Board will take road trip to discuss buying Firemen’s Park

The Ozaukee County Board will meet on Wednesday, Nov. 18, to discuss in public making an offer to buy Firemen’s Park, which adjoins the county fairgrounds in Cedarburg.

The county Executive Committee, consisting of the five standing committee chairmen and County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt, met in closed session last week to discuss the purchase of the 16-acre property. No action was taken in open session except to agree that it be placed on the agenda for the next County Board meeting.

County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said board members will review the opportunity to purchase the property and be able to tour the parcel.

Firemen’s Park is owned by the Cedarburg Fire Department and is used for to the county fair as well as the four Maxwell Street Days flea markets that have helped fund fire department equipment purchases and operations for decades.

The fire department also stores boats, recreation vehicles, cars and trucks on the site.

The county and fire-department-owned parcels north of downtown Cedarburg are combined each August to form a 39-acre venue for the five-day free county fair.

The nonprofit Ozaukee Agricultural Society operates the Ozaukee County Fair.

The two parcels were roughly the same size until the county bought a 4.4-acre portion for $65,000 per acre in 2009 from the fire department, leaving the current Firemen’s Park at 16.18 acres.

Firemen’s Park features a dirt track, which hosts the fair’s demolition derby and tractor pulls, and the nearly century-old landmark concrete grandstand, which has not been used to seat people for many years and only serves to shelter vendors and for storage.

If the county were to acquire the park, renovating or removing the grandstand would be a major topic of conversation.

Dzwinel said, “The county’s interest in potentially purchasing the 16-plus acre property from Cedarburg Firemen’s Inc. is ensuring that this area remains available to continue the activities of the County Fair.”

  A 2002 market study commissioned by the City of Cedarburg, the county and fire department listed the county’s acquisition of Firemen’s Park as an option for the future of the fair, with the other options being to abandon the grounds and move the fair or to continue the current arrangement with improvements to the site.

The county has implemented many of the study’s recommended improvements, including the construction of the Ozaukee Pavilion and the Ascension St. Mary’s Center, Dzwinel said.

The 2002 study estimated it would cost the county about $1.23 million to buy Firemen’s Park and another $3 million to make recommended improvements.

The study assumed that under a county purchase, the fire department would continue to hold Maxwell Street Days and that other events, such as those held by 4-H, would continue.

The study cites a 1990 agreement governing the potential sale of Firemen’s Park. In the event it wants to sell the property, the Fire Department must first offer it to the county. If the county declines to buy the property, it must be offered to the City of Cedarburg.

The agreement also contains language that governs how the selling price between the parties will be determined.

Under the agreement, the fire department must inform the county within 60 days of receiving an offer to purchase. It is unclear whether the county’s meeting last week was prompted by the fire department receiving an offer from another source.

Under the 1990 agreement, the price of the property will be determined by an appraiser jointly agreed upon by the county, the fire department and the city.

If they disagree on who will be the appraiser, each entity will hire its own appraiser and the price will be set if two of the three appraisers agree.