Development Services Center

What it is: The Development Assistance Team (DAT) is a weekly meeting of representatives from the various city agencies who are involved in the Development Review process. Each week, the Team reviews up to four (4) development projects, typically at a preliminary stage, in order to raise potential red flags early enough in the process, before significant time and money have been invested.

When it occurs: Thursday mornings, 9:00 am – 11:00 am.

Where the meetings occur: Most typically in Room 153 of the Madison Municipal Building (215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Madison, Wisconsin 53701). (This will be confirmed on the agenda which is sent out the Friday afternoon before the DAT meeting.)

Who it is for: Typically developers, architects and engineers involved in projects who are looking for feedback related to site development.

Which city agencies typically participate each week: Engineering, Engineering-Mapping, Traffic Engineering, Fire, Parks, Forestry, Office of Real Estate Services, Metro Transit, Water Utility, Zoning, Planning, Assessor's Office.

Meeting structure: The 30 minutes can be used how the applicant desires and depends on the feedback being sought. Typically, the applicant gives a short overview and the various City Staff then take turns giving feedback.

What the applicant needs to bring to the meeting: Staff will provide a laptop for use by the applicant to display the project images on the various large monitors located on the walls of the room. Should the applicant wish to use their own laptop, it will need to have an HDMI cable port to connect to the room's A/V equipment.

How to get on an upcoming agenda: The four (4) possible DAT spots each week are available on a first come, first served basis. To get one of the spots, first email Chris Wells (cwells@cityofmadison.com) and Colin Punt (cpunt@cityofmadison.com) with the requested date. Staff will then either confirm the availability or specify the next meeting with an available slot. After the applicant has affirmed their interest in a particular available DAT slot, Staff will then tentatively add them to that agenda. However, in order to finalize their spot on that particular agenda, the following items must be emailed to Staff by noon on the Friday before the meeting:

1. A PDF of at least a site plan (Additional materials should be guided by the feedback desired by the applicant from City Agencies).
2. A very brief, 1-2 sentence description of the development proposal.

Confirmation: Staff will 'cc the applicant when the finalized DAT agenda is sent out the Friday afternoon before the meeting.