By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
The intersection of Main and Elizabeth streets will soon look different in the city of Whitewater — in more ways than one.
After receiving a favorable recommendation from Chris Munz-Pritchard, neighborhood services manager and city planner, the Common Council on March 15 set into motion plans to revamp infrastructure at the high-profile intersection.
Munz-Pritchard proposed a plan to tweak the intersection with a curb-cut design that will help usher in an upcoming redevelopment project at the site.
A defunct, dormant Mobile gas station on a nearby parcel will soon give way to an auto parts store on the same lot, Munz-Pritchard reported.
In other business March 15, the Common Council:
– Delayed adoption of a formal agreement between the city and the fire and rescue department. The document pertains to the department’s largely volunteer force. A specific timetable for revisiting the agreement has not been set, but it should be taken up in the near future.
– Held a second, and final, reading on amendments to the city’s zoning code for impervious surface thresholds in relation to stormwater maintenance regulations. The document was adopted without any significant modifications from the first reading.
The tweaked zoning provisions have a tiered set of requirements. The base calculation for an impervious surface for a lot less than 7,000 square feet is set at a 65-percent threshold. For lots of 7,000 to 8,499 square feet, the threshold inches downward at 60 percent.
Lots sizes falling between 8,500 and 9,999 square feet would have a lot size threshold of 55 percent, and lots of 10,000 square feet or greater would have a 50-percent impervious surface threshold.
