Plan for bluff land rapped for being too dense

A concept plan that would allow 326 apartments, condominiums and houses as well as two commercial sites to be developed on 70 acres of bluff land east of Highway C and north of Cedar Gorge on Port Washington’s far southeast side was met with some skepticism by the Plan Commission last week.

“This looks dense to me — it looks too dense,” Mayor Marty Becker, chairman of the commission, said.

“This seems like a lot on one site,” commission member Eric Ryer said.

The Cedar Vineyard subdivision originally proposed for this land as well as a tract directly to the south — land that the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust is now working to buy as a nature preserve — was a proposal he favored, Ryer said.

“It was something a little different,” he said, noting that plan was significantly less dense. “It was focused on the land.”

The plan was proposed by property owner Waukesha State Bank as a concept it could use to attract a developer to buy the land.

Keith Van De Laarschot, the bank’s commercial business development director, said the plan is an attempt to provide the tax base city officials have sought while offering developers a concept they can embrace.

“In trying to sell this property, developers were constantly saying, ‘What can we do there?’” he said.

The bank presented the concept plan to the city to ensure whatever it presents to developers is something officials are willing to consider, he added.

Jared Schmidt, vice president of civil engineering for Robert E. Lee and Associates, which developed the plan for the bank, said one of the challenges is that the site is removed from city infrastructure, such as sewer and water.

Depending on the use of the land, he said, “this could be a $50 million development or it could be an $80 million development.”

The plan reflects uses that could be developed all at once or in phases, he said, noting each use would attract a different buyer to the subdivision.

The 25 single-family lots on the south side of the property, he said, could be used for homes of $500,000 to $1 million, and five stand-alone condominium sites on the north end of the land would also draw higher value homes.

There would be 16 attached townhouses that would take advantage of the views and two two-story apartment or condo buildings. Two other buildings would offer 100 apartment units.

“We wanted to be able to drive that density” and cover the cost of development, Schmidt said. 

The apartment buildings are envisioned as three to five stories but, he said, because they are tucked behind two commercial lots and off Highway C, they won’t appear as large.

The height of the taller buildings drew concerns from some commission members.

“It feels like this big wall,” commission member Mike Ehrlich said. “Four stories seems pretty significant.”

Ryer concurred, saying that the developer should limit the height of buildings and create a transition from proposed nature preserve to the south and the city to the north. 

However, Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said he is “not afraid of the density,” noting “the opposite of density is sprawl.” 

The two commercial lots on the property were opposed by Ald. Paul Neumyer, a member of the commission.

“We’ve spent a significant amount of time revitalizing our downtown,” he said, and he doesn’t want to jeopardize that work.

However Ehrlich said he isn’t necessarily opposed to commercial uses, but they should be destinations, places that would draw visitors to the city who would also spend time downtown.

Ryer agreed, saying, “Make it special throughout.” 

Commission member Tony Matera said he, too, believes the plan is “very dense,” adding he would not favor a four-story building on the site.

Care must be taken not to bring in businesses that would compete with downtown shops and restaurants, Matera said, adding the developer also needs to provide public access to the bluff — things the Cedar Vineyard plan did well 

“Not just a walkway for the people who buy the lots,” he said, adding that a trail on the plan “looks like another walkway for these million-dollar lots. 

“It may be open to the public but it doesn’t feel inviting to the public.”  

Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven concurred, adding that he feared the plan showed the trail so close to the edge that “it may be lost to the lake.”

One priority should be creating a pedestrian path from the Prairie’s Edge subdivision to the north to this site, he said, so people will view the area as part of the city.

Ehrlich offered one final piece of advice.

“You just have to be careful,” he said. “This is way too special a piece of land.” Bob Harris, the city’s director of planning and development, said he expects Waukesha State Bank to work with Robert E. Lee and Associates to tweak the plan based on the commission’s comments and bring it back to the commission for more discussion.

But, he added, “They’re under no obligation to do so.”