JANESVILLE The City of Janesville looks to create a new development corridor on a 55-acre strip of land thats long remained an agricultural buffer between an east side residential zone and the busy Deerfield Drive commercial strip.
Plans to be presented to the citys plan commission Monday show a set of proposed land-use and zoning changes that would ready land north of Humes road and west of Wright Road on the citys east side for both commercial and residential use. That includes an initial phase north of Sandhill Drive that would bring 208 market-rate housing units in the form of eight multifamily apartment buildings.
The city says in documents released this week that the plans would involve creation of a new tax-increment financing district around the 55 acres. The city says the TID would allow it to bring $20 million in improvements and loan incentives that could spur development.
The city says the concept lines up with its own strategic goals to encourage more housing and amenities that would lure new employers.
The city documents show Milwaukee developer Wangard Partners is bringing the 208-unit apartment plan. The group has a portfolio of multifamily housing it has developed in suburban areas outside Madison, Milwaukee and the Fox Cities.
The City of Janesvilles long-term land use map and the propertys zoning do not currently mesh with Wangards plan.
That is a catalyst for the citys proposal to change zoning along 15 acres of the overall site from single-family homes and duplexes to a general residence designation that would allow multifamily housing.
That would come along with an amendment to the citys comprehensive plan for the land, and a required conditional-use permit all of which would come in a set of moves by the city to gear the proposed housing project for more formal planning.
Mondays discussion lays out the new TIF district proposal and puts the initial multifamily on the map on a swath of and thats split between multiple private owners the northern portion of which the city has been grooming for housing over the last two years.
The TID creation, rezoning, reshaping of the citys land-use map, and the proposed conditional-use permit would all require public hearings which the City looks to schedule for Oct. 19.
The City already moved to extend Sandhill Drive west as a way to encourage multiple types of housing on the streets north and south sides.
Its part of a bigger concept that the city said in earlier planning reports could accommodate more than 150,000 square feet in new restaurant and retail space along Humes Road, on the south end of the 55-acre swath.