Work expected to finally start on subdivision

Plans are finally underway for the 121-lot Blue Stem subdivision in the Village of Grafton that was first proposed in 2006.

The Village Board on Monday awarded an engineering-inspection contract for $140,000 to Mequon-based JT Engineering to oversee the first phase of the subdivision project.

Dependent on the weather, construction is to begin next week south of Falls Road where it intersects with Cheyenne Avenue. Plans show Cheyenne Avenue being extended south of Falls Road, and homes to be built on both sides of the new street.

Advance Construction of Green Bay will perform grading, sanitary sewer, water main and storm sewer work over the next few months. Although the subdivision is a developer-led project, the village will accept these public infrastructure improvements for ownership upon successful completion of the project.  

The developer is Bob Tillmann. Plans show the subdivision will occupy 68 acres, which is zoned for single-family residential development. The subdivision will have 118 lots near the intersection of Falls Road and Cheyenne Avenue and three lots on Falls Road. The project is to be completed in four phases.

The first phase will begin at the west side of the development and move east toward the Falls Crossing subdivision off Falls and Port Washington roads. The subdivision will include several new streets and culs-de-sac.  

Plans were initially brought to the Plan Commission in June 2006, and the Village Board approved the final plat for first phase in June 2007. The original plans proposed three more acres and four additional lots. The proposed subdivision went through several more planned developments through the years before settling on the current plan.

In 2007, the previous developer, Heartland Development, failed to sign a development agreement and provide the village with a letter of credit for the required infrastructure. The first-phase plat was never recorded with the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds Office. 

In March 2018, the Plan Commission revisited the development because the previous plans approved had expired. 

A traffic study indicates the extension of Cheyenne Avenue south of Falls Road will not perfectly align with the existing Cheyenne Avenue to the north because there are right-of-way constraints that require the offset. 

“Even though this offset is not ideal, the study concluded that the intersection is not expected to cause unsafe conditions, as the number of north/south through movements at the intersection are expected to be minimal,” the Plan Commission report states.