The City County meeting Tuesday discussed whether or not to use $17 million from the Affordable Housing Fund to build approximately 80 rental housing units in Madison.
Richard Arnesen, vice president of Stone House Development, Inc., addressed the main concern with the initiative — the potential problem of groundwater and air contamination due to its proximity to the Madison-Kipp Corp.’s aluminum die casting facility. Arnesen said there is not enough concrete proof to validate that concern.
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Arnesen is focused on the long term goals of this project, and believes that, if approved, it will be beneficial to Madison for years to come.
“This is a long term development. We know we’ll provide affordable housing for 30 years,” Arnesen said.
Ald. David Ahrens, District 15, asked if there should be any type of air regulation to ensure public safety. Arnesen said because Stone House received zoning for their project, there was no need to create extra regulations.
After speaking with environmental engineers, Arnesen was told the buildings would create no dangerous contamination. He said the damages would be equivalent to that of a car driving down the street.
“I would just ask you to look at the big picture: we have several projects in this city, land is not getting any cheaper, we’re not making any money on this city. I urge you to support this project,” said Arnesen.
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Some alderman voiced their support for with Arnesen, including Ald. Matt Phair, District 20. He said when the bill was discussed earlier this year, no environmental concerns were addressed.
“There was zero discussion about anything to do with air quality… nothing was brought to us from public health,” said Phair.
Phair urged aldermen to vote for the plan according the opinions they held in early 2017.
The meeting was concluded without a decision on whether or not to approve the bill.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly associated Richard Arnesen with the Madison-Kipp Corporation, and suggested that MKC was the developer in charge of the housing project discussed at the City Council meeting. The article has been updated to correctly reflect Arensen’s role with Stone House Development Inc. and Stone House’s role as the developer for the housing project. A previous edition of this article also stated Stone House will build 175 rental housing units for $4.3 million. They will actually be building 80 rental housing units for $17 million. The Badger Herald regrets these errors.
