Village set to purchase 64 acres for business park

The Fredonia Village Board last week unanimously approved a letter of intent to spend $1 million to purchase 64 acres for a new business park on the village’s south side.

Development of the business park will require all 64 acres to be annexed from the Town of Fredonia.

The land being purchased is roughly west of Highway 57, north of Meadowlark Road and east of Tower Drive, adjacent to the village’s existing business park.

The agreement between the village and Ronald and Christine Ansay is dependent on the village obtaining financing.

“This is huge deal for the village,” Trustee Richard Abegglen said. “It’s been over 20 years since the other business park was established. This is the only way the village is going to grow.

“I am extremely excited. It will add (tax) increment to the village and make it a nicer place.”

The property is next to the village’s current business park, which makes it easier to market and for existing businesses to expand, trustees said.

That includes Guy and O’Neill Inc., which makes disinfecting wipes, which has announced an expansion into the new park.

The addition also will provide easier access off Highway 57, Trustee Joshua Haas said.

“With that exposure to Highway 57 and the widening of I-43 coming, it makes a lot of sense,” Haas said, referring to plans to widen I-43 to six lanes from Milwaukee to Grafton beginning in 2022.

The agreement also includes a six-month review period that allows the village to perform an environmental assessment and form a tax incremental finance, or TIF, district.

TIF districts temporarily redirect property tax revenue from the site to pay for infrastructure improvements in the hopes that higher property values will result once the development is complete.

The village’s and Ansays’ attorneys will work to draft an offer to purchase, village Clerk Sandi Tretow said.

The deal on the business park is a major step on one of two development fronts facing the village, the other being the Hillcrest residential development, which would add about 100 homes on the village’s north side.

Those negotiations have stalled over financing issues.

The Village Board last year contracted with Newmark Knight Frank to help the village find, develop and market a new business park, agreeing to pay the consultant $75,000 over a three-year period.

The village also has hired Ehlers Inc. to act as financial advisers to help with the formation of the TIF district.