The Plan Commission met on September 18, 2026, to discuss three main agenda items: a botanical garden concept plan, a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning for Wisconsin Power and Light, and proposed changes to the city's political sign ordinance. The commission expressed support for the botanical garden, unanimously approved the comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning, and directed staff to proceed with formal recommendations on sign ordinance changes.
Of the dusk to dawn sort of hours, which I think align to the park district or parks in Monroe. Unless of course there's some evening activities that we're having at the site, but it would be dusk to dawn would be the hours of operation. Well, hours when it would be available. We won't necessarily have people in the buildings desk to dawn every day, but other questions? Concerns? I don't mean what's been proposed. Or is it if they're looking for signals, are there people at the table who are already saying I don't like it? Yeah. So I'm saying I'm able to proceeding based on what we've been shown and part of the development part is how we accommodate some of these things that we've done with Yeah, I absolutely agree. I um I like the the layout, I like the and it's it almost as uh it could almost serve as a economic development catalyst for that neighborhood on a site that has been blighted as long as I've been coming to Monroe, and I know think there's probably a few people at this table who have been here a little bit longer. Um but that's been I I know that's has been a very very challenging site, and I give you a and your team a lot of credit for coming up with something that looks uh inviting and does pack quite a bit into uh uh otherwise very constrained space. Yeah, the design team's done a wonderful job of utilizing every foot of that space. Um so we're really excited about about having something in the downtown that will give our our visitors another something to come and have a look at and be a destination for people. Botanic gardens often are destinations for tourism. I'm all for it too. It sounds like great idea and uh like to hear more information about it as you guys proceed. All right, great. Can we can we get a quick like breakdown on what the process is going forward now? Yes, so the next kind of steps will be is they would have to submit a general development plan and specific implementation plan that both have um different requirements, which space basically is like a true developed site plan. Um they can be done separately, um and they can also within our code be done concurrently. Um so depending on their timeline and and what they decide, but both of those will come back to the plan commission for review, um whether they're done together or separately. Um I believe only technically the general development plan, which is where kind of the actual change of zoning occurs, um, would also have to go to council for review. Um they do also include um public hearings as well, so there's that process included. Um I don't know if anybody, Shannon or anybody, Dan, if you have anything to add to the process. Nothing to add. Same you you will have to own the property to come back to this, right? We can't approve something without being the owner. Uh we can make we have done a lot of times conditional approval, but it's it's proved condition that the land gets transferred. We've done that a lot with zoning. We do have a the general plan from Psyche and we do have general plans from our architects as well. You know, the next step is building great plans, which are next level expensive. You know, you guys don't need to see that. You think we have enough already in here? I mean, obviously we have the plans, but yeah, so unless they're they're looking for impr more information, the actual like general development plan. Um I guess I'd have to to look through the code to see if if it meets that, but the site implement a specific implementation plan is like having a true site plan, so not just the conceptual visualization where it truly identifies the spacing, the the setbacks and and not just the concept level kind of it. But I can also provide kind of the the code that details what those requirements are if that'd be helpful. And then do each of the uh what did you call them the requirements or your asks? Do we uh do we uh approach each of those asks separately, or is that part of the whole like is the nine spaces for parking a separate ask than the set zero setback, or is that all part of the plan? That's part of the that's part of the plan that gets kind of approved. So we'll create almost like an agreement in a sense um for the plan unit development that then identifies we're adopting light industrial as the base zoning. Um they are guaranteeing to add a botanical garden in this space, and then we'll be addressing parking, we'll have a uh exceptions with parking by addressing this and the setbacks for this, and that all be part of that kind of agreement and plan that gets adopted. But so yes, that's where if you have additional I guess concerns in what they proposed for us to to work and draft into the agreement, that's part of where that's sometimes helpful so they don't go too far down the path of taking this concept and creating a true site plan for it to bring back to you and then having to make modifications later. So that's where this can be an important part to alleviate some of those um frustrations. But that wouldn't be with us, that'd be with you and planner and building inspector. Yes, but I mean it also that's part of why we have this concept discussion with with you of like we kind of went through this to say we this is what we think you need to bring forward, but um you guys will ultimately be the ones to prove of whether, yeah. So that's why if we don't want to have them send them down the path of bringing you something along these lines and then you saying you don't like it, I guess. If there's already a red flag for somebody up here on on something we've heard, we need to be running that up the flagpole right now so that you know that's an issue that needs to be resolved. Correct. And so I I think by conveying that we're not opposed, we're saying proceed with the technical part of it. And and you shouldn't get red flags on the things that you discussed, because I think you'd already be hearing them.