The Madison City Council has denied a TIF loan for an affordable housing project on the city's East Side. At issue is the potential of health effects from nearby Madison-Kipp Corporation. Alder David Ahrens was among those in opposition. Ahrens says the air quality in the area is poor. Madison Kipp has spent over $7 million dollars to settle pollution-related lawsuits filed by residents in the neighborhood.
The tax incremental finance loan was for $343,000. The entire project, proposed by Stone House Development, was $15 million and called for an 80 unit building with 68 lower cost units on Fair Oaks Avenue.
The vote was 13-6 in favor of the loan, but that fell short of the 15 votes needed to amend the city's capitol budget.
The city council also voted to reject bids for renovating the Madison Municipal Building, after bids for the project came in too high.
And alders unanimously approved scrapping the term "citizen" and replacing it with "person" or "resident".