By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – Plans are moving forward to redevelop the former Schneider trucking site located east of the intersection of South Broadway and Hansen Road for residential use.
The Village of Ashwaubenon now owns the two parcels that total around 22 acres after purchasing the property for $1.25 million.
In partnership with Continuum Architects and Radue Homes, the village has been working to redevelop the site from a vacant semi-truck trailer yard into 145 owner-occupied housing units that would include duplexes, townhomes and apartment-style condominiums.
Both the village’s Site Plan Review Committee and the Plan Commission voted Tuesday, June 4, in favor of a planned unit development overlay district for the site, which would be known as Aldon Station.
The Plan Commission also backed a request to rezone the property from I-2 heavy industrial to R-2 two-family residential and R-3 multi-family residential.
The PUD and rezoning request are being forwarded to the village board for final approval June 25.
Community Development Director Aaron Schuette noted there would be a mixture of residential uses as reflected in the proposed rezoning with R-3 zoning called for to the south and west of the property where the apartment-style condominium units would be located and R-2 zoning to the north and east where the townhomes and duplexes would be built.
Schuette said he expects the village will be selling the property in phases as it is being developed and after any contamination is remediated.
The village previously had a Phase I environmental assessment of the site completed by Stantec, which Village President Mary Kardoskee said cost $4,500.
Last September, the village board authorized contracting with McMahon & Associates and Stantec for preliminary site work on the parcels for a cost of $104,100, plus final road and utility design costs, with funding from Tax Incremental Financing District No. 3.
After McMahon & Associates inspected the site, the village sought bids for lead and asbestos abatement and awarded a contract in February to Asbestos Removal Inc. for $84,481.
When asked by Plan Commission member Mike Skiffington about the testing for soil contamination on the property, Schuette said environmental testing is still taking place on the site.
“With a benefit of a grant received from the Bay Lake Regional Planning Commission from the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), we are going through the testing right now,” Schuette said. “We’ve done a series of tests. This is actually our third round of testing on the site.”
Once the extent of the soil contamination is determined on the property, Schuette said that will identify how much fill will have to be taken off the site.
“The fill we have right now is different contaminants on there that we are dealing with… but nothing that can’t be handled,” he said.
Development density
A memo provided by Continuum to the village proposes building one 15-unit condominium building with a community room and a pool, two 18-unit condominium buildings, two 20-unit condominium buildings, 19 duplex buildings with two units per building and four four-unit townhouses.
Schuette said PUD is designed to accommodate the amount of building density for the proposed development, which is different than what is typically allowed in R-2 and R-3 zoning districts.
“The (PUD) also takes into account different setbacks, green space requirements,” he said.
Schuette said detailed landscape, lighting and signage plans will also have to be approved by the Site Plan Review Committee for the property to be developed.
As part of the development, Schuette said an extension of the Ashwaubomay River Trail would take place along the property.
Ryan Radue of Radue Homes noted the townhouses and duplexes will have lot lines so that the owners of those units will also own the property surrounding them.
“What this allows us is the person that buys them owns their own land, their own building, their own exterior,” Radue said. “Whereas, in a condominium, they only own inside the walls.”
However, Radue said there will be a homeowners association all the property owners will be required to join.
Radue said the cost of the units will vary depending on where they are located on the property, with the units along the waterfront being “much more expensive.”