RACINE - The city has set the bar higher - but the building height lower - for the proposed Elizabeth Towers.

The combination may be enough to effectively kill the 21-story, 354-unit hotel/condo/retail project proposed for just south of the YMCA.

Mayor Gary Becker met with Kenosha developer Robert Watring Friday and set strict terms to be met before Watring can even imagine winning city approval.

"I laid out what that site can handle," Becker said.

He said he gave Watring several unequivocal directives, including:

- Limit the proposed lake-front project to 10 stories, the city's formal guideline for Downtown-area buildings.

- Show a completed market study early in the process. Watring asked the Racine Plan Commission for a rezoning before he paid for a market study of what sort of project makes sense for the site at 73 Eighth St.

"That's why there will have to be a market study," Becker said. "We're not just going to say, 'Do what you want to do.' "

- Provide proof of financing early in the process.

- Address parking concerns. By city guidelines, Watring's last proposal would have required 738 parking spaces but provided only 308.

The site will not be rezoned unless all of the above have been met to the city's satisfaction, Becker said.

Otherwise, if the zoning was changed, "Any nitwit can come in and buy the property and build pretty much anything they want," he said. "And we're not going to allow that to

happen."

What Watring wanted to build started with a 10-story project. Then, in the latest version, it shot up to 21 stories, including:

- More than 18,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial/retail space, including a

restaurant.

- Conference space and other parts of an upscale hotel on floors two and three.

- Above that, a central, 162-room hotel tower.

- Flanking it, two condo towers totaling 192 units.

- Four levels of underground parking totaling 308 spaces.

On Monday, Watring said he still plans to talk to Magnolia Hotels about how the project could work at 10 stories.

Becker said there will be a limit to the city's patience with proposals from Watring.

"If we're not making progress on the things we're asking for, there will come a time - relatively quickly - when we'll say, 'These are not being met, and we're not investing any more time or effort into this.' "

The city of Kenosha has spent more time than it had planned on Watring's partially built Virginia Towers, near the lake front. It has also experienced some exasperation with him, Kenosha Development Coordinator Brian Wilke said Monday.

"He's not leaving a real good taste in our mouths right now with this project," Wilke said.

Watring broke ground on the nine-story project in 2005, Wilke said. When the exterior began to take shape, city officials realized Watring had made unapproved changes.

"Ultimately, it came down to a stop-work order on the site," Wilke said. Then the issue returned to the Plan Commission for negotiations.

"We have no idea," Wilke said, why Watring made the unapproved changes. "For whatever reason, he went off on his own and made the changes, not even thinking of the consequences."