By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
A final decision on the boundaries of the Village of Waterford’s historic Heritage District could come down the pike in the near future.
The Village Board on May 8 discussed the district’s boundaries, which have been the subject of scrutiny this year, in part because of objections new properties are being added into the zoning designation.
Earlier this year, an appointed group of members on the village’s Heritage Design District Committee took another crack at the district’s possible sphere of influence, which primarily encompasses the downtown area.
Several new properties have been added into the committee’s proposed boundaries including Waterford Liquor, 203 N. Milwaukee St. The board directed village staffers to notify property owners by mail that it was included in the new boundaries.
While the core of the Heritage District has not been disputed since it was established in 2003, outlying property owners have raised objections on occasion.
“The original boundary for the Heritage District was a circle, with the center point on the Village of Waterford library and the outer boundary 1,200 feet from the center,” Village Administrator Rebecca Ewald wrote in a memo.
“Obviously, the boundary often sliced through commercial and residential buildings, making it difficult to determine whether a property was or was not within the boundaries,” she wrote.
The village created the Heritage District nearly a decade and a half ago to accommodate bed-and-breakfast establishments, seasonal gift shops and other conditional uses because of a lack of zoning regulations in Waterford’s oldest established area.
Over time, the code requirements have been amended to accommodate developments within the district’s boundaries.
Case in point: When St. Thomas Aquinas built its new church, the ordinance pertaining to the Heritage District was amended to accommodate school, municipal and institutional uses.
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