Tuesday, May 19th, here at City Hall, 630.
All council members are present.
Please join with me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you, everyone.
All right, so that brings us into the agenda this evening.
The first agenda item is public comments and appearances.
Please remember that if you have public comments
or comments this evening, you have up to three minutes.
And we maintain the right to close out public comments
after 30 minutes.
Is there anyone with public comments?
Could you please sign that clipboard as well?
Thank you.
Name and address.
My name is Dean Wiegert.
I'm at 3708 East Northport Drive in the town of Port.
I'm here because I would like to encourage all city residents
to drive north on KW because LL is closed again to Lake Road.
Take Lake Road while you still can,
through the middle of the data center property,
see the wondrous sites, see the amazing equipment,
see the land transformed.
Look to the north of Lake Road, just west of LL,
see the rows of what look like barracks or house trailers.
We were told there'd be no worker camps on the site,
no living quarters, ask yourself what those trailers are.
Take this drive on a hot day, maybe when it's 75 or 80,
when there's been no rain for a while,
when a good stiff 15 to 25 mile per hour wind
is coming from the south or west.
Don't open your car windows and maybe turn off
the air conditioning and fan.
The dust may not be good for your car.
The dust isn't really good for anything.
It must be okay though because I don't see
the workers wearing respirators
and I don't know why OSHA doesn't require that.
The dust is pretty thick.
From a mile away, it looks like fog.
But it is coming from the data center,
from all that open disturbed soil,
causing air quality issues that are not being addressed.
Timing is important.
Had heading back home, you'll have to take KW again.
Go about 430 or five.
You'll get to experience an actual rush hour traffic jam
right here on Country County Roads.
First, you'll see the Hardworking Sheriff's Department
Office are standing there directing traffic.
As if the Sheriff's Department had nothing better
to do than facilitate data center construction.
You may even get to experience sitting
in a three quarter mile line of cars and trucks,
not moving, just sitting there waiting for traffic to move.
Imagine living on that road, people do.
And then when you finally get on to H to go back
over the freeway, you'll probably get lucky again
and the state patrol will stop you
so that the long line of cars waiting at the southbound,
43 exit can get off the ramp.
Glance across the freeway,
you'll see the long line of dump trucks, cement trucks,
and other cars and trucks backed up all the way down
the I-43 northbound exit ramp,
trying to get back to the data center.
Ask yourself how those state patrol officers
could make better use of their time.
What's not getting done because they're directing traffic?
Ask yourself why Vantage wasn't required to have a plan
for getting hundreds of trucks and thousands of workers
in and out of the data center site
without putting a strain on our County Roads,
our County Sheriff's Officers, our state patrol.
It's almost like no one thought
about how much traffic there would be.
Ask yourself why the city officials didn't think
of demanding that Vantage have a plan.
Since they took over Highland Road,
why wasn't their first action to make a south entrance
onto the site to facilitate that traffic
without impacting all the rest of us?
It's easy to say that they wanna be a trusted neighbor
and partner, it's a little bit harder
to actually demonstrate that.
Thank you for your time.
I just wanna make one clarifying point,
sir, from your comments,
is there is no housing on that site at all.
We were out there yesterday and that is office space
that was brought in to support the construction project.
So thank you for bringing that to our attention.
All of those trailers.
Yes, sir, all of them.
They're still coming.
So any other public comments or appearances?
Any other public comments or appearances?
Okay, we're gonna move into the agenda.
The next agenda item is the consent agenda.
Is there anyone willing to make a motion
on the consent agenda?
So moved.
Second.
There's a motion and a second.
Any questions or concerns on the motion?
All right, seeing none,
all in favor, signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
All right, motion carries.
That brings us into Mayor's business.
I've just got a couple of quick things here.
First, Council, I had sent you over the weekend
the Board's Commissions and Committee structure
for my recommendations for this year
and appointments for this year.
Many people willing to continue to serve
and many new people on the commissions.
Again, working hard to have a nice diverse balance
of both men and women and diversity
on those boards and commissions.
And I'm still holding open the one appointment
which is the Police and Fire Commission
until I have finished interviewing a couple of people.
But otherwise, any other questions for me on that?
Otherwise looking for your approval for those appointments.
I'll move to approve.
Second.
There's a motion to approve in a second.
