County applies for grant to help create park in Saukville

Ozaukee County officials recently voted to apply for and accept a $250,000 federal grant that would be used to help restore land east of Highway W in the Village of Saukville that eventually would be part of a new county park.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation National Coastal Resilience Fund grant would be used to conduct engineering and design work to restore floodplains and wetlands as part of the Highway W road reconstruction project.

The county was invited to apply for the grant, County Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck told supervisors on the Natural Resources Committee.

The effort is part of “a holistic, long-term solution” to improve Highway W and alleviate chronic flooding of the roadway.

It also would improve “floodplain connectivity for aquatic organism passage into the riparian floodplains, wetlands and historic Milwaukee River oxbow,” Struck said in a memo to the committee.

Plans call for moving Highway W, or Riverside Drive, which floods almost annually, slightly to the east and installing culverts to allow water from the Milwaukee River to flow under the roadway into a low-lying oxbow.

Allowing water to pass under the road will alleviate some of the flooding but not all, officials say.

The project will restore a historic oxbow, which will become a park. In documents given to the committee the park is tentatively dubbed the Milwaukee River Oxbow Nature Preserve.

Creating the oxbow requires purchasing about 67 acres from private landholders. In addition, the Village of Saukville has contributed 3.54 acres of village-owned land to the project.

Officials have previously said the park will include fishing access, a kayak launch, trails and a small parking area.

The grant requires a one-to-one match, which Struck said will be provided by state grants.

Including the Fish and Wildlife grant, the county has accrued about $2.17 million  in various grants for the project.

Construction of the road will likely begin next year and be completed by July 2027, officials have said.