SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (WHBL) - The proposed new townhouse construction on the South Pier was almost held up last night after a number of residents came to council to complain about the rezoning of the area.
City administrator Darryl Hoffland says a number of citizens were concerned over existing parking issues on South Pier. "We want both the new development and to existing development to co-exist, so the discussion was should a traffic as well a parking study be conducted prior to the issuance of a building permit?" He says that there's a number of places on the pier that can be turned into parking. "And that's something that we can incorporate into the parking study to see if there are other ways to augment the parking demand, other than what currently exists on public streets."
Robert Moeller owns businesses on the Pier and says simply adding a parking study to the rezoning isn't adequate. "There's nothing put into that contingency to create more parking, which we need already." He also says he doesn't trust the developer's promises to keep parking in the area stable. "He even admitted it was going to cut out 12 parking spots, and I kinda question whether even that is a little on the light side."
The rezoning did pass the council on a vote of 11-3. The developer will start Phase 1 in August contingent on the completion of a traffic study and and build 52 units with occupancy available in May 2017. Phase 2 will include the construction of 36 units contingent on the completion of a traffic study and will begin in August 2017 with occupancy in May 2018.