Any questions or concerns on that motion?
All right, seeing none.
All in favor, signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
All right, the motion carries.
Again, members of the community
who serve on these boards, commissions,
and committees will be contacted.
We do a training, but we also wanna just thank them
for their commitment to serving in Port Washington.
All right, that brings me to my next agenda item
which is an EMS Fire Week proclamation.
You heard three minutes ago the ambulance
and support vehicles take off.
There was a car accident and they called me
so they would not be here tonight.
So this week is the fire and EMS week.
I have a proclamation and what I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna take it to the fire station myself
and deliver it to them.
But I would ask all community members to recognize
that this week is EMS week in the city
of Port Washington and across the country
and that we now have a full-time fire service
and EMS service thanks to the community passing
the referendum and the vision of our current fire chief,
Joe DeBore, and just if you have the opportunity
to see the men, women, and people who serve
and support our city to thank them for doing so.
That then leaves me into the mayor updates,
just a couple of quick things.
One is I just wanted to extend a gratitude
to Susan, Melissa, Dan also, and Mary Lou.
Yesterday I had my mayors for the day.
So we had six fourth graders who had a really,
I think pretty cool day.
They started out their morning here,
they got sworn in by Susan
and their parents and grandparents were here.
Very interesting how it all comes full circle.
Our former city administrator's granddaughter was here,
so he got to experience coming in
and seeing his granddaughter potentially having the authority
over her grandpa, so that was pretty fun.
And then we also had, for the first time ever,
second family member who was a mayor for the day.
So the three brothers in the family
and the school voted the middle brother in.
So we had a good day,
went from here to the police fire safety center,
where they got a tour of the new police and fire safety center.
One of the things I think is most remarkable
about young people, and I'm gonna invite them
to come in July or August,
is their questions are the exact same questions
that you find anywhere else.
So they wanted to know,
like, why are we building a house
for the fire chief in the back?
And it's like, that's not a house
for the fire chief, it's a burn center.
You know, they asked a lot of questions
of law enforcement and the fire chief as well.
The fire chief and Lieutenant Kenoski
did something pretty deep for the young.
People who were with me yesterday,
they were allowed, they signed the floor.
So in what will be the training area in the community room,
they took a Sharpie marker and they rode on there on this day,
the mayors all signed the floor.
So they all signed the floor,
and that was pretty cool.
They'll be carpeted over,
but that carpet will be replaced in 30 years.
Chris's replacement will be like,
hey, we found a bunch of old mayor signatures on the floor,
and they'll run a fun little story in the press for them.
From there, it goes along with the beam up.
It goes along with the beam, yeah.
Which is really cool.
Which they also signed, I found out.
So then from there, we went up to the Vantage data center site
and the Vantage team, the Michaels team and the Turner team,
treated the kids to a really cool tour of the site.
They had all their PPE gear on.
I don't know why, but they also got sunglass safety gear.
So they thought they all looked like a little bunch
of superheroes in their safety gear.
And again, asking amazing questions.
So very proud of our school system in Port Washington.
Had a nice, dignitary lunch.
They got to meet their state representative,
the sheriff and a candidate who's running for governor.
Missy Hughes joined us,
because she was at the tour for the site.
And then they went and renamed the streets.
So they unveiled the streets.
Rob, please make sure to share our gratitude with JD.
He did a really nice job.
Lincoln Elementary brought out their entire student body.
So the kids did a 3-2-1 and it was very, very cool piece.
And then from there, we went and visited some local businesses
to say thank you to them.
And of course, ended our day with some ice cream,
which two cans donated to the young kids.
And then when they realized that it was free,
they wanted more.
So, but it was a very good day of learning.
And I also just wanted to thank, again,
we did the same thing on Friday for seniors.
So it was a very cool opportunity for me
to work with our seasoned citizens and our newest citizens.
And they did the same tour as well.
So very, very good day.
So I just wanted to thank everybody for that,
especially Joe and Kevin and Lieutenant Kenoski
for the extra time they gave.
That's all I have for mayors, updates.
Any questions for me about anything?
Deb, again, thank you for co-hosting with me on Friday
with the seniors.
It's a good day.
It was certainly my pleasure.
And I've said this to multiple people.
When I graduated from high school,
females were not allowed to do many things.
