Village may form Silver Beach panel

They’ve been down this road before, and eventually they would like Silver Beach to be paved with a nearby retention pond.

To that end, the Village Board on Monday, at a joint meeting with the Belgium Town Board since the unpaved portion of the road is in the town, recommended forming a committee to look into grants and engineering costs for the project.

The village’s plan to pave Silver Beach Road, which leads into its industrial park, has been littered with obstacles the past few years.

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.

Former Village President Don Bystricky said discussion of paving the road dates to the 1980s when it was deemed a safety issue for fire trucks.

The Belgium Area Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 5 lobbied a village ad hoc committee to examine paving the road, saying businesses would be more apt to come to Belgium and existing ones would expand if Silver Beach was paved.

The village, however, 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.

“It comes down to how high do you want your cost of living in the village here,” Village Board President Pete Anzia said at that meeting.

At that time, the application deadline was days away for a Multimodel Local Supplement Grant from the state that could pay 90% of the project’s cost. The village determined it couldn’t meet the deadline and didn’t get support from the town since it had applied for a  $766,000 grant to do work on Jay Road. The Town Board didn’t want to jeopardize its project, but it recently learned it didn’t receive the grant.

The town and village boards agreed to get together later to discuss the issue.

Town Board Chairman Tom Winker on Monday said the village has extraterritorial zoning rights over the town.

“As a town, we really have nothing to say about it,” he said.

Anzia asked if the town would be interested in a joint venture, but Winker said it would have nothing to gain and doesn’t have any money to give. It would, however, be willing to be a secondary sponsor for a Multimodel Local Supplement Grant, which he said would increase the village’s chances of being awarded one.

The condition of the unpaved portion of Silver Beach is not in question.

“It’s bad enough that trucks have to go down I-43. I can’t imagine going down Silver Beach with a semi with 80,000 pounds,” Winker said.

Public Works Director Dan Birenbaum said the road floods when it rains two inches.

“It’s a big issue the village will have to face in the next couple of years,” he said.

Trustee Clem Gottsacker said, “If that road would have been in with all the improvements we wouldn’t have the flooding out there.”

Anzia said the primary obstacle is money. The village doesn’t have anything budgeted for the project this year and he said there are no grants available to help.

“Does it pay to talk about something we can’t do?” he asked.

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Gottsacker said.

The issue was one the two differed on during a 2019 election for village president.

Village trustees and other officials recommended getting help from experts to search for grants.

Trustee Victor Lecato said the village should at least create a list of grants so “we can go forward when we need to.”

Gottsacker, a longtime proponent of paving the road, said he already contacted Kathy Cady Schilling, executive director of Ozaukee County Economic Development.

Winker suggested involving Rep. Rob Brooks and Sen. Duey Stroebel, a powerful senator who is on the Joint Finance Committee, as well as the executive director of the League of Municipalities and businesses in the industrial park.

“You’ve got nothing to lose,” Winker said. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I don’t know how else to say it. That’s what happens.”

Village Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein asked if the retention pond could be split off as a separate project since it costs less and would help the road regardless if it was paved.

Birenbaum said it’s possible but it makes more sense to do the whole project at once, adding that costs only rise as time goes on.

The village would have to acquire land from seven property owners for the project. It had approached them years ago but would have to do so again. It isn’t known if the same people own the properties.

The Village Board may approve forming a committee at its March 9 meeting.