Private buyer lobbying state officials to nix preserve grant

The $1.6 million Knowles Nelson Stewardship grant that would help the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust’s purchase of the 131 acres on Port Washington’s far southeast side earmarked for the Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs Nature Preserve is in jeopardy, Sen. Duey Stroebel said Friday.

“Right now, it’s in limbo,” Stroebel, a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, said.

That’s because a private buyer for the land has emerged and, with the help of a lobbyist, is talking to members of the committee, who must hold a hearing on the stewardship grant before the Land Trust receives the funds, Stroebel said.

“Since then, there are some members of the Joint Finance Committee who are no longer interested in doing it,” he said, adding, “I don’t know who this person is.”

Tom Stolp, executive director of the Land Trust, said Stroebel’s news is troubling, especially since the proposed preserve has widespread support.

“It is deeply troubling that an anonymous private interest can swoop in and attempt to kill our transparently awarded conservation project by lobbying one or more anonymous lawmakers,” he said. The community knows exactly what it is getting from our efforts to conserve Cedar Gorge Clay Bluff — unspoiled Lake Michigan views, 100% free and open public access for outdoor recreation and permanently conserved habitat.”

The Land Trust has been working for years to obtain the property for the preserve — initially as part of the proposed Cedar Vineyard subdivision and later on its own.

It negotiated a $5 million purchase agreement for the land with Waukesha State Bank and, in addition to seeking grant money, also raised a significant portion of the cost privately.

Its efforts were bolstered in June when the Department of Natural Resources announced last June that it had approved a $2.3 million stewardship grant for the purchase.

But when a legislator anonymously objected to the grant, the matter was put on hold.

Stroebel said that some members of the committee were concerned because a significant amount of the property is currently used to raise crops and they were reluctant to spend taxpayer money to buy farmland.

“There was a whole lot of land that was plain old farmland and didn’t contribute (to the preserve),” he said.

Stolp said the fact that about 80 acres of the parcel are being farmed.

“It’s good for the soil,” he said, and it has tax benefits for the property owner, but long-term the best plan is to restore the property to a more natural state and ensure public access in perpetuity. 

“This particular property with its Lake Michigan views, if it’s not preserved, it’s very unlikely it will remain farmland,” he said. 

Stroebel said he worked to help get funding for the Land Trust last year. Eventually, he said, the committee members agreed to a $1.6 million grant.

“That’s all I could get,” Stroebel said, noting that amount still would have been among the top 10 expenditures of stewardship money in the last 10 years. 

The Land Trust wanted the original amount, he said, so the committee didn’t hold a hearing on the award immediately.

Land Trust officials said the original grant award was justified, noting that their real estate appraisal set the price of the land at $7.8 million and the State of Wisconsin estimated its value at $5.9 million.

The sale price of $5 million is also significantly less per acre that the amount paid last year for a parcel directly north of the preserve land, they noted.

Stolp said that because the proposal would have cut the funding by $700,000 — a significant amount — the Land Trust needed to talk to its partners, including Ozaukee County, to see if it was acceptable and if it was feasible to increase its fundraising by that amount.

“That takes time,” he said, adding that the process was complicated by the fact that the holidays were approaching and end of the year tasks kept people busy.

Then, a private buyer emerged, Stroebel said.

“I told them (the Land Trust) I don’t think it’s going to happen. The offer of $1.6 million was on the table for months. It is now in jeopardy,” Stroebel said. “Who would ever have anticipated this other buyer would emerge?”

Until there’s “once again a consensus at $1.6 million, I don’t see it (a hearing) happening.”

Stroebel said he’s heard that the private buyer wanted to work with the Land Trust but the organization wasn’t interested in that, and that has also influenced some committee members.

“There is a willingness to work with the Land Trust, that’s what I’ve been told,” he said. “They (some committee members) feel why should public money be involved if it (preservation) can be accomplished without taxpayer money,” he said.

Stolp said he isn’t aware of that kind of  offer being made.

“In the five years I have been involved in the effort to protect Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs and because of the high profile of this project, several private parties have approached our community with various ideas of how they would like to attach themselves to our project, but no proposed collaboration rose to the level of being a serious proposal for OWLT to consider,” he said.

Stroebel said he would like to see the committee approve the $1.6 million grant.

“I still support the $1.6 million the Joint Finance Committee arrived at,” he said. “It’s an amazing property.”

Stroebel said that even if the land is purchased by the private entity, portions of the property can’t be developed.

“You can’t touch the bluffs,” he said. Certainly the shoreline is always open to the public.”

And municipalities can require public access to those areas, he said.

“It certainly should be done in this situation,” he said.