I was blown away by the number of women
operating huge equipment and dump trucks on that site.
So very happy to see that.
And thank you.
Great opportunity.
Yeah.
And the lead of the project, Victoria,
was on our tour with us.
So it was a very cool day.
OK, that brings us into officer and staff reports.
I'll never miss an opportunity to share our department head
updates that are on the administration page each month.
They're usually 20 pages or more.
So all the updates are there each month.
I encourage you all to take a look at those.
Two things for next meeting.
I believe we have the bike plan coming to the next meeting.
Is that right, Rob?
And that should be exciting.
And then we also have the audit next month,
or the next meeting too, so those
who will be exciting for the June second meeting.
And then I just wanted to announce
we are hiring over 80 people for summer health temporary.
We get the summer kids in.
They'll start mowing, and we'll get things going.
You may see a little extra long grass right now,
but we will get to it because we wait until summer when
they're back from school that we can have them help the city out
instead of having awful time employees.
And we had two retirements.
One will be June 15th.
The chief of police is retiring.
And July 3rd, our building inspector,
is retiring after many years here.
And then our receptionist out front here,
she took a position in her career path.
So we're very proud of her, too.
She's looking at accounting.
So we're sad to see her goal, but we
are recruiting for that position in a few summer positions.
So check those out online if you have any kids,
or grandkids that are interested, Mattel?
I just had one addition.
Rob, and I know I'm not trying to throw you out here.
But in the staffing report, it said
that North Beach access, the street crews
are scheduled to perform the Earthwork on May 22nd
are still on schedule for that for Memorial Day weekend.
They are going to be out there tomorrow,
and we are committed to getting it open for Memorial Day weekend.
Awesome.
Greatly appreciate that.
Any other questions or additions?
This is where we're calling you out, Rob.
Can we talk about Highway 33 resurfacing
and the timeline for that?
Yep, that is.
So we haven't had a pre-con meeting.
We do have the schedule from the contractor, however.
And it'll be mobilizing in mid-June, so just a few weeks away.
And they have it scheduled for completion in mid-September.
So the road will be open at all times to through traffic,
other than nighttime work for about five days
when they paved the roundabout.
And also, congratulations on your the Lighthouse Award.
You went up to Sturgeon Bay for?
Yes, it was fun.
Did this end at, I mean, did you guys
get some pancakes up there or something fun?
I mean, did you go up to Al Johnson's?
Didn't go to those in Sturgeon Bay, that's his debate.
Wow, 25 minutes for the greatest pancakes in America.
Well, that's true.
Well, congratulations for that.
I'd love to see that posted online,
so people can see that because that was great work.
OK, any other questions for most of our team?
OK, then that takes us into our first agenda item
for the evening, the council committees.
Consideration and possible action
on the approval of renewed alcohol licenses
and annual cabaret licenses for 26-27 license year.
The common council is being asked to review and approve
the alcohol and annual cabaret licenses to include class A,
beer, class A liquor, class B, beer, class B liquor,
and class C wine, also being approved
our annual cabaret licenses.
The staff recommended is the full listing
by license category of the establishments
have been submitted and the city clerk has reviewed
and approved the backgrounds and applications
and all required fees have been paid
and the background record checks completed
and approved by the police chief.
Susan.
Thank you.
And there are not many changes this year
to the establishment licenses.
They've all renewed and including the cabarets as well.
All of their paperwork is in order, fees paid.
There were no significant changes to alcohol agents.
You've already approved some of those
over the course of the last four or five months.
The, as the mayor said, the police background checks
have been completed.
The only thing I would ask that if you choose to approve,
it would be subject to any delinquent fees
to the city be paid prior to me issuing their license.
We just have a few that have outstanding,
not greatly outstanding, but outstanding fees
to the city that need to be taken care of.
So.
Thank you.
Any questions or concerns for Susan?
Mr. Benning?
No.
GGF reviewed this and recommends approval.
So with that, I'll make the motion per what Susan stated
that we approve it contingent on the payment
of any outstanding fees.
All right.
So the motion is to approve a contingent
upon outstanding fees.
Is there a second?
Second.
There is a second.
Any questions or concerns on the motion?
All right.
Seeing none.
All in favor signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
Motion carries.
I do get a nervous about what class C wine is,
but you know, that's a dumb dad inside joke.
