Panel OKs safety building design amid cost concerns

Port Washington’s controversial plan to build a $33.5 million public safety facility took two steps forward recently, with the Plan Commission approving a building, site and operations plan for the joint police and fire station on the city’s far west side and the Common Council giving the nod to impact fees to ensure future homeowners and businesses pay their fair share of the building cost.

Plan Commission members were supportive of the building plan, unanimously approving it on Nov. 21.

“I think it’s a nice looking building,” commission member and architect Mike Ehrlich said. “It’s got some nice features to it.”

But, Ehrlich said, he was disappointed that the most attractive facade faces Highway LL, not Highway 33, which is the gateway to the city.

“I feel like the Grand Avenue (Highway 33) side is much more nondescript, almost forgotten about,” he said. “I feel like we could have done a little bit more.”

Mayor Ted Neitzke, the commission chairman, agreed, saying, “The very cool piece is facing Highway LL.”

Architect Chris Eger of Bray Architects said that side of the building has its own charm, adding stonework and architectural features will give the building a presence. Lighting to highlight some of these features, a standout main entry, a so-called wet retention pond that will have water in it throughout the year and landscaping will  add to the look of the building.

“That stone feature is fairly massive,” he said. “There’s a lot more life (to that side of the building) than you’re seeing.”

Eger told the commission that the building has garages on each end of it. The main entry is flanked by memorials and leads to a shared training room and lobby.

The police department will be on one side of the entry and the fire department on the other.

Like the fire department’s red trucks, the garage doors will also be red and the hose drying tower is topped with a glass-like piece that will be lit, Eger said. It can be lit one color when the trucks are in and another when firefighters are out on a call, he noted.

The building will have a 45-space public parking lot, which Eger said is needed to ensure there is enough room for people attending everything from municipal court to voting.

The Plan Commission action comes on the heels of the Common Council’s approval of a $33.5 million budget for the building, but questions remain about whether that is the final approval needed for the project. Although Mayor Ted Neitzke said the facility has been approved, other officials noted the city still needs to award contracts and approve financing if the project is going to move forward.   

The cost of the public safety building and its impact on taxpayers has been a cause for concern for residents and aldermen. The owner of a house valued at $300,000 is expected to pay $573 more in taxes annually beginning next year to cover the cost of the building.

The cost of the facility will, however, be offset by impact fees that were approved by the Common Council on Nov. 19.

The impact fees are expected to raise $6.9 million, or about 20% of the cost of the building.

An impact fee of $4,464 will be charged for each new single-family house built in the city to pay for the public safety building.

That amount will be added to the current $3,368 impact fee already charged for single-family houses, a fee used to pay for park improvements and expansion, bringing the total impact fee to $7,832.

Facilities such as the public safety building are intended to serve the city for decades, and the impact fee is intended to charge future residents and businesses for that portion of the building that is not needed today but that is expected to be needed in years to come.

A study by Trilogy Consulting showed that 19.8% of the building is attributed to future development.

The impact fees will increase by 3% annually to ensure the cost is fairly apportioned to developers through the years, the impact fee ordinance noted.

City Administrator Melissa Pingel told aldermen recently that the fees could reduce the tax impact of the new building on existing taxpayers by $30 to $50 a year “depending on how much development we have.”

Ald. Jonathan Pleitner asked if the impact fee will sunset once the $6.9 million is raised, something Trilogy Consulting’s Christie DeMaster said will occur.

It’s difficult to say how long the impact fee will be imposed “because we don’t know the pace of development,” DeMaster told the Common Council when presenting the impact fee study in October.

Ald. John Sigwart questioned if the impact fee ordinance would stand if the city were to opt to build only the fire station portion of the building in 2025 and the police station in 2028.

If there is a major difference from the current plan, the city would need to update the impact fee study and the figures charged, DeMaster said.

Impact fees are not charged directly to homeowners but to developers and builders when they take out a building permit.

The impact fees approved on Nov. 19 include $2,461 for the portion of the building used by the fire department and $2,003 for space used by the police department.

Impact fees are not charged just on single-family houses. They are also charged for multifamily buildings on a per-bedroom basis, on duplexes and on industrial and commercial structures on a per-foot basis.