Council delays deal for city land

Port Washington officials, who have put a priority on selling the land on which the police and fire stations stand to encourage redevelopment of the site as quickly as possible once the new public safety building opens, extended deadlines for two conditions of the sale to PFD Redevelopment on Tuesday.

Aldermen unanimously agreed to postpone the date when a developer’s agreement for the project must be signed from July 31 to Aug. 21.

They also agreed to move the closing date for the sale of the land at the corner of Wisconsin and Pier streets from Sept. 15 to Sept. 30.

City Attorney Matt Nugent said that change for the developer’s agreement will give both sides time to negotiate the agreement. Although it may be ready by July 31, he noted that the Common Council doesn’t have another meeting before that date.

In case it isn’t ready for the Aug. 4 Council meeting, he said, the deadline was extended to Aug. 21.

Nugent said the developer’s agreement will outline everything from timelines for the construction start and finish to how much the city will receive for the property.

A purchase agreement approved by the Common Council on May 19 calls for the city to receive $465,000 for the property but specifies that the city will reimburse the developer for the cost of moving and burying power lines to the property and demolishing the police and fire stations.

These costs are capped at $464,999, so if the costs meet or exceed the cap, the city will net $1 for the sale of the property.

While the price of the property is outlined in the purchase agreement, Nugent said the developer’s agreement will more definitively define the terms and process to determine the cost.

The sale date was extended, Nugent said, because the city wants to sell items it won’t be using at the Public Safety Building.

That, he said, will allow the city to recoup costs for items that have value and prevent them from being disposed of.

Any items in the building by the closing date become the buyer’s property, he noted.

The city has contacted a firm about holding a sale, Nugent added, but it can’t be done until at least Sept. 16.

Aldermen discussed three development proposals for the property in four closed sessions before approving the purchase agreement without a public discussion in May.

PFD Redevelopment — an entity comprised of Fine Line Carpentry of Port Washington and two partners, Paul Schueller and Peter Herrmann, who each own houses next to the site — proposed creating The Seven Hills Collection, which would have 20 townhouses in nine buildings — eight buildings of two units and one of four units — with a public courtyard and green space.

Four different, complementary designs would be used for the buildings, which would vary from three to four stories. Units would range from 2,175 square feet to 2,817 square feet.

The proposal calls for completion of the project in the spring of 2029, with the value of the development estimated at $16 million.

Even as officials work to sell the police and fire stations, plans are being made to move the city’s emergency services to the  Public Safety building on the west side of the city.

Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven told aldermen on Tuesday that work on the building is “getting down to the wire,” adding that plans are for the Police Department to move into the building during the first weeks of August.

The Police Department side of the building is a couple weeks ahead of the fire side, Fire Chief Joe DeBoer said Tuesday, adding he expects his department will move to the Public Safety Building by mid to late August.

Firefighters are working to pack things up and determine what will make the move and what won’t, he said.

“This place (the existing station) was built in 1969, and there are a lot of things that are still here from 1969,” he said. “We’re looking at what has value and what we can live without, at what stuff should be preserved.

“Moving the trucks and turnout gear is the easy stuff. It’s all the ancillary stuff that’s difficult.”

DeBoer said he expects it will take a couple weeks to move much of the department’s equipment, but the trucks and “essential things are going to come over in a day.”

Plans are for the department to be operational at the new building by early October, with a grand opening set for Oct. 11 as part of the department’s open house, he said.

“By then the kinks should be worked out, the boxes put away,” DeBoer said.