I make every year and it falls flat every year.
Okay.
So public here.
The next is a public hearing on proposed text
to section 48 or 485-170
of the city of Port Washington zoning code
to allow indoor storage uses
in existing industrial plan developments.
I'm going to call that hearing to order.
Notice this here by giving that this is a public hearing
of the common council on Tuesday, May 19th at 630 here
at City Hall.
Notice is further given that the subject of the hearing
is a proposed text amendment to section 485-170
of the city of Port Washington zoning code
to allow indoor storage uses in existing
industrial plan developments.
And at this time, is there anyone willing
to speak in favor of this agenda
or this proposed text amendment?
Any speakers in favor?
Any speakers against?
Are there any speakers against?
Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close this hearing
and move us into the agenda item,
which is consideration of possible action
on ordinance 2026-02, amending the zoning ordinance
relating to permitted uses by right in the one
or the I-1 existing industrial
and I-2 industrial park zone districts.
City of Port Washington is the applicant.
This is the second reading, meaning we can take action.
The issue is should the council amend section 485-170
of the city of Port Washington zoning code
to add indoor storage to the list of permitted uses
for existing industrial plan developments.
Mr. Harris.
Okay, so this ordinance change
or this proposed ordinance change
is pretty self-explanatory.
What it would do is formally codify indoor storage
as a permitted use in our industrial plan developments.
Those are generally, those are all, in this case,
kind of those business bar and formats
and of various mixed uses of light industrial uses.
And just as we've gotten to approved,
once been approved for about seven years now, maybe six,
one is under construction now.
And just meeting with police and fire,
discussing some of the issues they've gone
on in their inspections.
I think we just kind of made a determination
and concurrence by the plan commission
that indoor storage would be a passive use
and kind of an acceptable use in terms of both the use
and the layout of these types of plan developments.
This went to plan commission.
This was unanimously recommended
for the council to approve.
Yeah, and again, having chaired planning commission,
we had had the discussion on this.
And frankly, with our industrial park
and the lack of any interest in bringing light
or any other types of manufacturing,
we believe this to be a good use of that property.
So any other questions for Bob or concerns or comments?
I'll move to approve.
Mr. Bering, there's a motion to approve.
Is there a second?
I'll second.
The motion is seconded.
Any questions or concerns on the motion?
Okay, seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
All right, motion carries.
That takes us to Board of Public Works.
Consideration and possible action on a proposal
to submit a grant application for the design
and construction of a railroad underpass
on the interurban trail located between Oakland Avenue
and Park Street.
The issue is should the city of Port Washington
approve a proposal from TKDA to submit an application
for a US Department of Transportation,
Federal Railroad Administration,
Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant.
Seriously?
For the purposes of taking the interurban trail
off of Oakland Avenue and Park Street
and constructing an off-street connection
under the railroad tracks with the we energies right of way.
Staff is recommending approving the proposal
from TKDA to submit an application
to the United States Department of Transportation,
Federal Railroad Administration,
Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program
for the purposes of taking the interurban trail off
of Oakland Avenue and Park Street
and constructing an off-street connection
under the railroad tracks with the we energies right away.
Rob, I appreciate the creativity of this.
You have the floor.
Thank you very much.
So this is listed under Board of Public Works.
It's now been to Board of Public Works last week,
which approved it unanimously
and then went to GGF before this meeting,
which did received a two to one vote against.
So that's the background on the support
or lack of support for it so far.
But this project is something we've been working on
and what came up in GGF.
And I have to apologize for it.
This project is new to some people on the council.
I think the only person that hopefully it's familiar to
is Alderman Neumeier because we applied for a grant
in 2005, which we received,
but ultimately transferred the funds
to complete a section of the bike trail
on the north side of the city
where the bike trail used to spill out on LL.
We use that money for the county to pave
an off-street trail on the north end
from the hotel on LL to the bike trail
just north of the town hall.
So that was done with the funding we received back again
in 2005.
Since then, the counties continued to work on
making this dream a reality of taking this,
this section of road section of path,
which is the outside of downtown,
the only on-street portion of the bike path
and unfortunately, this portion is also
without a sidewalk either.
So pedestrians have to walk on the road
for at least a portion of it.
