Plaza showcases city talent

The Heart of the Harbor pedestrian plaza is more than just a place for people to gather.

It’s also a place where members of the Port Washington street and parks departments could show off the talents they seldom get to show off.

“Their normal activities include repairing manholes and catch basins, collecting brush and leaves, repairing streets, and maintaining lawns and flower beds,” Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.

This project gave them a chance to use skills that aren’t as obvious as they laid pavers, built landscaping walls and did other work behind the scenes, he said. 

The city crew also came up with ideas to improve on the original design that were implemented in the plaza.

“It was hard work, but they have a ton of pride in the community and appreciate the opportunity to build something for the city that’s going to be there forever,” Vanden Noven said. “We’re fortunate to have guys who have a lot of experience that they could bring to the project.”

The city workers spent close to 1,000 hours on the project, he said, contributing $41,000 in labor to the plaza.

Their efforts were the matching funds needed  for a $40,000 Coastal Management grant awarded to Port Main Street Inc. that helped fund the plaza.

The plaza is a unique partnership between the city and Port Main Street Inc., which planned the plaza and raised the $270,000 to make it a reality.

“I can’t say enough about Main Street,” Vanden Noven said, noting the project began when the city created space for the plaza in 2014 but took off after Main Street began its fundraising campaign in 2019, just before the pandemic hit. “Without them, this project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.”

Kristina Tadeo, Main Street’s executive director, lauded the partnership between the agency and the city.

“It was a great partnership,” she said. “They gave of their time and really made it a priority. They did the work with a high level of quality, and I’m really impressed by it.”

But the city did more than just physical work on the project, she noted. Tadeo noted that Vanden Noven worked on the Coastal Management grant application, helping Main Street receive funding that “was a turning point for the project.”

The plaza, which was formally opened last week, converted the former cul de sac at the far east end of Main Street into a place where small events can be held and residents and visitors can gather year-round.

It’s a striking area with a 12-foot-tall fire sculpture that Main Street commissioned from Milwaukee area artist Jesse Meyer as its centerpiece.

Benches, bike racks, picnic tables, landscaping, pavers, a sitting wall and metal sunshades add to the ambience.

Land for the project was provided by the City of Port, and Main Street came up with the ideas for the plaza, which was designed by local architect Amanda Williams, and engineered by Vanden Noven with survey work done by Ross Kroeger, the city’s engineering tech.  

Vanden Noven compared the city crew’s efforts to build the plaza with other less than traditional work it’s done, such as building the boardwalk in Coal Dock Park, a bridge over Mineral Springs Creek, a dormer addition to the marina control building and helping Ozaukee County crews construct stairs from Upper Lake Park to the beach.

“We try to do as much in-house as we can,” he said. “If that’s the only way some of these projects of high value will get done, it’s an initiative we try to take.

“This is why we choose this line of work — at the end of the day, you can see what you’ve done and what it means to people.”