City clears way for new Cedar Vineyard project

The proposed Cedar Vineyard subdivision on Port Washington’s far southeast side took a big step forward Tuesday as the Common Council approved a developer’s agreement and modifications to the tax incremental financing district needed to support the development.

Ald. Mike Gasper was the only alderman to vote against both measures, prompted in part by his opposition to using a TIF district for the project. 

These districts, he said, were originally intended to support redevelopment of blighted properties, not greenfield developments.

“What we’re in effect doing here is subsidizing million-dollar homes,” he said, estimating it will cost $158,000 in subsidies for each lot. “I can’t support this at all ... Are we going to provide that for all subdivision sin town or just the ones that have rich people living there? This doesn’t make sense.”

Although the subdivision may help spur more development in the surrounding area, Gasper said, “I’m not convinced that will ever happen.”

Ald. Pat Tearney joined Gasper in voting against the developer’s agreement because, he said, “I see this as subsidizing a type of home that doesn’t need that.”

But Ald. John Sigwart, who said that two decades ago he was against annexation of the land that will be home to Cedar Vineyard, said this is the only way to pay for the extension of utilities to the site.

The Cedar Vineyard subdivision, which was first proposed in 2015, would be built on 74 acres 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.

Developer Tom Swarthout, president of the Highview Group, which is working with Ascend Real Estate Group on the project, told aldermen that a major part of the subdivision is providing public access to the bluff and lakefront.

“It was my goal to be able to provide access for everyone,” he said, noting that shaped the entire development. 

After the meeting, Swarthout said the approvals were a major step forward.

The developers plan to purchase the property for Cedar Vineyard from Waukesha State Bank “in a few weeks,” he added. “This was the last big step. Everything’s lined up.”

The TIF amendment approved Tuesday, 6-1, reflects a change in the district’s borders, eliminating roughly 29 acres at the corner of Highway C and Stonecroft Drive that was originally expected to be home to the winery and some home sites and adding an almost four acre parcel farther north that will be the new site of the winery.

It also modified the use of 43 acres of land from industrial to residential to match up with the city’s comprehensive plan. 

The TIF district not only encompasses a significant amount of lakeshore land on the city’s southeast side but also snakes through the industrial park to Highway 32, potentially opening a significant amount of land to industrial development.

Despite the changes, the TIF district will pay off the infrastructure and improvements by the time it is closed in 2035, Christy DeMaster of Trilogy Consulting, the city’s TIF consultant, said.

The 20-page developer’s agreement outlines everything from who will pay for sidewalks and trails to the developer issuing the city letters of credit to ensure work on the public improvements is done and to make up for any shortfalls in the TIF funds, ensuring the cost is fully covered by the increasing tax revenue.