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Pewaukee Board Denies Church Plan: Conversion for Village Needs Too Costly, Officials Say

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Mike Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Feb. 8--Village of Pewaukee -- The possibility of converting a downtown church building into a new Village Hall and police department was rejected the Village Board on Tuesday night.

Village officials said they will stick with the current plan to move the municipal operations to a $3.5 million building that is to be constructed on Cecelia Drive.

Board members said that the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church building at 111 Prospect Ave. would be too small for both a police station and Village Hall.

While the $1.5 million building could work either as a police station or Village Hall, board members said the cost to renovate the church would be too costly -- perhaps as much as $2 million.

They also said they want to have the police department and Village Hall in one building so that taxpayers do not have to bear the cost of maintaining two buildings.

The Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church congregation is constructing a new building in the City of Pewaukee. Real estate agent Jim Benz recently had asked the board to consider purchasing the church.

In October, the board voted 4-3 to build a Village Hall and police station on village-owned land on Cecelia Drive near Highway 16 and Capitol Drive to ease crowded conditions at the current Village Hall and police station at 235 Hickory St. Village President Chuck Nichols and Trustees Donna Baldwin-Haut and Pete Rohde voted against the site.

But on Tuesday, Nichols said police officers are working in substandard facilities, and the village needs to move forward with the building project. He said he still has reservations about building the facility. If the village and the City of Pewaukee were ever to merge, the village could end up with a $3.5 million building it doesn't need, Nichols said.

The location of the building has become an issue in the race for three Village Board seats up for election on April 4.

Incumbents Susan Bahr, Louise Hillen and Jeffrey Knutson are squaring off against former Village President and Trustee John Laimon and Richard Mann, Cheryl Mantz and Dan Miller in the Feb. 21 primary. The six top vote-getters in the primary advance to the April election.

Bahr, Hillen and Knutson favor the Cecelia Drive site, noting that about 60% of police calls occur in this area around Capitol Drive.

Laimon, Mann, Mantz and Miller have said the Village Hall and Police Department should remain in the downtown area.

Also Tuesday, board members indicated they are leaning toward the creation of a storm water utility that would charge property owners a fee to pay the costs of meeting federal and state clean water mandates.

The board instructed village staff to schedule a public information session on the fee. Village Administrator Scott Gosse said the meeting likely would be scheduled in the next 30 days.

Village officials are considering charging owners of single-family homes a fee of $6.50 quarterly -- $26 a year. Owners of other types of properties, including churches and non-profits, would pay higher fees based on acreage.

The village could generate about $148,000 a year through the storm water fee, according to a consultant's report.

Discussion over whether to create a storm water fee is being spurred the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Natural Resources. The agencies are requiring municipalities to reduce pollutants that enter public waterways.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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