Paving Silver Beach back on table

A longtime debate over whether to pave Silver Beach Road has been restarted, driven by the Belgium Area Chamber of Commerce.

At a village ad hoc committee meeting on Monday, Chamber board member Jay Lauer said two “significant” companies that didn’t want to be named didn’t locate in Belgium because Silver Beach Road, which leads into the village’s industrial park, isn’t paved.

Chamber Executive Director Tara Williams said in trying to grow the village, the unpaved road is a “stumbling block.”

The village in 2015 delayed paving the road for an estimated $3.2 million until Main Street was redone. That project has since been completed.

The committee recommended the Village Board form a group to research paving Silver Beach Road. The Village Board may act on that on Monday, Dec. 9.

While nearly all of the engineering work to pave Silver Beach has been done, obstacles remain. One property owner said years ago he didn’t want a retention pond on his property. The village is also facing wastewater treatment plant upgrades required by the Department of Natural Resources that could cost about $1 million. Sewer work is also needed.

Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein noted that the village has a debt limit and has no choice on the treatment plant and sewer work.

“It comes down to how high do you want your cost of living in the village here,” Committee Chairman and Village President Pete Anzia said.

Lauer said a larger industrial base would help lower taxes and warned that if the village does nothing for too long taxes will rise. He said the village is now paying for past decisions that didn’t anticipate the future by paving the road.

Another hurdle is the fact the village does not own the portion of the road to be paved. It is in the Town of Belgium.

The timing of the meeting was critical in that the deadline to apply for a Multimodel Local Supplement Grant from the state to obtain 90% of the project’s cost is Friday.

Committee member and village engineer Matt Greely said via a phone call during the meeting that the grant paperwork could be finished by the Friday deadline, but he suggested having written support from the town.

The Town Board was meeting on the same night, and after the committee meeting Anzia approached all three town supervisors after they adjourned their meeting to discuss the matter, creating an illegal quorum under the state open meetings law.

The town, however, is applying for a grant from the same state program to do more than $750,000 of work on Jay Road between highways B and KW.

Anzia said the town wouldn’t be required to pay anything for the Silver Beach roadwork and he didn’t want to jeopardize the chances of the town’s grant application being approved.

“If it’s going to affect you guys, we’re not going to do it,” Anzia said.

The two supervisors and town chairman discussed the issue, despite a warning from Clerk Ginger Murphy that they were holding an illegal meeting. Town Chairman Tom Winker claimed they were not holding a meeting and said, “We can’t make any decision here tonight.”

The Town Board was not comfortable supporting a grant application for the Silver Beach project because it could hurt the town’s odds to be awarded a grant. Winker is on the 12-person committee to choose the grant awards but is not allowed to vote on the town’s application.

Anzia said the Chamber is pursuing the project more than anybody and said, “putting together things at the last second, you’re going to miss something.”

Winker said it would be a good idea to talk about long-term strategies in January.