What follows is the edited text of the speech titled " Planning's Other Half," delivered on June 15, 2005 by Douglas Zweizig at the City of Evansville Smart Growth Comprehensive Plan meeting.
"I'm going to take a risk tonight by pointing out that the acheivement of this impressive document is only one half of the hard work that needs to be done if Evansville...is to have the future that the plan envisions. The second half is to improve the way the plan is to be carried out. After all, this is not the first such plan that has been developed. It would be a good idea to reflect on the fate of those previous plans.
If I were to charaacterize the existing process, I would describe it as opportunistic, short sighted, and secretive.
"Opportunistic" in the sense that decisions are made on the basis of which property becomes available at a particular time. Then energies are focused on how to move that project along with little attention to whether such a project had been thought desirable in the existing plan. In fact, the efforts appear to be directed to altering the plan to meet the opportunity rather than shaping the opportunity to conform to the plan. At the time that the Smart Growth Committee was meeting to design a future for Evansville that would reflect the desires of its residents, the Plan Commission was greatly changing that future by amending the Master Plan to respond to an opportunity. A test of the nature of the decision making process would be to consider whether any proposal for development has ever been turned down by the City. I understand that no proposals have been turned down by the Town of Union and have been told that none have been turned down by the City of Evansville. That would seem to be a strong indication of responding to initiatives by developers rather than guiding development according to the agreed-upon plan.
"Short sighted" in that decisions appear to be made in order to solve immediate problems without adequate consideration of the long-term consequences. I have been told by a number of people in a position to know that the decision to go ahead with rapid development on the west of Evansville was due to the need to pay for an unfortunate previous decision regarding a lift station. While moving ahead with the development was thought to help financially in the short run, the necessary planning for transportation, the possible impact on school capacity, and the provision of retail services were not addressed in the rush to approve the proposal. The consequences of this decision will be felt by the community for some time to come.
"Secretive" in the sense that it is very difficult for a citizen to learn what developments are under consideration by the City until it is too late to have much influence on them. The importance of citizen participation is a central feature of the Smart Growth process, and the development of the new master plan is seen as an activity for the whole community. But, currently, when the plan is implemented, the process becomes non-particpatory. Information is shared by rumor, rather than openly and accurately......
In order to be constructive, I would like to offer some suggestions that could help ensure that decisions made about land use in Evansville are not just opportunistic..shortsighted..or secretive. I would suggest that the Plan Commission develop a checklist to be used to evaluate proposals for development.The checklist would include questions such as, "To what degree is the proposed development consistent with the comprehensive plan? What would be the impact on transportation needs of this proposed development? Is there a plan for needed transportation improvements? How are these costs to be covered?
The use of such a checklist would ensure that needed aspects of the proposed development are addressed in advance. By making the responses to the checklist in writing and also part of the published minutes of the Evansville Plan Commission...the community can be informed of the decisions made and the reasons for them. .....
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I agree with the post. The westside development was decided before it ever went before the planning commission. The decision was essentially made a year prior to the development being brought to the planning commission. When the city updated the lincon street sewer they changed the grade of the sewer line to accomplish shifting the capacity of the lift over to the Ringhand property from the property north of porter road. This essentially shifted lift capacity from an area that was zoned residential in the 1996 master plan to an area that was not zoned residentia, before a zoning change of this property was ever brought before the planning commission. They used this as justification for annexing the property when it actually came before the commission a year later. Seems to me it should be brought before the planning commission for review before the infrastructure is changed. The average citizen didn't realize what happened with the sewer replacement until after the fact.
ReplyDeleteMark Schnepper
Much of what Mark Schnepper wrote is accurate. The future land use map in the 1996 master plan marked only 40 acres of Lee Ringhand's land for residential development, because the 160-acre service area for sewer Lift Station No. 6 was supposed to be spilt 40 acres to the Abey-Koth Subdivision (where Mark lives), 40 acres to Lee Ringhand's land, and 40 acres to what is now the Berg, Woodworth & Petterson Subdivision north of Porter Road. During the design of the Lincoln St. sewer project, our city engineer discovered that if the elevation of the Lincoln St. sewer were lowered, a sewer lift station was not needed to provide sewer service to the land north of Porter Road. The city decided to follow the engineer's recommendation and lower the elevation of the sewer. But that left 40 acres of unused lift station capacity. The city decided to shift that capacity from the land north of Porter Road to Lee Ringhand's land, thus effectively increasing the amount of Lee Ringhand's land slated for future residential development from 40 acres to 80 acres. But, unfortunately, it appears no one in city government realized that an amendment to the master plan should have been considered and adopted as a pre-requisite to shifting the lift station capacity in this manner. The master plan amendment was not proposed until the developers later sought annexation of Lee Ringhand's land. Hopefully, city government will pursue a more deliberative approach to planning in the future.