But in any case, it's something that we've always had
in the back of our minds,
but have not put in the 10-year plan
because it does come with a large price tag
anytime you work at the railroad
that has a strong impact on the cost.
And so it's something that, again, we've had in mind
as we are currently putting in our sanitary sewer relay
in that area, we have been kind of preparing the grade
for a potential crossing at some point.
And we had communicated the TKDA,
our desire to put in a railroad crossing there someday
and started having initial conversations with them.
And during these conversations,
they approached us with this grant opportunity,
which is part of a five-year grant program.
Unfortunately, this is the fifth year of the program.
We were not aware of it.
And so that's why we have a timeline
that I know some of the members of GGF were uncomfortable
with it, again, we only became aware of the grant
at the end of April and it's due June 8th.
So this is, the reason staff is recommending it
and Board of Public Works is recommending it
is because it takes a nearly half mile on-street portion
of the trail which crosses railroad tracks at grade
and puts it below grade, creating a safer crossing
for bikes and pedestrians and also cuts that section
of the trail almost in half.
And so we feel that this is a good amenity.
It comes with a 20% local share.
Again, there was concern by GGF,
regarding the commitment to that local share
that could be anywhere we estimate
between $260,000 and $400,000.
The grant, I did get confirmation,
the one-point, they're currently estimating it
at $1.3 million without contingency.
That's in 2020, $26.
So when we would apply for the grant,
we would apply for it for a dollar figure
that fit what we would think would be
the construction schedule, whether that's three years
or four years or five years.
We would tack that onto the contingency
if we were to apply.
I guess I've said a lot about it already now at two meetings,
so I won't say much more, but if there's any questions,
I can certainly do my best to answer them.
Oh, okay, any questions for Rob or comments?
Well, comments.
Mr. Benning.
We'll follow on what Rob talked about.
And the discussion in GGF was because the short timeline
that this came to us, we weren't sure where this fit
with our 10-year plan and capital plan,
what would have to give, what would have to move down
in priority for this project to be funded.
We talked a lot about getting funding
through the county or donations or other things like that.
We don't have those in hand, so we can't count on that one.
But we're struggling with committing future councils
to, I'll say 400, but if the inflated dollars
are more than that, we're just uncomfortable
committing that kind of money at this point
on such short notice.
So, conceptually, I think, and I'll let the others
on GGF speak, but I think we like the idea of the project.
We're just uncomfortable with how it's gonna be funded
for our share of it, which, you know,
we've talked 400,000, but it probably more than that
at this point, so I'll let Deb or Jonathan
cover other questions or concerns.
Yeah, we talked also about shifting priorities.
I'm sure Alderman Numier would not wanna give up
fixing alleys to allow this to happen before.
We have a list of priorities, so in order to evaluate
this project from a financial perspective,
we would need to find out where we would slot this in.
So, we need a little bit more time and more information.
Yeah, Mr. Player, I think all their men bending
kind of said it pretty well that we have to remove
some other things from the priority list.
So, I think as soon as we know, Rob,
when we're awarded the grant,
when we wanna start the project,
we'd have to push those things back or cancel them
or move things down the priority list.
So, I think, for me, having a proactive dialogue this fall
when we do budget and capital planning
for the next five years, 10 years,
when we hone in on that plan,
I wanna make sure that we sort of start to delineate
what those priorities are,
so we can potentially kick some of them down,
because that's what this essentially means for us,
is that we have to move $400,000 project
to later in time.
Well, I guess I would say not necessarily.
Not necessarily.
I mean, we would certainly work,
we feel that we have commitment from the county
that they would work with us to try and raise the local share.
They have a proven success rate with getting grants.
We would continue to pursue grants,
we would continue to pursue donations,
whether they're corporate donations or private donations.
I know that the biking community has donated
to other things in the past,
so we wouldn't give up on that.
And I certainly don't wanna be,
say that $400,000 is a trivial amount.
It doesn't buy as much as it used to buy,
and so that can $400,000 could be the delta on a project,
as I said downstairs.
For instance, we're tracking to come in
much more than $400,000 under on the police and fire building,
other commitments that we have in the future,
whether it's the bluff or the street department
or a road construction project,
those projects could come under it, they could come in over,
but we could bring a grant for another project
that we weren't expecting another grant opportunity
where we have more funding.
