Stalled Cedar Vineyard development inches ahead

The beleaguered Cedar Vineyard subdivision on Port Washington’s far southeast side took several steps forward last week.

The city’s Joint Review Board and Plan Commission on March 18 approved amending the tax incremental financing district for the area to accommodate the subdivision’s new plan, and the Common Council rezoned 74 acres of bluff land for the development.

The subdivision, which was first proposed in 2015, would be built on land north of the proposed Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve that Ozaukee County and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust are working to purchase.

Unlike the original plan, which would have incorporated the nature preserve, the current subdivision plan excludes that area and calls for the development of 45 single-family lots directly to the north of that property between Highway C and the Lake Michigan bluff. 

About a third of the property will be residential, a third will be vineyards that will serve a winery planned for four acres on the west side of Highway C currently owned by the Tillman family, and the remaining third will be open space, including two miles of public bike and pedestrian trails and bluff and beach access.

The amended TIF plan adds the Tillman winery parcel to the district while subtracting the previous location for the winery.

The TIF district doesn’t just include the Cedar Vineyard land. It also encompasses six undeveloped or underdeveloped parcels in the city’s industrial park that, if used to their fullest, would allow for the expansion of the park by 105 acres. 

According to the TIF plan analysis by Christy DeMaster of Trilogy Consulting, Cedar Vineyard will increase the value of the district by $31.8 million and the industrial park improvements by between $5.1 million to $15.7 million, if the additional land is developed.

The cost to extend infrastructure to Cedar Vineyard is estimated at $6.2 million, according to the report, and the additional tax revenue generated by the TIF through 2031 would be $9.2 million.

“It is economically feasible to support the project costs,” DeMaster said.

The Common Council is expected to consider the revised TIF plan when it meets in April.

The rezoning, which was presented to aldermen on March 16, was approved with several conditions — that Ascend Real Estate Group, which is developing the subdivision, buy the property by May 31, that the subdivision be developed according to the current plan and that it is rezoned only for Ascend or any group the firm is a member of.

That allows Ascend to form a limited liability corporation to develop the subdivision, City Attorney Eric Eberhardt said.

The council approved the rezoning 5-1 with Ald. Mike Gasper voting against the measure. Ald. Paul Neumyer was absent.

Gasper said he could not vote for the rezoning because the city’s zoning code for planned unit development is too poorly written.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “I can’t support an overlay plan district under this code.”

Noting that officials had expressed some concern about the names of the roads in the subdivision since earlier versions of the plan had similar names for each, developer Tom Swarthout said those have been changed.

Two of the streets will be named for the Clay Bluffs and the late Joe Demler, a  World War II veteran from Port who was a prisoner of war just days from death when Allied forces liberated the camp where he was being held. A photo of his emaciated body lying in a cot was published in Life magazine, where it personified for many the cruelty of war.

Demler, who spent much of his career working at the Port Washington post office, was the face of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, which adopted his motto “Every Day is a Bonus” as its slogan.