Village signs off on sewer district deal with Port

The City of Port Washington will  pay the Village of Saukville $100,000 over the next four years to extend its sewer service to a 40-acre parcel on the south side of Highway 33 east of Jackson Road, commonly known as the Schanen farm.

The Saukville Village Board agreed to move the property from its sewer service to Port Washington’s on Aug. 16 with Trustee Scott Fischer opposing the motion considering the ambiguity surrounding what Port Washington intends to do with the property.

The deal won’t be final until the Southern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the Department of Natural Resources approve it, Village Administrator Dawn Wagner told trustees.

Wagner said the first $25,000 annual payment will reach the village 30 days after its approval by the DNR and SEWRPC and.

The City of Port Washington bought the farm, which included land on both sides of Highway 33, in 2000 and sold the northern portion to Bielinski Bros. for the Hidden Hills subdivision. A soccer park and a recreational complex were expected to be developed on the southern parcel but that idea never materialized.

Another proposal in 2012, created in collaboration between the city and Port Youth Baseball, would have created a baseball complex with a concession stand, walking trail and playground. Residental development would have surrounded the baseball complex’s fields and three commerical lots that would faced the highway, but that plan never realized.