The Madison City Council spent four and a half hours debating the Edgewater Hotel redevelopment plan and related budget issues before agreeing to set aside $16 million in tax incremental financing for the controversial project. But the money won’t be disbursed until a TIF agreement is reached between the city and the developer, and then approved by the council.

That is as it should be.

This Edgewater project remains unsettling and unsatisfactory to a lot of Madisonians.

Neighborhood critics raise legitimate concerns about whether it is too big for the historic downtown neighborhood where the hotel is located, and they worry about whether genuine access to Lake Mendota will be maintained.

Supporters argue that it will create jobs, and we sympathize with that argument. Indeed, we think Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway struck the right balance when she told the council: “Probably the only clearly good thing about this project is the number of jobs that it could create. And that is important to all of us.”

Striking a balance between the need for job creation and the need for a project that is the right fit for downtown Madison is what the debate about TIF funding should be about.

There should be no rubber-stamping of the Edgewater project. It should be treated warily, with an understanding that the goal of job creation is vitally important but that it cannot be pursued at any cost.

The council’s work on this project is just beginning. And it could yet conclude with a decision to reject the TIF request.

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