The city planning board voted 5–2 Monday night to advance a rezoning request that would clear the way for 240 homes on the long-vacant Westside industrial parcel, sending the proposal to the Common Council for a final vote expected in late June.
The plan from Gateway Development calls for a mix of townhouses and four-story apartment buildings, with 30 percent of units reserved for households earning below 80 percent of the area median income. It would be the largest residential project on the west side in more than two decades.
Three hours of testimony
More than 40 residents signed up to speak. Supporters — including two neighborhood churches and the county housing coalition — pointed to a rental vacancy rate below 2 percent. Opponents raised traffic on Grand Avenue and questioned whether the developer’s tax agreement gives too much away.
“We are not against housing. We are against being the last people asked about it,” said Gwen Aldous, who has lived two blocks from the site for 31 years.
Board chair Emmett Cho said the conditions attached to the approval — a second traffic study, a construction-noise curfew and a community benefits agreement to be finalized before closing — directly answered the concerns raised in April’s session.
The Common Council’s neighborhood-development committee takes up the rezone June 16. If approved by the full council, site work could begin as early as this fall.
