Road project hinges on land acquisition

A Belgium committee this month received input on grant funding to pave a road that leads to the village’s industrial park, but members determined that the project can’t proceed without acquiring land for a stormwater pond.

The village has long considered paving Silver Beach Road to provide a smoother entrance for trucks heading into the industrial park. Residents don’t live on the road but paving it would provide an incentive to attract and retain business.

Part of the Silver Beach Road project — the portion that must be done before paving — is putting in a stormwater pond.

Silver Beach Road Committee member Dan Birenbaum, the village’s director of public works, said there’s no way to put in the road without the stormwater pond.

“Two inches of rain and the water is going across the road,” he said.

One large rainstorm damaged the nearby wastewater treatment plant, he noted.

“You’re kind of stuck right there  because if you don’t have the land to put the pond on, why even talk about the pond?” Village President and committee member Pete Anzia said.

But putting in a stormwater pond involves acquiring 8.4 acres, something the village struggled with a few years ago, the committee said.

Anzia said a former Village President — who Winker later identified as Rich Howells — upset Dan Gasser, whose farmable land the village needs for the pond.

“It’s sad that once in a while people involved in community things create a burn. It’s kind of a shame. But we can’t change that,” Committee Chairman and Ozaukee County Board member Tom Winker said.

The best place for the pond is on the north side of Silver Beach Road just west of the railroad tracks, Birenbaum said.

Even if the village wanted to put the pond on the other side of the road, it would have to acquire land. Gasser owns property on both sides.

“Without one side or the other, we’re dead in the water,” Anzia said. “If we have no land to put the ponds on, this ain’t going nowhere.”

Instead of purchasing the land, the committee thought about a land swap with Gasser. The village has land near its dog park that could be offered.

“The village has better land but we need his land,” Anzia said. “If we have to give up prime land for the land we need for the pond, I see it as a wash.”

Winker and Anzia agreed to meet with Gasser to start the conversation. The chance to acquire better land for crops would be an incentive, but “he will want something else,” Winker said.

“He’s going to try to get every penny out of that land because of the way it was dealt with,” Anzia said.

The pond, Birenbaum said, would help with drainage on the rest of Gasser’s farmland.

Winker said he hopes to meet with Gasser in December.

If Gasser is interested in negotiating, the issue would have to go to the Village Board, Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein said.

The committee set its next meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 3. By then, it will know if Gasser is willing to work on a deal for the land.

If the village is able to acquire the land, paying for the pond and paving are the next steps.

The entire project is estimated to cost about $4.3 million. An estimate in 2015 was $3.6 million, but Birenbaum said the McMahon Group, the engineering firm that planned the project, said costs rise 3% to 5% each year.

The breakdown is $1.29 million for road construction, $1.5 million for the stormwater pond, $350,000 for lights and arms at a railroad crossing and $270,000 for engineering. The cost did not include land acquisition.

The committee’s initial charge was to seek grant funding for the project, and it got some advice at this month’s meeting from Rep. Glenn Grothman’s district director Alan Ott, Ozaukee County Director of Planning and Parks Andrew Struck and Executive Director of Ozaukee Economic Development Kathleen Cady Schilling.

Ott said transportation grants are available, but obtaining them depends on the specific use of the road. Federal grants, he said, come with a large amount of paper work that require all the right boxes to be clicked off.

He agreed to send information about the grants and help the committee throughout the process.

“It’s going to be looking under every rock for opportunities,” Winker said.

Cady Schilling said the best grant the state Department of Transportation offers is Transportation Economic Assistance (TEA) a job-based program. The key, she said, is to get businesses to commit to creating a certain number of jobs, and the grant comes with a deadline to do so.

She said she thinks the grant’s maximum funding is $10,000 per job.

Trustee Clem Gottsacker said a company in the industrial park told him it would undergo two expansions if the road was paved.

“It’s in awful shape. I’ll admit it,” Winker said of the road.

When the village is ready, Cady Schilling said she would help walk it through the process.

Struck, who has so much success writing grants that he is now teaching others how to do it, suggested the committee keep looking for new grants, such as an infrastructure package.

“If there’s a guy who can find grants, Andrew is the guy,” Winker said.

Struck said the state Department of Natural Resources recently reorganized grants under its Surface Water program.

The DNR focus, he said, is on water quality. The fact that the wastewater treatment plant is near the prime location for the stormwater pond would help in seeking a grant.

“I think there is a lot of funding for that right now, so I think there are a lot of opportunities there,” he said.

Struck said he also wants to see if land acquisition reimbursement is available.

Struck said he always looks for money eligible to match grant funding. State grants may be used to match federal grants, but a federal grant may not be used in conjunction with another federal grant.

Struck said he would work with Birenbaum to see what grants would be available.