Affordable housing is coming to Middleton. After over a year of hard work, stress, community backlash and tireless planning, Anthony Gray’s vision of bringing affordable housing to Middleton is a reality. The Middleton Common Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve Gray’s project, “The Addison,” and rezone the area the proposed project will inhabit.
Following a year’s worth of firestorms, Gray was able to not only persevere but put on display incredible creativity in redesigning his proposal to align with guidelines set by the Middleton Common Council. On Feb. 5, the Council ruled that The Addison would have to be capped at three stories high. It was a ruling a small set of residents opposed to the project thought would eliminate Gray’s ability to complete the project. Gray himself had initial doubts but was able to rally and come up with a way to comply with the ruling while at the same time preserving the number of units he needed to make the project financially viable.
The Addison project has long had the support of city staff across Middleton. City Administrator Mike Davis spoke in support of the project at a number of Common Council meetings and Alder Joann Richard was instrumental in helping Gray achieve his vision.
The revised 3-story building will convert 10 one-bedroom units to studios/efficiencies. The Addison will have 16 studios, 19 one bedrooms, and 4 two-bedroom units.
It was a very different scene at the Middleton Common Council meeting on Tuesday night than what transpired at the February 5th meeting. Missing was the dozens of residents who filled the room last time to state their displeasure at the idea of The Addison.
Two weeks ago a band of residents had made thinly veiled xenophobic and, in the opinion of some in attendance, displayed racially insensitive behavior in public.
But in the subsequent weeks, residents of Middleton took to social media in droves to say that The Addison would indeed be welcome and that the actions of some at the previous council were not indicative of Middleton as a whole.
At the Tuesday meeting, residents during the public part of the proceedings were muted at worst. The dog-whistle language that was used before was slowed to a trickle and reduced to simple complaining about the number of units The Addison would have and the parking situation around the building.
Only three residents spoke and all voiced concerns about the stress the development will have on the environment and that the parking lots might be too close to the road.
“I’m here because although the Common Council lowered the size of the building, it didn’t really change the other dimensional aspects of the building,” resident Nile Ostenso told the Council. “There’s a proposal for 39 units yet. So the same number of units. So that’s gonna have the same kind of stress on the environment. My understanding was this was a downsizing from the original development, so by doing that he should only have about four studios, not 16. And I would like the Common Council to consider stipulating that into the zoning requirements, that proportional requirements be included. And I’d like the zoning to also consider limiting to 2-hour parking and limiting the units from parking on Franklin Street. Or at least having a set time they can use parking on Franklin.”
Ostenso wanted the Common Council to put limitations on when The Addison’s future residents could park, right down to the hour.
But the time had passed for the Common Council to consider these types of requests. The fight over this project had clearly come to a close. Two more residents stepped to the podium to say with 39 units, there would be massive parking issues.
In reality, though, The Addison will have less than the allowed amount of parking and has what essentially amounts to a 1 to 1 unit-to-parking ratio.
According to Middleton’s parking guidelines (which are over 30 years old), The Addison would need to provide 54 off-street parking spaces. With the revised plan, Anthony Gray is requesting approval for just 44 spaces. The Addison’s parking will be almost identical to other recent apartment developments around Middleton such as Parmenter Circle, Meadow Ridge and Stagecoach (which has not opened yet).
The Council did not entertain the additional concerns and had no discussion amongst themselves before unanimously approving The Addison.
After the meeting, a relieved Anthony Gray hugged his family and shook hands with well-wishers.
“Effective dialogue in the public square requires a careful apportionment of the three C’s,” Gray told Madison365. “Communication, collaboration and compromise. We are thrilled that we were able to find the right combination of the three C’s with the Middleton Common Council. We look forward to our continued partnership with the city.”
On Thursday night, Gray will be receiving a community award for resilience from the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce.
