By Josh Staloch
Staff Writer
BELLEVUE – A mixed-use development off Hoffman Road is moving forward following a unanimous vote to approve a planned development district amendment.
The Bellevue Village Board unanimously decided earlier this month the development, just east of Bellevue Senior Living, could deviate from certain aspects of the zoning ordinance, like reduced building setbacks to accommodate a garage structure and a cross-access easement with the retirement community.
The plan is to create a two-story structure with non-residential components on the first floor, and residential units on the second.
“It will be the village’s first true mixed-use type of development, where you have non-residential components on the first floor and then residential components on the second floor,” Interim Village Administrator/Director of Community Development Andrew Vissers said. “We have a number of multi-use buildings in the village but no mixed-use.”
Vissers said the plan calls for tenants to fill the first floor, including a café/bakery, a sushi restaurant and a salon space.
Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary, a non-profit organization dedicated to rehabilitating and rehoming cats with special needs, also plans a move into the first floor.
The plan calls for seven apartment units on the second floor, a pair of two-bedroom units and five one-bedroom units.
“I’m really excited about this project. This is something that other communities in Brown County have, and this will be our first,” Board President Steve Soukup said before the vote.
Subdivision planned
The board looked at another amendment request for a development off Bower Creek Road near the village’s border with Ledgeview, known as the Blue Skye Pointe subdivision.
Planners requested an amendment for deviation from lot size, minimum lot width, minimum setback requirements, lot coverage and right-of-way width.
This would allow for two different styles of homes in the development.
The north end of the development would feature traditional-style dwellings while the southern portion, which will connect with Rustic Ledge Way, would be designed to attract first-time homebuyers with smaller, 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-bathroom, bungalow-style homes.
Located in a wetlands area, the project will face challenges.
Residents Kris and Joseph Hodgson, whose home is in close proximity to the proposed development, said they are concerned about the potential environmental effects it might have.
“My huge concern is that we have wetlands all around us, and will there be something to keep the water diverted away from our property as it has been?” Kris Hodgson said. “It looks like there’s nothing set up to take care of the water that comes down the ledge to us.”
Steve Bieda, of Mau & Associates, a local land surveying company, was on hand to address some of the concerns.
“You have everything you can possibly imagine on this site when it comes to environmental issues,” Bieda said. “We have wetlands, we have floodplains, we need fill. We have to account for all of the stormwater or floodwater coming off of any of these sites and make sure it gets transferred off to where it needs to go to.”
He said topography maps of the area have been examined, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will have to approve the final plan.
The motion to move forward with the preliminary plat was approved 3-2, with trustee Tom Katers and trustee Dave Kaster opposed.