Feb. 9, 2026 Shorewood Council Meeting 90 Second Facts

NOTE: Relevant links are at the end of this article.

SCA attends every City Council meeting so you don’t have to. Don’t be fooled by the appearance of a “routine” agenda. There are always surprises…

Let’s get to the simplified highlights of the 1,012 pages of material the council had to review.

Agenda Change Watten Ponds 2nd Addition: Planner Jake Griffiths pulled items 4A and 4B after the city received a petition demanding an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. Translation: if enough signatures are gathered, the city has to review a 31-question, state-mandated environmental deep dive before moving forward. The council can approve or deny the petition, but either way, the project timeline just got longer. It’s back on Feb. 23. Read more here.

Financial: Accounts payable totaled $332,780

Moved off the Consent Agenda (items that would have been approved with no discussion.)

1. Item 2A – Strategic Planning Session minutes.
2. Item 2E – Comprehensive Plan update contract for $149,000.

City Values Statement: Staff delivered the requested Resolution Affirming City Values in Response to Federal Activities. It neatly packaged the council’s sentiments into formal language. After a bit of predictable wordsmithing, the council nodded in approval and passed it. Read the statement here.

Zoom Call Policies: After the ugly call-ins on Jan. 28, the council revisited its Zoom rules. The main question: when can the chair cut off a caller without tripping over the First Amendment? The mayor wanted to scrap Zoom public comments entirely. The majority wasn’t buying that and opted to keep Zoom, just with tighter decorum and anti–hate speech language. In the end, the mayor got discretion—guided by the city attorney—to pull the plug when needed. Read the policy here.

2050 Comp Plan Update Contract: The price tag? $149,000. Yes, really. Sanschagrin suggested pausing to shift more work in-house and use the consultant for review instead of doing the heavy lifting. The mayor said staff is already maxed out. Staff agreed—they can’t absorb a project this size. The proposal is “bare bones” as it is, with little to cut. After some back-and-forth, it was approved.

Strategic Planning meeting notes aren’t winning over Council Member DiGruttolo. She called it déjà vu 2025—eight hours of meetings reduced to sparse summaries that capture outcomes, not the actual tough debates and agonizing discussions. With live Zoom recordings gone, the public was promised “awesome” minutes. These weren’t it. After some prodding, staff agreed to beef them up using audio recordings. Council voted to have the minutes amended for the council meeting on Feb. 23. Without explanation, Maddy opposed.

2025 Shorewood Community Photo Contest winners: Communications Coordinator Eric Wilson presented the winners of the 2025 contest and the rules for the 2026 contest. See the winners here.

Check below for related links and share with your neighbors on social media!

Next City Council meeting: Feb. 23, 2026. We’ll be watching.

Related Links:
City Council Meeting Feb 9, 2026 (watch any time)
Public Background-Packet for this meeting-read it
Watten Ponds 2nd Addition
More info about Watten Ponds 2nd Addition
Proposed Zoom Call Policies (see discussion above)
Shorewood’s Planning Department Aberration
Statement of Shorewood Values regarding Federal Enforcement (see discussion above)