By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With Whitewater’s yearlong zoning rewrite project winding to a close, city officials are planning a meeting summit in the near future to discuss and update rules pertaining to parking throughout the community.
The Common Council on April 15 voted to enter into a contract with Larry Witzling, a principal with Milwaukee-based engineering firm GRAEF to assist in making parking recommendations.
Witzling worked with city officials throughout the zoning rewrite process, but parking was left out of the equation during the initial review because of the complexity involved in rezoning the entire city.
As for the zoning rewrite itself, City Manager Cameron Clapper said a final draft will soon be presented to the council for final adoption.
Other business
In other business April 15, the council:
• Designated the Whitewater Register as the city’s official newspaper for the next year. Annually, the council reviews where it will publish official announcements;
• Discussed a proposal by Milwaukee-based engineering firm Strand Associates to adopt a plan to alleviate flooding within the city’s Buckingham Estates subdivision along Woodland Drive.
Tentative plans call for installing new infrastructure – including a 24-inch sanitary sewer system. The city is expected to take out general obligation funds to cover the cost of the project, which will hover around $86,000;
• Approved a proposal from Police Chief Lisa Otterbacher to enter into a study to explore a so-called communications bridge with the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department to handle 911 dispatch operations.
The council delayed a separate request from Otterbacher to purchase new 911 software and equipment. While the upgrade is included in the city’s capital improvement plan, the council decided not to take action because of the dispatch study;
• Approved a series of motions to fill a gap left by the recent departure of Latisha Birkeland, who resigned in April as the city’s neighborhood services director.
The council voted in favor of Clapper’s timeline to fill the vacancy, which tentatively calls for the position to be filled by late June.
Additionally, the council voted to enter into an interim agreement with Madison-based Vandewalle and Associates for professional planning services related to the search for Birkeland’s replacement.
Lastly, the council voted to enter into a building inspection and zoning services contract with Greg Noll until Birkeland’s replacement is hired.
