NOSD faces village fees for referendum work

The Fredonia Village Board voted last week to impose building permit fees on the $14.95 million Northern Ozaukee School District expansion project, which the village Plan Commission reviewed a few days before.

The village often waives those fees for civic groups and other government entities, officials said.

Village President Don Dohrwardt said the fees could amount to several thousand dollars.

“The village only makes up about half of the school district, or less,” Dohrwardt said, explaining why imposing fees is justified. Residents in the towns of Fredonia, Saukville and Belgium also attend schools in the district, as well as others who attend Wisconsin Virtual Learning, an NOSD online charter school.

The board voted 5 to 1 to impose fees, which are yet undetermined. Trustee Josh Haas voted no.

The board decided to impose the fees after the village Plan Commission approved the expansion but with several contingencies.

Those contingencies include approval of a landscape plan, that there would be sufficient handicapped parking and a review of the stormwater management plan.

The plan to upgrade facilities was approved in an April referendum by 64% of voters. It includes updates to classrooms and technical education spaces, construction of a new cafeteria and auditorium and other renovations and facility site improvements.

The 15,000-square-foot addition would add on to the east side of the building and create secure entrance areas for the high school, middle school and elementary school. Plan Commission members agreed that trees or other screening were not necessary between the school parking lot and adjacent homes or apartment buildings, saying the distance was great enough.

Planners were told the number of parking spaces will likely grow to about 350, up from the current 341. There also will be a single stormwater retention pond instead of several smaller ones as was proposed at one time.