be the cost of the plan as well as the time lost in its preparation.
c. Form a local redevelopment committee – The City could form a redevelopment committee to study and recommend a course of action for redevelopment of the site. This would help to refine the City’s vision for the site, but without professional assistance there would be a risk that the final product may not be appropriate, or be completed in a timely manner.
d. Moratorium (6 months) on development and land division – Either by itself, or coupled with other planning efforts, a moratorium on rezoning, development or land divisions may be an appropriate tool to make sure that development doesn’t occur that is inconsistent with the City’s vision. Such a moratorium would need to be put in place after a public hearing, and must be for a set amount of time. There should also be a state objective to be met during the moratorium period, i.e. the adoption of a neighborhood plan, or the rezoning of properties within the moratorium area.
e. Create a new zoning district (M-2) with a large (50 acre) minimum lot size – In recognition of the unique nature of the Delphi site and operation(s), the City could create a zoning district tailored especially for large scale industrial users. Large minimum lot sizes could be established to restrict subdivision of the properties. Likewise, permitted uses could be narrowly defined in such a manner that would allow the current operations to continue as a permitted use without allowing some of the more objectionable uses. In this instance the M-2 zoning could potentially allow for the manufacture, assembly and processing of products, but would limit warehousing and storage to inside areas, and only for those products that are manufactured on the site.
f. Straight rezoning – A rezoning of this property to A-1, Agricultural would preserve the City’s ability to review development proposals for the site by requiring a rezoning for any development. The current operations could continue as a legal nonconforming use. Such a rezoning would provide the City some level of control through the rezoning process. But it does not provide a mechanism for the City to define and implement a vision for the site. It only allows the City to react to development proposals without the guidance of an overall plan for the area.
g. Officially map public streets within the property – The City has the ability to officially map future streets. This may be particularly significant given that a connection between S. 6th Street and W. Forest Hill Avenue/S. Liberty Lane would provide an alternate means of access to this retail area from Drexel Avenue. The mapping of this (and other potential) roadway would make it more difficult for someone to subdivide the property without conforming to the street pattern, and dedicating the right(s) of way. While potentially a useful tool, this would not restrict anyone from using the property in a manner that is consistent with the existing M-1 zoning that might be inconsistent with the City’s ultimate vision for the area.
h. Do nothing – One of the options is to do nothing. This would leave the City in a tenuous position of only being able to react to the market, without having the guidance of long term plan for this critical area. While this is the easiest to implement, it also carries a great risk that the property will remain underutilized for an extended period of time, or that the property will be divided up and sold in such a manner that does not create long term value for the community.
Summary
Few would argue that changes in the economy have had an impact on this area, and its future land use. Changes at Delphi have resulted in significant reductions in the operations at this facility, and will ultimately and shortly result in the closure of the facility. At the same time the economy of Oak Creek (and the region) has shifted away from heavy manufacturing towards a service economy. The Howell Avenue corridor has emerged as one of the significant retail markets in the Milwaukee area. As such the comprehensive plan designation of General Industrial is no longer appropriate.
The City needs to define its vision for the area rather than waiting and being relegated to a position of only reacting to proposals that come before them. The only way that the City can accomplish this with any degree of certainty is to take an active role in the redevelopment of this property. This may include planning, acquisition and remediation prior to putting the site on the market for redevelopment. Outside assistance and experience will be critical if the City chooses to follow this path. But ultimately, I believe this will result in the best outcome for the City over the long term.
Fiscal Impact: The fiscal impact varies according to the path the City chooses to follow. Certainly acquisition and remediation of the property will require a much larger funding source than the preparation of an area plan, or several of the other options. However, as the funding commitment varies, so to does the possible return on that investment. Certain options, such as the City’s acquisition of the site and/or the preparation of a neighborhood plan have the potential to create more and lasting value for this part of the City.
Prepared by: Respectfully Submitted,
Doug Seymour, AICP Patrick DeGrave
Director of Community Development City Administrator
Fiscal Review by:
Beverly A. Buretta, CMC
City Clerk