GM/JATCO Redevelopment Advisory Board Meeting – January 22, 2026
GM/JATCO Redevelopment Advisory Board Meeting – January 22, 2026
This meeting of the GM/JATCO Redevelopment Advisory Board was convened to interview two finalist firms – Stantec and AECOM – for master planning and development strategy services for the former GM and JATCO site (approximately 250 acres in Janesville). After presentations and board discussion, a motion was made and carried to select Stantec as the recommended firm, with Sigma (not interviewed on this date) as an alternative if contract negotiations fail. Note: The agenda and transcript indicate the meeting took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, but the provided date for this summary is January 22, 2026. The exact date used here follows the instruction that the meeting occurred on 2026-01-22.
Presentations & Interviews
- Stantec Presentation (approx. 40 minutes + Q&A): The firm introduced its team of planning, brownfield, and community engagement specialists. Jim Hallman (planning lead) noted Stantec has 34,000+ employees, 450 locations, and 2,000 community development specialists in North America. Amy Worsham (project manager) emphasized an integrated approach: combining environmental due diligence (over 550 brownfield grants secured, totaling $140 million) with market analysis and public engagement. Harris (brownfield expert with a doctorate in contaminant hydrogeology) shared a personal connection as a UAW child and stressed that contamination data must be translated into planning-ready documents from day one. Jay Delma (urban planner) described a market study focusing on demand drivers, indicators, and site context. Renee Blaine (landscape architect) outlined an iterative design process with multiple public workshops. Key points: 18-month proposed schedule; strong emphasis on grant funding, including a North American funding practice and partnership with KSU TAB (free technical assistance); a community sentiment and risk assessment tool (optional, inexpensive); and branding/rebranding the site early. Stantec positioned itself as a neutral third party and said the site's environmental liabilities (PCBs, metals, TCE, lead, petroleum) require careful phasing. Bill (a former city consultant now with Stantec) provided three years of site-specific knowledge, noting the GM parcel (north) has concrete slabs capping contamination, while the JATCO parcel (south) is cleaner but has unknown risks. Board members asked about phasing, grant stacking (e.g., six grants over seven years on a 350-acre project), public engagement, and the challenge of $30 million cleanup costs. Stantec responded that funding doesn't scare them and that they have written 60% of EPA grants in Wisconsin.
- AECOM Presentation (approx. 30 minutes + Q&A): Chris Brewer (vice president) led with 30 years of industrial redevelopment experience, including military base reuse. Alex Miller (project manager) proposed a 10-month schedule (vs. the RFP's 18 months) to maintain community momentum, and emphasized an intensive first three months: meeting with environmental consultants, stakeholder interviews, and a concentrated market analysis. Shannon Flanigan (brownfield specialist, environmental engineer) reviewed the site's contamination, noting that the JATCO site might be more suitable for housing but warned of vapor intrusion and remediation costs. AECOM highlighted its integrated team (SMEs in transportation, water, cost estimating, data centers) and optional financial analysis for the back-end transaction. Public engagement centered on three in-person open houses plus a digital survey, with a philosophy of co-design: stakeholders receive the same data as planners before giving input. Chris discussed challenges like rail lines and slab removal, and the importance of defining success (tactical vs. strategic goals). Example projects: West Dundee, Illinois (mall-to-mixed-use); Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood (brownfield remediation); and a passenger rail study for Rock/Dane County. AECOM stressed that public engagement must be high-touch to change narratives, especially given the data center proposal. Board members asked about the 10-month schedule and risk of rushing; AECOM said they can adapt and that the budget can be managed if adjustments are needed.