And so I guess I feel it's worth the risk
to commit the local share towards getting the money,
so that a future council has the opportunity
to build this project.
And again, I wish it was on the,
it's in the bike and plan.
This is all kind of happening at once.
We certainly didn't anticipate that we would be dropped
into the last year of a $1 billion funding cycle,
but I guess that's where we are.
And so we wanted to bring this grant opportunity
to the council and see if there was interest in doing it.
Other questions, Mr. Beasture?
I just want to, not a question, but a comment.
I just want to reiterate what I said in public works.
This kind of spills out in my neighborhood,
and since I moved here, I've felt like
that's kind of an unsafe section of the bike trail
for families in chain and acres.
So, and having learned a couple of years ago
that the inner urban train actually used to run
under the other train there,
it's, I think it's a cool project.
So to me, there's no issue with pursuing a grant
and seeing where it goes,
and then answer the other questions later.
So thank you for working on it.
Ms. Miller?
I agree with all their Beasture, excuse me.
This is something that we talked about in Port Moves,
and at our public works,
and I think this is an excellent way to go about it.
And we could be denied.
So it could be, you know, nothing lost, but nothing gained.
So, and also give you the experience
when the next time it comes around to write a grant.
So I think this is a worthwhile effort to proceed,
and that's where I would like to see us go.
Mr. Gasper?
Yeah, I also think it's worthwhile
going after this grant.
This area of the city, because of railroad tracks,
does not have good connectivity through,
and this really offers a chance
to connect neighborhoods back together.
When you build, have this underpass,
you know, you're not just connecting the bike trail
through, you're likely also connecting, say,
from the end of linking and Madison down through to,
making those neighborhoods that much closer to everything
without having to go over to Grand Avenue,
which is a heavily trafficked street,
or over to Oakland, which doesn't have sidewalk,
and is an industrial area, and you have to dodge the semi-trucks.
As far as the planning for it for the spending,
this wouldn't be the first time we went after a grant
without having a definitive funding source
down in the future as to how we were gonna pay for something.
The Valley Creek grants we got for it.
There was some promise of federal funding
that might come thereafter,
but that was before we had any dream of a TIF-5
that was gonna be able to come and pay
for a huge portion of it.
So we've done stuff like this before,
and sometimes when the opportunity comes up,
I think we're best off jumping at the opportunity
and then figuring out, you know,
what funds are we gonna shift around later?
And, you know, saying that,
it's not a foregone conclusion
that we're gonna win the grant,
and if we do win the grant,
we still have to deal with Union Pacific,
who's a good chance Union Pacific comes
and just says absolutely not,
because they're Union Pacific.
So there's a lot of obstacles that have to be overcome
before this actually would come to fruition.
And I think on the off chance
that we can bring it to fruition,
I think it's worth going after the grant now.
And, you know, I'm not convinced it'll actually happen,
but, you know, if we don't try,
it'll be, we won't make it happen.
And, you know, we're likely to be back on this same path
five, 10 years from now trying to achieve it again
when the opportunity comes up,
and it's gonna cost a lot more.
So, I'm in favor of going forward with the grant
at this time.
Rob, I have a couple of questions,
and Matt's kind of prepped for this as well,
but did we look at the potential use of impact fees
through park for this project
and a potential of increasing those impact fees slightly
to offset the costs because of the significant amount
of impact of a certain project in Port Washington
that would offset this by a couple of dollars?
I have not had the opportunity to do that yet,
but that is something that we've considered,
and because this is a recreational amenity,
I would leave this up to Matt
and our people who write these plans,
but it seems like because it is a recreational amenity
that is something that could be eligible
for a recreational impact fee.
And again, I normally would not be a big proponent
of increasing impact fees.
However, because of one project that is maxing out
on the impact fees, and it would not necessarily impact
anyone else building a home or a property,
it's just a wondering.
Yeah, I think certainly, you know,
I don't know about raising impact fees or anything like that,
but certainly this would be a project
that park impact fees would be something
that we could contribute financially to this project.
Melissa?
Just to note, park impact fees are not charged
on development that are not residential,
so keep that in mind.
I don't know if we'd change the ordinance.
Okay, Mr. Neumayer?
Then I have one more question.
