Inaction by town disappointing

Editor:

In the 1970s, for taxation purposes, the town of Madison was divided into business or residential districts. They failed — or forgot — to allow for both in the same building. All of the businesses prior to this zoning were considered “grandfathered” and have enjoyed the privilege of dual zoning, including the income generated from any existing apartments.

Three years ago a group of business property owners requested that the town council consider allowing additional properties to qualify for dual zoning. A petition was circulated and presented to the mayor and council last year. It had more than 120 town and county residents’ signatures, including two previous mayors. I went door to door with that petition and not one town resident spoke in opposition to allowing a merchant the right to live in his or her own building.
At the April 2 town meeting, Councilman Charles Carter made a motion to consider a new zoning ordinance — allow R-1 in an existing business location. (R-1 means one residence, not apartments.) This ordinance had been written by the Planning and Zoning Committee, reviewed by attorneys and approved prior to the town meeting.

When the mayor asked for a second to the motion, the room went silent. Council members sat frozen, with eyes on the floor. No second was offered and the mayor declared the motion dead.

The sudden lack of support and cooperation came as a shock to the full room of citizens, as well as Carter. Those citizens were there to see the mayor and council finally make a positive and long awaited step towards fairness to business owners.

The mayor stated that he had not heard “broad support” for it, even though this request has been on the table for three years. It has been brought up at virtually every meeting by many different people. The meetings on this subject have been well attended. The council never vocalized any concerns or problems with this zoning amendment. Once again, we left disappointed and confused as to the council’s lack of support for local business and its absence of vision for the future of our town.

Gay Kulenguski
Madison