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Suamico board approves loan for Riverside Drive project

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer


SUAMICO – To have enough money this year to pay for the Riverside Drive reconstruction project, the village board approved a resolution Monday, Feb. 15, to authorize borrowing not to exceed $677,000 from trust funds of the State of Wisconsin.

Finance Director Jessica Legois said the 2021 budget includes $786,700 for Tax Incremental District (TID) No. 2 road design and sewer replacement to be funded by a future loan or bond, with the debt being paid entirely by TID No. 2 revenues.

With the board last month awarding the Riverside Drive project bid to Peters Concrete, Legois said the village’s State Trust Fund loan is about $500 more than the total project cost for construction, contingency and engineering.

Legois said the $677,000 loan is for a period of five years at 2.5 percent interest.

“This would ensure that the loan is paid off before the scheduled TID closure date, which is Aug. 21, 2026,” she said. “The nice thing about the State Trust Fund loans is that they are pre-payable, and so we could pay off that earlier, if we chose to do so.”

Legois said the projected debt service schedule over five years includes the village incurring $50,130 in interest with a $677,000 loan for a total of $727,130.

The reconstruction planned this year on Riverside Drive in Suamico’s Historic Downtown between Velp Avenue and Side Street includes storm sewer, sanitary sewer, roadway work and lighting.

The project calls for having a 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the south side for routing pedestrians through the area with a herringbone design for a crosswalk, along with decorative lights 20 feet high with a single mast.

Fire Station No. 1 easement

As part of the process to sell the current Fire Station No. 1 property at 1745 Riverside Dr., after the Suamico Fire Department moves into a new facility now under construction at the intersection of Deerfield Lane and Riverside Drive, Village Administrator Alex Kaker said it was discovered about 2 1/2 feet of the existing building encroaches the adjacent railroad right-of-way.

To resolve this issue, Kaker said Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company agreed to allow the village to obtain a permanent easement at a cost of $1,000, plus attorney fees.

The board agreed to the easement with the company, contingent upon a final review by the village’s attorney.

The board Nov. 2 approved selling the current Fire Station No. 1 property to Base Companies, LLC, for $350,000.

Kaker said the company, which is located in the Rail Yard Innovation District in Green Bay, intends to open a brewery and music hall on the fire station property.

The village’s listing stated the exiting building is approximately 5,520 square feet and has four drive-through vehicle bays.

Brown County property records list the current Fire Station No. 1 site as having .587 acres.

The new Fire Station No. 1 site has 1.9 acres, with a building constructed to have more than 20,000 square feet with two stories and six apparatus bays.

Chambers Hill Farms

Board members voted 4-2 in favor of a revised final plat for the Chambers Hill Farms first addition.

Conditions of approval include: five duplex lots being added clearly shown on the face of plat and in the restrictive covenants; meeting the requirements of all other applicable ordinances, regulations and reviewing agencies; and paying an additional $1,500 in parkland fees.

Board President Laura Nelson and Trustee Michelle Eckert cast dissenting votes.

“The original plan didn’t have the duplexes, and I guess I’m against it,” Eckert said.

Nelson, who also cast the lone dissenting vote on the Planning and Zoning Commission, said she doesn’t like duplexes being interspersed with single-family homes.

“With duplexes you get renters in, and I don’t think that was the original intention…,” she said. “This isn’t supposed to be a rental development. It was supposed to an owner-occupied development.”

Trustee Sky Van Rossum, who also is on the Planning and Zoning Commission, said duplexes are allowed under the village code, and the money renters pay is “green just like anybody else’s.”

“They pay the same amount of money for sewer and water as anybody else,” he said. “They utilize businesses in the community like anybody else. They’re going to need to take care of their yards. They’re going to need to take care of their property just like anybody else, just like their neighbors who are a single-family homeowner.”

Though construction for the Chambers Hill Farms first addition has started, Zoning Administrator Steve Dunks said the plat had not been recorded, and the zoning code allows a duplex for every 10 lots in any subdivision zoned Residential Sewer.

“There was 69 lots on the original plat,” Dunks said. “(The applicant Scott Sonnabend) could do 10 percent of those lots (as duplexes) per our code.”

Vickery-Docter Park

The board approved an amendment to the Vickery-Docter Park memorandum of understanding to reduce the amount of land being donated to the village by almost an acre, leaving approximately 1.5 acres.

Kaker said a misunderstanding among family members donating the land led to the additional acre to the south initially being included.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “We weren’t planning on developing that southern parcel.”

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