Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact.
Title
Authorizing a minor amendment to an Environmental Corridor within the Central Urban Service Area to remove portions of an existing developed residential lot located generally north of Golf Parkway, west of the Cherokee Country Club clubhouse.
Body
PREAMBLE
This resolution authorizes a minor amendment to an Environmental Corridor in the Cherokee neighborhood to correct an oversight which inadvertently allowed two condominium duplex buildings to be built on a newly-created approximately three-acre parcel without first removing the Environmental Corridor designation from a portion of the property.
On January 16, 2007, the Madison Common Council adopted the Cherokee Special Area Plan to guide the future growth and development of certain lands in the Cherokee neighborhood area on Madison's north side, including substantial lands owned by Cherokee Park, Inc. in the City of Madison and the Towns of Westport and Burke. As part of this planning process, a long-term boundary was established between lands that may eventually be developed with urban uses and lands that should be preserved in open space uses. The lands identified for future urban development included approximately three acres north of Golf Parkway, immediately west of the Cherokee Country Club clubhouse, which were recommended for low-density residential development.
The developable lands west of the Cherokee clubhouse were annexed to the City of Madison from the Town of Westport in June 2007, following adoption of the special area plan. A Certified Survey Map creating a 3.08-acre development parcel was approved by the Common Council on April 10, 2008, and reapproved on October 1, 2010. About one-third of the new parcel was created out of the existing parcel containing the clubhouse, and about two-thirds out of the parcel comprising the balance of the golf course. An ordinance was approved on June 17, 2008 rezoning the new parcel from the Temporary Agriculture district to the Planned Unit Development-General Development Plan-Specific Implementation Plan district to allow development of two duplex condominium buildings. One of the duplex buildings was constructed in 2010-11 and is currently occupied; and the foundation is poured for the second building.
The entire Cherokee Country Club property has been within the Central Urban Service Area since at least the early 1980s, but except for the area immediately surrounding the clubhouse, the balance of the golf course was included in a designated Environmental Corridor---including the western two-thirds of the new parcel created for the duplex condominium development. The 1988 Environmental Corridor map identified the golf course area as "Existing Parks, Greenways, and Conservancy Lands." This same classification is placed on many other lands that do not otherwise have any environmental characteristics that would make them inappropriate locations for urban development, including public parks and grounds, public and private golf courses, and school athletic fields; and some of these are similarly designated as Environmental Corridors. While portions of the Cherokee Golf Course are within the 100-year floodplain, the parcel created for development of the duplex condominiums is not; and no wetlands or other environmental features are located on or near the property.
Minor adjustments to Environmental Corridors that do not involve designated wetlands or other environmental features are not uncommon in developing areas, and can be approved administratively by Capital Area Regional Planning Commission staff. Typically, City authorization for the amendment is included as part of the approval of the land division or rezoning on the underlying lands. In the subject case, the reviewing agencies did not notice that the western portion of the parcel created and rezoned to allow the duplex development was in an Environmental Corridor, and so this authorization was not included in the approving ordinances. The Environmental Corridor status of a portion of the property was also not noticed by the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District who reviewed and issued permits that allowed the attachment of the duplex buildings to the public sanitary sewer. This oversight was recently discovered during preliminary discussions related to an area located northeast of the Cherokee clubhouse which is also recommended for future residential development in the Cherokee Special Area Plan.
WHEREAS an approximately three-acre parcel within the City of Madison at 78 and 92 Golf Parkway was created and approved for development with two duplex condominium buildings; and one of these buildings was constructed in 2010-11 and is currently occupied, and the other building is under construction; and
WHEREAS the approvals for this development inadvertently failed to include a request to amend the Environmental Corridor to remove the western two-thirds of the parcel from the Environmental Corridor; and
WHEREAS the Environmental Corridor designation was based on the parcel's former status as part of the Cherokee Golf Course and no floodplain, wetlands, or other significant environmental features are present on the property; and
WHEREAS the duplex development on this property is fully consistent with the land use recommendations in the adopted Cherokee Special Area Plan and the City of Madison Comprehensive Plan.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Madison Plan Commission and Madison Common Council hereby authorize a minor amendment to an Environmental Corridor within the Central Urban Service Area to remove the residential lot at 78 and 92 Golf Parkway, as shown on the attached map.