District would deliver more precious liquor licenses

By KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM

Ozaukee Press staff

The Village of Saukville is preparing to designate a portion of the new Northern Gateway Community Collective Development as a premier economic development district.

That designation, if approved, will pave the way for the village board to issue two liquor licenses to businesses in the southern portion of the development — something Village President Barb Dickmann said is important not only to the developers but the community.

“They (Ansay Development and Three Leaf Partners) have such a wonderful plan for out there,” Dickmann said. “This is essential for that area to succeed.”

That’s because the village has already issued all the liquor licenses it is authorized to grant and the Gateway project includes a number of entertainment facilities that require liquor licenses, among them a hotel, brewery and banquet facility.

The Plan Commission last week recommended the village amend its zoning code to include a premier economic development district in the Gateway development.

The Village Board will hold a public hearing and could take action on that proposal when it meets on Wednesday, April 5.

It would take a two-thirds vote of the village board to create a premier economic development district.

Premier economic development districts are a relatively new thing in the state, with the state Legislature approving their designation in recent years.

One notable place where a premier district was used is the Titletown District near Lambeau Field in Green Bay, which includes an array of entertainment businesses.

Premier economic development districts are intended to give a community greater freedom, imagination and flexibility in the development while ensuring compliance with the  intent of the zoning ordinance and community development plans.

The district allows for diversification and variation in the relationship of uses, structures, open spaces and the heights of structures, and encourages more rational and economic development in regard to public services and preservation of open land, according to the ordinance.

According to the state, a premier economic development district cannot exceed 40 acres, and all portions of the district must be contiguous.

The district cannot include any land zoned exclusively for industrial or single-family and duplex housing.

The state also requires that the district increase the assessed value of the property by at least $20 million.

In the case of the Gateway district, the southern portion of the development is expected to add more than $20 million in valuation, according to a letter from Moegenburg Research Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.

The firm looked at a 15.4 acre portion of the land that is expected to become home to 165 market-rate apartments, a 46,000-square-foot sports facility, a multi-tenant retail space with a restaurant, brewery with tasting room and other facilities, a commercial banquet facility with seating for 300 people, a hotel with more than 110 rooms and a restaurant, 8,500-square-foot day care center and a community plaza.

The Village Board last year adopted a new fee schedule that includes a $30,000 fee for the initial issuance of a Class B liquor license. in a premier economic development district.

The cost of issuing an initial liquor license elsewhere in the village is $10,000.