Subdivision plan raises residents’ ire

With some school and village officials openly expressing their excitement over a proposed housing development west and north of the Northern Ozaukee School District campus, about two dozen residents living near the project let them know they should tap the brakes on their enthusiasm, especially over the prospect of having smaller lots than the ones on which they live.

“We moved here with the understanding it would be lots of roughly the same size,” one man told members of the village Plan Commission on Monday.

“We didn’t move out here to be crowded,” a woman said.

Those who spoke live near the 100-unit project proposed by Hillcrest Realty.

The development, depicted Monday by a conceptual map, would be divided roughly in half, with traditional one-third-acre, single-family homes on 85-foot-wide lots built on both sides of North Milwaukee Street and a less conventional development with smaller homes on 65-foot-wide lots at the north end of Deer Meadow Drive.

The comments came during a lengthy public hearing not on the proposed subdivision but on a proposed zoning ordinance that would give the village the flexibility to approve the narrower lots without changing the zoning code.

That prompted some in the audience to accuse village leaders of “changing the rules.”

The proposed ordinance would allow the village to create planned-unit developments, or PUDs, commonly used to create groupings of varied housing styles or land uses within a single development or subdivision.

Village officials say the tool would give them greater flexibility in reviewing projects without having to change the underlying zoning for individual lots and without setting a precedent for other developments.

If used on the Hillcrest project, it would only apply to the eastern part of the development where Hillcrest owner Oyvind Solvang is proposing to build about 20 single-family homes of about 1,500 square feet. Other lots would include duplex condominiums.

Home prices there would start at around $260,000, while the homes on larger lots would start at about $330,000.

Solvang did not request the creation of a PUD, village officials said, adding it was something they had been looking at and which could be used in other parts of the community, especially downtown.

No part of the project has been approved.

After the public hearing, the commission recommended approval of the PUD ordinance and a certified survey map for five traditional lots of the project that are already platted. 

The Village Board is scheduled to vote on the PUD ordinance and the five lots when it meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, at the Fredonia Government Center.

A developer’s agreement will have to be signed before construction can start on those five lots.

Solvang has proposed that the school district trade about three acres of school-owned land, enough for about eight of the narrower lots, in exchange for a plan that would allow the district to use the development’s sewer-retention pond, alleviating the district from having to build its own pond.

“This is a significant value to the school district,” Solvang said.

Solvang also has proposed he use the village’s lower borrowing costs to build streets and other infrastructure and then pay the village back as lots and houses are built and sold, instead of asking for a tax incremental finance (TIF) district.

Tax incremental finance districts divert property tax revenue to pay for improvements and then go back on the general tax rolls once the infrastructure is paid for. 

Solvang has said one of the most “challenging” aspects of the project is the 300,000 cubic yards of dirt left behind by the previous developer, who gave up on the site in 2008.

He said it will cost $300,000 to $500,000 to move the dirt if it is kept on site and does not have to be trucked elsewhere. Solvang has proposed using the dirt to create a hill that would be a “destination” for a trail system and sledding that might be high enough to afford views of Lake Michigan.

Residents at Monday’s meeting expressed concern over traffic, density, the effect on their home values and construction noise and traffic.

But after Solvang shared more details on the project, they mostly seemed ameliorated.

“But I still want wider lots,” one woman said.

Solvang is expected to present more detailed plans to the Plan Commission when it meets in April.