Developer returns with new plan for Hwy. 33 land

Mequon developer Cindy Shaffer’s plans for the Farm, a 39-acre development on the former Schanen farm on Port Washington’s far west side, will come before officials again this week.

The Common Council on Wednesday was to hold a public hearing on a request to rezone the property and to consider a request to amend the city’s zoning map to reflect the change.

Aldermen were also expected to meet in closed session to formulate negotiating strategies that include the terms and conditions for the sale of the city-owned land and its development.

On Thursday, the Plan Commission, which soundly rejected Shaffer’s plan for the property in December, will consider a new preliminary plat for the property.

These approvals are imperative since the city late last year set a Feb. 21 deadline for a completed developer’s agreement and a June 4 deadline to buy the property.

Key to creating a developer’s agreement is approval of  the preliminary plat, planned unit overlay and zoning for the property.

Commission members said in December that Shaffer’s plan had lost the unique qualities that prompted the city to endorse her purchase of the land and did not incorporate enough single-family housing.

“The biggest change is she put the alleys back in,” Bob Harris, the city’s director of planning and development, said.

Alleys were included in Shaffer’s concept plan, and commission members lauded it as reflecting the traditional neighborhoods in Port. But Shaffer said in December she removed them after conducting a marketing study and talking to five local builders and a real estate agent who said there isn’t a market for houses on alleys.

Shaffer’s newest plan calls for 263 homes to be built on the land, which is on the south side of Highway 33 east of Jackson Road. There would be 76 single-family houses, primarily on the east side of the property, with 12 townhouse units and 175 multifamily units.

Her December plan called for the Farm to include 71 single-family houses, 12 townhouses and 175 apartments.

Because of the increased number of single-family lots and the return of alleys, Harris said, the lots are generally narrower.

Harris said the remainder of the project, including amenities such as a community garden and apiary, remain unchanged in the plan.

In general, he said, the plan meets the city’s concept for the Schanen farm property.

“I think the intent was smaller homes on smaller lots,” he said.

Mayor Ted Neitzke, chairman of the Plan Commission, said Tuesday that Shaffer’s newest plan is “getting there.”

“I do like that it’s going to be more representative of the center of Port Washington, with small, quaint homes,” Neitzke said. “I still believe we could get more (single family) homes in there.”

He said he also questions whether the number of apartment units is sustainable, especially given the number of units that are being built and will be constructed in Port and Saukville in the coming years.

Neitzke said he does not like the fact that the plan includes extending Laura Lane from the Bley Park Estates subdivision to the east into the Farm.

Several residents of Bley Park Estates have spoken out in opposition to extending Laura Lane, but city staff members sought to create a more efficient distribution of traffic, avoid a cul-de-sac — something the city’s master plan says should be a last option — and to make it easier to loop utilities.

The city has owned the former Schanen farm since 2000, and while a number of developments for the land have been proposed, none have come to fruition.

That changed after the city and Village of Saukville reached an agreement in 2022  that would allow the city to extend sewer service to the property.

The city sought development proposals for the property and chose Shaffer’s plan over one submitted by Neumann Development that called for 100 single-family houses to be constructed.

Shaffer said in December her development would add $61.8 million to the city’s tax rolls and bring in $900,000 annually in city taxes.