Update: Waukesha YMCA Wins Landmarks Appeal

The showed the burden of proof that it had done all it could to sell its property at 422 East Broadway and the landmarks status should be removed from the former gas station, the Administrative Review Board decided Monday night.

“We applied the law as it stands, as the ordinance was drafted,” said Board Chairman Brian Running.

The landmarks status, as a result, was rescinded from the property by the review board.

“This board concludes that (the ordinance) is clearly intended to balance the rights of private property owners against the interest of the city in preserving historic properties, and is intended to provide the owner with relief from a landmarks designation which may be applied over the owners’ objection,”

The administrative review board rejected the Landmark Commission’s argument that the ordinance would require the YMCA “to accept the offer to purchase of any buyer willing to preserve the landmark, regardless of price.”

The real estate-based arguments brought forward by the YMCA carried the greater weight in the hearing because they were from a real estate expert and a person testifying about why he did not purchase the property. The Landmarks Commission had some of its members testify during the hearing, but they did not bring forward any real estate experts.

“This was not a question of whether the gas station deserves landmarks status or protection or not,” Running said.

The board members had to put aside their personal feelings about the property and apply the law when rescinding the ordinance, Running said.

“We hope that efforts can continue to save the building,” he said.

Earlier: The Waukesha Family YMCA is waiting to hear whether the Administrative Review Board will rescind a landmarks designation of its property at 422 East Broadway. The YMCA has fought the designation since 2010.

Patch originally reported the review board had denied the YMCA's request, but that was from a statement that was heard wrong at the beginning of the meeting. Waukesha Patch apologizes for the mistake.

The board is currently in closed session.

“The decision has been made,” said Brian Running, chairman of the board, before going into closed session. “There is not going to be anymore consideration of the evidence.”

The board made its decision last week after more than three hours of testimony from witnesses from the Waukesha Family YMCA and from the Landmarks Commission. The board waited to release its findings until Monday afternoon.

The former gas station, a house-style building at the corner of East Broadway and North Hartwell Avenue, was declared a landmark in July 2010, only months after the Waukesha Family YMCA bought the property.

The YMCA challenged the landmarks ruling before the Administrative Review Board last year, lost the appeal and found a loophole in the law that could have the landmarks status removed if there was no interested buyer who wanted to maintain the landmark property.

The Landmarks Commission had a tie vote earlier this year when the YMCA requested that the landmarks status be rescinded because the property was not sold. The YMCA was Some on the Landmarks Commission testified that they felt the YMCA had not done enough to sell the property and that the asking price was too high.