Rezoning to allow apartments upsets residents

Several residents left Monday’s Belgium Village Board meeting upset after trustees agreed to change the zoning on an 8.5-acre parcel at North Middle Road and Silver Beach Road from manufacturing to large family multi-residential that allows an apartment complex to be built there.

After hearing public comment and discussing residents’ concerns, the Village Board unanimously voted to change the zoning.

Lifelong area resident Matt Manzeck, who lives in the Town of Belgium and runs a construction business in the village, plans to build a 120-unit, five-building apartment complex on the site.

In addition to concerns about traffic, lights, noise and increased demands on public services and safety, a few residents living near the site are worried about the type of clientele the apartments would draw.

Paul Poirier thinks it will be housing for employees of the data center being built in nearby Port Washington and called for a stipulation that private individuals must lease for one year with no corporate leases allowed.

“If you can’t agree to that, that just confirms my suspicions of what this all is really about,” he said.

Tom Geckler said once workers building the data center leave, he expects residents’ rents will be subsidized by a nonprofit or the government and compared the area to places like Northridge Lakes near Brown Deer.

“All those places turned into wastelands. You want that to be like that in Belgium someday?” he asked.

Village President Roseann Geib cited a federal housing law that prohibits landlords from discriminating against the type of tenants.

Former Trustee Don Gotcher supported the rezoning and apartment project.

“We need to grow this village. If we’re going to get anything in here, a store, anything else that we need, you’re going to have to grow this,” he said.

Some residents suggested a different zoning change that would allow for smaller units, but Village Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein said the board may only address Manzeck’s requested change.

But the Plan Commission, she said, has “broad authority” to determine if the development fits within the neighborhood and can require changes to items such as parking lot lights and where they shine.

Manzeck said he is looking into underground parking, which would limit light pollution and some noise.

After the vote, several upset residents left, but not before saying a few things to the board that offended Geib as they walked out.

She sent an email to Ozaukee Press about her concerns.

“I am very disappointed in the disrespectful behavior exhibited by some of the residents who attended the Village Board meeting last night. The name-calling and the writing of swear words on the sign-in sheet was absolutely childish. While the board may not have made the decision they were hoping for, all of the trustees spent a large amount of time investigating their concerns. We as a board have to take into consideration the benefits to the village as a whole, not just a few residents in one area,” she wrote.

If Manzeck pursues the apartment complex, the next steps are a site plan and building permit applications. Boehnlein isn’t sure if a developer’s agreement would be required.