Debate over Port building heights not settled yet

By KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM

Ozaukee Press staff

A proposal to set building heights in downtown Port Washington was delayed until Tuesday, Nov. 19, after two property owners told aldermen last week that while the proposed ordinance was a “good start” it is not the ultimate solution.

The proposed ordinance would create a tiered system, with lower heights allowed close to the lake and higher limits set in the periphery of downtown.

In general, the ordinance would allow buildings as tall as 38 feet near the lake, as tall as 48 feet through much of the heart of downtown and 52 feet on the block that houses Port City Hall and the Ozaukee County Administration Center and the south portion of the 100 block bounded by South Wisconsin and West Grand Avenue.

“It’s a good first draft but I don’t think it’s fully baked yet,” Steve Schowalter, CEO of Port Washington State Bank, said.

Schowalter, who estimated that his business and family own 50% to 70% of the non-city owned property in the marina district affected by the ordinance, expressed concern that the proposed 38-foot maximum height in that area would be limiting.

The fact architectural features such as the turrets that dot downtown would be included in that maximum height was also a major concern, he said, saying there should be a way to exempt these features.

Otherwise, he noted, designs such as the flagpole atop the Wilson House at the corner of Main and Franklin streets would no longer be allowed.

“It’s kind of ridiculous to be that constrained,” Schowalter said.

Gertjan van den Broek, who owns and has developed a number of downtown properties, expressed a number of concerns with the proposed ordinance, asking, “How can we take what I think is a good first draft and improve it?”

Van den Broek noted that the proposed ordinance would allow buildings as tall as 52 feet in areas such as the corner of Milwaukee Street and Grand Avenue.

“That’s something I don’t think in character with downtown,” van den Broek said.

He noted that developer Cindy Shaffer had proposed a tall building there several years ago and officials and residents objected “because of the scale.”

“With the current ordinance, we had the option to say no,” he said, while it would be allowed with the proposed law.

The proposed ordinance would allow 48-foot-tall buildings along Franklin Street, he noted.

“Personally I think that’s out of character,” van den Broek said.

He proposed a stepped approach, which would allow a building of limited size near the street — “It wouldn’t affect the experience of walking down Franklin Street,” he said — with the option of increasing the height away from the street front.

Van den Broek also noted that the proposed zoning for Main Street, where the city has said it’s looking for commercial development, won’t allow buildings tall enough to accommodate retail uses on the first floor and residential units upstairs due to the slope of the street.

“We as a community need commercial retail; as a community we said we want that to happen on East Main Street,” he said.

With the slope limiting building to perhaps a three-story building there, he said, the city is losing out on the “highest value” fourth floor and the accompanying tax base.

“What we’re going to get is buildings as sub-optimal size,” he said, adding that to provide parking for the upper floor residential uses some developers may choose to place parking on the first floor.

“That is an outcome that would not fit our vision,” van den Broek said.

He also questioned a proposal to require mechanical units on rooftops to be screened, saying this inherently results in larger and sometimes unsightly areas atop buildings.

Don Cosentine, 518 Brentwood Ct., told the Common Council that the proposed ordinance is “very good,” especially as development pressure increases.

“People want to develop this stuff. They’re going to be pinching you more and more,” he said.

Bob Harris, the city’s director of planning and development, said that the proposed ordinance came about because officials were tired of developers seeking exceptions to the current height limits and wanted a strict height limit.

The Plan Commission developed the proposed restrictions over time, expecting them to be adopted earlier this year, he said, in recognition of the fact it would constrain taller buildings now but a proposed rewriting of the zoning code would be that next step needed to tweak the ordinance.

“This ordinance is a first step, knowing we will have a really expansive ordinance in a few months,” Harris said.

Ald. Deb Postl called the proposed ordinance “a really sound approach to preserving our downtown” but moved to delay action on the document until the Common Council’s 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, meeting. Without comment, aldermen agreed.