DE PERE — The Unified School District of De Pere board this week voted to let a developer put a temporary access drive and turnaround cul-de-sac on property it owns near Bower Creek in Ledgeview.
The property, Parcel D-199-5-1, is 23 acres and adjacent to the future Heaven Hill subdivision, which is being developed by Nature Ridge, LLC.
The district has owned the property since 1999 and retains it as a site for a potential new school.
Since 2020, Big Valley Farms has leased the land from the district for $200 per year, according to an April 2020 memo.
The district pays around $250 a year for stormwater management to the Town of Ledgeview.
The easement road will allow construction equipment and materials into the subdivision from County Trunk Highway G/Dickinson Road, to the project site until asphalt is laid — about three months from the start of the project.
The cul-de-sac will enable utility vehicles and equipment to turn around.
According to the district, Ledgeview, as a condition of the Heaven Hill plat approval, asked that the developer seek the easement from the district so that heavy equipment and construction materials wouldn’t have to travel through the existing neighborhood to the north, potentially damaging the roads and placing an unnecessary burden on those residents.
A representative of Vierbicher represented the developer at the meeting.
The purpose of the turnaround is for maintenance vehicles such as snow plows, garbage trucks and emergency vehicles to access the area.
Ledgeview requires a turnaround if the road extends more than one lot, and in this case, the road spans five to eight lots.
According to a 2020 district memo, terms of the original agreement with Big Valley indicate the district may be required to pay the farm $150 per acre in damages for those acres on which crops are planted but not able to be harvested.
Town of Ledgeview Administrator Sarah Burdette said she anticipates work beginning in late summer or early fall.
She said temporary cul-de-sacs aren’t uncommon and that Ledgeview has several in the area.
“The platting process is part of the developer obligation; they work with folks like (Vierbicher) to put a plan for that land and the acquisition of it and all of the roadway networks,” Burdette said.
“The town’s process is we work with the developer to make sure that Legeview engineers it, bids it out, designs it at the developer’s cost so there is that level of oversight and management that this project will be done in accordance with what is intended.”
The board voted on the access road and cul-de-sac separately and unanimously voted for the road.
Two members, Chad Jeskewitz and Jeff Dickert, voted nay to the cul-de-sac.
Dickert said that while the access road would be temporary, he didn’t think the cul-de-sac would be.
“It’s permanent until something is signed with the next piece of property,” he said.
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