Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/01/2017

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Zoning Bulletin May 25, 2017 I Volume 11 I Issue 10 Vested Rights —After developer seeks to develop property, town rezones property Property owner sues, claiming vested right in zoning classification Citation: McKee Family I, LLC City of Fitchburg, 2017 WI 34, 2017 WL 1337663 (Wis. 2017) WISCONSIN (04/12/17)—This case addressed the issue of whether a property owner has a vested right in a zoning classification. It also ad- dressed whether a zoning classification creates a contractual expectation upon which a property owner may rely. The Background/Facts: In 1989, McKee Brothers Partnership ("Mc- Kee Brothers") dedicated approximately 60 acres of farmland to the City of Fitchburg (the "City"). The farmland was donated to fulfill a park land dedication requirement for a variety of McKee Brothers' projects, includ- ing the property known as "Lots 53 and 54." Credit for the parkland al- location was determined by a settlement agreement, which gave McKee Brothers the right to build 600 dwelling units on a variety of lands it owned. McKee Brothers later transferred Lots 53 and 54 to MAF Develop- ment, Inc. ("MAF"). The lots were zoned residential -medium ("R-M"), but MAF applied for and received approval for rezoning to a planned development district ("PDD") classification. Pursuant to Wisconsin statutory law, municipalities could use a PDD zoning classification to establish planned mixed -use developments with a higher density than allowed under an R-M classification. (Wis. Stat. § 62.23.) The City's General Ordinances required that a property owner seeking to develop PDD-zoned land first submit a general implementa- tion plan ("GIP"). The General Ordinances further required that if the GIP was approved, the property owner would then need to submit a specific implementation plan ("SIP"), which, if approved, would be fol- lowed by the property owner's building permit application. Here, after receiving the PDD zoning classification, MAF submitted a GIP for a multi -family housing development for "mature adults." The City approved the GIP. In 2007, MAF deeded Lots 53 and 54 to McKee Family I, LLC ("McKee"). McKee later entered into negotiations for JD McCormick Company, LLC ("McCormick") to purchase Lots 53 and 54. At this point, more than a decade had passed since the PDD zoning classification and the GIP approval. The purchase agreement was contingent on Mc- © 2017 Thomson Reuters 9