ReplyDeleteBill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
People are not going to stop having issues with the city until the city makes some much needed changes. I hope because of the smart growth meeting, and the things that were pointed out AGAIN from Doug Zweigzig that the city will start to take the issues seriously and change things NOW, not in the future.
ReplyDeleteI do bring up the past to hopefully prevent the same things from occuring in the future. My point in rehashing old things that have occured under this administrations leadership (or lack of it), is to hold them accountable for their performance. If you weren't one of the 20-30 people that attended the plan commission meetings regarding the Ringhand property (mainly in opposition to it) that I referenced in the previous post, you would have no idea that the city has pursued their own agendas while blatently ignoring the citizen input. I think the one thing that Mr. Connors disagrees with me on is that the westside zoning change was predetermined before it ever went to the planning commission. He points out that the infrastructure was changed before this ever went to committee. This is my point exactly. I find it hard to believe that it is coincidence that these changes were made just one year before the Lee Ringhand property came before the committee for a zoning change. I find it very hard to believe that Janis Ringhand had no idea that Lee Ringhand's intentions were to sell his farm to the devlopers when the city changed the infrastructure. It has been pointed out before that the relationships of Janis and Lee and Tom Petterson and his father did not make it illegal for them to participate in voting on the planning commissio, regarding projects their relatives had a financial interest in. This is true according to Wisconsin statute. However, the ethical thing to do would have been to recuse themselves from voting. The reason I bring this up, is because this administration has failed its citizens and it is time for a change. There are elections in the Spring and it is time to hold people accountable for what they have done.
ReplyDeleteMark Schnepper
Becareful Evilleblogger you might not want to be quite so condescending , we know who you are.
ReplyDeleteJust so the record is clear, Mayor Janis Ringhand is not related to Lee Ringhand, and neither is Janis's husband, Gordon.
ReplyDeleteRoger Berg's development group was talking to city staff about another subdivision north of Porter Road when Lee Ringhand listed his property for sale. They had no idea Lee Ringhand intended to sell his land in the near term. Mayor Janis Ringhand had no idea Lee Ringhand intended to sell his land in the near term. Various developers had been trying to persuade Lee Ringhand to sell his land to them for years without any success. The timing of Lee Ringhand's decision to sell was a surprise to everyone.
When Lee Ringhand sold his land to Roger Berg's group and they came forward requesting a master plan amendment and annexation, the city reacted based on past decisions about infrastructure. As I said in my earlier post, I hope the city will pursue a more deliberative approach to planning in the future.
Bill Connors
City Administrator
I apologize for propogating any rumors. Talking outside of the city building after the Planning Commission meetings, the rumor was that Lee and Gordon are distant cousins. Apparently this is not true.
ReplyDeleteThe other possible rumor is that Janis Ringhand has two brothers that work in cement and they would be pouring the cement for the developers (curbing,etc.) Is there any truth to this or is this a rumor as well?
Mark Schnepper
If you believe we are all descended from Adam and Eve, then we all are distant cousins.
ReplyDeleteI know Mayor Janis Ringhand has a brother who is the co-owner of a plumbing business. If new houses are being constructed in Evansville, then the Mayor's brother stands to get a share of the plumbing work. But I hope no one would suggest that anyone who has relatives in the building trades is somehow unfit to serve on the Plan Commission or Common Council. That is not a reasonable standard, and it clearly is not the standard under state law.
Bill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
I am not sure how to take the Adam and Eve comment. Just being a smart aleck or is it dodging the issue of how distant the relationship is?
ReplyDeleteI think there is no argument that it was not ethical for Tom Petterson to vote on the initial annexation. And I find it ironic that Janis Ringhand was recently bragging that democracy had prevailed when the city actually acknowledged the views of residents on East Main St. Hopefully this is a new trend.
I watched the will of the majority ignored in all of the planning commission meetings I attended, if it was different from the members agendas. I also find it ironic that Janis Ringhand continually brags about smart growth in her Mayoral Memos, but she was not willing to wait for smart growth to be completed before annexing more land against the wishes of representatives from the Towns of Magnolia and Union. They asked that we wait for smart growth to complete before annexing more land.
I stand by my original comments that change is needed.
Mark Schnepper
The city needs to take a stand, the people who are on the council and the planning commission need to decide before a vote, if this something that I have a business interest in? Maybe when they are ready to start building, remodeling whatever am I going to want to put a bid in to do work for the project? If even a idea of yes goes through there heads then they need to excuse themselves from the vote, or if they do vote they need to make sure they do not do work for that project. Anything else SMELLS! They want to sit back and say they did nothing wrong then show us with your actions, instead of hididng behind your words. Because until you make changes you will have the same issues. Mark once again I hope you run for MAYOR OR CITY COUNCIL you sound like a smart, reasonable, open minded person, this city needs that.
