By Jason Busch

of the Times

MONROE -- The Monroe Judiciary and Ordinance Review Committee (JORC) stood firm Tuesday, refusing to alter the large-scale retail (LSR) ordinance passed unanimously one week before by the City Council.

Verona City Planner Bruce Sylvester, a Monroe resident and Ad Hoc Large-scale Retail Study Committee member, raised questions regarding costs of municipal services during the Tuesday, June 6 council meeting.

The fact that amending such a recently passed ordinance was even on the table left other questions in the minds of several aldermen and the mayor.

Mayor Ron Marsh asked Sylvester point blank if he ever raised these concerns to the ad hoc committee while they were drafting LSR guidelines. Marsh pressed the issue further when he asked Sylvester why he waited so long to bring up his concerns.

The ad hoc committee met for the final time Jan. 25 and at that time recommended a set of draft guidelines to the appropriate city committees. The city also made a draft of the LSR ordinance public no later than its initial discussion during an April 25 JORC meeting.

"I apologize (for waiting so long)," Sylvester said. "I only found out two weeks ago the ordinance was finally ready for public hearing. As soon as I found out it was picking up speed again, my first opportunity to raise my concerns was at the (June 6) public hearing."

Sylvester said he applauded the job City Attorney Rex Ewald did in drafting an ordinance from the ad hoc committee's recommendations. But while the planned unit development (PUD) process established in the ordinance for negotiating with developers meets the city's zoning and land use needs, his concern is the cost of setting up municipal services, such as sewer and water.

Repeatedly Sylvester said he wants to make sure the city will establish from the start which services the developer will pay for and which the city -- through taxes -- will pay for.

And just as often as he raised the concern, aldermen and the mayor shot it back down.

"I think the ordinance addresses these concerns already," Alderman Thurston Hanson agreed. "To come back a week after we passed it ... makes everyone (who worked on the ordinance) look like putzes."

"There's no reason why you can't address these concerns as a document drafted and accepted by the council to use as further guidelines," Alderman Mike Capesius said. "I wouldn't mind seeing that stuff in as a guideline if that's what the council thinks, but I don't feel it's necessary."

Sylvester replied he just wanted to make sure the council was comfortable with the ordinance as it's drafted.

"If you think it establishes who pays for what before the development is agreed upon, then that's fine," he said.

Hanson added he isn't going to blindly vote on any retail development. Personally, he'd like to see developers pay for most municipal improvements, like water, sewer and roads.

"One thing the public doesn't want to do is pay for something and have it go away (down the road)," Marsh said. "That's not going to happen as long as I'm here."

City Administrator Mark Vahlsing also said it's nearly impossible to detail in advance what types of services a developer will pay for until the city sees on paper what the development is going to look like.

Monroe Wal-Mart manager Ron Fager even said Wal-Mart, for one, is willing -- and has offered -- to pay for all of the municipal services required if a new supercenter is built within or near the city.

"I just feel like you can't always count on the good faith of the retailer, like it appears Wal-Mart is doing," Sylvester countered. "In this case the cost is being assumed 100 percent by the developer but it may not always be."

The JORC eventually agreed unanimously to reject Sylvester's suggestions and keep the LSR ordinance exactly the way it was approved June 6.

A public hearing for an ordinance repealing the moratorium on all LSR developments greater than 50,000 square feet is set for the Wednesday, July 5 City Council meeting. The earliest the moratorium can officially be lifted is July 6, the first day the council's decision can be published following its vote.

Jason Busch can be reached at

jbusch@themonroetimes.com