Interview with Phil Salkin- Government Affairs Director with the REALTORS® Association of the South Central Wisconsin- Brought to you by the Madison Real Estate Show
Next in our series of interviews with local real estate insiders the Madison Real Estate Show is excited to provide you this insight from Phil Salkin- Government Affairs Director of the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin. We hope that you find it informative and useful.
Recently I had a chance to ask some questions of and get some insight from Phil Salkin - Government Affairs Director of the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin. This being an election year Phil has his hands full with the many facets of his job and I thank him for taking some time out to share some of his thoughts on the local real estate scene.
John Schroeder- Madison Real Estate Show- Phil, Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Phil Salkin- I got my Undergrad (Anthropology) from Binghamton University and my Graduate Degree (Anthro) from UW Madison. I taught Anthropology, Archaeology and Cultural Ecology at UW Parkside, UW Whitewater, and Marquette University from 1976-1981. Founded the Archaeological Consulting and Services, Inc. in 1976. The firm provides cultural resources management services in archaeology, architectural history and Phase I environmental studies in 10 states. ACS, Inc. is in its 32nd year of continuous operation with myself as president.
My public service includes:
- Alder, City of Verona 1984-1986
- Mayor, City of Verona 1986-1990
- Supervisor Dane Co. Board 1994-2002
- Regional Plan Commision 1994-1997
- Wisconsin Historic Review Board 1989-2004
- Wisconsin Land Council 1999-2004
- Chair, On Common Ground Foundation 1999-2004
- Various Commissions and Committees 1984-Present
Madison Real Estate Show- When did you get started in Governmental Affairs?
Phil Salkin- I got my start lobbying for various cultural resources and environment issues beginning in the late 1970's. As previously mentioned I served in selected office from 1984-1990 and 1994-2002 and in appointed positions from 1984-present. I began my position with the WRA in 2002.
Madison Real Estate Show- What are your responsibilities with the WRA?
Phil Salkin- My responsibilities at the WRA include providing expertise on environmental, land use, cultural resource and local government issues as needed. As the governmental affairs director for the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin I work on member education of government, analysis of issues, analysis of local and regional elections, staffing the Government Affairs Committee, and political fund raising.
Madison Real Estate Show- What are some of the biggest things affecting real estate in the Madison, WI area today as well as in the next 5-10 years?
Phil Salkin- Obviously real estate is being impacted by regional and national problems with the economy, housing, and the sub-prime mess. The general perception is that national problems are local problems. Articles in area newspapers, on radio, and on television often do not differentiate between national trends, trends in states like California, Florida, Arizona, etc. and trends in Wisconsin. While 2007 sales in Dane County were down it was still the fifth best year on record. Housing prices are still rising...if only marginally. The perception being created is that this is a difficult time to sell a home and a dangerous time to buy one. The reality is that a reasonably priced home will sell and this is a great time to buy.
There are also problems with government and regulation. Programs such as IZ (inclusionary zoning) and the difficulty and expense of moving projects through the city process contribute to the cost of housing and the perception that Madison is a difficult place to develop housing and commercial properties. We note and applaud efforts by the Mayor and Common Council to streamline the permitting process and to focus on economic development.
Some examples of County Issues are:
Shoreland Zoning-
Attempts to remove the grandfathered protection from "substandard" parcels in the shoreland zone. Substandard refers to unsewered lots below 20,000 sq ft in size and 15,000 sq ft in size for sewered lots. The shoreland zone includes all lots within 1000 ft of a lake or pond and 300 ft on either side of a river, stream, drainage ditch, etc. This includes over 20,000 lots in the towns, not to mention those in lands annexed to villages and cities after 1982.
The original attempt to remove grandfathering failed after intense objections from property owners notified of the effort, not by the County, but by the REALTORS® Association. The proponents of the restrictions then went to the Board of Adjustments and got that unelected body to rule that the County ordinances were not being properly enforced and had some ambiguities. As a result any request for a building permit for the thousands of "substandard" lots now has to include a variance from the Board of Adjustments. We are hoping to rectify this problem soon.
Changes to the Denisy Formula-
Some supervisors are discussing the need to change the density standard from 1:35 to 1:80. In most towns, for lands in the Exclusive Agricultural District, you are entitled to create one parcel for every 35 acres. The potential change would require 80 acres to create a lot, effectively halving the number of potential homes in the towns. This will have some impact on real estate and a tremendously negative impact on farmers.
Madison Real Estate Show- What are your thoughts on the Capitol Area Regional Plan Commission?
When asked this question Phil presented me with an analysis that he did on the potential impact of the proposals...I have included it here-
Download capitol_area_regional_plan_commission_analysis_by_phil_salkin.pdf
Phil, Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insight with everyone here...
If you are involved in the local real estate scene and would like to be considered for an interview feel free to email us at john@HomesByJV.com
John Schroeder -RE/MAX Preferred- 608-225-0926 john@HomesByJV.com
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