I fully support this, I understand the liability
of having to come up with the funds later on,
but when we bypassed this back when I first came on council,
I was very disappointed in it
that the area of the bike path is pathetic.
I have friends that ride it and they bemoaned
what port does, they claim our bike system,
that area isn't very good and it isn't.
But as Altriman Gaspard said,
we've done this before where we've applied for a grant
and looked how we could fund it,
our portion of it later on.
I would put a lot of faith in the county.
They've been very good at writing grants,
phenomenal as a matter of fact,
so I think it would be a big improvement.
I am a big advocate of fixing our alleys,
so I'm stand corrected on that.
So I would support this, so thank you.
One other question I had,
putting on my old hat here,
is did we talk to the school district at all about this?
What the impact is for them?
Because in the state of Wisconsin,
the way the statutes work is if there's a railroad crossing,
it automatically pulls the lever back for busing.
And then there are radiuses and ranges
of which you can ask walkers
if there's no safe way to cross a railroad track,
that is a thing in the state of Wisconsin.
This would then provide the safe passage
underneath or past that.
So I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind
also checking with the district on that,
because the young people who live in that area
likely go to Dunwoody on the east side.
And on the west side, if they go to the high school
and they're under the age of 16,
they qualify for busing as well
because there's no safe way across the railroad track,
and this would provide that safety.
So there could be some efficiencies
for our other taxing partners.
That's all I had.
So is there anyone,
is there any other discussion on this?
Can I just ask one?
One anecdote following up on
why you said having gone to Dunwoody
and having friends who lived
east of the railroad tracks
and walked to Dunwoody every day,
because at that time at least
I don't think busing was offered for them.
But they, I don't think any of them
that I knew ever actually walked Grand Avenue,
they always either did Oakland
where there wasn't sidewalk
or they just went and cut across the tracks
where it was convenient anyway,
which would be approximately
where we want to put this overpassed in.
Right, yeah.
Can't help the route to school,
you can only make a safe one.
But I appreciate the creativity and the work on this
and with discussion looking to come to a close,
is there anyone willing to make a motion
for the consideration action?
There is a recommended motion
to approve the TKDA proposal
to submit an application
to the US Department of Transportation,
Federal Railroad Administration,
Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant,
that's 12 words in a title,
program for the purposes of taking the Inner Urban Trail
off of Oakland Avenue and Park Street,
constructing an off-street connection
under the railroad tracks
with the Wii Energies right of way.
I would move staff's recommendation for that project.
There's a motion.
Is there a second?
Second.
Is moved and seconded.
Any questions or concerns on the motion?
All right, seeing none,
all in favor signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
No.
Motion passes.
Thank you.
This brings us into our last areas
of public comments and appearances
for before we head into potential closed session.
Is there anyone willing to make a public comment or appearance?
Okay, seeing none.
The next agenda item then is the convenient
and closed session per Wisconsin State Statute 19.851E
for the purpose of deliberating
or negotiating the purchase of public properties,
the investing of public funds
or conducting other specified business,
public business,
whenever competitive or bargaining reasons
require a closed session,
to it to discuss and formulate negotiating strategies,
including without limitation,
the terms and conditions for an offer to purchase received
by PFD Development from PFD Development LLC
regarding the city owned property
at 104 West Washington Street
and 365 North Wisconsin Street
in the city of Port Washington,
Ozaki County, Wisconsin tax ID number 16-098-10-101-001.
Is there anyone willing to make that motion?
So moved.
There's a motion and a second.
Any questions or concerns on the motion?
All right.
This is a voice vote.
Ward one,
board two,
board three,
board four,
board five,
board six,
board seven,
board eight.
That motion,
I don't know,
I said eight again.
Mr. Benning, did you want a one eighth vote?
Yeah, district eight.
Convene into closed session
is the next agenda item for Wisconsin State statute 19.851G
for the purpose of conferring with legal counsel
for the governmental body,
who's rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy
to be adopted by the body
with respect to litigation in which it is
or is likely to become involved.
So anyone willing to make a motion to close
for a closed session on agenda item two?
So moved.
Second.
There's a motion and a second.
Any questions or concerns on that motion?
Seeing none,
district one,
district two,
district three,
district four,
district five,
district six,
district seven.
All right, we are now in closed session.
Please chair the,
please clear the chambers council
that's made in two minutes inside chambers.