Discussion & Selection
After both interviews, the board discussed each firm's strengths and weaknesses. Board members provided impressions: Mick (chair) saw Stantec as strong in master planning, public engagement, and grants, but felt their design visuals were lacking; he noted AECOM's design approach was more illustrative but questioned their narrow focus. Jeff liked Stantec's energy (Harris) and mentioned the JATCO site's potential for housing. Lindsay appreciated Stantec's branding and grant expertise. Craig favored Stantec and Rinka (not interviewed that day). Kristen liked AECOM's environmental specialist and their honest discussion about stakeholder management and gentrification. Nate found Sigma (not interviewed) appealing for its collaborative approach but noted Stantec's in-house resources. Jim C. preferred Sigma for its priority on Janesville and more intimate feel. James emphasized the need for a firm that can deliver tough love and avoid analysis paralysis. Kevin (city manager, via video) noted that both finalists are strong, with Stantec having in-house expertise and Sigma bringing creative partners like Cardio.
A straw poll of top-two firms among board members yielded: Rinka – 1, Sigma – 7, Stantec – 8, AECOM – 2. Rinka and AECOM were eliminated. Further discussion highlighted Stantec's grants, branding, and project management (Amy) versus Sigma's energy, gamification, and real estate connections (Josh). The city manager advised focusing on the project manager as the key relationship.
Key Outcomes
- Motion: Mick moved to direct the city to enter into a contract with Stantec for the GM/JATCO redevelopment master planning, with a friendly amendment (by James) that Sigma be second choice if contract negotiations fail. Seconded by Craig. Vote: 7 in favor (Burkhart, Devorek Stone, Winchell, DeGarmel, Bittendorf, Gilbertson, Otterstein, Kuborn), 1 opposed (Deninger). Motion carried.
- Next Steps: City staff will negotiate a contract with Stantec based on the RFP and their response. If an agreement cannot be reached, staff will return to the board to recommend Sigma. The contract is expected to be brought to city council for approval. Professional courtesy requested: no social media posting until all consultants are notified.
- Meeting adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, we'll go ahead and get started. I'd like to call to order the Tuesday, January 20th meeting of the GM Jacko Redevelopment Board to order. We'll start with roll call. Mick Doberson chair, present. Lindsay Bittendorf, Vice Chair. Present. Nathan Burkhart. Present. Steve Dean is absent. Kristen Devorek Stone. Present. Craig DeGarmel. Heidi Denninger. Present. Aaron Klipstein. Absent. Jim C. Cuborn. Present. James Otterstein. Here. And Jeff Winchell from here. Okay. With that, the next order of business is interviews and presentations by our consultants. And leading off this evening is Stantech. So you'll have about 30 to 45 minutes for your presentation. We'll do about 15, 20 minutes of QA at the end of that, and then we'll go from there. About the 40 minute mark, I'll give you the high sign, and we can go from get started. So I'll turn the floor over to you. Sounds great. Thanks. I'm Jim Hallman, I head our planning group for SANDEC. We've got about 100 professional planners across the US. And just on behalf of the entire team, I just want to say we're very excited about this opportunity to work on this transformational project for your community. So we're pretty excited about doing that. Let me just give you a little bit of background of how our presentation is going to go today. I'm going to give you a little background on Stan Tech, or we're going to then talk a little bit about our approach and our strategy for moving forward with this. We'll touch on data centers, although we're not here to talk about specifically data centers. We're an independent third party that's going to look at all the types of uses that should occur out here, and we'll collaborate with you in what you think is the best approach for this. Then we did get your questions. We've uh have responses for those, and then we'll entertain any additional questions that you might get that we might hear from our presentation as well. Just a little bit of background regarding Stantech. We're a obviously a very large engineering and architectural planning firm. We're over 34,000 employees, but uh we're very very diverse and we're very specialized in a lot of different areas. So we've got a lot of resources that we can pull from. Uh we've got 450 locations worldwide, and we are a little bit different than a lot of large AE firms is in the fact that we put community development planning up front, and that drives a lot of our business lines. And uh that is important in looking at projects like this, where we sit down up front and address what needs to be done and then bring in the technical experts and carry that through implementation. We can take things from concept right through construction. Um we also uh have in the US uh community development, we have almost 2,000 community development specialists across North America. And here in the Midwest, uh we've got uh a lot of offices and we pull a lot of resources, and we'll get into a little bit of our history in terms of what we do as well.
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