By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
The Whitewater zoning rewrite project that spanned several years in development and ultimately was approved a year ago bubbled back to the surface recently.
A property owner’s request to rezone a parcel to a designation upping the permissible number of unrelated persons sparked a robust discussion of the scope of the revamped citywide zoning document when the Common Council deliberated on the specific request July 7.
Late this spring, applicants Francis, Janeen and Joa Cain came before the city with a request to have their property at 604 W. High St. converted to a technical designation known as residential overlay so up to four unrelated persons could live in the home.
The council, on a 4-3 vote, gave the green light to proceed during its review of the request last week.
While the council almost routinely acts on the requests, one sticking point in the Cains’ plans sparked a discussion about what teeth exist in the zoning rewrite document in its revised state.
The Cains petitioned, and successfully obtained, approval to convert an existing dining room within the dwelling into a bedroom to accommodate the changes planned in the rezoning request. Initially, council members deliberated on whether the room conversion was permissible within the guise of the zoning rewrite document.
The city’s Plan and Architectural Review Commission had given the green light to move forward with the rezone plan, but the proposal sat in limbo briefly until landing on council members’ desks last week.
As part of the motion, the Cains have been asked to revise the parking schematics on the property to accommodate the additional people living in the home.
