New development plan sparks same concerns

A plan to develop the vacant area south of Harbor Campus in Port Washington, with 135 apartments and homes on 8.3 acres will be considered by the city’s Plan Commission when it meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15.

This will be the second time the city considers a plan to develop the area this year, and it is likely to be controversial since it would create an even more dense subdivision than the first proposal. 

The original proposal to create a 119-unit, seven-building apartment complex on the site was rejected by the commission in February after neighbors spoke out, saying the project was too dense, would generate too much traffic and generally did not fit the single-family neighborhood that surrounds the senior living campus.

That plan called for two 17-unit apartment buildings to be constructed on the west side of the property with a retention pond between them. The other five 17-unit buildings would have been on the east side of the parcel, and a clubhouse and pool would have been built on the south side of the lot, where a road into the campus would have been constructed off Dodge Street.

The current plan calls for three, three-story, 36-unit apartment buildings to be constructed on the north end of the property and 18 single-family and duplex buildings to be constructed on the south end. These one and two-story buildings would have a total of 27 units.

The large buildings would include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and have an underground parking space for each unit as well as surface parking.

A clubhouse with a “resort-style swimming pool,” fitness center, package drop-off center, community room with a kitchen and a conference room that would serve both ends of the development are part of the plan.

A road would connect the two portions of the development, which is proposed by Port Ventures. 

The development would add $25 million to the city’s tax base. 

According to state property records, the  registered agent for Port Ventures, which is headquartered in Cedarburg, is Laura Stroebel.

Stroebel, who did not return calls seeking comment, is affiliated with Terrace Realty, which proposed the previous plan.  

Ald. Paul Neumyer, whose district encompasses the campus, said Tuesday that in his mind, many of the concerns about the initial proposal for the property remain.

“I’m still opposed to it,” he said. “My concern is they’re trying to shoehorn in a large number of residences there. I don’t think it fits the area.

“This is a very quiet, walkable neighborhood, calm traffic-wise. I just feel this is too much.”

The plan, he added, describes the large buildings as apartment buildings but doesn’t designate the single-family buildings and duplexes as owner-occupied or rental units.

“I would prefer to have owner-occupied housing,” he said.

Neumyer, who is a Plan Commission member, said he is also concerned about the roads, saying the planned configuration doesn’t connect Webster and Pierre Streets the way it should.

“The roads are not laid out the way the city always wanted,” he said.

Neumyer, who said he’s already fielded a number of calls from constituents concerned about the proposed development, said he wants a traffic study done before the plan’s approved.

Brenda Shupe, who lives on West Washington Street and opposed the original plan, said that overall the current proposal is “a little bit” better than the first “but still way too big for that property.”

According to a memo by City Administrator Melissa Gossett, the plan for the north portion of the lot is permitted in the zoning district. The single-family houses on the south lot are permitted by code, but the duplexes would require a conditional use permit.

However, she noted, if the Common Council approves a revised zoning code expected to take effect on Jan. 1, the duplexes may be built without a conditional use permit.