The Community Development Authority met April 16 for its monthly meeting at the Whitewater Municipal Building. Board members discussed various topics such as redevelopment resources, home renewal programs and Bluff Road properties.

Principal and CEO of Redevelopment Resources Kristin Fish-Peterson attended Thursday’s meeting to analyze the development resources’ economical-based data findings from both citizens and students in Whitewater.

“Including both Walworth and Jefferson County, we looked at incorporated areas in the counties and compared other university communities including Menominee, Platteville and Stevens Point,” Fish-Peterson said.

A key finding from this data was that many residents and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students work outside of city limits due to competing wages and job openings.

“You’ve got a solid workforce and many of them are leaving town,” Fish-Peterson said. “So living in Whitewater or the study area, but employed outside, was 3,993. But employed and living in the area was 3,449.”

The board acknowledged the university’s impact on the workplace and how certain areas are affected by students.

“The student-driven economy is impactful,” Fish-Peterson said. “Students contribute tens of millions annually, dominating key sectors like housing and entertainment. UW-Whitewater’s impact on the community is significant, and it should be leveraged for economic growth.”

The board mentioned the possibility of excluding UW-Whitewater from the data before moving on to the next topic, the Home Renewal Program. The program funds housing for Whitewater citizens and manages home repairs for single-family owners. The board approved the motion in last month’s meeting. Discussion of this topic is to approve the process of completing two inspections before setting a contract into place, one inspection in the beginning of the process and one once it is completed.

“We don’t have a contract in place currently with municipal enforcement to make sure that these contractors would be paid,” Economic Development Coordinator Ashwini Rao said. “And so this particular contract addresses the reason why we are doing this with the CDA, which is because this Home Renewal Loan Program is a CDA program.”

The final topic for the board was the discussion and approval to remove the deed restrictions on CDA’s Bluff Road properties. The CDA is working with Stonehaven to develop 14 single-family homes along Bluff Road near the railroad tracks.

The Common Council saw this motion April 9, but tabled it.

“The developer discovered that some covenants and deed restrictions have been created on properties all along the north side of Bluff Road that would restrict development of any residential housing on those properties,” citizen member Jon Kachel said. “At the time, they were trying to create a kind of a commercial buffer zone that was residential friendly, given that there’s residential properties immediately to that to the south.”

CDA voted to remove the restrictions on the deed restrictions.
The recording and agenda of the April 16 meeting are available online. The next Community Development Authority meeting is May 21 at 5:30 p.m.