ReplyDeleteSchnepper for Mayor? Why not! ..."she was not willing to wait for smart growth to be completed before annexing more land... was this HER decision? I think there were other that must have been involved in that. Also I think that when that happened they did not know when that smart plan would be done - and the deadline was 2010 at that time. Maybe they did not want to stop everything for so many years.
ReplyDeleteMark, I was not trying to be cute, but by the same token I do not think there is an "issue" to dodge here. To the best of my knowledge, Mayor Ringhand and her husband Gordon are not aware of any way that Gordon and Lee Ringhand are related to each other. But since they do have the same last name, it is possible that they are distantly related. Similarly, former tennis star Jimmy Connors and I might be distant cousins, but I don't know if we are, and even if we were very distant cousins, who would care except me?
ReplyDeleteBill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
In the interest of having an accurate record, I must inform you all that I have learned that Gordon Ringhand and Lee Ringhand are indeed very distantly related. One has to go back many generations to find the common ancestor. I do not know how many--you would have to ask one of the Ringhands.
ReplyDeleteOn the state law on conflicts of interest, each individual alderperson or plan commissioner must decide for himself or herself whehter he or she must abstain from discussing and voting on a particular issue, because he or she can be subject to criminal prosecution if he or she should have abstained and did not. The district attorney would decide whether or not to file criminal charges.
Bill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
Bill I have a question for you,
ReplyDeleteI see the city has borrowed 15 million dollars for special projects.
Would you please tell me how much of a tax increase that will be on my property tax. How does is it computed? O.K. actually that is two questions.
Also I see the new stop signs in Country Side, should the city have held the public hearing first?
Anon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for suggesting I run for city council or mayor, I am flattered. That really wasn't my agenda when I raised some of these points and signed my name. I just didn't want people questioning who I am and what is my agenda and I figured I have nothing to hide. Currently I don't know that I can commit to the time that it would take to do either position. I work full time in Madison and I have a child that is entering kindergarten in the fall and my wife is pursuing a nursing career through evening courses. I may not be the best candidate, because I would have to find childcare for the many nights when when my wife would be in school and I have a meeting to attend. I believe in the Democratic process and have not ruled this out. That being said, if anyone out there has interest in running for mayor and is in a better position than me to make this kind of time committment, my time would probably be better spent organizing and campaigning. If a candidate does not arise I haven't ruled out the possibility of running. I would need to evaluate what kind of committment that would be. If anyone is interested in running themself and looking for support, feel free to contact me at mschnepper@yahoo.com. The basic concept of Democracy is by the people, for the people. If you don't feel your goverment is representing you, you should make make a change. I think it is important that as many people as possible know how things have been handled in the past. I think there is certainly an opportunity for change. Last election somebody received approximately 25% of the votes and all they did was get enough signatures to get their name on the ballot. I didn't see any campaigning at all.
I have been concerned about the planning process for a long time. Way before Doug’s statement “Planning’s Other Half” made at the Evansville City Council Public Hearing on the Smart Growth.
ReplyDeleteIn March, I read comments at planning commission meeting about changing the city’s planning processes to address some of the issues discussed by Doug.
From March 1 Planning Commission meeting minutes:
Ald. Hammann asked that the Commissioners establish policy and standards for review of submitted applications for subdivisions. The Commissioners discussed at length the most efficient method for City staff and the appropriate committees to receive and review the applications. Mr. Connors offered to draft a subdivision review process for the next meeting.
Bill Connors has drafted the following city ordinance:
ORDINANCE AMENDING MUNICIPAL CODE RELATIVE TO SUBDIVISIONS AND OTHER LAND DIVISIONS, ANNEXATION AND ZONING.
I would appreciate any comments in assisting me draft this ordinance.
Bill Hammann
Alderperson, ward 1
Bill,
ReplyDeleteA couple of thoughts about this.
Perhaps begin with the basics. Some how the "checklist" could be developed in concert with the ordinance.
How are more progressive areas handling this issue?
The impact the developement would have on city rescources such as lifts, added traffic, and adding to the school system.
Thanks for the opportunity!
Mrs. Steinlein asked about the resolution the Commmon Council recently adopted authorizing the city to borrow up to $15 million. The city has not borrowed any of that $15 million yet. The city will borrow part of it this year, and other parts in later years. The $15 million figure is based on projects in the city's five-year capital plan for 2005-2009. Each year, the city will need to decide how much of that $15 million we can afford to borrow, and looking at the impact of the borrowing on the city's property tax rate will be an important consideration when making that decision. So right now, I cannot tell you what sort of impact this resolution will have on property taxes, because I do not know how much the city actually will borrow each year.
ReplyDeleteThe city passed this resolution now because it appears the state Legislature will attempt to enact levy limits on local governments, and the levies needed to pay debt service on debt authorized before the end of June 2005 will be exempt from the levy limits.
Bill Connors
Evansville City Administrator
Thanks Bill for clearing that up.
ReplyDelete